I want you to understand that in no way am I speaking figuratively or making hyperbole when I say that Yeshua’s Sermon on the Mount in the New Testament was patterned after Moses Sermon on the Mount here in Deuteronomy.
That’s right folks.
Yeshua, in his famous Sermon on the Mount, was simply building on and drawing on a pattern established by his predecessor Moses.
Let’s not forget that one chapter earlier in Chapter Five Moses had already begun recounting the Law.
But wait, in actuality, Moses’ address to the people really began from Chapter One.
This brings me to an interesting point which illustrates the profound difference between how God rules his people and how the pagan kings at the time ruled their people.
Here’s the point I want to make.
Don’t you find it interesting that right smack dab in the middle of giving the Law, Moses lays down the SHEMA which is the all-encompassing principle upon which the entire Torah rests?
Don’t you find that interesting?
Why would Moses pause in the very middle of giving the Law and suddenly inject the SHEMA at this point?
If the SHEMA is the all encompassing principle upon which the whole Torah stands, why not recite it at the very beginning of his sermon?
Well…here’s the answer:
Moses did not want the the people to view the Torah instructions and rulings as merely a set of strict rulings being shoved in their faces by an all-powerful heavenly ruler from on high that they either had to obey or else…
…because that was the way of the kings of that era.
Every king and his kingdom had a legal code that was usually shoved into the faces of the people minus any reasoning or explanation behind the laws.
The pagan kings had no obligation or interest to explain the why behind the what of the laws…
…and for good reason…
…because more often than not…
….such laws were self-serving and only benefited the royalty.
However, that was NOT the case with God and His Torah.
By interjecting the SHEMA right in the middle of his discourse, Moses was communicating a very important point.
He was telling the people…
…”This is the proper spirit and context in which you are to obey God’s Laws”.
And what is that proper spirit and context?
Obedience to the Torah is to stem from Israel’s love of the Lord.
It is out of love for HASHEM that Israel is to obey the commands.
In other words, it was NOT out of a merciless legalism that Israel was to obey the Torah.
That was the way of the pagan kings and the people they ruled over.
However, in Israel’s case, obedience to the the Torah was to be a response of LOVE.
In fact, that is how the God of the Bible DEFINES love.
To LOVE Him equals OBEDIENCE to Him.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“If you love me,
you will keep my commands;
and I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another
comforting Counselor like me,
the Spirit of Truth,
to be with you forever.”
-John 14:15-16
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