I am a person who believes the best way to handle
any task is to get the hardest part done first and then the rest is smooth
sailing. In keeping with that, I have
decided the easiest route along this journey will require the removal of one of
the greatest obstacles to having or finding a relationship with God. Look at the example of the Hebrews as Moses
led them out of Egypt. They knew who God
was, but as of yet had no personal relationship with Him. Whether they fully desired an intimate relationship with God we don’t
know, but He deeply desired one with them and had created a plan for one. That was the point of beginning and He
brought them out of Egypt where He would enter into that intimate, blessed
relationship with them.
The first obstacle they faced after fleeing Egypt was
the Red Sea. There the Hebrews stood with the Egyptians pursuing them from
behind and the sea in front of them. To
the people, the sea was an obstacle, but to God it was just a way for Him to
show His love. He provided a connection for
those who had accepted his invitation for a relationship with Him. The Egyptians however, had chosen to
disregard the instructions on the invitation and they paid a high price for not
being connected properly. (I guess you could go all the way back to Egypt on that one!) Once the
Hebrews crossed over the sea, the biggest obstacle, (not of their own making), to
a relationship with the one and only God was over.
One of the greatest obstacles for many non-Jews seems
to be The Ten Commandments or the Law, as they just can't get past this point. Many who have heard these words preached have
come away from the hearing with a viewpoint of God as a selfish ogre who sits
on a throne condemning and throwing lightning bolts down upon us if we don’t
cross every t and dot every i. They, and
you may be one of those, have read about God speaking to Moses from a cloud
that the people saw as lightning and heard as thunder and were afraid, and they
don’t want a relationship with a god like that and believe me, neither do
I.
If I can help you to understand these words from
the Hebrew perspective, this understanding will clear the path for the
understanding of many other scriptures and concepts throughout the entire
Bible. Remember, the Hebrew people were the ones who
were actually there when all these events took place and the recounting of
these events have been documented among their people and passed down for
centuries with almost no change to the re-telling even when documents were
destroyed. I apologize for this one, but
it will be a bit lengthy. Take it in two parts if you have to, but it is
necessary for it to be this long. My
intention with this blog is to get you to look closely at scripture you have
probably just skimmed over before. Don’t
just read the words, look intently at them, question them, study them,
investigate them and let them change you. Don’t just take my word for it, check out what
I am saying with any number of websites that give this information from a
Jewish perspective. If you find that
what I have said is not coming from a Jewish perspective, question me and we
will discuss, for I may have mistakenly typed something without proofing. Now, why don’t we get down to business.
A Western World misbelief is when Moses ascended
Mt. Sinai to meet with God, he received only the Ten Commandments listed in the
first 17 verses of the 20th chapter of Exodus. The truth which has been taught
for 4000+ years by the Jews is that Moses received the entire Torah, and the
instructions for building the Tabernacle, from God while on that mountain. If you look closely at Exodus 24:18 you read
where Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights. Continue reading Exodus 25:1 through 31:18 and
you will see that God gave Moses verbal instructions for the Tabernacle, the Priest’s
vestments, Priest’s duties and instructions for the Sabbath along with the
tablets of stone. Moses received all
this directly from the mouth of God while
in His presence.
Another small obstacle to us as western thinkers is
the way scripture is broken down by chapter and verse which in turn encourages
us to NOT think in terms of context and a complete storyline. We read a small
section and STOP without going further or we take one verse which sometimes is
not even a complete sentence and use it out of context. You see, between Exodus
20:1 and 25:1 there are five entire chapters. Everything in them is also a part
of the commandments, 613 of them to be exact; 365 negative and 248
positive (365 days in a year and 248 important organs and muscles in our body! We will be going there at a later date.). Why
do we not teach all 613 of those in the Church? Why do we teach only 10? Why do we call them commandments? Is commandment the correct interpretation? I will answer these one at a time, but in
reverse order so my answers make the most sense.
The Hebrew word from Exodus 20:1 is Dabar which
generally means speech, words or statements. Even most English translations will say,
"Then God spoke all these words, saying,". The Jews
generally refer to them as "The 10 Words". What difference does it make? Think about the difference in the sound of the
two. Which would you prefer to have from someone, words or commands? It really
does matter, because the people who were there when the words were given have
passed down for centuries, without fail, the same interpretation; They were 10
Words and God's 10 Words were ways to "connect" with Him, not
commands. There is an even greater, more wonderful concept, but I will save
that for the parashat (lesson) on this section of scripture.
There are many basic concepts that help a person
understand the Hebraic mindset in the scriptures and I am giving you one of
these here; connection. As my Rabbi, Dr.
