Torah Pearls #30 – Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1-20:27)

Torah Pearls - Kedoshim ((Leviticus 19:1-20:27)In this episode of The Original Torah Pearls, Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1-20:27), we discuss what it means to profane the name of the Lord, who is “the Lord sabaoth”, the difference between rob and steal, lie and deceive, and the origin of “Love God, love your neighbor” as the summary of the Torah. All this and more in this week’s Torah Pearls.

I look forward to reading your comments!

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Torah Pearls #30 - Kedoshim (Leviticus 19:1-20:27)

You are listening to The Original Torah Pearls with Nehemia Gordon, Keith Johnson, and Jono Vandor. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon's Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

Jono: G'day to Kieran and Donna over in New South Wales. And wherever you may be around the world, it is good to have your company. It is time for Pearls from the Torah Portion with Keith Johnson and Nehemia Gordon. G'day, gentlemen.

Keith: G'day.

Nehemia: Hey! G'day, it’s great to be here from Jerusalem. It’s a shout-out to Abby over in Charlotte; thanks for listening to the program.

Keith: I’ve got a shout-out to my son, Kyle, from New York City, who’s now listening to Torah Pearls. Way to go, Kyle.

Jono: Way to go, Kyle from New York.

Nehemia: New York City!

Jono: There we go. And today we are in Kedoshim, which is Leviticus 19, verse 1, to 20, verse 27. And it begins like this, “And Yehovah spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, Yehovah, your Elohim am holy.'” Now, we…that was the end of Leviticus 11, I think, it’s reiterating. "Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father and keep My Sabbaths: I am Yehovah your God." Now, this is again reiterating the fourth and fifth commandments, I think. But, Nehemia, you were going to say?

Nehemia: Yes, so this is actually a theme throughout Leviticus, where God repeatedly talks about this concept of, “Emulate Me. I’m holy, and therefore I want you to be holy.” And He defines for us; He teaches us how to be holy. You know, a lot of people think you can be holy by fasting, and you can be holy by doing various things. Well, God actually tells us what we need to do to be holy like He is holy. He tells us what not to eat and what to eat, and what to do and what not to do. And by emulating these things that He teaches us to do, we can actually be holy and be closer to Him, be more like Him. He is holy and we can be holy, as well.

It’s such a central theme, in this part of Leviticus, that secular scholars have actually dubbed this “the Holiness Code.” But actually, you know, even beyond that, we really have a theme here in this section of Leviticus, throughout the central part of Leviticus; Yehovah is holy, and to be like Him, we must be holy, too.

Jono: Amen. Amen. And so, verse...

Nehemia: Actually, in a sense, there’s a paradox there as well, which is that He says, He sanctifies us, which means he makes us holy. And to maintain that holiness we have to follow all of these instructions that He gives us.

Jono: And so many of these instructions end with, in a way, His signature, I suppose, “I am Yehovah your Elohim.” And here it is, we see it in verse 3, where He reiterates, as I said, the fourth and fifth commandment; verse 4 is the second, "Do not turn to idols, nor make for yourselves molten gods: I am Yehovah your Elohim. And if you offer a sacrifice of a peace offering to the LORD, Yehovah, you shall offer it of your own free will. It shall be eaten the same day you offer it and on the next day. And if any of it remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire. And if it is eaten at all on the third day, it is an abomination. It shall not be accepted. Therefore, everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity because he has profaned the hallowed offering of the LORD; and that person shall be cut off from his people." Okay.

Now, we read about that a little earlier on, too, didn’t we? So, it’s reiterating that. So, there’s a lot of repetition in this section, right?

Nehemia: Yeah, definitely. Well, I mean, I’d say the main repetition that we’re going to see is when we get to Leviticus 20; we’re going to see, really, almost Leviticus 18 wholesale repeated. The big difference in 20 is going to be that, whereas there are commandments in Leviticus 18, chapter 20 is going to bring us what some of the consequences of not following those commandments are.

Jono: Yeah, that’s right. We’re going to get there very soon. So, I’ll rattle through these, “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of the field, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. And you shall not glean your vineyards, nor shall you gather every grape of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am Yehovah your Elohim.” Nehemia, does that happen? Is that still a farming practice in Israel, among some at least?

Nehemia: Well, some people do it. But they do it more symbolically, because these days the poor don’t actually go out into the field to collect the grain. It’s very interesting, because we think of charity today in the Western world as giving to the poor. In a sense, in the Bible, the way I’m seeing it, is that God essentially is telling us to set these things aside for the poor, but we don’t have them line up in a soup kitchen where we hand it to them. You know, they basically feel like they’re not accomplishing anything in life. Here, they actually have to come out into the fields and collect the grain for themselves.

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: So, it actually, I think in a sense, puts them to work; it allows them the dignity of work. And so, I think that’s a really beautiful thing. You know, earlier in the chapter, we had this, verse 3, we really had, in a sense, the first commandment there, where He says, “Each man, fear his mother and his father, and keep My Shabbaths: I am Yehovah your God.” And in verse 4, “I am Yehovah your God,” and he’s repeating, like you said, this "I am Yehovah your God." You called it, the signature. The way I look at it is, He’s essentially telling us, "This is why you have to do these things; you may hate your mother and your father, but I am Yehovah your God. And you may say, I don’t need the Shabbat, I don’t need a rest, but I am Yehovah your God, and I’m the one who’s commanding you to do these things." I see that as the reason he’s giving us to keep these commandments. Why? Because, “I am Yehovah your God.” And that becomes a central theme, especially in this chapter. That, essentially, each section here ends, “I am Yehovah your God.”

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: Each little collection of commandments. You know, even if you say, well, I don’t really care about the poor…well, “I am Yehovah your God. So, you know…”

Jono: Right. So, "do it because I say so…"

Nehemia: “…do it, not because you like the poor, you don’t like the poor, but because I am Yehovah your God, and I am commanding you to do it…”

Jono: "…because I say so…"

Nehemia: "…if you want to be holy."

Jono: “…and I carry the authority, so you…” That’s right, if you want to be holy.

Nehemia: Exactly. And, "I am holy, and if you want to be like Me, if you want to be close to Me, you need to do these things in order to be holy as well."

