Torah

BY: Darlene Dine

Torah, the defining of love. This is so contrary to our thinking. But lets look at the marriage covenant given to Israel on Mount Sinai. (AFTER THEY WERE SAVED/REDEEMED!)

Yahweh has SAVED and REDEEMED us so that we can be His treasured possession!

Ex. 19:4-6

4 'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel."

Ex 19:8

Then all the people answered together and said, "All that the LORD has spoken we will do."

The bride says I do, betrothing herself to her HUSBAND! (There are many striking similarities to the event on Mount Sinai and a Jewish wedding, I will not include them here, but they can be found in Messianic literature. Some believe it was merely the betrothal.)

Please read the following commentary from The Chumash:

When the Holy One, Blessed is He, presented the Torah at Sinai, not a bird chirped, not a fowl flew, not an ox lowed, not and angel ascended, not a seraph proclaimed, Holy. The sea did not roll and no creature made a sound. All the vast universe was silent and mute. It was then that the Voice went forth and proclaimed, I am YHVH, Your Elohim! When Yahweh revealed Himself to Israel, the world fell silent, because this moment was pivotal not only for Israel, but to all Creation; had Israel not accepted Torah, the universe would have come to an end. [4]

This event was a marriage betrothal! Torah was a Ketubah (marriage contract). It was also a National Constitution.

What was the FIRST commandment? I think you will be astonished to find out!

Directly from the Hebrew, the first commandment is a declaration!

I am YHWH, Your Elohim, who has taken you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

This is a revelation! Yahweh is declaring Himself to be the ONLY GOD! He destroyed all the false gods in Egypt (each plague represented a god the Egyptians believed in, i.e. The frogs were believed to be fertility gods, the Nile river brought life, etc.)

I believe the first COMMANDMENT is a STATEMENT made to accept Yahweh’s sovereignty (establishment of His authority). For one will not accept laws without acknowledging first that the giver of those laws is the KING! We accept none of His words until He is on the throne of our hearts! So Yahweh in essence is revealing Himself! He has delivered us from serving the devil! He is establishing Himself AS REDEMPTION before giving His commandments. We have learned THIS, have we not? Our worship and devotion belongs entirely to HIM!

(This makes sense since no husband would come up to you and immediately make demands on your relationship with Him without first establishing that relationship. Yahweh gives the foundation, LOVE!)

(You shall have no other Elohim before me is the first part of the second commandment referring to the making of graven images/idolatry.)

The SECOND commandment is, “You shall not RECOGNIZE the gods of others in My presence. You shall not make yourself a carved image nor any likeness of that which is in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the water beneath the earth. You shall not prostrate yourself to them nor worship them, for I AM Yahweh, your Elohim—a jealous Elohim, Who visits the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations, for My enemies; but shows kindness for thousands [of generations] to those who LOVE ME and observe My commandments!!!

This in essence is the prohibition of idolatry. A whole separate teaching needs to be done on this subject for we do not understand the ramifications of mixing ourselves with other gods! We adapt their natures! We give our lives to them! They take all that we have leaving us in shame.

The Third- “You shall not take the Name of Yahweh in vain, for Yahweh will not absolve anyone who takes His Name in vain!”

(This does not refer to PRONOUNING His Name, but defiling it! It is a destroying of Yahweh’s character, a misrepresentation of His Name. It is the only commandment without absolution…HEAVY! Some teach it to be a correct knowing and using of His true covenant Name.)

The Fourth is the Sabbath, The Fifth, honoring your parents, The Sixth is prohibiting murder, The Seventh, you shall not commit adultery, Eighth, you shall not steal, Ninth, do not bear false witness against your fellow and Tenth is a prohibition against coveting.

So we can see that the first four directly relate to how we LOVE Yahweh!

We recognize Him as the ONLY ELOHIM! We recognize Him as the KING of the UNIVERSE! He and He alone deserves our worship! And then we CAN properly relate to His word by seeing the redemption that He has provided!

We then keep our relationship with Him in its proper place, putting no other gods before Him.

We exalt His Holy Name by how we live, not just in what we say or know! He deserves to be approached with reverence and fear. He is the Creator, we are NOT! He deserves RESPECT and honor!

