Yithro: Exploring Family Relationships

Understanding Family Relationships Through Torah: Lessons from Yithro

In this episode of the Perfect Body Podcast, host Shirah Chanté delves into the Torah portion Yithro, focusing on family relationships. Starting with an introduction to the Torah, Chanté shares her personal journey of studying the Torah and discovering the importance of Biblical teachings. The episode highlights the story of Moses receiving advice from his father-in-law, Jethro, on managing his responsibilities and establishing a system of judges. Chanté emphasizes the significance of the Ten Commandments, particularly in the context of family dynamics. She encourages listeners to honor their parents and embrace humility in their relationships. Shirah also offers relationship coaching and provides a link for further contact.

00:00 Introduction to Perfect Body Podcast

01:42 Exploring Family Relationships in the Torah

02:42 Shira's Journey to Torah Study

08:22 Moses and the Wilderness Journey

09:51 Jethro's Wise Advice to Moses

19:25 The Ten Commandments and Family Relationships

25:59 Conclusion and Next Week's Preview

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Transcript

 You have a perfect body.

Hello and welcome to Perfect Body Podcast, a Torah portion afterthought. I am your host, Shirah Chanté. Blessing God's people with relationships here. To study the Bible with you. Thank you so much for joining me today. We are reading the Torah portions. We are meditating on the word of God. We are growing closer to God as we study his word, read his word, pray the promises of God that are in the Bible and the Torah, which are the five.

First books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And you're here because you love the word of God. You want to know more about the word of God. Maybe you're new to reading a Bible or studying the Torah, and you are interested in, and you just want to know more. Well, this is the place for you.

You are welcome. Come on in, stay in and come back, subscribe to this podcast. And we are going to talk about family relationships today, family relationships. There's quite a bit of family dynamics going on in the Torah portion. We are looking at today and it's called Yitthro. Yithro, which means Jethro in English.

And I'm going to just highlight some of the reading that I did for this Torah portion. We'll probably read a few verses, and then we're just going to talk about The Torah portion and how it can help us with family relationships. How does that sound? Does that sound like a plan? Yeah. Okay. So this Torah portion is.

Chapters 20 in the book of Exodus. So Exodus chapters 20 are what we're going to be looking at today. And I just want to tell you a little bit of how I got into studying the Torah. I. Many years ago, I attended divinity school up in Rochester, New York, and I was looking for a church to go to, and I visited maybe five churches.

I visited a lot of churches, including a Greek Orthodox church, where they had the incense, and it was Kind of wild and crazy to me because I'd never seen anything like that. I'm like, wow, this is incense. And because they talk about incense in the Bible and how they used it in during sacrifices, but I had never seen incense being used in a church before I didn't grow up in a church like that.

So that was quite. Interesting, quite fascinating for me but not the church for me. And so I kept visiting other churches around Rochester, New York. I went to a Methodist church. It was okay. I went to a Presbyterian church. Once again, it was okay. I actually had a vocal. coach and he invited me to his church as well.

I think he went to a Baptist church and so I visited his church. He sang one Sunday morning and invited me to come hear his, my coach, my vocal coach sing. And it was a joy for me to be there visiting him. And, but it wasn't, I didn't feel like it was the church I needed to continue going to. I was looking for like a home I could visit while I was living in Rochester, New York.

So one day I was driving down the street and I came upon a, I saw a Jewish synagogue. And I thought, okay I'll try a Jewish synagogue. I want to say that I oh, I, yes. And so I started going there. I did visit another one, another synagogue as well, but it was it was for another reason. But when I went to a synagogue in Rochester, New York.

And I got plugged in to the Torah study because I was in Rochester to study the Bible. That's why I went. I wanted to get to know God. And from my understanding, you get to know God by reading the Bible. I had experienced a time before The year before where I started reading the Bible when I was homeless, living, excuse me, when I was homeless, living in a Beverly Hills office building, and I grew closer to God, so I wanted more, and what a perfect way for me to get more of God.

Then by studying the Torah, that was like a perfect way I got there. I felt so at home. I was so welcomed by the members of the synagogue. They totally loved me. I loved them. It was wonderful. It was just, there's nothing. I mean, everything was good when I was there. It was just wonderful studying the word of God.

And so years later, here I am studying the Torah and having my own Torah podcast. I would have never imagined that. That my Torah study beginnings would culminate in me actually studying the Torah and teaching others and learning with others on this. Perfect Body Podcast. I'll talk about the Perfect Body title later on. I gave that testimony before when I first started, but I'll bring it back up again, but not a little bit at a time, a little bit at a time. And but that's how I started reading the Torah the first five books of the Bible. We also call it in Christianity, we call it the Pentateuch.