Jono: "You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another." Keith? "And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God: I am Yehovah."

Keith: Yeah. Actually before we get to verse 12, the thing that I thought was really kind of interesting, especially in light of what we’re doing on the Torah Pearls; we’re doing these Torah portions and it’s really interesting, I’ve been talking to different people and they always want to know what portion are you on, what portion are you on? And it’s almost as if Yehovah knew that there were going to be portions because you know how sometimes you have a theme, and I know we talked about this, we were talking about this earlier, but I just think it’s so cool this reminder – it’s like "Okay, just in case you missed the portion before I was talking about my holiness, this portion I’m talking about my holiness. And it’s just in case you missed it, or you fell asleep, or who knows, you’re sitting and listening there with your family and you had to run off and go get something to eat or whatever other needs you have, I just want to remind you again I’m holy."

And I just think, and I’m obviously kidding about the portions, but that the concept that the things that are really, really important, like for example when He speaks about reminding them, "Hey, listen, I’m the one that took you out of Egypt," you know? And it comes at these sort-of, these strategic times. Or, "Hey, remember, I’m the one who’s holy." And these sort-of cyclical proclamations remind the people. And again, I think one of the things that’s so important is, as I’m reading this, and I’ve gone through the Torah before, and if you read the Torah you just start reading - just start reading Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus in the Methodist Bible. And you start reading and you don’t get too caught up on some of the specifics, but you start seeing these big pictures and the concepts that are coming out. It really is this theme: "I’m the one who’s the Creator of the heavens and earth. I’m the one who brought you out of Egypt. I am holy, and now here are these things I want you to do."

And I just kind of love that because I always think of children that are listening to the Torah. Children are listening to the Torah, so when you walk away and you say to them, now, there’s three things that I want you to remember, and you ask that child that was 7 or 8 or 9 years old, and I wonder if they wouldn’t also say, "Well, one of the things we know about the Creator of the universe is He is holy, and the other thing we know about him is He brought us out of Egypt, and there’s some things He wants us to do that matches that." You know, I mean it’s just kind of a cool thing.

Jono: Sure. And it does repeat itself that way. But in this case, in verse 12, “And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you profane the name of your God.” Now we’ve spoken about swearing by His name falsely before, right? I mean, taking a vow or making a promise in His name and not keeping it, for example. But what does it mean to profane the name of your God?

Keith: Well, I think here’s what we got to do; I think if we read this word profane and then we do what we always do, which, I always love this and people always love this, so my NIV, in verse 12, my Nearly Inspired Version here, so it says, "Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD." And then what does yours say, Jono?

Jono: Okay. Yours says, “and so,” mine says, “nor shall you profane the name…”

Keith: Start from the beginning…does it say, “swear falsely”?

Jono: Yeah, it says…

Nehemia: Actually, his says “…so that you profane the name.” In other words, in Keith’s translation, it’s making profaning the name a result of swearing falsely, whereas what it literally says in the Hebrew is “ve,” "and", “and you shall not…”

Jono: “…profane the name of God.”

Nehemia: “Lo tishavu bishmi leshaker ve-hilalta et shem Yehovah, Eloheha.” Yeah, so you can definitely read that as some causation there. “Do not swear falsely by My name,” because I mean, look, if we read these as two separate commandments, we end up with the second one being, “and you shall profane the name of Yehovah your God,” or “the name of your God; I am Yehovah.”

Keith: Right.

Nehemia: So essentially, profaning the name Yehovah, or in the name of God, is done by swearing falsely in the name, the way that Keith reads…

Jono: The way Keith’s described previously, right?

Nehemia: …is by swearing falsely; in this context, yeah.

Jono: How about that? So, the Newly Inspired Version gets it right.

Keith: Now how about those Methodists! Are you kidding me?

Nehemia: What do you have in yours, Jono?

Jono: I’ll read it again, so starting from verse 12, “And you shall not swear by My name falsely, nor shall you,” and now as if this is another thing, “nor shall you profane the name of your God.”

Nehemia: So, the word “nor” doesn’t appear there; in other words, it’s literally, “and you shall profane the name of your God.” The word “and” is a really funny word in Hebrew because it has lots of different meanings. It can mean, “but,” it can mean all kinds of different things. In this context, it essentially means, “so that,” the way it’s translated in the NIV; that’s a legitimate translation.

Jono: So, there it is. So, to profane the name of Yehovah is to swear falsely by His name. There it is. So, verse 13, "You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him the wages of …”

Nehemia: Actually, can we go back to verse 11? Because there’s something really interesting in verse 11 that I think is kind of glossed over in most translations. So, you’ve got three commandments here. The first one is “don’t steal.” Can I get an amen from both the Methodists and the Australian?

Jono: Amen.

Keith: Don’t steal.

Jono: “Don’t steal, nor deal falsely.”

Nehemia: The third one is literally “lo teshakru,” don’t lie. Can I get an amen there?

Jono: Amen.

Keith: Hmm. Yes.

Nehemia: Okay. What do you have as the second one in your translations?

Jono: Okay. So, in mine, Keith, I’ve got, "You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.”

Nehemia: So, “deal falsely”; got it.

Keith: Mine says, "Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another."

Jono: Okay.

Nehemia: Okay. So, yours has the second one as, “lie.” And Jono’s second one as, “to deal falsely.” And the Hebrew word is a really interesting word, “tichachashu.” It’s a hard word to say: tichachashu.

Keith: “Tichachashu.”

Nehemia: It’s a word that literally means, to lie by denying something; to deny. The example that you find earlier in the Torah is when the Angel accuses Sarah of laughing. And it says, “And she denied, saying, she didn’t laugh.” It uses this exact word. So, it’s not just the lie, it’s a lie, essentially by denying something. Which is interesting…like, why would Hebrew have a word like that? There’s a really interesting example of it in Joshua 24, verse 27. It says, “And Joshua said to all the people, 'behold the stone shall be a witness.'” Say witness.

Jono: Witness.

Keith: Witness.

Nehemia: “'…shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of Yehovah…'” this is a stone they set up, “'…which He spoke to us, it shall therefore be a witness to you lest you deny your God.'” The word there is the same exact word, it’s to deny by lying. So, I think there’s something really profound there.

