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Mark 12:29
"The most important (commandment) is, 'Hear, O Israel: Adonai is our God, Adonai is one." Yeshua just dumb-founded Sadducee priests on the subject of the resurrection of the dead, so some impressed Pharisees (not all were antagonistic) came and asked the Master, "Which commandment is the most important of all (Mark 12:28)?" Right away we must conclude from this question that not all commandments are equal in importance; some have more, some have less. This can be concluded by the fact that the breaking of some commandments only require an immersion (like eating something not kosher), while some invoke the death penalty (like murder, idolatry, adultery, and breaking the Sabbath). Yeshua agreed to the idea of least and great commandments in, whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:19). To this simple question, Yeshua our Master answered by quoting what has been agreed by Jewish sages for centuries before His manifestation on earth, as being the 'creed' of Judaism, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one". (Mark 12:29; Deuteronomy 6:4)." The word 'hear' is this case, as it is also in English, is not solely related to a sensorial experience but rather means 'to hear with the intention to obey'. In most religions, even in Christianity, the theory of God is the primary thing, but in the Torah the primary thing is not to define or quantify God as usual creeds and statements of faith do, but it is our actions and in this case to: 'hear and obey' to the belief and idea that God is the One and Only, and that there is no other before, after, or beside Him. Unless you do that first, there is no point in going any further. It is interesting to realize that from early forms of polytheistic religions to modern Western religions mixed with elements of Greco-Roman paganism and New-Age, this is the elementary truth that the Satan (cursed be him) has fought the most, because once we throw that out, then he has a chance. Yeshua then continues quoting Moses' words in Deuteronomy, words which teach how we express that belief and the first expression of this obedience is: And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength (Mark 12:30). After that Yeshua adds His own 'halacha', or application to this commandment and says, "The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these (Mark 12:31)." In essence we are taught here that the expression of our belief in the singleness of the Creator is to love Him first and foremost with all our hearts (our emotions), with all our souls (our life in this body), and with all our might (our substance) (Deuteronomy 6:5), and that the expression of this love is to love our neighbor as ourselves.
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Ephesians 3:10 (CJB)
For the rulers and authorities in heaven to learn, through the existence of the Messianic Community, how many-sided God's wisdom is. Moses continues his exhortation to the children of the Children of Israel who left Egypt. He outlines God's credentials with, "For ask now of the days that are past … whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of (Deuteronomy 4:32)". Then he goes on with expounding on the events surrounding the Exodus of their fathers. The Exodus is God's testimony to mankind of His superiority over all the gods and powers in heaven and on earth. It is the testament of His ability to fulfill the promises He made to Abraham, and that in spite of any unforeseen developments in the dynamics of the History of His people. If God says so, He is able to fetch His people from abject slavery in the lowest cultural strata of Egyptian societal gutters, and make them a free sovereign people which eventually became the Light of God to the nations around them. That's what Moses wanted the children of the Children of Israel to understand as they readied to conquer the Land before them. As Paul teaches the Gentile believers of Ephesus, he reflects the Exodus events that showed God's superiority over the gods of Egypt into his own time and work as an emissary to the Gentiles. He says that though it was not known by the ancients, through the Messianic Congregations the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Messiah Yeshua our Lord (Ephesians 3:5-6; 10-11). In other words, our fathers didn't know it, but as the gods of Egypt learned of the superiority of God through the Exodus of the children of Israel, now the gods of Greece and Rome (which are really the same) were going to learn the same lesson through the exodus of their children into the Messianic Congregation of Yeshua the Messiah. And that my friend is God's universal plan, not only to redeem His children from slavery to the world, but to demonstrate to them as well as to all the powers in heaven and on earth His ability to deliver them. We are like the cherished prize of two contenders, only the game is thrown, as we already know the Winner! In the same manner as the God of Israel delivered the Children of Jacob from slavery and showed the rulers and gods of Egypt 'a thing or two', He now delivers His children from the other nations and shows their rulers and gods 'a thing or two'. As the children of the Children of Israel were to look back at what happened to their fathers in order to mature their faith, the children of Israel of today, along with those of the nations, are also to look back to these events as a testimony of God's power to save us all from this idolatrous and wicked world, thus the importance of celebrating the Passover Seder. May we all learn in this day and age the many lessons of trust, faith, and obedience that can only be learned as we sit at the feet of Adonai in the 'wilderness' times of our lives, as we hear hear from Him at His Holy Mountain. May we also learn to also fear God, the Creator, the Ruler of the universe, the Deliverer of His people, and fear Him only! Matthew 10:28
