Deuteronomy 27:15–18, The commandments are all inter-conected. To the casual reader, the admonitions contained in these verses may seem to be arranged in a random order, but this is not the case. Consider the following: The prohibition against idolatry (verse 15) is juxtaposed with that of degrading one’s parents (i.e., not honoring one’s parents, or as S. R. Hirsch states in his commentary, “who outwardly is respectful to his parents but inwardly considers himself vastly superior to them”) along with trespassing against one’s neighbor’s property by removing his neighbor’s boundary markers or landmarks.
YHVH’s Torah commandments are all inter-related and one is connected to another. You break one, your break them all.
Now consider this: One who does not honor and fear YHVH but turns to idolatry (the second commandments) will not honor one’s parents (the fifth commandment) (and vice versa) will likewise not honor the property of one’s neighbor (including his neighbor’s wife). Juxtaposed next to these commands is the prohibition against misleading a blind person (verse 18). This means that we should not take advantage of his blindness by advising him in a way beneficial to us and to his disadvantage. Juxtaposed to that is one who steals justice from another by perverting judgment against one who is weaker socially or financially or who is less informed at law than another thereby giving the advantage to the stronger (The ArtScroll Davis Edition Baal HaTurim Chumash/Devarim, pp. 2126–2127).
Can you see how each command is interrelated with all the others? Does this give one insight into the curious statement found in James 2:10? We can see that in one way or the other, all of YHVH’s commandments are inter-related, all depend on each other, and they all stand or fall together. Now relate James 2:10 back to verse eight where the entire Torah-law can be summarized as the “royal law of love.”
As you review YHVH’s list of prohibitions in Deuteronomy 27 can you see any other relationships between these juxtaposed concepts?
Learning to exegete (draw truth out of) Scripture in this manner will yield a whole new level of spiritual revelation to the reader.
Doesn’t it just all go back to the heart? If our hearts are right, then all of it is connected in the way we walk. And yet….although not of the world, we are in it…………and that can create a glitch. If Yeshua is the Word, then ALL of it…………is righteous. One day we shall all walk in inter-connectedness with Him!
You’re absolutely right. All of men’s convoluted and often silly theology aside, it’s really that simple.
Darlene, let me be totally honest with you and the other readers. I’ve been walking with YHVH all my life and been living in the Torah for the better part of 50 years. Some 33 ago, I started being an apologist for the whole word of Elohim against those (often mainline Christians) who wanted to diminish its validity in one way or another. Twenty-five years ago, I started preaching and teaching the word. Seventeen years ago, I started pastoring. Since then, I’ve written and published two Torah commentaries, an unpublished Gospel’s commentary, and have a largely unpublished 1500 page (8 1/2 x 11 inch 11 point font) whole Bible commentary, plus I’ve written dozens of articles and hundreds of blog posts on various Bible subjects. All this is to say that all these words and actions on my part can all be simplified down to what you said in your comment above. It all doesn’t mean much if the heart isn’t right, and if those reading it don’t have a right heart.
Yeshua, who was the fountain head of all knowledge, kept it pretty simple, didn’t he?
The longer I live, the less I feel I have to say or want to say —— except to those who really have a heart to hear it. I often wonder if so much of everything else seems to be so much dust in the wind, vanity of vanities including a lot of my own activities as zealous and well-meaning as they may have been.
I could easily give up this blog and all of my writing activities just to sit at Yeshua’s feet and absorb and draw closer to him. The writing doesn’t mean that much. I do it for YHVH and for his people. I’m concerned that I’m just adding more words to the too many that already exist out there. We hope that we’re being part of the solution more than par to the problem. I guess time will tell.
However, when I sit down to write, and the anointing hits me and everything flows on its own accord and I realize that it’s not me, then I know, in some way, that the Father’s blessing is on it, and this propels me onward despite the frustrations of everything else.
Yeshua kept his teachings real simple, but the simplicity of it all belies its profundity.
So yes, it eventually gets down to the heart. When the heart is right before YHVH, the rest wonderfully falls into place. This is the river of life, the ladder to heaven that Jacob dreamed of, and eventually the theosis itself. (For those who don’t know what this wonderful word means, look it up.) My goal is to say less and hit the heart issues more perfectly that will stir people to reach for the stars in their pursuit of Elohim.
Have a blessed Shabbat, y’all!