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W8. Obeying the Mitzvot of Adonai & Yeshua.    [Make a Comment]

We are to obey the Mitzvot of Adonai and Yeshua.

This precept is derived from His Word (blessed be He):

Key Scriptures

Deuteronomy 6:17
Observe diligently the mitzvot of ADONAI your God, and his instructions and laws which he has given you.

John 14:15
If you love me, you will keep my [mitzvot] commands ...

Supportive Scriptures - Mitzvot of Adonai

Exodus 15:26
He said, "If you will listen intently to the voice of ADONAI your God, do what he considers right, pay attention to his mitzvot and observe his laws, I will not afflict you with any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians; because I am ADONAI your healer."

Numbers 15:38-40
Speak to the people of Isra'el, instructing them to make, through all their generations, tzitziyot on the corners of their garments, and to put with the tzitzit on each corner a blue thread. It is to be a tzitzit for you to look at and thereby remember all of ADONAI's mitzvot and obey them, so that you won't go around wherever your own heart and eyes lead you to prostitute yourselves; but it will help you remember and obey all my mitzvot and be holy for your God.

Deuteronomy 4:13-14
He proclaimed his covenant to you, which he ordered you to obey, the Ten Words; and he wrote them on two stone tablets. At that time ADONAI ordered me to teach you laws and rulings, so that you would live by them in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.

Deuteronomy 4:40
Therefore, you are to keep his laws and mitzvot which I am giving you today, so that it will go well with you and with your children after you, and so that you will prolong your days in the land ADONAI your God is giving you forever.

Deuteronomy 11:22-23,32
For if you will take care to obey all these mitzvot I am giving you, to do them, to love ADONAI your God, to follow all his ways and to cling to him, then ADONAI will expel all these nations ahead of you; and you will dispossess nations bigger and stronger than you are. ... And you are to take care to follow all the laws and rulings I am setting before you today.

Deuteronomy 13:5(4)
You are to follow ADONAI your God, fear him, obey his mitzvot, listen to what he says, serve him and cling to him

Deuteronomy 26:17-19
You are agreeing today that ADONAI is your God and that you will follow his ways; observe his laws, mitzvot and rulings; and do what he says. In turn ADONAI is agreeing today that you are his own unique treasure, as he promised you; that you are to observe all his mitzvot; and that he will raise you high above all the nations he has made, in praise, reputation and glory; and that, as he said, you will be a holy people for ADONAI your God.

Deuteronomy 27:10
Therefore you are to listen to what ADONAI your God says and obey his mitzvot and laws, which I am giving you today.

Deuteronomy 28:1
If you listen closely to what ADONAI your God says, observing and obeying all his mitzvot which I am giving you today, ADONAI your God will raise you high above all the nations on earth

Deuteronomy 28:15
But if you refuse to pay attention to what ADONAI your God says, and do not observe and obey all his mitzvot and regulations which I am giving you today, then all the following curses will be yours in abundance

Deuteronomy 29:28(29)
Things which are hidden belong to ADONAI our God. But the things that have been revealed belong to us and our children forever, so that we can observe all the words of this Torah.

Deuteronomy 30:8-16
... but you will return and pay attention to what ADONAI says and obey all his mitzvot which I am giving you today. Then ADONAI your God will give you more than enough in everything you set out to do - the fruit of your body, the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your land will all do well; for ADONAI will once again rejoice to see you do well, just as he rejoiced in your ancestors. However, all this will happen only if you pay attention to what ADONAI your God says, so that you obey his mitzvot and regulations which are written in this book of the Torah, if you turn to ADONAI your God with all your heart and all your being. For this mitzvah which I am giving you today is not too hard for you, it is not beyond your reach. It isn't in the sky, so that you need to ask, 'Who will go up into the sky for us, bring it to us and make us hear it, so that we can obey it?' Likewise, it isn't beyond the sea, so that you need to ask, 'Who will cross the sea for us, bring it to us and make us hear it, so that we can obey it?' On the contrary, the word is very close to you - in your mouth, even in your heart; therefore, you can do it! Look! I am presenting you today with, on the one hand, life and good; and on the other, death and evil - in that I am ordering you today to love ADONAI your God, to follow his ways, and to obey his mitzvot, regulations and rulings; for if you do, you will live and increase your numbers; and ADONAI your God will bless you in the land you are entering in order to take possession of it.

Matthew 5:17-19
Don't think that I have come to abolish the Torah or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete. Yes indeed! I tell you that until heaven and earth pass away, not so much as a yud or a stroke will pass from the Torah - not until everything that must happen has happened. So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven

Matthew 7:21
Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord!' will enter the Kingdom of Heaven, only those who do what my Father in heaven wants.

Luke 11:27-28
As Yeshua was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice to call out, "How blessed is the mother that gave birth to you and nursed you from her breast!" But he said, "Far more blessed are those who hear the word of God and obey it!"

Luke 18:18-20
One of the leaders asked him, "Good rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life?" Yeshua said to him, "Why are you calling me good? No one is good but God! You know the mitzvot - 'Don't commit adultery, don't murder, don't steal, don't give false testimony, honor your father and mother ...'"

1 John 5:3-4
For loving God means obeying his commands. Moreover, his commands are not burdensome, because everything which has God as its Father overcomes the world. And this is what victoriously overcomes the world: our trust.

