Torah

According to the Bible, Adam & Eve, the human father and mother of all humanity, lived in a perfect world - the Garden of Eden. Placed in this perfect environment by Almighty God Himself, history’s first man and woman had complete freedom to enjoy the fruit of this paradise with but one exception. The Scriptures tell us that God clearly prohibited Adam and Eve from eating the fruit of one tree in the center of this garden - a tree Scripture describes as “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” [Genesis 2:9].*

Very soon in the biblical story, we find the evil one coming to Eve and tempting her to disobey God’s clear command to avoid eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Now the serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild beasts that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say: You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?” The woman replied to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the other trees of the garden. It is only about fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said: ‘You shall not eat of it or touch it, lest you die.’” And the serpent said to the woman, “You are not going to die, but God knows that as soon as you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like divine beings who know good and bad.” When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths.

They heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of day; and the man and his wife hid from the LORD God among the tree of the garden. The LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” He replied, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” Then He asked, “Who told you that you were naked? Did you eat of the tree from which I had forbidden you to eat?” [Genesis 3:1-11]

In a moment of disobedience everything changed. A perfect relationship with the Creator was broken, a pristine world was lost, and the innocence of human nature was utterly destroyed. The evidence that everything had changed is seen in the response of Adam and Eve to God’s presence: “the man and his wife hid from the LORD God…” Centuries later, when writing to followers of Jesus in Rome, the Apostle Paul conveyed the utter ruin brought about by this willful act of rebellion against God’s clear directive:

Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned… [Romans 5:12 New King James Version].

The Apostle states that the sin of our first parents plunged the entire human race into sin. When they sinned, they corrupted their human nature, and because of that all their offspring are born with fallen natures that must be redeemed and regenerated.

Returning to our Genesis 3 text, we discover that Adam, when confronted by God, blames their failure to obey God’s directive on Eve: “The woman you put at my side - she gave me of the tree, and I ate” (Genesis 3:12), his wife. Eve in turn, casts blame on the serpent - on the devil himself: “The serpent duped me, and I ate” [Genesis 3:13].

A just, holy God must be true to His character and word. He had warned Adam and Eve of the consequences of disobedience, and now He must act. Their disobedience resulted in their expulsion from the Garden, and consigned them to a life of battling with sinful tendencies. However, even in his words of judgment, God demonstrates his mercy and grace.

Addressing the serpent directly, God says:

Because you have done this, accursed are you beyond all beasts of the field; upon your belly shall you go, and dust shall you eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will pound your head, and you will bite his heel [Genesis 3:14-15 Tanach: The Stone Edition, Mesorah Publications, Ltd., 1996 - emphasis mine].

Did you catch the singular pronouns in the final sentence of that biblical quote? When God says there will be enmity between the serpent’s seed and the woman’s seed, He points to an ultimate showdown between two individuals. The serpent, a representation of Satan, will bite the heel of the one who will pound the head of the serpent.

I believe this is the first biblical reference to the redeemer who comes to atone for the sins of all who will accept him. This is none other than promised Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the World - Yeshua haMashiach - Jesus the Messiah.

When Jesus came to earth, He came to fulfill Torah. He is the only person who has ever been completely Torah observant. Having fulfilled the Law’s demands, Jesus voluntarily gave his life to make atonement for the sins of all who will repent and place their trust in Him. In dying on that accursed tree, Jesus in fact defeated Satan, and made full and complete atonement available to all who will believe.

In future posts, I hope to explore this salvation more deeply. In the meantime, I welcome your comments and questions. New Covenant Forum actively encourages conversation about Jesus. Whether by commenting on this post, or by emailing directly, I hope you will join the conversation.
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*Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from the Tanakh, Jewish Publication Society, 1985, 1999 - The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford University Press. 2004.

Moses received the Torah from HASHEM on Mount Sinai. Comprised of ten statements, this is a summary of the divine law which God intended to be the guide for Israel in its mandate to be a witness to the whole world that there was but one true God.

These commands can be found in the Holy Scriptures in the opening verses of the 20th chapter of Exodus (Yisro). The quoted verses below are taken from Tanach: The Stone Edition (Artscroll Series, Mesorah Publications, Ltd., 1996).

• 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 HASHEM, your God - a jealous God, Who visits the sin of father upon children to the third and fourth generations, for My enemies; but Who shows kindness for thousands [of generations] to those who love Me and observe My commandments.
• You shall not take the Name of HASHEM, your God, in vain, for HASHEM will not absolve anyone who takes His Hame in vain.
• Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it. Six days shall you work and accomplish all your work; but the sevent day is Sabbath to HASHEM, your God; you shall not do any work - you, your son, your daughter, your slave, your maidservant, your animal, and your convert within your gates - for in six days HASHEM made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, HASHEM blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.
• Honor your father and your mother, so that your days will be lengthened upon the land that HASHEM, your God, gives you.
• You shall not kill;
• You shall not commit adultery;
• you shall not steal;
• you shall not bear false witness against your fellow.
• You shall not covet your fellow’s house. You shall not covet your fellow’s wife, his manservant, his maidservant, his ox, his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your fellow.

If you study these commands, you will discover two kinds of laws - those concerning our relationship with God, and those concerning our relationships with one another. What I find fascinating about this is that it fits so well with the answer Yeshua (Jesus) gave to the Jewish religious leaders of his day when asked to state what was the greatest commandment in the Law.

We read in the New Covenant Scriptures (commonly known as the New Testament) that one of the Pharisees, “an expert in the law”, came to Jesus and asked the following question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  The gospel writer, Matthew records Jesus’ response.

Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).

By comparing the answer Jesus gave to this “expert in the law,” with the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20, it is clear that the first four commandments relate to our love for God, while commandments five through ten concern our relationships with those around us. Jesus is able, in one statement, to sum up the entire Torah - love God supremely and love each other sincerely.

I suspect few people who believe there is one true God will disagree with the answer Jesus gave. But let’s go just one step further. How can we love God supremely?

From my reading of both the Tanach and the New Covenant (Testament) Scriptures, the clearest way we express our love for God is by recognizing and receiving his gift of grace to us - the salvation accomplished by the life, death and resurrection of Messiah Jesus - for Messiah Jesus is none other than God manifest in human flesh. This is how John writes of it in his gospel account:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God - children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth”  (John 1:1,10-14 Holy Bible, New International Version).

Our great passion here at New Covenant Forum is to encourage conversation about Jesus, for we are convinced that he alone holds the hope of our salvation. I welcome you to join the conversation.