Category Archives: Commandments

A series looking at the 10 statements (commandments) as found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5.

Compromise, compromise, over the Cliff Edge: “10 Commandments – Do Not Murder” continued…

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I’m starting this post with a joke.  Not because the topic is humorous, but because it helps illustrate a point.  (I don’t know who the original author of the joke is.  I first heard it more then 30 years ago.  If I find out who the author is, I’ll post the  credit.)  Here’s the joke as well as I remember it:

A Catholic priest, an evangelical Pastor, and a Jewish Rabbi were discussing when life begins.  The priest states unequivocally that life begins at the moment of conception, and that there is no discussion about it.  The Pastor states that he sees the issue a little less strictly, and that life begins when the heart starts beating.  The Rabbi states, “You two know nothing!  Life begins when the dog dies and the kids move out!”

Yes, this blog post is about abortion.  And the above joke alludes to a problem in the church that has been around for some time.  As soon as Christians entered the discussion as to when ‘life begins’, it lost the battle.  Such a discussion is only about making a compromise.  Once one compromise is made, no matter how seemingly innocuous, eventually more will be required.  As is now happening.

States are passing or seriously considering passing laws allowing abortion up to the moment of birth, and allowing people other then doctors perform the procedure.

This occurrence shouldn’t be surprising.  That this would eventually occur was obvious.  Once abortions were allowed under some circumstances, then the call for compromising on other circumstances would never end.  And it will continue.  And over the cliff we go.

We are now stating that life, up to birth (and possibly shortly thereafter), has no value.  This devaluation of life will continue.  What’s next?  Babies that have defects can be killed?  Unthinkable you say?  This is exactly what happened not so long ago in a modern society!  (Don’t remember? – think Nazi Germany and their indiscriminate killing of handicapped people.)

God states that He abhors the ‘offering’ [sacrificing] of babies and children to foreign gods.

You shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.  Leviticus 18:21 (ESV)

Why did the people sacrifice their children to other gods?  The basic reason can be stated as this: they wanted a better life for themselves.

Are abortions today any different?  Why are the vast majority of abortions done today?  Because the mom thinks her life will be better without the child.

No difference!  In times past, the babies were offered directly to a god in exchange for a better life for the parents.  Today the babies are offered to some nebulous idea in exchange for the mom having a better life!

We need to repent on behalf of this nation!  We also need to start supporting those groups that are helping the moms find alternatives to abortion!

Today, Feb. 23rd, 2019, a call has gone out nationwide (USA) for prayer and repentance.  It’s about time!   (www.dayofmourning.org – best viewed with Google Chrome).

Yes, God’s command ‘do not kill’ includes the unborn.

P.S.

If you want to argue against this stance by bringing up cases such as when the mother’s life is in danger, I say to you, “You hypocrite!  If you were really concerned about the life of the mother, you wouldn’t be supporting these laws that will allow people without medical degrees to perform the abortion!  That type of thing took many, many women’s lives!”

  • Yosef

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10 Commandments Series – 6: “Do Not Murder” Exodus 20:13

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Now we are getting into the easier to repeat, oft quoted, rarely taken at more then face value, commandments.  At the top of the list is this one,

“You shall not murder.”  Exodus 20:13  (ESV)

It’s really simple.  Don’t murder.  Yet for all its simplicity, there is a bit of controversy around it, and it is often ignored.

First some controversy.  I won’t spend much time on this.  The Hebrew word used clearly means, and is used for, ‘murder’, not ‘kill’.  A different Hebrew word would have been used if the command had been ‘You shall not kill,’ or it had meant both.  Unfortunately, many of the older English translations use the word ‘kill’, and some people then take this and form theology and social norms from it.  But the word is ‘murder.’  You can easily verify this if you want.

But how is this command ignored?  Most of us haven’t murdered anyone or even want to… or have we?