Supportive Scriptures - Mitzvot of Yeshua

Matthew 7:24-27
"So, everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a sensible man who built his house on bedrock. The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the winds blew and beat against that house, but it didn't collapse, because its foundation was on rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a stupid man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, the rivers flooded, the wind blew and beat against that house, and it collapsed - and its collapse was horrendous!"

Matthew 17:4-5
Kefa said to Yeshua, "It's good that we're here, Lord. I'll put up three shelters if you want - one for you, one for Moshe and one for Eliyahu." While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them; and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!"

Matthew 19:16-19
A man approached Yeshua and said, "Rabbi, what good thing should I do in order to have eternal life?" He said to him, "Why are you asking me about good? There is One who is good! But if you want to obtain eternal life, observe the mitzvot." The man asked him, "Which ones?" and Yeshua said, "Don't murder, don't commit adultery, don't steal, don't give false testimony, honor father and mother and love your neighbor as yourself."

Luke 6:46-49
"Why do you call me, 'Lord! Lord!' but not do what I say? Everyone who comes to me, hears my words and acts on them - I will show you what he is like: he is like someone building a house who dug deep and laid the foundation on bedrock. When a flood came, the torrent beat against that house but couldn't shake it, because it was constructed well. And whoever hears my words but doesn't act on them is like someone who built his house on the ground without any foundation. As soon as the river struck it, it collapsed, and that house became a horrendous wreck!"

Luke 10:25-28
An expert in Torah stood up to try and trap him by asking, "Rabbi, what should I do to obtain eternal life?" But Yeshua said to him, "What is written in the Torah? How do you read it?" He answered, "You are to love ADONAI your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your understanding; and your neighbor as yourself." "Thats the right answer (" Yeshua said. "Do this)

John 8:51
Yes, indeed! I tell you that whoever obeys my teaching will never see death.

John 14:21-24
"Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me, and the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him." Y'hudah (not the one from K'riot) said to him, "What has happened, Lord, that you are about to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?" Yeshua answered him, "If someone loves me, he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Someone who doesn't love me doesn't keep my words - and the word you are hearing is not my own but that of the Father who sent me."

John 15:10
If you keep my commands, you will stay in my love - just as I have kept my Father's commands and stay in his love.

1 John 2:4
Anyone who says, "I know him," but isn't obeying his commands is a liar - the truth is not in him.

Commentary

Christian theologians have often misinterpreted (and sometimes mistranslated) the Shaliach Paul's writings to be saying that the mitzvot (commandments of the Torah) - the laws - the statutes, ordinances, and judgments given at Mt. Sinai - were rendered uselessly obsolete by Yeshua. Those who hold that view teach that God's law has been replaced by His grace, so that if we love God and one another, none of the specifics of the "Mosaic Law" matter anymore.¹ Such views are in direct contradiction of Yeshua's words in Matthew 5:19, which says:

So whoever disobeys the least of these mitzvot and teaches others to do so will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But whoever obeys them and so teaches will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Also problematic, is the mistranslation (of verse 17 of many Bible versions) of the Greek word , that is commonly but incorrectly rendered "fulfill":

Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. (NKJ)

The word in this context that should actually be translated "fill" (the CJB translates it "complete"), and these numerous mistranslations have fueled antinomians to teach that no part of God's Law given at Mount Sinai is to be obeyed today because Yeshua fulfilled it in Himself.²

There is another Scripture whose misunderstanding has caused no little amount of controversy, and that is Matthew 19:17, in which Yeshua tells a man:

But if you want to obtain eternal life, observe the mitzvot.

Yeshua seems to be saying that salvation comes from a legalistic observance of the law, whereas we know from Galatians 2:16 (as well as other Scriptures) that:

... a person is not declared righteous by God on the ground of his legalistic observance of Torah commands, but through the Messiah Yeshua's trusting faithfulness.

The answer to this seeming contradiction is, of course, that Deuteronomy 18:15-19 of the Mosaic Torah prophesies the coming of Messiah Yeshua, and commands us to listen to Him and obey Him, as he will be speaking in God's Name. So, to obey the Torah, is also to receive and obey the mitzvot of Yeshua.

A final word: This Mitzvah (and this entire book) rests on my (and Daniel Juster's) belief in the continued efficacy of all the Scriptures of the Torah (2 Timothy 3:16-17), recognizing that we have to be led by the Ruach Hakodesh for their application in this New Covenant age.³

1. Scriptures often cited to support this view include Romans 6:14 and 2 Corinthians 12:9.

2. Not all of the Scriptures and mitzvot given centuries ago and referenced herein can (or should) be applied literally in todays world

3. Ibid.

Classical Commentators

Remarkably, none of the classical commentators include obeying God's Commandments as one of their 613 Mitzvot. One might speculate that the reason for the omission is that the very existence of God's Mitzvot makes our need to obey them self-evident, but then why did God command our obedience so many times? The only mitzvot that touch on obeying God are Maimonides' mitzvah #RP172, and HaChinuch's corresponding mitzvah #C516. In those mitzvot, they interpret Deuteronomy 18:15-19 as our needing to listen to and obey all of God's prophets even if they instruct us to temporarily do the opposite of a commandment of Scripture. Of course I do not agree with that interpretation, and instead believe that the Scripture prophetically refers to only one prophet - Yeshua - who had yet to come at the time that the Commandment was given, but who has since come. Meir does not have a corresponding mitzvah to #RP172 and #C516.

NCLA: JMm JFm KMm KFm GMm GFm

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