And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. In his exhortation to the Children of Israel towards obedience to God, Moses reminds them of the sin of the Golden Calf; he warns them against idolatry with the words, For Adonai your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:24). The writer of the Book of Hebrews admonishes his readers to obedience using this same passage (Hebrew 12:29). For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest (Mt Horeb) … But you have come to Mount Zion (in Jerusalem where Messiah was crucified). This whole chapter is usually read as an antithesis between Mt Horeb and Mt Zion. It is usually interpreted in the assumption of a spiritual opposition between the two mountains: "you haven't come to Moses, but to Yeshua; not to the Torah, but to 'grace'; not to the Old Testament, but to the New. God was mean before, but now He is nicer!". This is a flawed understanding and even a minimal understanding of not only the context of the chapter, but also of the style of Jewish writers reveals it. In this passage the writer makes a point for people to obey and fear God's discipline (Hebrews 12: 1-17) using the traditional 'kol v'homer' argument so often used by Paul, Yeshua, all the prophets and apostolic writers. In the same manner that Yeshua said (my narration) "if God clothes the lilies of the field which are here today and burned tomorrow better than even King Solomon in all his glory, won't he also clothe you?", the writer of Hebrews declares, "you think Mount Horeb, the mountain of Moses and of the congregation in the desert was so awesomely terrible that people who disobeyed died a terrifying death? Mt Zion, the mountain of the firstborn (Yeshua) in Jerusalem is even more deserving of your respect." He says; See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth (Moses), much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven (Yeshua) (Hebrews 12:25). Now we get the intended message: "You saw what happen to those who disobeyed at Mt Horeb? Mt Zion is even more terrifying!" In this day and age people tend to have a very familiar relationship with Yeshua; they remember the baby born in Bethlehem, He who cried at the death of His friend Lazarus, the gentle Lamb who opened not His mouth as He was reviled by both His brothers and the pagans. We tend to forget though that the baby grew up to be the returning King clothed in a garment dipped in blood, and vested in all the authority and power of God to execute judgment and vengeance on His enemies and on all those who defy His rule (Revelations 19). He is able not only to kill the body, but He can destroy both soul and body in hell (Matthew 10:28). May we stand and be warned: Serve Adonai with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him (Psalms 2:11-12). Marc 15:2
And Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" And he answered him, "You have said so." As long as they lived in the Land, at the end of each seven years, at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles also called the Feast of Ingathering, the Children of Israel were required to assemble in Jerusalem, men, women and child, citizen or resident alien, to hear the reading of the Book of Deuteronomy (Deuteronomy 31:10-13). While nothing forbids congregations from reading Deuteronomy together during the Feast of Tabernacles, the very demands of this commandment decree that it can only be fulfilled while the people of Israel live in the land, with Jerusalem as their capital. New generations were bound to be born and time which would erase the days of espousals in the desert (Jeremiah 2:2), so this practice served as a regular reminder of the origins, culture and understanding of the history of this people redeemed from Egypt. The commandment says to ‘gather’, to ‘assemble’ the country together in Jerusalem its God-chosen capital. So it was later decided that this commandment was incumbent on the only person who had the authority to require such a gathering of the people: the king. The religious leaders also declared that it was the king’s duty to read the Torah to the people. Religion was not meant to be separate from state affairs; in fact, the ostracizing of religious obligation from state affairs is what later brought the downfall of Israel.Prophets tell us that at the fulfillment of the Messianic Age, not only Israel, but the whole world is to be represented in Jerusalem to hear the Torah at the feast of Tabernacles. The prophet Zachariah informs us that in those days, whoever does not come to celebrate Tabernacles in Jerusalem will not receive rain (Zechariah 14:16-21). In that day, at the time of the great jubilee, the true legitimate King of Jerusalem; He who is called ‘the King of the Jews’ and who has been called to lead the people of God; Yeshua the Nazarene who has been manifested unto us as the Messiah-King, priest and prophet of Israel, will command the world to stop their feverish activities, come to Jerusalem and stand to attention while He instructs them reading the very words that He dictated to Moses before his death. While this time may be in a distant future, there is a very distinct possibility that it may not be so far away. As the children of Israel stood waiting to enter the Land, we here also stand close to the time of the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom in the world. For them and for us, the stories of Egypt are a distant memory belonging to a past generation. Just like them, we believe having not seen, just because of a word of promise. As we acknowledge these things, may we today start acknowledging the Feast of Tabernacle as a time to review the historical foundation of our trust in Yeshua the Messiah in the Book of Deuteronomy. |
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