Living the Torah

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COMMANDMENTS OF THE TORAH

As a baseline, one should strive to keep the 10 commandments of God.  These are summarized by the great commandments given in Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18 as follows.  

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”

Deuteronomy 6:5 ESV.

“You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.” 

Leviticus 19:18 ESV.

These were stated by Christ to be our Great Commandments:

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷ And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  ⁴⁰ On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:36-40 ESV

The first great commandment summarizes the first 4 of the 10 commandments; to love God above all else. 

The second commandment summarizes the next 6 of the 10 commandments; which concerns loving your neighbor as yourself. 

Christ states that upon these two commandments rests the entirety of the law and prophets. 

So let’s recall the 10 commandments.  I’ve provided a mnemonic device to help remember them. (Again, 1-4 are directed toward God, while 5-10 are directed toward neighbor.)  

10 Commandments (Exodus 20:1-18 ESV)

Mnemonic: GIVS HHASTE

GIVS: gods, Idols, Vain, Sabbath

HHASTE: Honor, Homicide, Adultery, Steal, Testimony (False), Envy

¹And God spoke all these words, saying, ² “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

³ “You shall have no other gods before me. [gods: 1 of 10 – directed toward God]

⁴ “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, [idols: 2 of 10 – directed toward God] or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷ “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, [vain: 3 of 10 – directed toward God] for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

⁸ “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. [sabbath: 4 of 10 – directed toward God] ⁹ Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

¹² “Honor your father and your mother, [honor: 5 of 10- directed toward others] that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹³ “You shall not murder. [homicide: 6 of 10 – directed toward others]

¹⁴ “You shall not commit adultery. [adultery: 7 of 10 – directed toward others]

¹⁵ “You shall not steal. [steal: 8 of 10 – directed toward others]

¹⁶ “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. [testimony (false): 9 of 10 – directed toward others]

¹⁷ “You shall not covet [envy: 10 of 10 – directed toward others] your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

¹⁸ Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off. 

Exodus 20:1-18 ESV

Most Christians try to live by these principles, with the exception of a weekly Sabbath. In addition to a weekly Sabbath, the Christian should also strive to keep the feasts. 

FEASTS OF THE TORAH

Christ is depicted in the 7 Feasts as follows: Christ was crucified, given our sins, rose again, ascended on high, will return for His kingdom, judge the world, and grant peace to His elect.

Within our timeframe, Christ fulfilled the first 4 spring feasts, and we await His return and fulfillment of the last 3 fall feasts.

To help remember the 7 feasts, here is a simple Mnemonic: no oven frost in our trooper’s tent (we are well fed by our feasts)

no OV EN FR OST in our TRU PUR’s TENT

1. pass OV er – Timeframe: Apr – Christ crucified
2. unleav EN bread – Timeframe: Apr – Christ given our sins
3. first FR uits – Timeframe: Apr-June – Christ is risen
4. pentec OST (Weeks) – Timeframe: June – Christ ascended, the Holy Spirit brought down
5. TRU mpets – Timframe: September – Christ returns for His millennial Kingdom (10 days)
6. yom kip PUR) -Oct – All are judged at the white throne
7. tabernacles (booths or TENT s) -Oct – We are granted exodus and rest for eternity

You can read of the 7 feasts of God, as well as the weekly sabbath, in Leviticus 23:

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.

[Weekly: The Sabbath]

³ “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.

[1. April Timeframe: pass OV er] – Day of Rest, Feast

⁴ “These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. ⁵ In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight,^[a] is the Lord’s Passover. 

[2. April Timeframe: unleav EN ed bread] – Between Sabbath’s, abstaining from breads 7 days

⁶ And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. ⁷ On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. ⁸ But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”

[3. April – June: first FR uits (Counting the Omer)] – Day of Rest, Giving

⁹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, ¹¹ and he shall wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. ¹² And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³ And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah^[b] of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin.^[c] 14 And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

[4. June timeframe: pentec OST (Shavuot/Feast of Weeks)] – Day of Rest, Giving

¹⁵ “You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. ¹⁶ You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord. ¹⁷ You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the Lord. ¹⁸ And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁹ And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. ²⁰ And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. ²¹ And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations. ²² “And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

[5. September timeframe: TRU umpets (Rosh Hoshanah)] – Day of Rest, Trumpet blowing

²³ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. ²⁵ You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the Lord.”

[6. October timeframe: yom kip PUR (Day of Atonement)] – Day of Rest, Fasting (afflicting)

²⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷ “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves^[d] and present a food offering to the Lord. ²⁸ And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. ²⁹ For whoever is not afflicted^[e] on that very day shall be cut off from his people. ³⁰ And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. ³¹ You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. ³² It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.”

[7. October timeframe: TENTs (Sukkot)] – Between Sabbath’s, 7 days away from the world

³³ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴ “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths^[f] to the Lord. ³⁵ On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. ³⁶ For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work. ³⁷ “These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the Lord food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, ³⁸ besides the Lord’s Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord. ³⁹ “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. ⁴⁰ And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. ⁴¹ You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. ⁴² You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, ⁴³ that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

⁴⁴ Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the Lord.

Leviticus 23:1-18 ESV 

PRACTICES OF THE TORAH

In addition, to daily remind oneself of the commandments, the Christian may wear a Tzitzit, hang a Mezuzah on their doorframe, and keep a kosher diet (which is a reminder to keep oneself clean from the world – essentially consisting of avoiding the scavenging animals of the earth).  These 3 simple practices are daily reminders to walk upright, with our eyes on God.

Remember, you are Israel, so these verses are speaking to you.

1. Tzitzit

“The Lord said to Moses, “Speak to the people of Israel, and tell them to make tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a cord of blue on the tassel of each corner. And it shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, to do them, not to follow after your own heart and your own eyes, which you are inclined to whore after. So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and be holy to your God. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.””

Numbers 15:37-41 ESV

2. Mezuzah

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 ESV

3. Kosher Diet

Kosher food laws can be found in Leviticus 11:1-46, but essentially boil down to avoiding the scavenger animals, such as pigs and shell-fish (oysters, clams, shrimp, etc).  Again, a reminder to keep oneself clean from the world.

SUMMARY

So keep the great commandments of the Torah which summarize the 10 (includes a weekly Sabbath), keep the 7 feasts of the Torah as best you can (youtube is a great resource), wear a tzitzit (can be small, concealed if desired), hang a Mezuzah on your doorpost to remind yourself of God’s commands in your coming and going, and eat kosher.  These are just physical reminders of underlying spiritual truths, so most importantly, understand that we live God’s commands through faith, not works.  These symbolic gestures are merely outward reflections of a heart changed from stone to flesh.  His laws are written on your heart, and you keep them to the best of your ability because you love God and love your neighbor. We are no longer slaves, but heirs, and we keep His commands because we love Him.  By doing these things, as a Christian, you have essentially fulfilled God’s Torah, for the remainder of the sacrificial law is fulfilled in Christ, and we are forgiven our sins (torah transgressions) through His sacrifice.  It is that simple, and it is in this simplicity the truth of God’s one true church resides.  This truth I pray is what both houses could agree on.

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