The Torah (5)
The Ten Words –
a special beginning
André H. Roosma
23 March 2012
In this series we already discussed the character of
the Torah and Yashu‘ah and the Torah. Now I want
to pay attention to the Ten Words (also known as the Ten Commandments), that core piece from the Torah; and
then specifically the beginning of it.
Though there is much agreement about the number of Ten Words, there are different divisions in
circulation within Judaism and Christianity.
Remarkable in the Talmudic numbering is the first,
significant Word, which lacks in other versions or has been added
only marginally to the first Word.
What we have here is what I have come to see as the most essential line in
the Ten Words. Just because this is not a commandment; not a law,
it has been omitted from the Ten Words by most Christian churches.
Only because there was the legalistic assumption
that the Ten Words would be Ten Commandments...
אני יהוה אלהיכם
“I [am] YaHUaH your God”
The question can be asked: why do so many instructions in the Torah start with these specific words: אני יהוה –
“I [am]
YaHUaH” ? (See Exodus
6: 2, 6, 29; 15: 26; 20: 2; 29: 46; Leviticus
11: 44, 45; 18: 2, 4, 5, 6, 21, 30; 19: 3, 4, 10, 12,
14, 16, 18, 25, 28, 30, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37, etc. - in total at least 50
times only in the book Leviticus!)
Why does the God of Israel, the
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, draw the attention with such emphasis
to His great Name, before giving any instruction to His people?
Could that be related to His Name signifying that He is the Source of
all life and that He wants to be with His people?1
He knows that He is the Source.
Only when we are connected to that Source, can we live as we were meant to.
He is the One giving us life.
He is the One Who wants to be with us.
He is the One Who wants to change our hearts, such that we start to long,
from the inside out, to live according to His instructions.
Without Him everything is fruitless.
He, YaHUaH makes the big difference!
For this reason I radically disagree about the statement that all big
world religions want in principle the same thing.
What follows (which, as Yashu‘ah said, can be summarized as:
“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your
heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and your neighbor as
yourself.”) can have elements in common with or resemble
what others have taught.
But the basis of the Bible is that one -unique- sentence representing an
untold and totally unmatched wealth:
“I [am] YaHUaH
your God”1
In no other religion you will find anything like it! Only in the Bible!
Hallelu YaH !
Also Yashu‘ah
honored this.
And in agreement with Psalm 22: 22 He made God’s glorious Name known to
His disciples – already by living out His second Name Immanuel, by being with
them:
“I have revealed Your
Name to the men whom You gave to me out of the
world...” Yahu-chanan (John) 17: 6a
He Himself knew also to what extent He was dependent -as human Being- upon
His heavenly Father:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do
nothing of Himself but what He sees the Father do. For whatever things He does,
these also the Son does likewise.” Yahu-chanan 5: 19 (cf. 5: 30; 8: 38)
About us He says in fact the same. We are utterly dependent upon Him!
“I am the True Vine, and My Father is the
Vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away. And
every one that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bring forth more
fruit. Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither [can] you unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you [are] the
branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, the same
brings forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone
does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered. And they
gather and cast [them] into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you shall
ask what you will, and it shall be done to you.”
Yahu-chanan 15: 1-7
See also Deuteronomy 8 – a chapter in which God called His people
to keep on remembering how He, YaHUaH, had rescued
them from the slavery and brought them in the country of abundance.
It was not their own merit that they were so blessed; it was due to Him.
Also when they would arrive in that promised land and would become rich, they
had to keep remembering this.
It was meant to saturate their entire life style.
That one Name had to resonate in everything!
From Him only is all our expectation! To Him be all honor!
Hallelu YaH !
Notes
This is a sequel to: The Shema‘ – the First Testament declaration of faith (1),
Part (2),
Part (3),
Part (4),
Part (5), and
Torah
- (1) A series of laws and commandments?,
(2)
Throughout the First Testament,
(3)
Absolutely delightful! and
(4)
Yashu‘ah and the Torah.
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