We then keep Him on the throne of our hearts remembering His Shabbat to keep it Holy. This is a wonderful reminder that He is our rest and peace! He has made a way for us to be accepted and released from the bondage of sin. As we commune with Him and let the world cease to exist for 24 hours, what JOY we experience! All the clamoring comes to a halt and we can enjoy the relationship we have with the Almighty! It is a step into the timeless eternity!

These four commandments are how we LOVE Yahweh with all our heart, soul, mind and strength! You don’t invent your own ways!

If your husband loved steak and hated fish, would you make him a fish dinner to express your love for him? And then use the excuse, well he knows what I mean? Or would you give your bride a blender when you know she hates blending and then say, well its MY WAY of showing her I love her (Honey can you make me some juice?). These examples may sound ridiculous, but isn’t that what we do with Yahweh? We do not seem to care what He has said, we just want what is convenient for us! Any day is okay, He knows what I mean. I can celebrate pagan holidays that HONOR other gods, He knows my heart!

BALONEY! You are showing Him your heart by your actions! One person said, “Well what Easter is to me is a celebration of His resurrection and not the worship of Ishtar, so I’m okay with it.” Well, thanks for your opinion, but we don’t worship YOU, so we really don’t care what you have to say in the matter! We worship Yahweh and HE SAYS to keep His Feasts!

What arrogance we have!

I am not trying to condemn anyone, Yah knows I struggled to come into these things and lose my stinking selfish thinking and am STILL coming into truth and obedience. All of us are! But what I am trying to get across is that we cannot say we love Him and not care what HE SAYS. His words are His thoughts. His commandments are His ways. They reveal WHO HE IS! The excuses we make are keeping us from His best!

Furthermore His commands are not only for our protection, but they BLESS us tremendously in keeping them! They are not burdensome, but liberating! Freeing us from this world! People want to label it legalism! But it is the keeping of the commandments of MEN that deserves that label! Keeping the commandments of Yahweh is called obedience!

So we see how the first four commands are how we love Yahweh. Five is special in that it has a reward attached to it. I believe how we love and honor our parents is a direct reflection of how we relate to Yahweh (authority). It usually takes a GROWING UP to understand who He is in our lives and what He has sacrificed on our behalf. It also takes a growing up to realize how discipline and correction ARE good for US. We mature into Sonship. Six through ten are how we love others as ourselves.

I think the ‘as ourselves’ is put in there not for self-love reasons, but to show us how if we put ourselves in the other person’s shoes, we would not want these things done to us. Like the golden rule, do unto others, as you would have them do unto you. This, I believe is a more correct application of love your neighbor as yourself.

I have so much to share in this Part! Love is such a vast subject. The main thing I am trying to bring home is that for our love of Yahweh to become mature, we must know His word as it reveals who He is. We then must surrender our wills to Him, our husband. Our desire should be to please Him and humbly submit to His plans and purposes. This is how “The Son”, LOVE Himself, was born!

Luke 1:38

"Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word."

Total submission, total trust, loss of her life (a woman’s reputation in those days was her life) and the Son of the Most HIGH came forth from her virgin womb!

Love will always offer a CHOICE! Never forget that! If it did not, it would not be love. This is why so many of the false doctrines that are (and have) being taught in Babylon are AGAINST LOVE! This used to confuse me so much! I would cry out to Yahweh, help me to understand! These things ever so subtly revealed Yahweh to be a sadistic monster! Yet He was telling me in the secret place of my heart, I am love— I am love. I was so confused and just when I would think I had come to the place of trust, I would be betrayed by my false beliefs yet again.

These doctrines appear to be love, but they are not for they contradict His word (and character)! THIS IS A STRONG DECEPTION! Anything that is NOT truth is NOT love; I don’t care how GOOD it sounds! Most of these doctrines appeal to ‘selfish love.’ But is VERY subtle about it convincing us that it is a love that feels for others!!! IT IS NOT!!! Love does not BEAT others into submission and control with guilt and condemnation! Submission comes from trust, which comes from love.

You cannot love without trusting, you cannot truly submit to that which you do not trust. We must learn to obey Yahweh out of love and TRUST for Him. This is the proper kingdom order.

This strong delusion had me locked in utter confusion and despair for years. I began to search and one of the first revelations that Yahweh opened up to me was the spirit of Jezebel! This, people is the FALSE BRIDE! She does exist! She puts forth leaves…and the appearance of fruit, but she bears NO TRUE FRUIT! (Remember what spiritual fruit is, it is NOT MONEY!) This is how I describe her brand of love for it comes from the fallen nature! It is SELF-motivated, but appears not to be.

