The Ten Commandments – The Key to Life!
In this second parashah of Devarim, Vaetchanan, we will see Moshe Rabeinu more down to earth than someone whose head is in the clouds. He was very much like a father with a huge heart for his children, wanting the best for them. When I had to leave my children before a trip, I would warn them about not getting into trouble by keeping bad company, and here, Moshe is doing the same thing. It can be very destructive. Moshe, as a father and teacher, wanted to impart something important to us.
I practice “Biblical Judaism”, revealed to us by the Creator in the Torah, as opposed to the other forms of Judaism – such as Orthodox, Conservative, Reformed, or Karaite. We have another great teacher, Rabbi Yeshua, who followed in Moshe’s footsteps, but his name has been so muddied and abused by our people, who have allowed the Gentiles to impose their ideas about him and have destroyed his good name. Yeshua wanted to remind the Israelites to return to the Aseret ha Dibrot, the Ten Sayings given to us by Moshe. He will repeat these ten in this parashah. Many theologians and bible scholars make excuses by saying that they are only human wisdom and do not come from above, because the words here in chapter 5 are not exactly what was written in Exodus 20. Devarim was written in a more personal way than the first four books, so that Moshe can remind this generation of the importance of continuity. He wanted us to have a personal relationship with the Creator. Very few make an effort to see what the Word of God says, but blindly accept what other people say about it.
In Deut. 4:1-2, Moshe says: “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes (chukkim) and the ordinances (mishpatim), which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land which the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you. You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you take away anything from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” He is speaking about the Ten Commandments revealed at Mt. Sinai to the people of Israel – all witnesses; he was not speaking about the תרי׳׳ג Teryag, the 613 rules. What has religion done? They have added their own books of human wisdom, which they say have been inspired by the Ruach HaKodesh, and these books have taken precedence over the Word of God.
Now this is very important…Rabbi Yeshua went specifically to his people, the Israelites, not to the Gentiles, for one reason… to remind Israel that they were a chosen people. Israel’s role was to spread these Ten Sayings to all the nations, to be Ohr L’goyim, light to the nations. He told them that they had forgotten them; that they had their beautiful religion, the magnificent Temple, but they were not doing the basic things. On the contrary, they were placing them beneath their teachings to the point that they were destroying the Creator’s Words.
Please understand what I am telling you. Many of us, whether we want it or not, have accepted the word of man over the Word of God. We have been fooled. We are proud of our religions as if religion is what defines us. But He is the one who created each of us and the universe. We have no right to replace the Creator. We have established ourselves as human gods and removed His Words of decency and morality, replacing them with our indecency and immorality. Even the most religious leaders today are becoming wishy-washy because they are more interested in being accepted by people than by the Creator.
Popularity is not measured by doing what is right but by following the majority. I was walking recently in a certain part of town and saw men and women with tattoos all over their bodies from head to toe. It has become the fashion, and it is obvious that everyone prefers to follow the crowd instead of being their own person. One of our greatest mistakes is that we allow others to define us. Some of us here ask me, “Rabbi, but who are we?” They want to be defined by outsiders. I tell everyone, “Don’t allow others to define you; be yourself, even if it is difficult.” You are who you are because of the Creator. Psalm 139 tells us that the Creator made us in a marvellous way. He doesn’t make mistakes. Why should we lose that to be like others? That is why Moshe begged the people not to add or take away anything from His Word (Ten Commandments). We have added books to God’s words to the point that man’s books have replaced the Torah. As Yeshua said, your human traditions have annulled the Word of God, but we don’t like to hear the truth.
In Deut 4:15, he continues… “Be very careful of what you do, since you did not see any form on the day that the LORD spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire; see that you do not corrupt yourself by making an image of any figure, male or female, the likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the form of nay winged bird that flies in the sky or the form of anything that creeps on the ground, the form of any fish that is in the waters below the earth. And when you look up to the sky and behold the sun and the moon and the stars, the whole heavenly host, you must not be lured into bowing down to them or serving them. These, your Godיהוה allotted to other people everywhere under heaven; but יהוה you took and brought us out of Egypt, that iron blast furnace, to be God’s very own people, as it is until today.…” I am reading to you from a Christian version of the Bible, and it is interesting; these words are so clear, yet they have made Yeshua into a god, have erected statues, and they worship pictures of him as a god, even if they do not want to admit that the Word of God tells them not to. Idolatry has crept into religion.
The Glory of the Lord is manifested for Israel. There is no question that we have been chosen. Now I’m going to jump ahead to the Ten Commandments and the Shema. Hebrew is a polyvalent language, i.e. one word can have many meanings depending upon the context. A non-native Hebrew speaker can miss the essence of the passages in the Torah. That’s what leads people to force their understanding into the Word of God instead of drawing the true meaning out of the Word. The Gentiles have developed Systematic Theology, which is a method of interpreting the Scriptures. Two terms describe how they do that…“exegesis,” which means to bring out the meaning of the Word, while “eisegesis” is to take a concept already in their mind and force it into the Word of God. You will see that 99% of what we know today comes from eisegesis, no matter which group you belong to. The phrase “Shema Israel Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad” means “Hear oh Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is One”. The word “Echad” can mean “unique, the only or singular”. The meaning “compound unity” has been forced into it by a certain religion to justify its doctrine. We have been flooded by theological ideas in every religion. No matter what sect you belong to, I can assure you that you have been taught their understanding of the Scriptures.
