The next move in our study of love in the Torah is to make some deliberate, practical applications. Each week at our Torah reading, we’ll pick something out of the parsha or related passages that teaches us something about love, and we’ll make it real over the following week. We’ll look for opportunities to apply the lesson, showing love to God and man in fact instead of only in theory.
Archive for the ‘Keeping Torah’ Category
On These Two Commandments…
Tuesday, April 6th, 2010The Adultery of Easter
Sunday, April 4th, 2010Exodus 23:13-15 “Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips. (14) “Three times in the year you shall keep a feast to me. (15) You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. None shall appear before me empty-handed.
Christians replace the appointed times of God (Daniel 7:25) with the days and names of false gods. In what universe would the Creator of heaven and earth approve of using the names of one of his rivals with whom his people repeatedly committed adultery to celebrate the death and resurrection of his only Son? That is obscenely offensive! It is no accident that he commanded us to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread immediately after commanding us not to speak the names of false gods. These two commands are directed squarely at so-called Christians who celebrate Ashteroth and her abomination that brings desolation and the sacrifice of pigs instead of Passover, sanctification, and resurrection of Yeshua ha Maschiach.
Paul’s Controversy
Sunday, March 28th, 2010Galatians 5:2 Behold, I, Paul, say to you that if you are circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Those are pretty strong words. What should we tell the hundreds of millions of American men? Sorry. You missed the boat. You now have to obey every “jot and tittle” of the Law or you’ll go to Hell. Of course not. Nobody believes that the physical condition of being circumcised equates to a rejection of salvation by grace. What most people actually believe is that if a man voluntarily becomes circumcised as a religious act of obedience to God’s command, only then has he rejected Jesus’ work on the Cross. By legalistically adhering to an outmoded command, he acts as if Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplished nothing.
That certainly sounds like a reasonable interpretation. It doesn’t condemn innocent children for things outside their control, and it emphasizes the liberty we have in Christ. It sounds good, but is it? Keeping in mind Peter’s admonition that a correct understanding of Paul’s letters requires a solid grounding in the Torah and Tanakh (2 Peter 3:15-16), perhaps we should look a little further. Although the older Scriptures have plenty to say about circumcision and salvation by grace, we need look no further than the book of Acts.
Acts 16:3-4 Paul wanted him to go with him, and taking him he circumcised him, because of the Jews who were in those places; for they all knew that his father was a Greek. (4) And as they passed through the cities, they delivered to them the commandments to keep, the ones that were ordained by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem.
There is no question that Timothy voluntarily submitted to this circumcision. He was a grown man, after all. So Paul, who said that circumcision equaled damnation, circumcised Timothy? No! Paul, who said that you cannot be saved by circumcision, circumcised Timothy! In several places in Acts, Luke writes that the great controversy that followed Paul was whether or not a person must be circumcised and keep the whole Law of Moses in order to be saved (E.g. Acts 15:1). The Torah, the Tanakh, the teachings of Yeshua…all of these things stand against such a teaching. The issue was never about whether or not circumcision is a good or bad thing. It was always about salvation. The commandments “ordained by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem” said nothing about circumcision. In fact, they were specifically given to counter the Pharisaical teaching that a man must be circumcised and keep the whole Law in order to be saved. Yet Paul, before he goes out to spread the word against circumcision, circumcises his traveling companion!
Obviously, Paul was not opposed to circumcision nor to keeping the Law of Moses. However, he was adamantly opposed to keeping the traditions of men (that still to this day are commonly referred to as the Law of Moses or the Torah) and to keeping the Law for salvation. There were two parties fighting for control of the church in Galatia. On the one hand, there were the followers of James and Paul teaching them that salvation is only through faith in the grace of God, and that obedience to God’s laws can be learned over time. On the other hand, there were the Judaizers teaching that everyone must obey the Law first and submit to the authority of the rabbis and the centuries of tradition built up on top of the Law before they could be truly considered “saved.” When Paul wrote, “if you are circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing,” he was writing within the context of this argument. He was saying, “If you join the party of the circumcision and rely on that for your salvation, then the Messiah is wasted on you.”