Everyone on this earth is born with a ‘longing to be loved.’ This desire is set forth in our make-up to lead us to our Creator who knows how to fill this void and complete us. He is our missing piece, we are empty without Him. There are however many things in this world which promise to fill this void, all sent by the deceiver to trick us and lead us to a place where he will damage our most sacred trust. This causes us to put up walls and not trust, or worse, to ‘control’ our worlds so that nothing can hurt us and become gods of our own making.

This ‘longing to be loved’ can lead us to one or two places. Either into LIES that destroy love or TRUTH that fulfills it! We have the choice, but some choose with no knowledge or experience to relate their choices to. Yahweh will be more tender and compassionate towards these. Some keep going to the same places over and over because they desperately starve for love.

Jer 2:13

They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,

And hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water.

We search, but do not find. All the seducers call to us—

Prov 23:26-28

26 My son, give me your heart,

And let your eyes observe my ways.

27 For a harlot is a deep pit,

And a seductress is a narrow well.

28 She also lies in wait as for a victim,

And increases the unfaithful among men.

(Lack of faithfulness is a lack of trust/unbelief/self-protecting.)

So when we do finally turn to our YHWH, we are damaged goods in many ways. But He does not see us as damaged goods, but the virgin BRIDE we were meant to be! He calls forth to her…

Song 2:10

"Rise up, my love, my fair one,

And come away.

Come away from these false promises; come away from these flattering lips.

Jezebel, in her falsehood appears to be love, but why does she lust after you? For the gift you have in Yah. Once she has it, you are cast away like TRASH! She wants that gift and her flattery and seduction will draw you into her trap! She wants you to come to Satan’s altar and lay your gift there so that it can be used to build his kingdom.

She wants your garment of righteousness! To strip you naked! So that you will not SEE redemption, taking you outside the city (Yah’s presence) to stone you! (In the atonement is our love and acceptance.) We overcome Jezebel standing in the Holy Place! You cannot control someone by offering them “LOVE and acceptance” if THEY ARE ALREADY LOVED AND ACCEPTED AND KNOW IT!

These Jezebel can ONLY MURDER!

So she breaks ALL of the commandments by breaking the first! She did not recognize Our Elohim as YHWH, she did not submit to His authority! Satan DOES NOT RECOGNIZE YAHWEH ON HIS THRONE AS KING! He wants to exalt his THRONE above Yahweh’s! She does not see REDEMPTION, she does not SEE LOVE, so how can she BE anything but the opposite of love?

Torah wraps around relationships to protect and establishes them on the PROPER FOUNDATION! Jezebel leaves a trail of BROKEN relationships establishing them on a foundation of SELF!

She pleases MAN instead of pleasing Yahweh! She bears false witness (condemning to die those who will not give her their vineyard). She covets and teaches covetousness. She commits adultery (Baal is her husband…her LORD). She steals that which is not hers, but Yahweh’s (our Yah given gift). She breaks the Sabbath (works and sacrifice)! She creates a false image to worship in the temple (His presence). She has turned our children into rebellious haters of authority! ALL OF THESE THINGS STEM FROM the nature of the beast, which she has taken on in her fallen nature.

This is a SPIRIT!

She will promise you glory! (You cannot have the glory without the judgment.)

She controls by the fear of rejection. The fear of rejection is found in those who DO NOT KNOW they are accepted in the ATONEMENT! They cannot embrace truth because they are deceived/condemned by it! These are Jezebel’s victims. For she knows that she can lead them into pride. If they are TRYING TO BE GOOD enough (religion) for Yahweh, they will FAIL! And that is when the accuser of the brethren steps in rightfully and exposes their self-righteousness!

Oh how I have fallen for this one so many times having a tremendous fear of rejection!!! She may look like love at first glance, but she is a FALSE GOD! This spirit wants you to be dependent on it, serve it, and think you are doing Yah a service!

Some people never recover from this. They are USED, discarded and they never trust Yahweh again. Their blood is on her hands. She is instrumental in preparing the way for antimessiah, just as the spirit of Elijah comes to prepare the way for Yahshua’s return (the spirit of Elijah is GRACE in truth for he turns the hearts of the Fathers to the children and the hearts of the children back to the Father). This spirit brings repentance whereas Jezebel is unrepentance!)