Jono: Wouldn’t have seen that. Okay.

Keith: You’ve got to love the Hebrew.

Jono: Yes! You have to love the Hebrew.

Keith: I mean, I’m telling you guys…Jono, we’ve got our own search tool right here on Truth2U. If anyone doesn’t…I mean, this is amazing! We can come across a word and we just push this button and then Nehemia is like a live search tool and he can give us…it’s, really, it’s impressive. I love it.

Jono: "You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning. You shall not curse the deaf…”

Nehemia: Whoa! We’ve got to stop there. I mean, these are some huge commandments.

Jono: That’s right.

Nehemia: So, the first one, “You shall not cheat your neighbor.” The word there actually doesn’t mean cheat; the word is “ta-ashok.” And “ta-ashok” is usually translated as something as “to oppress,” you shall not oppress your fellow or your neighbor. Sometimes they translate it as “to abuse.” It really means so much more, really, than to cheat; it really means to take advantage of the weak. That’s really the meaning of “ta-ashok,” to take advantage of the weak. And the next, after that…so what do you have after, “do not oppress your neighbor?” And then what do you have, verse 13?

Jono: So, I’ve got, “nor rob him.”

Nehemia: “Rob him.” The word there, “tigzol,” is…there are actually two Hebrew words for “steal.” This is the word that means, to steal using violence. So, you don’t oppress your neighbor, which means essentially to take advantage of him. Generally, it has like a connotation of the rich taking advantage of the poor. That’s why, at the end of the verse, we have, “and don’t leave over the wage of a hired worker with you until morning.” We’ve got to remember, in many places in the world to this day, you have people who are day laborers and they get paid at the end of the day. That’s what it’s talking about here. The agreement is that you pay the man by the end of the day; you pay him that day. You don’t keep his money until the next day. And why is that? Because he needs that money to buy food. I mean…

Keith: Right.

Nehemia: …this sounds like something remote and exotic, but literally, there are people that, today if they don’t work, they won’t eat tonight. They won’t be able to feed their families tonight.

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: The Torah’s telling you, don’t oppress the weak, your neighbor who is weaker than you, and don’t rob him using violence. Don’t steal from him, and, “don’t leave over the wages of the hired worker with you until morning.” That’s a really important principle I have tried to employ in my life. Whenever I owe someone money, whenever I've hired someone to do something, whatever the agreed upon time frame is to pay them, I do my best to try to pay them on time. There’s actually an entire financial system that’s been developed in the Western world, and I don’t know if they do this in all the countries of the people that are listening, but I know in many of the Western countries the whole system is worked out that you don’t pay somebody until 90 days after he has done the work for you. You know, that’s like a standard thing in the Western world. And what the Torah is saying here is you’ve got to pay the person on time, you’ve got to pay the person in a timely manner based on what’s been agreed.

Keith: Jono, can I bring this up? I know you guys will tend to hit me over the head on this one, but I want to go to the New Testament on this because it’s…

Nehemia: What? Wait, I thought this was an Old Testament program.

Keith: No, I just want to go to the New Testament, a very, very controversial book, one of the very…the books that, when I was first coming along, when I got to the book of James, I loved the book. In fact, believe it or not you two, there’s only one book in the entire New Testament that I ever memorized from beginning to end. And it was the book of James. And I never understood why…

Nehemia: You memorized it why?

Jono: You memorized the book of James?

Keith: I memorized the entire book of James. This was some years ago, a long, long time ago, and I never knew why I wanted to memorize that particular book. As I’ve gone further in my life, I came to find out how controversial the book of James was, especially among some of the Reformers, including folks like Martin Luther...

Jono: Martin Luther.

Keith: …who thought, you know, I’m not sure we want that book there. And the more I read it, and the more I read the Torah, I see these connections, and so here’s this amazing connection in James, chapter 5, “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corrupted. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.”

And it’s funny now - it’s been a long time, obviously since I’ve gone through the memory process, but immediately when I read in Leviticus 19, and there are other sections in the Torah that sort of jump off the page, that James, in his practicality, in terms of how you’re to treat people and to deal with widows and orphans, etcetera, he deals with that.

And so why does a Martin Luther, and others, look at that and say, "Ah, we don’t think we want that book in there?" It too much is going to remind folks like Jono, and maybe Keith the Methodist, who knows, even Nehemia, if he were, you know, bored sometime and he wanted to open up his New Testament to do some word studies, he’d read in James, he’d say, "Hey, wait a minute! That sounds a bit like the Torah."

So, they didn’t want to make that connection, so they kicked it out, many times attempted to kick it out. But I just wanted to bring that up because it is amazing to me that if I go back to the first century, and I do imagine that the people that were there truly understood the Torah to be exactly what you and I, Jono and those that are listening, believe it to be as the word of God. There are applications, there are connections, that they would’ve made and certainly, the book of James is just one example of that. So, I just had to bring that up; you guys don’t have to hit me over the head too much, we can get back to Leviticus.

Jono: No, that’s interesting, and seeing that you did bring it up, if my memory serves me correctly, I believe Martin Luther referred to James as “an epistle of straw” and put it at the back of his translation in the hope that he may kind of forget it and leave it off the end. But it is interesting, I’m just looking at it in my New King James and verse 4, in the cross-references, lo and behold, it does direct you back to Leviticus 19, verse 13. So…

Keith: There it is.

Jono: Yeah, no that’s good. There it is.

Keith: Yeah. Thank you.

Nehemia: Well, I’ve got to comment on a couple of points here. One interesting thing, as you were reading this, and this is kind of side tangent, but this is what I do. In verse 4, it says, “Cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth;” and what is ‘Sabaoth?’ Well, that’s not a Greek word; it's being translated from Greek here. But that’s actually the Hebrew word, "tzva'ot". That’s a phrase that appears throughout the Tanach as Yehovah Tzva'ot, Yehovah of Hosts. And, you know, they say the LORD of Hosts, but it’s actually Yehovah of Hosts.