Yeshua (Jesus) said:

“But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.” Matthew 5:22 (ESV)

Yeshua pointed out that the commandment is deeper then just physically murdering someone.  He pointed out that it can be done with words also!

To take this a bit further, what about when we choose to not help someone or to not encourage someone when the need is right in front of us.  There are many passages in the Bible exhorting us to help and encourage others.

So, flip this command around and look at it from a positive viewpoint.  If ‘do not murder’ is stating the command from the “don’t do” perspective, how would it be stated from the “do this” perspective?  By the way, looking at a command from a ‘positive’ viewpoint is a very Jewish way of looking at the commands of God.

Help to live; encourage; assist; have positive words and deeds.

When we pass up opportunities to help someone to live; to encourage or assist someone; or to have positive words or deeds, then we are, in a way, helping to ‘murder’ the person who otherwise would have benefited.

So, look at the command to ‘not murder’ from Yeshua’s (Jesus’) viewpoint, and act accordingly.  It’ll bring joy to both you and the one being helped, and Yehovah (the LORD) will smile!

Shalom!  – Yosef

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10 Commandments Series – 5: “Honor Your Father and Mother” Exodus 20:12

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“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12 (ESV)

This we are commanded to do.  It also makes a lot of sense.  But do we follow it?

The first thing to realize is that the command isn’t targeted at children.  Sure, they are included, but it is targeted at adults!  And if I were to rate our society as a whole (Christians included), I’d have to say that we fail miserably.  There is little respect for age anymore in our western culture.  The older one is, the more one is seen as a ‘burden’ on society and the family.  This backwards view of how to treat people as they get older can be shown to be one of the root causes of many of the ills in our society (but I’m not going to do so here.)  And these problems start with how we treat our own parents.

We are commanded to ‘honor’ our parents.  Interesting that the command isn’t to ‘love’ them.  Yeshua (Jesus) made two good illustrations of what it means to honor your parents.

In Matthew 15:4-8, Yeshua (Jesus) shows that honoring includes financial support.

In John 19:26-27, Yeshua (Jesus) made sure that his mother, Mary, would be taken care of after he was gone.

And there is something interesting to learn from the Hebrew word used for ‘honor.’

“We are not commanded to love our parents, or even to like them.  The Hebrew” word used is ‘kabed’.  “The word ‘kabed’ is an imperative verb, and it is related to the noun kaved, or heavy.  There should be some heft to the way we feel about our parents.”  “The Grammar of God” by Aviya Kushner, pg. 134.

Here are a couple more verses that are relevant:

“You shall rise up before the gray-headed and honor the aged, and you shall revere your God; I am the LORD.” Leveticus 19:32 (ESV)

“…and they [the parents] shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.” Deuteronomy 21:20 (ESV)

To sum up, we should have our parents’ wellbeing in our mind, and be doing what we can for them.  We should be listening to their advice, and honoring them and all older folk around us!  (Did you notice that the verse in Deuteronomy 21 is talking about a grown son?  One wouldn’t be accusing a child of being a drunkard.)

We should take honoring our parents as a serious duty in our lives.

Our lives, and the culture, will be better for it.

  • Yosef

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What’s the Big Deal about the Sabbath?

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“God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, for on it He rested from His work of creation.”  Genesis 2:3 (HCSB)

“Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever.  It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days Yehovah (the LORD) made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” Exodus 31:16-17 (ESV)

“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 Yehovah (the LORD) in all your dwelling places.” Leviticus 23:3 (ESV)

“Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as Yehovah (the LORD) your God has commanded you.” Deuteronomy 5:12 (HCSB)

“And the foreigners who join themselves to the Yehovah (the LORD), to minister to him, to love the name of Yehovah (the LORD), and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—” Isaiah 56:6 (ESV)

And throughout the “new” testament we see Yeshua (Jesus) and the apostles observing the Sabbath in one way or the other.  It’s obviously important.