I am not under the Law, nor is anyone else who has put their trust in God for their eternal salvation. That does not mean that the Law no longer applies to us. It means that we are not condemned by it. We don’t have to worry and stress about getting it perfectly. We can focus on serving God in our daily lives, on loving him and sharing his love with those around us while we use his Torah to help us learn what that really means.
Tzav 5770 – For Love of God and Man
Saturday, March 27th, 2010Tony Robinson pointed out some interesting facts about the five sacrifices detailed in the first two Torah portions of Leviticus. The text seems needlessly repetitious, but there is a purpose. In Vayikra, God instructs the Israelites how to make offerings in order to draw closer to him. In Tzav, he instructs the priests on how to dispose of those offerings. But there’s more to it than just that. If you read carefully, you’ll notice that the sacrifices are listed in a slightly different order in each place. As Robinson shows, the offerings are grouped according to an inexplicit classification.
In Vayikra the first three offerings (burnt, grain, and peace) are voluntary, while the last two (sin and guilt) are not. In Tzav, the first offering is completely burned up, the next three are partly burned and partly consumed by the priest, and the final offering is partly burned, partly eaten by the priest, and mostly eaten by the offerer and his community.
Although I don’t know exactly what to make of the following correlations, I think they are correct.
Five is the number of Torah, and there are five sacrifices. The purpose of both Torah and the sacrifices is to draw us closer to YHWH. (See Vayikra 5770 – Approaching under Cover.)
- The burnt offering is something wholly given to God, and there are commandments in the Torah which are designed to bring us closer to God the Father.
- The grain, sin, and guilt offerings are partly given to God and partly to the priest. There are many mitzvot throughout the Torah that draw us closer to God while foreshadowing the ministry of the Messiah as a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. (There is something else here about Moses and the order of Melchizedek, but I’ll save it for another time.)
- The peace offering, like many mitzvot concerning how to live at peace with one’s neighbors, is designed to draw us closer to God as a community, to make us a united people under the banner of the Messiah.
I believe the order in Vayikra says something about another layer of classification that can be overlaid on the Torah, but I will save that for another day too. Vayikra 5771 perhaps.
Manual for Priests
Monday, March 22nd, 2010Ariel ben-Lyman HaNaviy makes a very good point in his teaching on Tzav this week. (Part A is great. Part B contains too much rabbinic mythology.) The book of Leviticus (aka Vayikra) is a manual for priests. Christian men claim to be the priests of their homes. LDS men claim to be priests of another sort. The Torah says that Israel is to be a kingdom of priests to the world, and John wrote that Yeshua has made all those who believe on him to be kings and priests. Here in Leviticus we have a manual for priests. Even though it was specifically addressed to the Levitical order, it is full of principles and patterns that apply to all priests of whatever order.
P.S. Here is an interesting thought. I have heard it taught that David was able to eat the bread of the Tabernacle without repercussion because he was also a priest, but of a different order. Being a foreshadowing of the Moshiach ben David, he too was a priest of the order of Melchizedek, which consists of a royal priesthood, men who are both kings and priests simultaneously. If Yeshua has made all those who believe on him to be both kings and priests, then this line of reasoning implies that all believers have the same (or parallel) responsibilities and privileges as the Cohanim. That does not mean that they are above the Law any more than David was. On the contrary, both priests and kings are held to a higher standard. I am not saying that this is a correct interpretation, only that it is a possibility worth considering.
On Which Thought Counts
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010Rabbi Stephen Baars, commenting on this week’s Torah portion, says something very similar to what I said last week:
Buying your wife a $1,000 pearl necklace may be a great sacrifice on your part. But it is not going to do the trick if she doesn’t like pearls. Nobody wants your sacrifices!
…The only thing we can possibly give another is a piece of ourselves by becoming closer to them. Anything else they can get on their own. They really don’t need you to buy the flowers or the wrench set. Similarly, God can sacrifice His own animals. The only thing no one can have, unless I give it, is me. That’s all I have to give.