At the end of this parashah in chapter 7:6, we read: “For you are a consecrated people to the LORD your God who has chosen you to be His own peculiar people (am segullahלְעַם סְגֻלָּה ), from among all peoples that are upon the face of the earth”. He told Israel that they would be different than the rest, but today Israel wants to be like the other nations. This is nothing new. They wanted to have a human king when they chose Saul, and threw out the Creator. We constantly look for a man to replace the Creator.
He continues in 7:7 “It is not because you are the most numerous of peoples that יהוה grew attached to you and chose you—indeed, you are the smallest of peoples; It is not because you are the most numerous of peoples that יהוה grew attached to you and chose you—indeed, you are the smallest of peoples;” He did not choose us because we were more numerous or richer than any other nation; on the contrary, we were nobody. That’s why we could never take the credit for who we are. All the credit belongs to Him, blessed be His name. Israel has the largest percentage per capita of Nobel Prizes of any other nation. Is it because we are the most intelligent? No! Go back to Bereshit 12:3, where Abraham Avinu was told that we would be a blessing to all the nations. Israel exists for that reason, and the greatest blessing that we have to give to the world is the Ten Sayings.
Chapter 7:9 states: “Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God; the faithful God, who keeps His (Brit) covenant (referring specifically to the Ten Commandments) and gives mercy to those who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations; and repay those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them;…” How do we hate the Creator? When we refuse to obey His Commandments and do the opposite of what He tells us to do. That attitude is sadly rampant among our people today. They are called Secular Jews who want nothing to do with the Creator; then we wonder why we are in such a terrible situation. On top of that, religious Jews work to impose their understanding of God’s Word instead of simply following the basic Ten Commandments.
Verse 11 is important: “Therefore keep the commandments (Mitzvot), and the statutes (Chukkim), and the ordinances (Mishpatim), which I command you this day, to do them.” The first three of the Ten Commandments are called Mitzvot, which depict our relationship with the Creator. The middle two are Chukkim, understood as the hinges between God (the first 3) and our neighbour (the last 5) and are related to loving ourselves. Chukkim do not have a logical explanation, but they bind us to Him. They are: Keep the Shabbat and Honour our father and mother. They are for our good. The last five, the Mishpatim, teach us how to live in harmony with our neighbour, our fellow man. If we, as the hinges, do not have a strong relationship with the Creator and we do not love ourselves, we cannot love either the Creator or our fellow man. This is what our Rabbi Yeshua taught us.
We do not follow a religion; as I have said time and again, “Let’s say no to religion and yes to the Creator.” The definition of religion is everything that humans do to pacify God. That is what the pagans did with their gods. We try to buy His favour with deeds. Religions employ tools that make us believe that we are doing the right thing, so that we can feel good about ourselves, and at the same time, we think that we can manipulate the Creator; that we can pacify whatever god we have made. He would be happy to receive our good gifts from us because this god depends on us and this relationship. In truth, it is totally the opposite. We depend on Him. We didn’t create Him; He created us, even though most religions do create their own gods.
We are uniquely made. There are no two people alike. We each have a very important role and function. We may not like our position and prefer to be accepted by everyone, but this is not the case. The closer we walk with the Creator, the further we become from other human beings. Not because we choose that, but they distance themselves from us. They do not want to follow the morality or decency that the Creator is asking of us. Others prefer to do whatever they want without caring about anyone else, only about themselves. In the 60s, the book “I’m OK, you’re OK, became very popular, teaching that we could all do whatever we wanted as long as we don’t bother anyone else. The problem is, we do bother others. We need to learn to respect the rights of others. I simply ask you to allow me to have my relationship with the Creator, and don’t force me to deny Him in my life.
The best example is modern Israel. People say that with the power and might of their army, Israel will be able to win over any enemy. Don’t be so naive. The Scriptures tell us, “Not by power, not by might, but by your spirit, says the LORD of the armies.” That’s the only way that Israel and we, His people, can continue. People ask me, “Who is a Jew or an Israelite?” One of the princes of the tribe of Judah was Caleb. This name means” from the heart” or “dog”, usually given to the Gentiles. He became a prince of Judah without being a native-born Israelite. Here is a great lesson for those who were not born as a native Israelite but are called to be part of Israel. You are also “am segullah.” God is the One who chooses who will be part of His people. Keep His commandments – His Mitzvot, Chukkim and Mishpatim. They are the constitution of Israel, the basic principles of how to live our lives. Everything else is mere commentary.
Shabbat Shalom
Rabbi Netanel Ben Yochanan, Z” l,
Ranebi