אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי
Fear God and keep His Commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
- Ecclesiastes 12:13
Someone came to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the Commandments.”
- Matthew 19:16-17
אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי
Someone recently made the somewhat ridiculous claim that 'If you choose to obey the Old Testament laws, obey them all. Otherwise, you are a hypocrite.' My visceral response was that any attempt to obey all the laws simply to avoid 'hypocrisy' would still result in a lower level of obedience to the Commandments which were more trivial and were punished far less severely. One should recognize that if every single one of Moses' Commandments, which by Jewish tradition totaled 613, were really equal in their importance, then all the recommended punishments for breaking them would also be the same. Yet, even a cursory reading of the Torah, the Five Books of Moses, clearly show many different punishments which were based upon the severity of the offense. For example, adultery and Sodomy are punishable by death, while other sexual offenses deemed less abominable are not. Some crimes or accidents result in a monetary fine, while others result in public lashings, or even death by stoning. Therefore, when obeying the Laws of Moses, individuals naturally tended to avoid breaking those Commandments that came with higher penalties, while still being lax concerning some of the others. All of this implies a distinct hierarchy of Commandments. Jesus Himself spoke about this hierarchy in the Gospels:
אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי
Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of Heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
- Matthew 5:19-20
אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי
Obviously, this passage reflects a common Jewish tradition of rating the Commandments in a precise order of importance, while remaining well aware that obedience was required for all of them. The Jews at the time clearly recognized the Old Testament Commandments as a continuum, ranging from the very 'least' of the Commandments all the way up to some of the greatest like the prohibition against murder. Further on in the Gospel narrative, two of these particular laws are identified by Jesus when the authorities question Him about them. Christ teaches that the love for God comes first, while the love for one's neighbor is of secondary importance. This method of describing God's laws once again shows the 'hidden' hierarchy of God's several hundred different laws.
In Matthew's Gospel story cited above, Jesus basically uses two stereotypical Jews for his parable, both of which get to enter Heaven, yet end up with rankings and rewards that fit their differing levels of adherence, This represents the Divine justice of having a multi-tiered system of judgment for various levels of obedience. Those Jews who may disregard the minor, less important, parts of God's law are then deemed that much more inferior in Heaven's Divine hierarchy, and more guilty than the those who obeyed them all (613 Commandments). In short, Heaven may still open its gates to those who fall short of perfect obedience, but the end result of incurring minor infractions in this life inevitably lead to placement in the lower levels of Heaven.
אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי
He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.
- Matthew 10:40-42
Decreasing Heavenly Rewards: Father/Son's Reward > Prophet's Reward > Righteous Man's Reward > Little Ones' Reward
אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי
So, from the very least to the greatest of all, the Old Testament Commandments were understood by everyone to carry consequences after death which included Divine judgment and punishment. One could tentatively rank the laws by having the Ten Commandments placed above the rest of them, representing the highest pinnacle of God's law, followed by those other laws which could result in the death penalty, along with the Commandments punishable with permanent exile, followed by those which ended in physical and/or financial retribution. At the bottom of this legal hierarchy would come the civil laws and then an array of peculiar Priestly rituals, procedures, and other arcane rules, mainly intended for Temple sacrifices, certain Holidays, and other customs which only the privileged few ever actually observed. Thus, as both common sense and Judeo/Christian tradition dictate, one should look first and foremost to the Ten Commandments as the most important laws of God demanding the strictest observance compared to all the rest of them. The simple man or woman of faith has always known this to be case, only elite theologians have been dumb enough to ever argue about it. The average Judeo/Christian believer throughout the ages would never be such a fool.
אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי
+ The Judeo/Christian Ten Commandments +
I. YHVH (יהוה) is the LORD your God. You will not worship any god but Him. - א -
II. You will not use the name of the LORD your God in vain. - ב -
III. You will not profane the Sabbath day, but keep it holy. - ג -
IV. You will not dishonor either your father or your mother. - ד -
V. You will not kill. - ה -
VI. You will not commit adultery. - ז -
VII. You will not steal. - ו -
VIII. You will not lie. - ח -
IX. You will not envy another man's wife. - ט -
X. You will not envy another man's property. - י -
אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי
In three out of the four Gospels, Jesus tells his followers that the most imperative Commandments are, just like tradition states, the Ten Commandments of Moses- originally written on tablets of stone, first by God and then by Moses. As such, the Gospels clearly indicate certain Old Testament laws were meant to remain in force and obedience to them an eternal requirement for those who had faith in Christ. This includes all Christian Gentiles, both then and now, who are still bound by the 10 Commandments recited by Jesus Christ. As the Gospels read:
אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי
Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” “Which ones?” he inquired. Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
- Matthew 19:17-19
Jesus answered. “No one is good-except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’
- Mark 10:18-19
Jesus answered. “No one is good-except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, honor your father and mother."
- Luke 18:19-21
אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי
As history indicates, the most important ethical and moral laws of the Old Testament did, in fact, become Christian laws as well and have continued unto this very day. It would be absurd to ever accuse those Christians who actually obey the Words of Christ (10 Commandments) of being 'hypocrites' for not obeying them all. In reality, they will be viewed by Christ as good, simple Christians who, by obeying all 10 Commandments non-stop, will receive a higher place in Heaven compared to the bad Christians who may well have completely ignored the Laws of Moses. In the end, honest Christians simply cannot deny that Jesus not only mentioned the Ten Commandments, but by listing them one by one, He established them forever as Christian commandments. Those who believe they have already been saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone should, instead be cautious and perhaps even somewhat wary as they proceed onwards and forwards with their personal journey of faith. They should always remember His actual words as they are written in the Gospels- words which clearly indicate the Old Testament Commandments which Christians must obey, now and forever.
אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי -
EXPLANATION ABOUT THE SEPARATOR LINES: The Ten Commandments are symbolically represented by the following 10 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. This can be visualized in the following manner:
I. א
II. ב
III. ג
IV. ד
V. ה
VI. ז
VII. ו
VIII. ח
IX. ט
X. י
OR as has been the traditional method of reading Hebrew, they can be read from right to left like the following:
א - ב - ג - ד - ה - ז - ו - ח - ט - י
May the LORD God bless you in the name of St. Judas Maccabaeus.
אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי - אבגדהזוחטי
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