The Sabbath started as the ‘seventh day’, from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown.  There isn’t much contention there.  But Christianity (most of it) now says that it is on Sunday.  Why?  Well, here is a bit of history.

The Roman Emperor Constantine decreed Sunday to be the day of rest (though only in cities) around 321 A.D.  He did so for various reasons, none of which had to do with him loving Yehovah (the LORD).  This is easily verified in the history books.  Granted some Christians had already been observing Sunday as the Sabbath to avoid being called Jewish, but this was not universal.  And it wasn’t until long after Constantine’s decree that Christianity gave the reason for the change as having to do with Yeshua’s (Jesus’) resurrection.

So much for the history lesson.  Now back to the Sabbath.

I didn’t begin to appreciate just how important the Sabbath was until I started observing it.  Now I see it as a wonderful time where I don’t work, and where I can take as much time as I want to be with our Father.  In Deuteronomy 5:15 God tells us, as a reason for celebrating the Sabbath, to remember that we were slaves and are now free.

In observing the Sabbath, I proclaim that I am no longer a slave to the world and its ways, and I can rest!  (What other creature on this planet can do that!)

Begin to honor Him and observe the Sabbath on the day He gave us.  You won’t regret it.

As a last note I will say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with worshiping God on Sunday.  Just don’t make that into the Sabbath!

– Yosef

Was Eating the Apple the “Original Sin”?

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Many (I used to be able to say ‘most’ here) people have heard of the story of Adam and Eve and their eating of the apple.

“And Yehovah (the LORD) God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you will surely die.”  Genesis 2:16-17 (ESV)

And shortly thereafter we see,

The serpent said to the woman, ” “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”  And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” “

Then Eve reaches out and touches and touches the fruit (traditionally an apple), doesn’t die, eats of it and then gives some to Adam (who was standing right there).

Was the first sin was eating the apple?  Look a bit closer.  God said, “don’t eat from that tree.”  Eve quoted God as saying, “don’t eat or touch the tree.”

Wait!  When did God say, “don’t touch the tree?”  He didn’t!  Someone added to God’s words!

“Does that really matter?” you may ask.  After all, not touching the tree certainly fills the command of “not eating from the tree.”

I put forward that it does matter.  In fact, adding to God’s word was the original sin!

It doesn’t matter who added to it.  The Bible doesn’t say, though I tend to think that Adam added to it (as it seems to me that men are much more likely to add rules and regulations then women are).

“You shall not add to the word that I command you, not take from it, that you may keep the commandments of Yehovah (the LORD) your God that I command you.” Deuteronomy 4:2 (ESV)

When we add to or subtract from God’s word, we change it, making it all the easier for Satan to challenge the command. 

And Adam and Eve looked, touched, and ate.

In their eyes, the looking and touching was already in violation of the command, so eating was just one small step further.

And we still do the same today!  I can think of several blatant examples of where the Church has changed God’s word and violated His command.  Here is just one example.

God said, “Don’t eat pork.”

The church, when asked if God really meant what He said, responded, “Jesus said we could.”

The problem is that Yeshua (Jesus) never said any such thing, nor did God ever imply that His command would change.   It has gone so far that command of God has been changed into the command of men, stating, “You shall eat pork to show that you are ‘free’ in God through Jesus.”

Does it matter?  When Adam and Eve ate the apple, they died (though physically not immediately).  So to, when the church ate pork, nothing seemed to happen.  Yet something did.

The church no longer understands the difference between clean and unclean, nor that even any such difference exists!  Nor does it understand what it means to be holy.  Both of these things are tied, among other things, to us choosing to follow God’s dietary laws.  (See Leviticus 11:44-47).  And learning both these concepts is involved in our walk with God.

It is a  magnificent picture of God’s grace that there has been no apparent repercussions thus far.  And perhaps they may never be.  But I still choose to follow His words.  And isn’t it interesting that the original sin revolved around changing God’s dietary law, and that His dietary law is still an issue today!

Shalom,   – Yosef