That’s actually a word in the Greek, where in the Greek they wrote out the word Sabaoth in Greek letters because maybe they didn’t know how to translate it, or they said, "Okay, that’s His title, we’re not going to even translate that word." What’s interesting, though, is whenever you have Sabaoth you have before it Yehovah. So, we have here in the Greek “Lord of Hosts,” “Lord of Sabaoth,” but in the original, when James was speaking these words, or writing these words originally in Hebrew, it had to be Yehovah Tzva'ot, otherwise you wouldn’t have the "tzva'ot" there in the Greek. And I think it’s interesting that this has been changed over to “Lord.” Any comment there from…

Keith: Yeah, I’ve got a comment. Do you see how I do that, Jono? I want to get him to bring some of this to the New Testament, so what you got to do is you got to come through the back door, catch his attention, then he’ll give you a jewel, you know, he’ll give you a pearl.

So, I think that this is a great –this is again, I think people have to realize, and Nehemia, one of the things I really appreciate and have appreciated for these last ten years is that we – you know, I got to tell this story to everyone now that he’s done this.

You know, when Nehemia and I got together and started talking and we had this big discussion, back and forth, an argument about how I needed him to help me, you know, he said to me, “Now, remember, none of that New Testament stuff.” And that lasted for a few years until he came across some textual issues. So, the thing that you got to do with Nehemia is, you got to bring a textual issue. He always says this “I’m not a New Testament believer, but I do look at things from the textual perspective.” And what you just did is another example of a great pearl, when you are looking at it from a textual aspect, and you are looking at your Greek and you’re thinking, you know, here’s what it is in the Tanach and etcetera. And again, here comes this jewel, this pearl.

So, I want to tell you I appreciate that, and I’m sure the people that are listening appreciate that you do that. And I think that Jono, this is a great place for us to say the prayer, that we would be able to find these hidden things…

Jono: Great idea.

Keith: …because again I want to say, and I say this so strongly, is that there are many pearls in the Torah, and there are many times in the Torah, where those pearls are used other places, and I don’t want to set those other places aside when I am able to find that Torah pearl. So that’s an example in the book of James where…how do we get that sort of information Nehemia is willing to cross over? Give us the textual issue there and, sure enough, a pearl jumps off the page, and I’ll be preaching from that passage the next time I speak. Thank you, Nehemia.

Nehemia: Incidentally, just to confirm that, in Romans 9:29, we again have the phrase “Kurios Sabaoth,” which, you know, in Greek, which is “Lord of Sabaoth.” Which obviously, in the original, is Yehovah Tzva'ot, and there it’s a direct quote from the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 1, verse 9, and lo and behold in the Hebrew you actually have, of course, Yehovah Tzva'ot. So that confirms that, when you have “Sabaoth” like that in the Greek, the original had to have Yehovah, otherwise "tzava'ot" makes no sense there.

So, I’m going to go ahead and say the prayer.

Keith: Awesome.

Nehemia: And I’m going to say, “Avinu shebashamayim, Yehovah Tzva'ot, gal enaynu vana-bi-tah niphlaot miTorahteha.” Our Father in Heaven, Yehovah Tzva'ot, Yehovah of Hosts, uncover our eyes that we may see the wonderful hidden things of your Torah.

Keith: Amen.

Jono: Amen.

Keith: Amen. Thanks.

Jono: Now, it’s really interesting that you point that out, Nehemia, because right next to it, in my New King James Study Bible, right next to chapter 5 of James, it has a word focus, and it is, “Lord of Sabaoth,” and it actually says, it says, “The name means,” that I’ve got it in inverted commas, “the Lord of hosts,” “the Lord of armies,” or “the Master of Creation,” is what I’ve got there. “It was suitable for James to use this familiar Old Testament title, and that cross-reference to Psalm 24:10, in a letter to Jewish Christians,” it says, “for they would have understood that the choice of this particular name of God was especially appropriate in this context. The rich oppresses the poor because they think no one will stand up for them. But the Lord of all the hosts of heaven and the earth…”

Keith: Amen.

Jono: “…is their Defender, and He is coming back to make all things right.” I think we can all say Amen to that.

Nehemia: Amen.

Jono: Yehovah will make all things right. Amen.

Nehemia: Amen.

Keith: You see, guys; I’m telling you, let the Methodist bring something from the New Testament every once in a while. I mean, it can be beneficial to the…look, that was a whole two-minute piece there. Come on, are you kidding me?

Nehemia: Well, look, going back to what James is talking about, I think it’s interesting because this is essentially a central theme of the prophets of the Tanach, of the Old Testament, of the Hebrew Bible, which is warning the people about their oppression of the disadvantaged, of the poor. Really, you know, the people were doing exactly what it said: “lo ta-ashok,” do not oppress; that’s exactly what the people were doing to the lower classes, to the workers.

Keith: Right.

Nehemia: This is a central theme of the prophets, and here in James…it’s interesting because a lot of times when we think about, well, what does it mean to be holy? So, I think if you ask most people they’ll say, "well, holy…that as to do with, you know, fasting and keeping all the ritual commandments." You know, actually there is no commandment anywhere in the Bible to fast, and I could say Bible, I mean, anywhere in the Tanach or in the New Testament, there’s no commandment to fast. Whereas we have very specific commandments here where it says what it entails to be holy. It’s not just what we think about as “ritual commandments.” He’s got Shabbat there, and he’s got honoring your mother and father, and he’s got not taking advantage of the weak and the poor, and not being dishonest in your business practices. That’s also about being holy.

You know, there are a lot of people out there, and it’s almost cliché, but it’s true…there are a lot of people out there who will do all of the rituals that they think that their faith requires of them, but when it comes to actually being a person of integrity and dealing with other people in matters of business, all of a sudden they turn into, you know, the Bernie Madoffs. I mean, we get people who will take advantage of others when it comes to a business deal, and you know what? That’s not what…being holy is in that field as well and it, maybe, in some respect, that’s the more challenging one. Keeping Shabbat…that’s easy, I’ve been keeping Shabbat my whole life. For me that’s really easy. The more challenging thing is when no one is looking, like Keith said, when no one’s looking, and, you know, "I’m just going to keep the money until tomorrow. I’m going to buy myself something, and then I’ll pay him tomorrow.”

Keith: Right.