I think this is an important clarification on what I said before. Neither the thought nor the deed count if they aren’t part of the same whole. God doesn’t want our sacrifices or tithes or even our obedience if it’s forced and resentful. He wants all of those things, but with a willing heart. More than anything else, he wants our love. If he has that, the rest will follow.
P’kudei 5770 – If You Love Me
Saturday, March 13th, 2010…you will obey my commandments, said Yeshua. In P’kudei, Moses recorded twenty times that the Israelites did exactly as Yahweh commanded.
Twenty iterations of “They did all that Yahweh commanded Moses,” or some slight variation thereof.
They made the furniture of the Tabernacle. They wove and embroidered the curtains and the priestly garments. They erected the structure, anointed its contents and its priests, and put the various articles in their assigned places. Finally they lit the menorah, placed the bread, and burned the incense. All exactly as Yahweh had commanded.
God gives us an enormous amount of freedom in how we are to live our lives, but as anyone who has lived long enough to outgrow the fiery idealism of our youth realizes, true freedom is not possible without some rules. Neither is love. A husband cannot say to his wife, “I will show my love for you by pouring red wine on all of your white blouses.” Well, I suppose he could say it, but I don’t think she would quite get the message he intended. Or maybe he could say, “Honey, I’m thinking of a very nice anniversary card and a set of beautiful diamond earrings.” Unless he followed his imaginings with happenings, they won’t be very well received.
We frequently hear people say that it’s the thought that counts, but we all know that isn’t literally true. It’s the thought plus the deed that really counts. If the husband in the examples above had poured his wife a glass of water (not on her blouse) and bought her a card and a bouquet of roses, then his grand intentions, however humbly expressed, would have counted for much, much more.
Several things are conspicuously missing from Vayakhel and P’kudei: green, orange, and yellow threads; iron and lead ingots; cowhides; marble. I am certain that some people wanted to give these things along with their gold and silver, but God was very specific about what materials could be used in his Tabernacle. Just like the man’s wife who didn’t want wine on her clothes, God didn’t want lead in his Holy Place. I can speculate all day and night about the spiritual significance of this or that metal and color, but it really comes down to this: God knows what he wants, and he doesn’t want just anything.
You have the freedom to serve him, but you do not have the freedom to serve him in any way you choose. If you love God, you will obey his commandments. God doesn’t want us all to be missionaries to Borneo or to give him a million dollars. He wants us to give him our best, and to give him what he asks. He wants our love, and he wants it by his rules, not ours.
P.S. Some interesting observations about the twenty statements of obedience in this parsha…
- The first time, the people did according to what Moses commanded.
- The next eleven times, the people did according to what Yahweh commanded Moses.
- The next seven times, Moses did what Yahweh commanded.
- The next time, all Moses plus the Cohanim did what Yahweh commanded Moses.
- Moses completed the work.
P’kudei says twelve times that the people did what they were commanded: once by the command of Moses and twelve by the command of God delivered through Moses. Twelve is the number of God’s people. There are twelve tribes, twelve gates, and twelve disciples. Except when one of those disciples followed the commands of men instead of God.
Seven represents perfection. Creation, including the establishment of the Sabbath, was completed in seven days. There are seven lamps on the menorah, seven spirits of God, and seven churches. David reminded us over and over that God’s Torah is perfect. Moses delivered God’s Law perfectly, just as God intended it to be, and he commanded us not to alter it. Yeshua reiterated that command when he said that anyone who relaxes even the tiniest part of it will be called the least in heaven.
Psalms 19:7 The law [Hebrew: torah] of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.