Let’s look closely at love again:

It is something that cannot be FAKED by the false image! The real thing cannot be faked for it comes from the inside-out. Real love flows from a relationship with Yahweh and His nature produced by eating from the TREE of life.

LOVE will always allow us a choice just as Yahweh did in the garden. Love does not condemn. Love does not use guilt to motivate you to obey. Love does not serve SELF. Love does not compare itself to another. Love is not ambitious for itself.

LOVE LAYS DOWN ITS LIFE! NOT TO JEZEBEL, but to Yahweh who is the ONLY ONE who can be given that kind of TRUST!

These are some of the things that love is not! Yahshua said we would know them by their FRUIT! NOT MINISTRIES! A special friend of mine makes this statement:

“How can we know what love is when we throw away that which defines it?” [5]

Babylon has thrown away that which defines love and replaced it with Jezebel’s ideas and doctrines (based on the Knowledge of Good and Evil/human precept)! They lead to Baal worship and confuse and dismay those looking for love in their BELOVED! His HOLY LAW is the way to LOVE! When we see it this way, we can read through the Old Testament and see His love EVEN IN THE PROPHETS!

There is no NEW TESTAMENT style prophet! Holding one accountable that KNOWS to do righteousness and does not do it is MERCY and not CONDEMNING (for it actually turns one to repentance, but it causes THEM TO CHOOSE one way or the other, facing reality)! Do we think the prophet Nathan would have been merciful to hide the truth Yah had revealed of King David’s sin? Would it have been GRACE not to be obedient in exposing it (for fear of man) so that David could repent? Can you imagine him hiding this his whole life and coming face to face with Yah on judgment day having done so (both Nathan and David)? (After building up the stronghold of lies to defend and JUSTIFY the sin in his own sight!)

The prophet who WARNS is merciful. He knows many times he will be rejected (so this is not self-love as we spoke of earlier that looks for acceptance, but it is true love). He is brought to a place of experiencing many times the judgment he will proclaim so that he can be humble and merciful when the time comes to proclaim it. He is lonely as far as human understanding and relating go and lives a life in the wilderness crying for a heart that burns with Yahweh’s ‘seeing.’ Many of these things are not pleasant to see and these emotions are not pleasant to feel, for they are of the suffering servant.

To love Yahweh, we must love ALL that He is! He is redemption YES and this is our foundation for the relationship. But this does not leave us without responsibility. He will bring us to His Holy Mountain and reveal Himself to us. Not only as salvation, but as one who has destroyed the enemy…PRIDE by this salvation!

Everything that Torah is wraps around LOVE to protect it. Torah gives us boundaries by which to define true kingdom life. Boundaries to protect not only ourselves, but also the community as a whole. It is not in the ‘physical seeing’ that we recognize love, but in the spiritual sense that we are aware that it is true love.

Heb 11:3

3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

People are deceived because they have believed the LIES of Satan! Without ever even checking them out by the word.

I come to the end of this teaching feeling as though I have not done LOVE justice. But who can describe it in words? Even the most gifted of authors cannot. But Yahweh has written His whole word as a love letter to the bride. Come out from among her and BE SEPARATED unto me. If we abide in the lies that we have been taught of law and grace, we will not be His bride. We can be saved and have a place in the temple, but it will not be the innermost chamber of intimacy. For it is there that we truly understand redemption. The place where His presence dwells requires love from us.

Obedience born of trust that gives up this life for the RELATIONSHIP we can have with HIM. We will be persecuted if we heed His words in the midst of corruption. We will be refined and tested. This place requires a laying down of SELF-love and a giving of love rather than seeking for it. Once we come to Him, all of love is fulfilled. The areas where we still look to the right or to the left are the areas where we do not trust Him to complete us. In our lifetime, there will continue to be these areas, but we are coming into the deepest places of them as we search out the deep places of His heart in truth. We are allowing His light to expose the darkness.

I would like to wind this down on a note that I believe is one of the most powerful revelations of resurrection life! Not just seen as WOW, we can have life after death. But seen for what it truly is, the coming together of law and grace:

John 17:3

3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.

(This is knowing both truth and redemption!)

Matt 17:1-9

17:1 Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves; 2 and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.

