Tag: Ten Commandments

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF

If your are conversant with the Scriptures, you will know that the many commandments of Yahweh are summarized into two. Love towards the Creator (Yahweh) and love towards your neighbour. The Messiah, Yeshau, stated that on these two commandments hung all the Laws & Prophets.

The commandment to love your neighbour as yourself was mentioned once in the Jewish Bible in Leviticus 19 verse 18, while it was mentioned eight times in the writings of the followers of Yeshua.

Jewish commentaries stated that this one commandment is the summary of the Torah, an assertion Shaul (Paul) repeated in one of his epistles. How come that this simple commandment is so difficult for many to keep?

The simple answer is ‘The Self’. We are so preoccupied with self that the other person’s need and desire is secondary to ours. We see ourselves as more important than others. The acceptable love toward others is that which equates the love we have for ourselves.

This kind of love not only do good things for others but stops us from behaving negatively towards them when they do wrong to us. That is why it is placed with “You shall not avenge nor bear grudge against the children of your people” in the same verse.

Many times we are wronged by others and pushed to retaliate. The issues may not be a big one as we suppose. It could be as simple as a friend refusing to accompany us to a function and we do the same thing when we are asked to follow the friend to another place.

Perfect love is treating others as we will treat ourselves or the way we want to be treated. Show true love today!

Shalom!

THE FIRST COMMANDMENT

Many will not know the 1st commandment of the Ten as read by Yeshua in his days on earth. We all grew up to know (as taught by the church) that the first commandment is ‘Thou shall not have any other god beside me’

However, the list of the 10 commandments in the 1st Century has ‘I am Yahweh your Elohim, who brought you out of Egypt, the house of bondage’ as number 1. It is known that as the church was moving away from Judaism and dropping it’s Jewish identity, it has to also drop the personalisation of the Most High as ‘The Elohim of Israel’ and adopt the global identity of ‘Creator of the World’.

What the church did not know is that changing the first commandment is tantamount to removing the foundation and the pillar of the 10 commandments. The personal touch in the 1st commandment is not to make the commandments Jewish but to present the basis of the relationship that is needed between man and Yahweh. It is not about a Creator/Creation relationship but a Liberator/Freed Man one.

The 1st commandment is a command to the people of Israel to believe in Yahweh not as anything but as a Liberator, a Redeemer and a Savior. It could have been sweeter if Yahweh had referred to Himself as ‘Creator of the World’ or ‘Elohim of Abraham, Isaac & Jacob’ while commanding Israel; but those decriptions will not explain why the Israelites have to obey His voice and keep the covenant.

The purpose of the commandments is to set the Israetites free from every type of bondage that exist in the world. Obeying Yahweh and keeping the commandments give life to anyone. The commandments are to give life and not to keep anyone in bondage.

The word ‘Egypt’ is translated from ‘Mistrayim’ which means ‘a fencing to limit’. It means to keep in bondage. Every one is limited in experiencing life as given by Yahweh by the corruption in this world. The commandments are to help us remove these limitations and set us free. Have you wondered why Yeshua said that “I have come to give life and give it more abundantly”? It is beacuse he came to bear witness to the truth (the Torah) by teaching it accurately.

The basis of our relationship with Yahweh is to receive freedom from Him by living according to His word. Knowing Him as Creator of the World is not enough, knowing Him as Father of the Patriarchs will only help our faith but knowing Him by keeping His commands will give us LIFE.

Shalom!