Nehemia: Or, you know, "…and what’s he going to do about it? You know, he’s got to work for me, he’s got no choice." Or, you know…I mean, this is not holiness. Holiness is, even in those situations, saying, "You know what? I stand before Yehovah, and He’s the one I’ve got to answer to, and I want to be like Him because He is holy, so I need to be holy in this situation as well and do the right and honest and integral thing.”

Keith: Amen.

Jono: I just said to turn to the verse that that word focus referenced, which was Psalm 24, verse 10, I’ll just read it quickly and we’ll return. "Who is this King of glory? Yehovah Sabaoth…”

Nehemia: Glory!

Jono: "Yehovah Sabaoth, He is the King of glory." Amen.

Keith: Amen.

Nehemia: Amen. Glory! Okay. Read that again, because I shouted, and I missed it. No, that was important.

Jono: Okay. That’s Psalm 24, verse 10, is the one that…do you want to read it to us in the Hebrew? Can you do that quickly?

Nehemia: It says, “Mi hu ze melech hakavod,” who is this King of Glory? “Yehovah tzva'ot,” Yehovah of hosts, “hu melech hakavod,” He is the King of Glory.

Jono: Amen.

Keith: Melech hakavod. Hu Melech hakavod.

Jono: Amen. Thank you.

Nehemia: Can I get a “sela”?

Jono: Sela.

Keith: Se-la.

Jono: So, now, look, Keith, what is the purpose of cursing the deaf? They’re not going to hear you? I mean, you know, you put a stumbling block before the blind, that’s pretty bad and it’s going to have a pretty poor outcome. But I mean, what does it mean to curse the deaf?

Keith: I think what you do Jono, I’m convinced of it, and I’d like the listeners to send in comments that think that this is true. I think what you do is, you know, you’ll say, "Nehemia, such is…" and then you get to something like this, and you’ll say, “Keith your turn!” Come on give me some of the easier ones, the good ones. I mean are you kidding me? I think you do this on purpose, I think you highlight things like this, and say, "okay, I’m going to give him 10%." “Keith, what about the curse? What about the…” Look, I’m waiting to get to my favorite verse here, so you two go ahead and talk until I can spend another card.

Jono: “You shall do no injustice in judgment…”

Nehemia: Wait, no, I’d like to talk about that.

Jono: Go on, Nehemia. Go on. Off you go.

Nehemia: So, you’ve got two things here in verse 14, “don’t curse the deaf” and “before a blind mind don’t place a stumbling block.” And “you shall,” here it is again, “and you shall fear your God, I am Yehovah.” So again, why should we do this? We’re not afraid of the deaf guy and we’re not afraid of the blind guy. You know, they really probably can’t do much to us. But why should we do it? Because Yehovah is commanding us and we should fear him.

And it’s interesting that you say, "why should you…why bother even cursing, like, why command to do something so ridiculous as cursing the deaf?" But there are people who do that. What they’re doing is mocking the deaf, not so that the deaf person will hear it, they’re mocking the deaf person before others. You could argue that, here’s the literal application: that the figurative application is anybody who can’t hear you, who’s deaf to your words, who isn’t around, who you’re speaking behind his back. If you speak about him negatively, and if you put him down, you’re cursing the deaf. And…

Jono: So, let me just get this straight, Nehemia; so, to mock somebody, you would equate with cursing somebody?

Nehemia: I think so, yeah. Absolutely.

Keith: I want to say this, though, Jono, seriously, about that verse, is that when I think of that verse about “do not curse the deaf.” I think of it from this perspective: “do not do to those you know you can do,” back to this issue of Nehemia speaking of the weak, why would you put a stumbling block in front of the blind? Because I can. Why would you curse the deaf? Because I can. In other words…

Nehemia: Let’s call a spade a spade. Why do you put a stumbling block in front of a blind person? It’s called slapstick comedy because people will laugh when he falls.

Keith: Right.

Nehemia: And you curse the deaf because people will laugh, knowing that he can’t hear.

Keith: He can’t hear it, yeah.

Nehemia: And what God is saying is don’t mock those who are weaker than you just because you can do it. Now, I’m going to let Keith go ahead and finish.

Keith: Well, no, I mean I think that that’s the thing: I mean I was kind of joking you, Jono, I’m actually glad when you give me something like that. But I do think that one of the things that is powerful about the Torah is that, you know, there’s sort of the quick read, the "Yeah, this makes sense, this is clear, let’s move on," and there’s the slow down and see. So, what would this mean practically? And I think, again, we’re dealing with this issue of, okay, here’s this person who can’t see, I mean it isn’t just…you mean, okay, yes because you can and because you can mock him because it’s going to be a joke, but think about that person’s disability, what you’re actually doing, you’re actually taking that disability, and you’re actually bringing it to a place for your own purposes. "The person can’t hear, I’m going to deal with the disability and I’m going to deal with the fact that everyone will laugh, and joke, and I can mock him." I mean, there are like three or four levels of what’s happening and why this would be an offense, not only to the person but obviously, to the Creator of the universe. And I think that that’s what so powerful about this chapter, and again, I’m sitting in the bushes, kind of with shaking and with sweat on my head for the coming verse. So, you guys continue talking.

Jono: Ok.

Nehemia. Ok. Regarding, “not placing the stumbling block in front of a blind person.” Historically this has been interpreted…there’s the literal application, which we just talked about, but then there’s the figurative application. Which is, that anybody who doesn’t see a certain truth, if you do certain things that he doesn’t realize because he doesn’t see that truth, you’re placing a stumbling block in front of him. The example that’s often brought is, if I have some strips of bacon and I don’t eat bacon because I know God says it’s an abomination to eat pig, Deuteronomy 14, he says the word “abomination.”

Jono: Amen.

Nehemia: Say abomination.

Jono: Abomination.

Nehemia: So, I give that to somebody else saying, "Hey you know this is a very good, healthy thing, go ahead and eat it." And he doesn’t know; he doesn’t know any better because he just happens not to know. Then that’s me placing the stumbling block in front of a blind person. Now, if he wants to eat it, on his own without anything to do with me, well, you know, that’s his issue. But if I feed it to him, if I give it to him, and tell him it’s good, that’s placing the stumbling block in front of a blind man, figuratively speaking.

Jono: "You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.”

Nehemia: I’ve got to comment on that because, you know, I mean, there’s this idea that, look, we’re supposed to judge impartially and not play favorites to the powerful, to the rich, to the popular.