4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." 5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!"

6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. 7 But Jesus came and touched them and said, "Arise, and do not be afraid." 8 When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

What Peter suggested, men have done. They have built tabernacles to The LAW and to GRACE and expected them to be separate. They are not. They both speak of Our Messiah. The Law and the Prophets POINT TO MESSIAH IN HIS RESURRECTED FORM!!! After the Voice proclaimed…THIS IS MY SON, we see the resurrected Messiah left standing. Folks this should speak VOLUMES to us! We need to discard our traditions and allow them to be UPROOTED by the word. This transfiguration is what should be happening to those who would answer the call to be SONS OF THE RESURRECTION! It is a work of LAW and GRACE. It is a work of MERCY and JUDGMENT! The work of the TWO are what refines us!

Rev 19:7-8

8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

The law is mentioned first (being that which frames our world) and then grace (repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand). But now we walk back through the door of grace first and then to His Holy Torah. The same doors we stepped out from His presence!

The disciple Peter is REBUKED by the ALMIGHTY for his suggestion of building the tabernacles, we have carried through with the ACT. Judgment from the almighty is what will bring our hearts to a place of falling on our faces in Holy fear!

I do not see men’s hearts changing by any other thing. We are so full of revelation, so we think! Peter says, “OH, it’s good that we were here to see this, LETS BUILD A TABERNACLE AROUND IT!” The arrogance in our knowledge is appalling! No wonder Yah overshadows them with a bright cloud and spoke from the cloud! Produced results didn’t it? Got their attention! Torah will get your attention! It will circumcise your heart and cause you to repent! How in our peanut brains did we ever separate law, grace and the Messiah and make them into three separate things to worship? The house of Judah and the House of Ephraim (Christianity) have done so. We are all guilty before Him.

If we would but HEAR HIM, we would see that Messiah taught us NO SUCH thing! We need to fall on our faces and be afraid. The coming together of law and grace IS the transforming of what will be the resurrected Sons of Yahweh. ONE NEW MAN in Messiah. We must see it and be transfigured into our resurrected bodies. It is both LAW/Torah and GRACE that change us. This is the kingdom order! The restoring of the law and the prophets combined with Messiah brings true resurrection life! How powerful this is!

It overcomes Jezebel and her doctrines of demons! Most Christians and Jews don’t even know what that MEANS! How are we to be OVERCOMERS, ruling with HIM?

Let conclude with a favorite passage of mine. A thread of love runs through Yahweh’s word. It is definite and returning. Yahweh will again shine His spotlight on love. The anointed ONE will arise like the beautiful break of dawn full of grace and truth.

1 Cor 13:1-14:1

3:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy (comparing itself to another); love does not parade itself (exalting men), is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;

7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8 Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part. 10 But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

This is love defined. And it is a mature spiritual man who walks in it. These come into unity as His body for they are one with His purposes.

They are His bride, Israel.

Let me leave you with these prophetic words written in love:

Ezek 36:22-29

22 "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name's sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went.

23 And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD," says the Lord GOD, "when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. 24 For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land. 25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

27 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. 28 Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. 29 I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses.

Ezek 37:21-23

21 Then say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD: "Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; they shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again.

23 They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them.

Then they shall be My people, and I will be their God.

Let it be so with us Yahweh! Amen!

Footnotes:

All scripture references except where indicated come from the New King James Version or the King James Version of the Bible. They were copied from the Biblesoft PC Bible Study program. I would love to have a Bible translation available for the computer that uses the Hebrew Names of Yahweh and Yahshua, but at this time one is not available. This is why you will see discrepancy in the Names used in the scriptures (God, Lord, etc). I left the scriptures ‘as is’ for now.

[1] All Hebrew and Greek definitions come from the Strong’s Concordance also available through The PC Bible Study.

[3] This statement is quoted from an excellent article by Larry Meguiar called The Holy Law of Yahweh In Relation to Grace. This is also a MUST read as he hammers in some points that need to be made!

[4] This quote (pg.406) along with the following scriptures (ten commandments) were taken from the Stone Edition of The Chumash. It is the first five books of the Bible along with the Haftorah portions translated directly from the Hebrew writings. It is an excellent study guide for the Torah.

[5] This quote is from an article also by Larry called Love, A Many Splintered Thing, on his website.