You may have heard of that. If you that's also the same five books as a Torah, the Pentateuch. And so let's get started. Moses. And the children of Israel, if you remember from last Torah portion we looked at called Bayshalach and they escaped out of Egypt through the Red Sea. Remember that the parting of the Red Sea and we talked about how God will deliver you from your life circumstances, just as he delivered you.

The children of Israel. So whatever you're going through, you also can be delivered as God parts, the red sea of your life. Whatever that red sea may be. We talked about, it could be homelessness. As I just talked about, it could be drug abuse. It could be just a tough family situation. And so maybe you saw the title of the show called family relationships, and that brought you here and you want to know a little bit.

And maybe you can hear something tonight that will help you with your family dynamics, but whatever's going on, I pray, if that's your, the reason you're here, that you get touched by the word of God tonight, and that you hear something as we are reading the Torah and studying the Bible that will help you in your current family circumstances.

I also want to mention that I am a relationship coach. And I will put a link in the show notes of how you can contact me if you need some extra help with your family relationships, I'd be happy to come alongside you and help you with that. Okay. So Moses and the children of Israel are now in the wilderness.

So this starts their journey to the promised land, but they have to go through the wilderness first. Yeah. Wow. Who's been through the wilderness? Anybody been through the wilderness? Maybe some of you are still in the wilderness. We haven't quite gotten to the promised land yet, huh? But we all have a wilderness.

This is kind of like the tough part. This is like the training ground of life. Things happen. Tests and trials and tribulations and God wants to prepare your heart for what you are about to receive. Before you receive the promises that he has already spoken to you, is there something that God has told you that you're going to have in this life or are you just have a sense that there's more for your life than what you're living right now?

That's just the unction of the Holy Spirit. Telling you that there's more to come, but first I need to test you. I need to prepare your heart. And so we have to go through this wilderness. Okay. You got to learn some rules and we're going to talk about the 10 commandments is in this Torah portion you throw.

And you got to learn some rules of God, because if you don't know the rules, then you might fail. You don't want to fail. It's like when you're studying for a test, if you don't know what's going to be on the test.

So, Jethro, Moses father in law, came to Moses and brought his family back to him. So when Moses went back to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt, as commanded by God, he left his family in Egypt. With her father, he left his wife and children with his father in law. And so now his father in law is like, okay, Moses, I got your kids.

I got your wife. I'm bringing them back to you. Okay. It kind of reminds me of, I don't know how many of you have children out there, but have you ever, like, you take your. Kids to your mom's house or your parents and it's like, oh, they're the grandparents They want to see the children, but you know only for a few hours or only for the weekend Come get your kids so this is what this reminds me of that Jethro's okay Moses you got you did your job You got the children out of the land of Egypt And now I'm bringing your family back to you.

But the thing is, it sounds like they had a really good reunion and a relationship. And so that is very valuable that Moses is able to get along with his father in law. His father in law gave him some instruction on how to handle. The daily operation of the children of Israel while they were in wilderness and Moses took his father in law's advice.

So I'm going to read a little bit about that situation. So this is in Exodus chapter 19 and it says see,

this is actually Exodus chapter 18. Okay, so Jethro, this is Exodus 18, verse 13. The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. When Moses father in law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, What is this that you are doing for the people?

Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening? And Moses said to his father in law, Because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a dispute, they come to me, and I decide between one person and another, and I make them know the statutes of God and His laws.

Moses father in law said to him, What you are doing is not good. You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. Now obey my voice. I will give you advice. And God be with you. You shall represent the people before God and bring their cases to God.

And you shall warn them about the statues and the laws. And make them know the way in which they must walk and what they must do. Moreover, look for able men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe. And place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.

And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this, God will direct you. You will be able to endure. And all this people also will go to their place in peace.

Such wonderful advice that Moses's father in law gave him concerning his job. Moses heard, hears the voice of God and the people needed guidance and counsel. And some of the things were not straightforward. So Moses had to inquire of the Lord and Moses also knew all the laws as he has spent time with God.

And so now Moses is going to teach the law, teach the rules to elders who are a part of the family of the Israelites. And so now those elders will be able to judge the people according to God's laws and help Moses out. So that's what his father in law was getting to. You need some help. You can't do it alone.

How many of y'all trying to do it alone? Even I, like I was thinking the other day, I really need some help with what I'm doing. I'm doing a lot of stuff and it's like, I can't, I can't do all this alone. I need some help here. And it's natural to need help in life. I know there's some of you probably like some people have personalities where they think if they don't do it themselves, it's not going to get done correctly, but.

Just, find someone, you can find someone who can help you and just kind of keep an eye on them a little bit and God will surprise you by bringing someone in your life who can help you. Just like he got the children of Israel who were able to learn the law, help him judge, help Moses judge the people.