But the other side is also true, which is, don’t play favorites to the underdog. That’s what a lot of people end up doing; they think that that’s justice to tip the balance in favor of the weak, of the underdog. What God is telling us here is, in matters of judgment there needs to be a level playing field, there needs to be truth and honesty, and not tipping the balance in favor of one side, whether it’s the rich or the poor.

Jono: Amen. “You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor: I am Yehovah.”

Keith: Wow.

Nehemia: What do you have in your translation, Keith?

Keith: “Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD.”

Nehemia: So, what it says here, the first half is, "don’t go about as a talebearer among your people;" it’s, you know, kind of obvious. Although maybe we should talk about that because it’s obvious, but then there are people you know who say, "well, I’m not supposed to go about as a talebearer, but that’s Jewish stuff that, you know, lashon harah." Lashon harah is the later Jewish term; literally it means “evil tongue.” It means to gossip. And I’ve heard people literally say this, "No, that’s Jewish stuff, the lashon harah. We’re allowed to talk about this because these are bad people. Let’s talk about them, let’s talk about their crimes or their mistakes." And it's telling us, “Don’t go about as a talebearer among your people.” I mean, you know, this isn’t talking about going around and talking about the things of people, about the good stuff that happens to them; it’s the bad stuff, you know, that’s what’s fun to gossip about. Let’s be honest. So, it’s warning us about that.

The second half literally says, “Don’t stand by the blood of your neighbor, or your fellow.” That’s a Hebrew idiom that means, don’t stand by idly and do nothing while you see somebody else being harmed; that is, while you see their blood being spilled. So, we're actually commanded here not to take a stance of inaction, but to actually take action when we see someone’s blood being spilled. Then, in the figurative sense, this connects to the first half of the verse, which is going about as a talebearer among your people. Don’t stand by the blood of your fellow or your neighbor, that is, when you hear…you know, there’s a saying in Proverbs, “life and death is in the power of the tongue.” When you go about gossiping about somebody, I mean, that figuratively is spilling his blood. So “don’t stand by the blood of your neighbor” also means, don’t stand by idly when someone is gossiping. There’s the literal blood and there’s the figurative blood.

Keith: I would like to read this next verse please, if that would be okay.

Jono: Okay. I mean I’d say…

Nehemia: Why are we going with verse 17? Verse 17…

Keith: Well, because I was waiting for you to say something.

Jono: Alright, let me. Okay…

Nehemia: Verse 17 is one of the, I think, one of the most interesting commandments in the whole Bible because it’s, I would say, one of the very few commandments which is about our thoughts. You know, the Torah is really about action. And it’s interesting, I’m currently editing my book…I’m in the final stages of editing…which is entitled, “Shattering the Conspiracy of Silence: The Hebrew Power of the Priestly Blessing Unleashed.”

Keith: Whoo!

Jono: Awesome book.

Nehemia: Jono came up with that first title. So, I’m editing it, and in one of the passages I talk about “if a person turns from sin and does righteousness,” and the editor, who was trying to make it into more eloquent English, changed it, “turn from sin and is righteous, or to be righteous.” And I was thinking about that. You know, that might be better English, but it’s not correct in the Hebrew sense, or it’s too vague, because to be righteous in the Hebrew sense is to do righteousness. There is no distinction. I mean, you can’t be righteous unless you do righteousness.

And it reminds me of Forrest Gump, you know, whose mother used to say to him, “Stupid is as stupid does.” You know, if you do stupid things, you’re stupid. And the opposite is also true; if you do smart things, you’re smart. In a scriptural sense, by and large, almost every commandment is about what you do, not what about you think. Except Leviticus 19:17, which is “Don’t hate your neighbor,” or excuse me, literally, “Don’t hate your brother in your heart.” And, of course, in the Hebrew scriptures, heart is, we would say in modern English, the mind. You know, mind is a modern concept; they said, "in your heart". So, “Don’t hate your brother in your heart.” It’s actually about what you think in your mind, in your heart. I don’t know of any other commandment, off the top of my head, that specifically designates what you do in your heart.

So, I think that’s profound. Why does it even say, “In your heart”? Because, in Hebrew… Hebrew is an action-oriented language, which is one of the big differences from Greek. Greek is…you know, they invented philosophy, the love of knowledge, of thinking; they were very cerebral. Hebrew was the action-oriented language. So, in Greek, if you said, “Don’t hate your neighbor,” it would be obvious it meant in your heart, in your feelings. But in Hebrew they’ve got it designated specifically in your heart. Otherwise, the assumption is it means, through your actions. And I think this is profound.

This is a tough commandment because how many people…I mean, who out there doesn’t have someone who has wronged them in such a way that they, at some point, will hate them. Unless you’re living as a hermit on the top of a mountain, there’s going to be somebody out there who at some point in your life you’re going to hate. And here we’re actually commanded not to hate your brother in your heart. That’s a tall order. So, I think this is a point where we should stop, and maybe think for a second and, you know, just let that sink in. That’s a significant thing.

The second half of the commandment, “You shall surely rebuke your fellow that you’re not to sin because of him.” That actually goes back to not putting the stumbling block in front of the blind person. What this means is, if you know someone is a sinner, or someone is in the middle of committing a sin, you’re required to rebuke him. Think about the previous commandment in the previous verse, verse 16, “Don’t stand by the blood of your neighbor, the blood of your fellow.” What that means is, if you see one guy murdering another, or harming him, you’ve got to speak out; you must speak out. And if you don’t, you bear sin because of him. The assumption is, he may not know that what he’s doing is a sin, and in that situation, if you don’t warn him, you bear some of that sin.

I want to quote a couple of verses from Proverbs. You guys went to the New Testament, so I’m allowed to quote Proverbs…

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: …which is written by King Solomon, most of it. Proverbs, chapter 9, verse 7, it says, “To correct a scoffer, or rebuke a wicked man for his blemish, is to call down abuse on oneself.” Ain’t that the truth? And then it says in verse 8, “Do not rebuke a scoffer, for he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you.”

