6 Keep [shamar-guard, observe, give heed] therefore and do [asah] them; for this is your wisdom [chokmah] and your understanding [biynah] in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people. (Dt 4: 6)
[Note: chokmah=prudence in religious affairs; and biynah=We are to be the object of knowledge to the people. We are to be the point of insight to a lost world.]
We often hear tacit complaint and even distain from the world over our observance and keeping of Torah. Jesus did away with Torah. The Law was nailed to the cross. I personally believe in my heart that when one comes in to a knowledge of the Messiah, whether it be orthodox, tradition or popular Christianity, he or she knows inherently that they must be obedient to the Lord. Tradition and religion has drilled in to our heads that we are not to have anything to do with the Law. In fact, if we even entertain even observing the Sabbath for instance, we are labelled heretic and other offensive names. And then the people rejoice inwardly because they then believe that they will not held responsible for obeying the Laws of the Almighty. It’s almost a relief of sorts. But when you think about this, you may come to the conclusion that this whole issue of whether one should or should not keep the Law (or Torah), it is nothing more than a self-centered selfish cognitive process. It’s all about us. It is not at all about the Father and what He desires or moreso what He demands of us.
I recall back in March of 2013 when my boss was dismissed from her position how the staff rejoiced (and to a large extent so did I) because the staff saw that by her departure they we were no longer going to be subjected to a bunch of harsh and cumbersome rules. The two-decades that she commanded our division, she enacted rule after rule, policy after policy, a great deal of those being petty and ultimately pointless and in many cases created in a spirit of paranoia and spite. There was a steep price to pay when one of those rules was broken. Now being honest and objective, many of the rules and policies that she enacted were actually brilliant and it was those rules that made our operation run competently and smoothly and there were few incidents of error or oversight by the staff since there were incorporated redundancies, checks and balances. In total, I must admit, those rules and policies–minus the spiteful, pointless and petty ones–served our organization well. Our organization assumed a leadership role in the State of California as the Coroner’s Office who did things properly and competently. It was our organization that became the go-to organization in the state for doing things in the realm of medicolegal death investigations the best way possible. It’s been 18-months since she was forcibly retired. It was her overbearing enforcement of those rules and policies that got her in hot water with the Department’s administration. Nevertheless, today we’ve departed far from most of the rules and policies that she enacted. Consequently, our work-product and effectiveness as a death investigation entity has sorely suffered. Has really improved as a result of this swing of the pendulum towards less rules and policies? Nope. In fact, morale has remained low and severaly of us long for those times when we held tight to those rules and policies. I am now working to bring us back to some semblance of those days when things operated like a well-oiled machine and narry was there a disruption of operations.
I mentioned this personal example because I see an interesting parallel here with the rules and policies of my organization back in the day and Moshe’s admonishment to the People of Promise. Indeed, by my staff’s adherence and obedience to the many rules and policies enacted by my former boss, we became sort of “wisdom and understanding in the sight of the nations;” well at the very least, the nations that comprised the thirty-something coroner organizations in the state of California. I look back on those days today and see great spiritual parallels here. And this is what the Ruach Kodesh does for us when we open our hearts, minds and eyes to the truth. Many of the trials and tribulations and even many of the mundane things that transpire throughout our lives have rich spiritual meaning and application. It’s what we do with that information and those experiences that ultimately matters. If we don’t become better people of Yehovah, all those experiences and the gained information we’ve accumulated are for naught. Unfortunately, Israel often failed to recognize the rich, spiritual relevance of all of the events that transpired in their history. Instead of taking those experiences and information and living according to Yah’s prescribed manner, they chose rather to whore after other gods or even erect their own system of holiness and righteousness that effectively resulted in their abandonment of Torah (…Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. (Mat 15:6 KJV)).
Yehovah had greater purpose in delivering His Torah to His people than simply coralling and controlling a stiff-necked group of people such as the Israelites. It was to be, through their obedience and adherence to Torah, that they would be a light–a beacon–and savor (i.e., salt) to a lost and dying world. Israel failed, despite repeated attempts by the Creator to bring the nation back on task. But you see, the Creator always has a back-up. What Israel lost through her disobedience and migration over to religion and tradition, we in the Hebraic Roots/Believers in Messiah assumed and now must work. Paul touched upon this in his letter to the Roman congregation, likening us to wild olive branches:
13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:
14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.
15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.
17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;
18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.
24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?
25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (Rom 11:13-25 KJV)
Is it over for Israel? Well, according to the author and finisher of our Faith, absolutely not. Paul continues:
26 And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
28 As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes. (Rom 11:26-28 KJV)
May we assume our duties as the graffed-in ones and the redeemed of the Most High, with zeal and joy so that the nations that surround us in our individual lives will have a reference point whereby they may come to the One True God-Yehovah-through our example of Torah Living. Be Most Blessed Saints.