Chad Foster has stated numerous times, think of it in the sense of an
electrical outlet. If I want my computer
to give me good information, the first thing I have to do is be connected to
power. My computer may be connected to the internet and have tons of files on the hard drive, but without electricity or a well-charged battery (from electricity) it is rendered absolutely powerless. I have a laptop that will run on battery power for a while, but when
the battery gets low I must plug into a power source or my screen goes black
and no more computer. The end of my cord which goes into my laptop has a small round plug and the other
end has three prongs and connects into a power outlet. I have found that I can not go to my Mother-in-law's
house and use my computer unless the battery is fully charged, because all the
electrical outlets in her house only accept two prongs. I could cut the third
prong off of my cord and I would have power, but I know (from an electrical
class a few years ago) that eventually my cord would overheat, possibly cause a
power surge and could cause either my computer or her house to catch fire. I
would connect, but not properly and oh the problems it could cause! Would the
power outlet be punishing me? Of course
not, but I would reap the consequences of not connecting in the proper way. Then again, connect properly and oh the things
my computer can do for me. Is the power
outlet rewarding me? Absolutely not, but
I am reaping the rewards of connecting properly to the power source.
If you look at all 613 of these
"commands" as connections, then you will see them in a different
light. They are suddenly not do's and don'ts with a God sitting on a throne
ready to throw lightning bolts down on us when we mess up, but ways to have a
wonderful relationship with the almighty Creator of the universe.
One other way to see
the receiving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai is as a wedding ceremony between God and
His people and the 10 Words are His vows with His Bride. Think about those connections in light of a marriage. A marriage relationship is ALWAYS at its best
when both parties are connecting properly.
If I want to make my husband happy I will do things for him that he has
asked me to do and if he wants to make me happy then he will do the same for
me. If I know that my husband has said
that he doesn’t like something and then I say I don’t care and do it any way,
we are still married, but now the relationship is strained and something has to
be done in order to right the relationship.
Have you ever looked at them in that light? One other thought on those 10 Words; If you look closely at all 613 you will see
that the first 10 are actually a heading for a section of those connections. Does that river (or sea) seem like such an
obstacle now?
Okay, what about all of these 613 connections? Why doesn't the Church teach all of them? Good question. There are probably many possibilities, but
most likely due to our misinterpretation of them as commandments and in our
human nature of not wanting to be “controlled” we try to explain them away, so
we say they are antiquated. As humans
we don't particularly like being told what to do, so if we think we are being
commanded to do something, we balk. We even kind of pick and choose which of
the first 10 we obey, do we not? There are also many that believe Jesus did away with the Law, but did He? Well, let's look at it through this concept, every time you see "the Law" in the New Testament, replace it with "Torah" and see how much
one word can change your perspective on that scripture.
For an answer to the dilemma of whether the
Torah was done away with at the coming of (or resurrection of) Jesus look to the words and life of
Jesus, himself. Did Jesus observe the
Torah while on earth? Did He encourage
His disciples to observe Torah? Did He
tell His disciples to stop observing Torah?
Look to His words as He makes these statements during His time on earth:
Luke 16:16-17
“The Torah and the Prophets
were proclaimed until John.
Since then
it is the Kingdom of God that is being preached as the Good News and anyone
entering it must strive to do so.
But it
is easier for Heaven and Earth to pass away than for one stroke of the Torah to
fail.”
Matthew 5:17-19
“Do not think that I came to violate the Torah or
the words of the Prophets; I did not come to violate but to fulfill. For truly
I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter (jot)
or stroke (title) shall pass from the Torah until all has been established. Therefore the man who violates one of these small
mitzvots (connections), and teaches others to do the same, shall be
called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them,
he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven”
Matthew5:23-24
“Therefore, if you are
offering your sacrifice at the altar and remember that your brother has a
dispute with you, leave your sacrifice there in front of the altar, and go
atone before the face of your brother, then afterward com and offer your
sacrifice.”
Would He tell them to offer
a sacrifice if He came to do away with the Torah and it’s connections?
Matthew 6:16
“And when you fast…”
fasting is a part of the connections
Matthew 8:1-4
Jesus heals a man with a
skin disease and then tells the man to go to the priest and show himself which
is in keeping with the connections.
If you read, really read the Gospels with an open eye, searching for the
clues, you will see that Jesus kept all the feasts and Holy days and Sabbaths and
upheld the Torah.
It’s quite possible
that you, like I before beginning my Torah studies, had no clue what the Torah, or even the Gospels for that matter,
really said.
Stay with me over
the next weeks and you will probably begin to read things in the scriptures you
never saw before.
You do not have to
wait until heaven to receive your treasures.
You can receive many of them here and they are grand and glorious.
Our GOD is an awesome GOD!!!!