It’s interesting that it speaks here about the scoffer; he’s not just the sinner, he’s someone who mocks the righteous and mocks righteousness. So that person…Proverbs is telling us, don’t rebuke him. It’s not going to accomplish anything, he’s just going to hate you. Reprove the wise man, who may not realize that he is sinning, and your correction can actually help him.

Then Proverbs 28:23 says, "He who reproves a man will in the end find more favor than he who flatters him,” which I think is kind of profound because, you know, the tendency is to just say positive things to people. And, you know, “Why should I bother trying to correct people and pointing out things that they may not realize?" You don’t…here again, we’re talking about the wise; the people who are scoffers, they’re not even going to listen to you.

So then Proverbs 26, verses 4 through 5, is a really interesting passage, because this is actually a passage that led the Rabbis to discuss removing the book of Proverbs, not from the Bible, but actually from public circulation. They were talking about placing it in “genizah,” which means they wanted to, essentially, ban it. They couldn’t take it out of the Bible, but what they thought they would do is take all the copies and hide them, because of 26:4 through 5. It says, “Do not answer a dullard in accord with his folly else you will become like him.” So, verse 5 then says, “Answer a dullard in accord with his folly, else he will think himself wise.” They came to these two verses, and they said, they directly contradict each other. The one says do not answer a dullard in accord with his folly and the other says answer a dullard in accord with his folly. Well, which one is it? And what does all of this mean? And, what on earth is a dullard? What do you have in your translation, Jono? It’s Proverbs 26, 4 through 5.

Jono: Now honestly, I’ve looked at this before and I’ve had many discussions about this. Now it’s one of those…so it says, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him. Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.”

Nehemia: So, what does that mean? I think the key here is that, in the opening verses of Proverbs, he says that one of the types of wisdom statements that he’s going to bring is the “hidah.” And “hidah,” they sometimes translate it as a “dark saying,” but it really means a “riddle.” I think that this is intentionally a riddle. He intentionally said two contradictory statements to make you stop and think and figure out, "Okay, what does he mean? What’s he talking about?"

One of the problems with a riddle is, I guess, that different people may come up with different answers. Here’s my answer, which is, verse 4, when it says, “Do not answer a fool according to his folly,” it means, if he spits in your face or he insults you, don’t insult him back because then you become like him. Then verse 5 says, “Answer a fool in accordance to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.” What that means is, you’ve got to respond in some way. So, if somebody insults you, the way to respond isn’t to insult him back, but you do need to respond in some way. Maybe the way to respond is by rebuking him, maybe there’s another way to respond, and each situation may be different. But I think this is connected to the rebuking verse, but also not hating your neighbor in your heart, it’s also related to that.

I think the principle here is that, if a bully or a fool does something to you, don’t do it back to him, because that’s taking revenge. That’s actually the next verse, “Do not take revenge,” the very next words. But you have to respond in some way, “Lest he be wise in his own eyes.”

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: And now I’m going to be quiet for the rest of the chapter and let Keith speak. Yeah, right…

Jono: Okay. So, “You shall not,” 18, “You shall not take…”

Keith: No, no, no. I would like to read this one verse, if I may, Jono.

Jono: This is the one you’ve been waiting for, Keith?

Keith: I would like to read this verse…

Nehemia: Is this the money ball?

Keith: No, this is not. I just want to read this verse.

Jono: Go on, Keith.

Keith: Okay, Nehemia. “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but, love your neighbor as yourself.” Now, Nehemia, have you ever heard a verse like that? Jono, have you ever heard a verse like that? Do either of you know anyone that’s ever talked about not loving your neighbor as yourself. Jono, what do you say about this?

Nehemia: So, it’s really interesting that you ask this…

Keith: No, I’m asking Jono! I’m asking Jono, Nehemia.

Nehemia: Oh, you’re asking Jono.

Jono: It’s New Testament deja, isn’t it?

Keith: Well, Jono I’m asking you a question, have you ever heard anyone say…

Jono: So, I…you know what, I think I have.

Keith: Okay. Alright. So why am I excited about this? Because here’s why guys, and this is not just a matter of bringing you the Methodist tradition, but I think whenever we get a chance to see, and this isn’t just simply the issue of Yeshua - Jesus - who quoted this. But I think anytime that the Torah itself is quoted in another section and, like, for me when I read the New Testament, and I hear an exact quote, it always makes me say, “Wait a minute. Now, do you really mean that?” and “where did it come from?”

And so, this was one of these situations, and I have to make a confession to the world that when I heard in Matthew, for example, where Yeshua is asked this question, Jesus is asked this question, "What are the greatest commandments?" And he says, “You should love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all soul and your mind. And you should love your neighbor as yourself.” I always thought, until I began to read the Torah, that the second part was something that he created himself; what a great thing, he’s taken the Torah and he’s added to it and said, Hey, you know what? “Love the Lord your God with all your heart soul and mind AND love your neighbor.” That was his way of adding the meaning and the importance and the power of the real command itself.

Until I found myself in Leviticus 19, and, actually, it was as a result of a study Nehemia and I were doing together on our book, “A Prayer to Our Father: Hebrew Origins of the Lord's Prayer.” Because, as we were going through these issues, we would be talking about the Tanach, and we’d be talking about the prayer itself in Matthew, and then there would be this need for us to always ask the question: “Where did Jesus,” and I’m using ‘Jesus’ for my Methodists, and ‘Yeshua’ for the Messianics, and, oh, what’s his name for anyone who doesn’t know who I’m talking about…where did he get this idea of this prayer? And this was one of the powerful examples of the Torah being in his mouth, him speaking the Torah just the way it was written.

And the reason, again, I wanted to do this, and I talked, again, earlier about the New Testament with James, but here’s just an example where I can actually go to the teachings of Yeshua in the New Testament and having it be direct from the Torah. And again, for me, the reason it was radical is I’m thinking, wait, you mean to tell me that the Torah is concerned about the neighbor? If you don’t read it you just think, it’s rules and regulations from this mean, old God that had all these things he wanted his people to do. Come to find out, as we’ve been learning and as we’ve been reading, that there are practical aspects of what it means to love your neighbor and to be connected with people, and they’re very, very practical.

