1) I am The LORD (THE LORD) Your G_D.
2) Thou shall have no other gods before me.
3) You shall not take the Name of The LORD Your G_D in vain.
4) Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it separate.
Commentary:
We started with four of the great Ten Commandments dealing with “loving G_D” and we can see how Mashiach’s revelation of discerning Torah resulted in the exposure of over 600 related commands/revelatory declarations. And most assuredly the number is much higher … please pardon the author's ignorance and limited knowledge of the things of G_D!
But the count is not what is important for us initially … what is important is the fact that we understand and accept that Torah in its fullness provides a robust, and concise depiction of what “loving G_D” really means.
As we have seen and reviewed herein, the scope of loving G_D is not something that should be personally contrived by self-translation of the first four great commandments! The very nature of these commandments indicates that G_D determines the translation … that G_D establishes the framework for dealing with him! On this issue should there be any doubts?
What is also very important is that we understand and apply the principles and Spirit of the Torah declarations while always keeping in mind the root commandment from which they emanate. This method revealed by Mashiach provides for us the basis of understanding the heavier and lighter Hebraic construct. Within this construct we should readily see how some commandments seem far more important than others while at the same time, since they are all connected to a critical parent commandment, by nature the commandments are equal … hence we break one and essentially break them all … or in other words … rip apart one leaf and negatively affect the entire tree!
Given this construct it would seem imperative that we give the passionate effort and spend the time to understand the details … oh yes … it is G_D who is in the details of his word and none other!
Perhaps this depiction will be easier to consume: Take mathematics for instance … a science … a subject! Certainly we can understand at a summary level what mathematics entails. However if we are to really understand and utilize mathematics then we would naturally need to study addition, subtraction, division, multiplication and so forth. From a loving G_D perspective then we simply cannot comprehend the scope of truth by regurgitating “love G_D” … “have no idols” … “don't profane his NAME” and … “keep the Sabbath” … without understanding the details of how the individual operations work and are applied! These details are what the Torah contains. These details have been provided so that we lack nothing as we work out our relationship with our LORD!
Do we think for one moment that G_D was unaware that the original Israelite culture in which the Torah was provided would be significantly different than our modern culture? Do we really think that G_D’s Torah as given to Israel does not still unlock the operational textbook which we need to function? If we don't believe G_D has things under control than most assuredly G_D is not omnipotent and has played a very big ruse on humanity … or perhaps does not even exist?
Hopefully the identification and rudimentary exposure of the eternal principles associated with the loving G_D commandments lead us to the understanding that the declarations remain effective and affective in our lives and can be readily applied within our daily walk.
We must move beyond the delusion that G_D is to be personally defined based upon some abstracted framework or philosophy. G_D if nothing else is a BEING of order and control. G_D is frankly all about orthodoxy … he is about his way or the highway … he is about the narrow path and instructs us to not deviate to the left or to the right! Do we think G_D is impressed with human philosophy or do we think he is concerned about us humans conforming ourselves to what he has defined us to be?
So for a moment let us remove the ethereal, emotional and individual aspects of loving G_D and put on a Hebraic Torah centric thinking cap and ask the question: “can I really love G_D and not fulfill the tactical commands within Torah that define loving G_D? Frankly it would seem preposterous if the answer is yes … in this author's humble opinion!
Ultimately loving G_D in a Hebraic perspective is less to do with how one feels and more to do with how one lives … how one honors his NAME, his MASHIACH, his Spirit, his INSTRUCTION, his CALENDAR, his COMMUNITY and so forth … via one's own time, effort, passion and resources! If we are not living and accounting for the basics as defined in Torah then we must pragmatically consider the possibility that we are deluded and serving some other god regardless of what we have conceived in our own imaginations!
Loving G_D is determined by the sacrifices that one makes to live the way he ordained for people. These sacrifices, which separate us from Olam Hazeh, are made out of love for him. Ultimately if we want to love G_D then we need to know G_D … fear him … worship him … cleave to him.
Hopefully the brief review of these “loving THE LORD” commandments moves us closer to understanding how we can adequately respond to the mortal gift of existence and further yet to the gift of eternal life through Mashiach Yeshua!
To know him is to love him … do we really know him?
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