Which Mits-vah (directive or guidance) is the main object or root in Torah (teachings)?
That was the question a scribe, or lawyer, asked Jesus as recorded in Mark and Matthew. (Click link for all scriptures used in this article).
First thing we have to get over before looking at His answer is the word ‘command’. At that time, when they heard the word mits-vah it did not carry the same as it does when we hear the word command. To them, this would have been more like the white lines on a road than the speed limit sign. If you cross the white lines to avoid something, you most likely will not get a ticket. You may, however, encounter plenty of natural consequences. But if you cross the line because of careless driving or you cross the speed on the speed limit sign (driving lawlessly) in front of law enforcement officer, you will receive a ticket. Whoa! Side thought: Every stop to wonder why we are so much more comfortable with and in general easily following laws “of our land” set a long time ago and yet are uncomfortable and struggle against keeping those set by YHWH/God? Something to ponder.
Jesus said: “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” and “If you love me you will keep my mitsvah.” Because he is the WAY, and the TRUTH, and the LIFE, you would understand it is in your best interest to follow his directives, guidance, and recommended way of living. Jesus is not like our navigation systems which allow you to choose the route and ‘recalculates’ a new one for you when you decided to deviate from the best route initially set before you.
It is good to follow the mitzvot/commandments and it is bad not too. Just as it was good not to eat the forbidden fruit and it was bad to eat it. We have the same choice. We can either choose to follow the Way, the Truth, and the Life as provided by YHWH/God or not. If YHWH/God is the King who reigns over the Kingdom you live in, you would WANT to follow his rules. Otherwise, you will essentially be living somewhere else. You have full free will to choose what kingdom you want to live in, Heaven or Hell, but you do not have the right to determine what is good and bad in the Kingdom of Heaven, where God Reigns.
The second thing we have to get over is the word ‘law’. The Hebrew word is Torah which specifically refers to the five books of Moses. We know these as Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers. Almost all the time, even in the New Testament, when we see the translated word Law, it is the word Torah and does not refer to anything written in the New Testament.
The scribe/lawyer is not asking Jesus, of everything that you have taught what is the greatest. He is specifically asking out of everything in these five books, what is the g’dolah or root.
The third thing we have to get over is the idea that Jesus is giving two new commandments and all the rest are done away with. He is very specific in stating, “All the Torah and the prophets hang on these two mitzvot.” The word hang means based on, thus he has answer the question about what is the root. These two are the root and all the others found in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers grow up out of those.
This is in many ways a picture of the Tree of Life. You can choose the Tree of Life or the Tree of Knowledge of Tov/Good and Ra/Bad. You can decide the best way to go about living or you can let YHWH/God give you guidance. And His ways do not have to make sense to you, you just have to follow what he says.
When Jesus says, “You must love your Elohim with all your heart and with all your nephesh and out of all your understanding,” He is purposefully bringing to mind several passages for the Jewish people standing around.
Let me give you an example of what Jesus was doing with what he said. Most Christians are familiar with the saying of the mark of the beast – it’s every where right now. And everyone knows it will be a mark/sign on the hand and/or on the forehead. So if I said to you, “Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads,” I can almost guarantee the largest percentage of the Christians who hear it will call to mind the statement about the mark of the beast from Revelation. HOWEVER, if this same thing was said to a Jewish believer, they would be brought right to Deuteronomy 6 and THIS is what would be called to mind:
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a]5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 6 NIV emphasis added
Which would in turn bring them right back to the Exodus and the Passover:
14 “In days to come, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’ 16 And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”
Exodus 13 NIV emphasis added
Wouldn’t these passages be so much better to recall than the mark of the beast passage? Later, check out Revelation 7:3 – very interesting.?
Jesus is directly quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5. This particular passage is part of the Shema, which every good Jew would have recited daily as his declaration of faith. This would have also brought to mind the entire Exodus and all it entailed.
It would have brought to mind Deuteronomy 10:12 and the entire scene of them receiving the tables of stones – which YHWH/God called ‘The Testimony’ or the ‘The Witness’ which we now call the ‘Ten Commandments.’
He would have brought to mind Deuteronomy 30:6 when he told them he had set all these mitzvah before them, blessings and curses – you choose.
He would have brought to mind Joshua 22:5 when they first entered the promise land. It might even bring to mind Joshua 24:15 which MANY Christians have hanging on the wall of their houses – it was the time when Joshua reminds them of what YHWH had done for them and why they should keep the mitzvot (commandments) and he lead them by making declaration of his choice for his household. Following this, he made a covenant. I can’t help wonder, does it mean the same thing to us as it did to Joshua as we hang it on our walls? Are we really ready to make the declaration he made in v24-26? Or do we take it out of context because it’s a catchy phrase? Hmm, something more to ponder.
And it would have brought to mind Josiah from 2 Kings 22-23 – Josiah is arguably the greatest earthly King there ever was. Some say David was, but Josiah did not make the mistakes David did. What Josiah did in his time may be a good thing to do in our time. He was a beloved King, by both man and YHWH.
Moses received the law in around 1313 BC. Over 855 years later, after many very evil and wicked Kings, along comes Josiah, he brings back the Torah and the Feasts. And this is what YHWH/God/Adonai said:
18‘Thus says Adonai, God of Israel. As for the words that you have heard, 19 because your heart was softened and you humbled yourself before Adonai when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants—that they should become a desolation and a curse—and because you have torn your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,’ declares Adonai. 20 ‘Therefore behold, I will gather you to your fathers and you will be gathered to your grave in shalom. So your eyes will not see all the disaster I am bringing on this place.’”
2 Kings 22 TLV
3Then the king stood by the pillar and cut a covenant before Adonai, to follow Adonai, keep His mitzvot, His laws and His decrees with all their heart and soul, in order to fulfill the words of this covenant that were written in this scroll. So all the people stood for the covenant.
2 Kings 23 TLV – scenes similar to the one at Mt. Sinai and the night YHWH took them out of Egypt.
21 Then the king commanded all the people saying, “Celebrate the Passover to Adonai your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.” 22 For no Passover like this had been celebrated from the days of the judges who judged Israel or in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was observed for Adonai in Jerusalem.
25 Before him there had never been a king like him, who turned to Adonai with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Torah of Moses, nor has any king like him risen since him.
2 Kings 23 TLV
Which Mits-vah (directive or guidance) is the main object or root in Torah (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers)?
Yeshua answered,
- Hear Yisrael, your Elohim – YHWH is one
- Him you must love with all your heart and with all your nephesh, and with all your thoughts, and with all your strength.’
- you must love your fellow man as yourself
Then the scribe/lawyer replied:
“Rabbi, it is a great truth, that there is none besides one Eloah, and there is none other except him – 33 he whom a man is obligated to love with all the heart and with all the nephesh, and with all the strength – also to love his fellow as himself – and this is greater than all the human offerings.” (burnt offerings and sacrifices)
Mark 12 Hebrew Gospels
And when Jesus heard that, he answered
with wisdom, he told him that he was not far from the kingdom of YHWH / Kingdom of God / Kingdom of Heaven / Where God Reigns
CalltoCeaseFire 
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