So that's very smart advice. And the fact that Moses took the advice so readily, he wasn't like, What are you talking about old man, or, like some people can be so disrespectful, but Moses was not like that. He just, he took the advice and he ran with it and it was perfect advice and it really did help him and the people of Israel.

So that is some advice we can take into our own family dynamics. I own our own family relationships that, Hey. Maybe we need to listen to our mother in law, our father in law. And I know some of you, especially if you're a woman, I know that there's sometimes some tension between mothers between wives and mothers in law.

But, start by maybe just trying to listen to what your mother in law is saying or what your father in law is saying. And there may be some wisdom there. Don't be so haughty. Don't be so proud that you can't take advice. You don't want to be like that. A haughty spirit comes before, by pride, comes before a fall and a haughty spirit before, Destruction or pride becomes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.

That's a proverb meaning that when you're proud, when you're not able to take correction, when you're not able to take advice, tips, when you're not able to hear any instruction because you think you know how to do it, well, that's the way that leads to a fall. That pride can lead to a fall because someone could.

Actually be giving you information that you need to make it in life or with whatever activity you have going on. So just keep that in mind. Just keep a humble heart and don't be afraid to take correction. It's not always, it's not against you. It's not like Moses, his father in law here wasn't coming against him.

It wasn't like, Oh, why, why are you doing this as if he wasn't smart? It was just, he was just trying to understand the operation. He saw that it was taxing. It was a lot of work. It was too, it was just too much. He was doing it because he cared for Moses, not because he wanted to make Moses look bad in front of his family or anything like that.

And so also we have to look at people's intentions and sometimes. If you have a spirit of rejection or you're used to being rejected or there, you've experienced some rejection in life. You may be, you may get defensive when someone tries to give you advice or tell you something about yourself that could help you.

And it's, and and so you want to just be aware and just look into yourself and say, am I just being defensive? Are they really just trying to help me? Just step back and ask yourself these questions and if so, then take the advice and move on and let it help you and let them bless you with the advice that they are giving.

Alright, so thinking about family relationships, I want to go to the Ten Commandments because the Ten Commandments have a lot of commandments. Well It's really about relationship. That's really what the 10 commandments is. And so let's see, when we go to Exodus chapter 20, I'm going to read the 10 commandments and then we're going to talk about them.

Okay. Ready? Exodus chapter 20, verse one. And God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them or serve them for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me by showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Remember to Sabbath day. To keep it holy, six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord, your God. On it, you shall not do any work. You, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.

For in six days, the Lord made heaven. And earth, the sea, and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long and the land that the Lord, your God is giving you, you shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's,

those are the 10 commandments. We see how many of those, if not, actually all of those commandments are about relationship, all of them. That's don't murder. Don't kill. Don't lie. Don't commit adultery. Honor your father and mother. You think God cares about our family relationships? Yes. Yes. He wants us to treat our mother and father with respect.

And that goes. Without saying, not because of what they've done for you or what they haven't done for you, but just because they are your mother and father, because God used them to bring you into this world. There may be some of you who maybe you're not close with your mother or your father. Maybe you don't even know one of your parents.

Maybe you are estranged from them because of. A divorce or a separation that your parents had, there could be some kind of tension there, but I adjure you, I just admonish you, I, to honor them anyway, honor them as your mother, honor her as your mother, honor him as your father, despite your relationship with him or her.

It doesn't really matter what they did do or they didn't do. They're still your mom, they're still your dad. And that's really all God is saying here. He says, honor your mother and your father. And you know why that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. So there's a promise here when you honor your mother and your father.

There's a promise that you live a long time, that your days will be long. So just take that to heart and I pray for you in the name of Jesus that your family relationships will improve, that your family dynamics will increase, that you'll be able to handle issues with your mother in law, with your father in law, with grace.

and acceptance and love and that your life will be happier and more peaceful because of this shift, this change in your attitude, in your personality, and that your family members will notice that there's something different about you, that you're acting a little different, that you're not as contentious as you once were, and it's because you've decided to follow The rules of family relationships in the Ten Commandments and what we just learned from Moses of being humble, humility, that's a spiritual discipline.

So thank you so much for joining me. I enjoyed. Reading the Ten Commandments, it's always good to revisit the Ten Commandments anytime. And thank God that we had the opportunity to do that today, and the Torah portion. Yithro! So we'll be back next week with the Torah portion that started today, which, let's see, what Torah portion started today, Shia Ashanti?

Because remember, we're we're doing this is an afterthought, we're a week behind the actual schedule, and so Mishpatim, which I believe means, I think that means Egypt, but so we'll see next Week on perfect body podcast. And remember to love God, love you and love people. Bye bye.