As I read the Torah portion of Mishpotim and Terumah, I pondered how it all fits with the recent blogs on intergenerational trauma. I liked what First Fruits of Zion wrote about the Hebrews escaping slavery into freedom. I want to share what the article said; the article is posted under resources for you to read.
If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years; but on the seventh he shall go out as a free man without payment. (Exodus 21:2)
It seems that by offering laws regarding slavery, the Bible is condoning it. Slavery is ugly. Slaves in North America were kidnapped, maltreated, bought, and sold, subjugated to all sorts of cruelties and denied basic human dignities. Why does the Torah give laws about slavery?
The Bible's laws about slaves are meant for the protection and well-being of the people enslaved. The Israelites had just left slavery. They had experienced it in its ugliest form. It is only natural that God would address that institution and lay out rules to prevent the perpetuation of the maltreatment of slaves. God did not want the Israelites to treat their servants the way that they themselves had been treated.
This can be compared to an abusive home in which a son is beaten by his father. When the boy grows up, he beats his own children because that is the manner of parenting he learned from his father. The Bible's laws of slavery are meant to break that pattern of the mistreatment of other human beings.
Wow! Did you catch that? Those slavery laws were meant to break the PATTERN of mistreatment of others!
Abusive behavior is learned behavior. What is learned can be unlearned! Abba was trying to help them unlearn what they learned under generations of enslavement.
The Father does not take harming others lightly.
Saying I'm sorry sometimes does not close gaping wounds inflicted on the hearts we wounded.
As I read these Torah portions, I sense Abba Yah's placing boundaries around His precious children to provide safety to those who have never known safety. Safety must be in place before one can begin to process the emotions trauma creates.
Being raised in a dysfunctional, unloving environment does not provide a template for setting healthy boundaries or respecting others' boundaries. Respecting authority is often an issue for those raised with a critical parent. In Terumah, Exodus 25:2, He says to Mosheh
Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for Me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him, you shall receive the contribution for Me. Then He says in verse 8
Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell in their midst.
Do you hear that? He wants to dwell with them!
Heavenly Love language...
We all have love languages. Our Heavenly Father has a love language! (Please see the link below to learn your and your loved ones' love language).
So, back to the Torah portion...The Father's "laws" are often misconstrued as oppressive, old-fashioned, and irrelevant. However, if we could see it as a loving Father providing safe boundaries for protection, it changes one's perspective. In the aforementioned Torah portions, He is helping the former slaves to learn how to love. To love Him and love their neighbor as they love themselves.
Generational trauma leaves many without the ability to love themselves, let alone their neighbor. Generational trauma leaves gaps in the boundaries of all family members.
As I pondered these Torah portions, wrestling with what He wanted to say to you through this blog, I had a "vision." I want to share it with you.
I saw a loving Father pacing the floor with a baby in his arms. The baby was crying relentlessly, suffering from symptoms of what I surmised was colic. This baby was swaddled in a blanket, held tight close to the Father's heart...He was bouncing the baby ever so gently while cooing, making shhh shhh shhh noises gently, calmly, lovingly.
No scolding.
No shaming.
No form of rejection.
Pure love.
Pure empathy.
Pure compassion.
I asked Abba to speak to my heart last night as I picked up His Word.
I said to Him, I know this sounds silly and childish, but I REALLY need to hear from You, Abba.
I opened up His word to Psalms 23. I read it, tears streaming down my face, sobbing.
This morning, as I sat with my elderly mother, as is my custom, I picked up the devotion book Shalom in Psalms (link below); much to my delighted surprise, this morning's reading was Psalms 23.
That is a Father's attentiveness...it still shocks me! That is a Father whispering shhh shhh shhh, I am here, I am holding you close to My heart...
So, what are You whispering to my heart, Abba?
Yeah, though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death. You are there...
From the time He knits us together in our mother's womb until we breathe our last breath. He is there. Whispering His love, consoling our anxious hearts with His shhhh shhh shhhh, be still, know that I am Yah...I have you in my arms...close to My heart...
Two precious children of the Most High died in the last two weeks. From what they shared with me, their beginning wasn't ideal, but their ending was! They learned His love, His way. Their race is over. They finished well.
Psalm 90:12 tells us to number our days. That's a boundary of love...Leviticus 19:17, 18, and Mark 12:31 commanded us to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. That's a boundary. That makes us safe to be around.
So what do we do if we are that unconsolable crying one needing to be swaddled and held? What do we do if we didn't have parents who knew how to love us, swaddling us when we cried as infants, kissing our boo-boo's when we hurt, teaching us how to self-regulate our emotions? What do we do now, as adults, if we were not raised in a home that taught us proper boundaries? What do we do as an adult to learn how to respect boundaries? Learn how to love, to be a safe person for ourselves and others?
First, we admit our love deficit; we allow Him to bring us out of denial about the trauma we have suffered and addictions we use to numb our pain, those unmanageability patterns in our lives; we ask for clarity to see things from His perspective, and we surrender our ways of trying to make our lives work according to the ingrained patterns we learned from our family of origin.
I don't have all the answers, but I know the One that does. I am going to provide some links to resources. I encourage you to ask Him to lead you to what you need. Next time, we will explore this topic further, Yah willing.
It took her courage to set a boundary, validate her, and not condemn her.
Resources and Articles for your education!
Such a great word, Lauralee! Especially for these days we find ourselves in. Thank you for sharing all the wisdom and knowledge Yah has given you . . . for us!
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