The final repetition doesn’t stand on its own. It is the eighth statement of Moses’ obedience, eight being the number of new beginnings, but this time, he was joined by the priests. The aim of the Torah is the Messiah who has become our High Priest. It teaches us about him and points us to him. It tells us how to recognize him, why we need him, and what he does for us. He is our Cohen Ha Gadol, our High Priest, albeit of a different order than the sons of Aaron. He is our new beginning, our rebirth, but notice that it was not the priest alone included in the eighth repetition, but Moses with him. Just as Jeremiah prophesied, the New Covenant brought by Yeshua does not leave Moses behind. In the New Covenant, the Law of Moses (aka the Torah) is to be written on our hearts and no longer on stone. God still wants his people to keep his Torah, but we are not condemned by it because we are not under its authority. We are children of the King and obey his laws because we love him, not because we are afraid of the King’s sheriff.
After all twenty statements are complete, the Torah says, “And Moses finished the work.” As James taught to the first century church, no one needs to keep the Torah in order to gain their salvation, but once a person becomes a citizen of the kingdom he would do well to begin learning and practicing its laws. (Acts 15:21)
Love?
Saturday, February 13th, 2010Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 19:34 But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Deuteronomy 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
Deuteronomy 10:19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 11:1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.
Deuteronomy 13:3 …for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Deuteronomy 30:16 …I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments and his statutes and his judgments, that thou mayest live and multiply: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it.
Joshua 22:5 But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
Joshua 23:11 Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.
Nehemiah 1:5 …O LORD God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments…
Psalms 31:23 O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer.
Psalms 97:10 Ye that love the LORD, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked.
Proverbs 10:12 Hatred stirreth up strifes: but love covereth all sins.
Proverbs 17:9 He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends.
Matthew 5:44 …Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.
Matthew 19:19 …Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mark 12:29-31 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: (30) And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. (31) And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
Mark 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
John 15:9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;
Romans 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Ephesians 4:2-3 With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; (3) Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Ephesians 5:1-2 Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; (2) And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
1 Thessalonians 3:12 And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you:
1 Thessalonians 4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
1 Timothy 6:11 But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
Titus 2:4 …teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children…
Hebrews 10:24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works…
Hebrews 13:1 Let brotherly love continue.
James 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well…
1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently.
1 Peter 2:17 Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
1 Peter 3:8-9 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: (9) Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.
1 John 3:11 For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
1 John 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.
1 John 4:7-8 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. (8) He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
1 John 4:21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
2 John 1:5-6 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. (6) And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
Love. Love. Love. Love. Love.
We are commanded over and over again to love, but do we even know what love is? The scriptures are clear to an extent: To love God is to obey his commandments. To love others is to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to heal the sick. We have heard these things so many times that they have become meaningless!
What does it really mean to feed the hungry? Do we all need to go volunteer at the local Rescue Mission? Should we haul a pot of soup under the nearest bridge? What? What if there aren’t any destitute nearby? What if you don’t know where to find them? Should we just give some money to the Salvation Army and let them handle it? Is it enough just to be kind to those closest to you?
What does it really mean to obey God’s commands? Do I love God if I wear my tzitziyot religiously? Do I love him if I read the Torah and teach it to others? What!?
It truly bothers me that I am asking these questions. I feel that I should know without any hesitation what it means to love in every circumstance. I pray for the time when God’s law will be fully written on my heart, but that day isn’t now. There are many things that I don’t understand, many instances in which I have not shown love or even knew what love would be.
I have written a book examining the manual on marital and familial love, and I intend to write a few more, but still my understanding of love has not approached what it ought to be. This will be the focus of my Torah studies from now on because if keeping Torah doesn’t teach you to love, then you are not keeping Torah. “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees you will in no case enter the kingdom of heaven.” The pharisees didn’t love God; they loved their traditions. If you obey all the rules and say all the right things, yet don’t have love, you don’t have anything.
What!? God Was Right!? Again!!??
Wednesday, February 10th, 2010Biological Risks of Eating Reptiles
02/10/2010 …A study shows that eating these animals can have side effects that call into question the wisdom of eating this ‘delicacy.’
God’s rules for what animals you should eat and what you shouldn’t are not about health. Let me say that again: Eating kosher isn’t about health. It’s about obedience. However, having said that, eating kosher is almost certainly healthier than not.
Exodus 15:26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.