So, I’m thinking here in Leviticus 19, he picks this particular verse to bring out. Why this particular verse? Because if you read before it and if you read after it, being holy, understanding what it means to love the creator and to love our neighbor…I mean it’s very, very practical, and he picks that as the most important command. And so, I just have to give a shout-out to Yeshua on this one. I want to give a shout-out to the one they call Jesus, who would pick this verse to say, this is what it means to love the Creator with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself. Can I get an Amen?

Jono: So that’s…Amen. So that’s Matthew 22, verse 37, where he said, "you shall love…” in answer to the question, “Which is the great commandment of the Torah?” “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And on these two…” Keith, would you agree? “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Keith: It seems to me, and I would love to hear what Nehemia thinks about this, maybe we can get some textual response here, or maybe he’ll give us a shout? I don’t know. But the point is that this idea of our Creator, who’s the one that we can say, "Oh, the great God of all creation, we love Him, oh, we love him with all our hearts and all our minds." But this person that I’m looking at, this blind person, this deaf person, this dumb person, this foolish person, the list goes on and on, I don’t have to deal with him, I can just love God. And isn’t it interesting - this wasn’t something that Yeshua created, but it’s something he’s quoting.

Jono: Well, this is what I want to know. So Nehemia, is this generally accepted in Jewish tradition as the two major commandments? And is it considered among Jewish tradition that all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments? Is that a traditional understanding?

Nehemia: It’s really interesting because if you ask most Jews, "Who said, 'love your neighbor as you love yourself?'” About half of them will say it comes from Leviticus, but the other half will tell you, "Oh, well, Rabbi Akiva said that."

Jono: Oh, really?

Nehemia: Yeah. There’s a famous saying from the ancient Rabbinical writings, where it quotes Rabbi Akiva, where he says, “veahavta lereacha kamocha,” “love your neighbor as you love yourself.” “Zehu klal gadol baTorah,” “This is a central principle in the Torah.” Actually, it’s a little deeper than that because the word “klal,” which you could translate as principle, is from the word “kolel.” You could also translate it as "this is all inclusive of the Torah." There’s a story from some Rabbis who lived about 30 years before Yeshua was born, which illustrates what he meant by that.

And it goes as follows. It appears in the Talmud, Shabbath 31a, and it’s a story about Shammai and Hillel; they were a really big deal. They were the leading pharisaical teachers around the year 30 BCE. It says, “There was an incident with a gentile who came before Shammai, he said to Shammai, ‘convert me on the condition that you teach me all of the Torah while I stand on one leg.’” You know, he’s like, I don’t want to sit in classes for years, for months, teach me the whole Torah while I’m standing on one leg, and the point is, how long can you stand on one leg? You know, one minute? If you’re a runner like Keith, maybe 5 minutes, right? But not that long.

Shammai was known as a very impatient man, so it says, "Shammai drove him away with the builder’s staff that was in his hand,” because he was by profession a builder. “He came before Hillel, who converted him. And then Hillel said to him,” now bear in mind this was 30 years before Yeshua was born, “Hillel said to him, ‘That which is hateful to your neighbor do not do; this is the entire Torah, and the rest is its interpretation. Go and study it.’”

In other words, this is the central guiding principle of the Torah, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself,” and, “don’t do that which is hateful to your neighbor, don’t do to him, all the rest is the interpretation.” Meaning, well, what is hateful to my neighbor? Don’t lie, don’t steal, if my neighbor’s poor I should leave the corner of my fields so that he can come, and he can sustain himself and still have some dignity. All of these things are the interpretation, the explanation, of what it means, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

Bear in mind, this was 30 years before Yeshua was born that this was being taught, and that’s not to diminish the value of what Yeshua taught. On the contrary, it’s to show that what he taught, or it does show, whether you like it or not, that what he taught was actually perfectly in line with what the great Jewish teachers of the time were teaching, but the people weren’t always following.

This was the problem. If you look at the history of the destruction of the Temple, of the destruction of Jerusalem, in the year 70 CE, or 70 AD, what you have is, the different Jewish factions were so hateful of one another that they spent more energy attacking each other than attacking the Romans. This eventually led to their downfall. They could’ve held out until the Romans weren’t able to maintain the siege against Jerusalem anymore, but they ended up fighting against each other and weakening their position to where the Romans could overcome them.

The principle here is one that Yeshua preached, and Hillel preached, and Akiva preached, and the people still didn’t follow it, which was, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” That’s a guiding, central principle in the Torah; the rest is all the commentary or interpretation. That’s actually what Yeshua says if you think about it; he doesn’t say “This is the only principle in the Torah.” He says, "Upon this all the Law and the Prophets hang.” Well, that term ‘hang’ is actually a Hebraism. It’s a Hebrew concept which you can translate into modern English as “are derived.” You could really translate “All the Law and the Prophets hang,” in the way of saying, “from this all the Law and the Prophets are derived.” And that’s true; all the Law and the Prophets are derived from this guiding principle, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

Then the following words after that, which are…what does it say after that? You know it says, “veahavta lereacha kamocha,” “love your neighbor as you love yourself,” “Ani Yehovah,” “I am Yehovah.” So, you’ve got the entire Bible there in those five words. “Love your neighbor as you love yourself,” why? “I am Yehovah.”

Jono: There it is.

Nehemia: So, you’ve got “Love me and then from loving me, even if you hate your neighbor, I am Yehovah." You’ve got to love your neighbor in your actions, the way you treat him and the way you behave towards him. Because remember, Hebrew is the action-oriented language, when you say, “Love someone,” in Hebrew, if you don’t say “in your heart,” it means through your actions. You know, that’s powerful, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself. I am Yehovah.” That’s the whole scripture right there. All the rest is commentary. Go and learn it.

Jono: That’s a Torah Pearl, Keith.

Keith: Yes. That’s not only a Torah Pearl, ladies and gentlemen, do you realize what we’ve done again – twice in one program we’ve had my friend Nehemia discuss with us James and now he is going on and on talking about this wonderful verse, and why is this exciting? Well, here’s the thing - I think what’s exciting about, you know, I always tell this story that Nehemia really gave me a few things, conditions before we talked. One, he said, "no New Testament stuff, no conversion stuff, and let’s stay away from that Jesus stuff." And he’s the one who ends up writing a book about the Hebrew Yeshua versus the Greek Jesus. And then goes on to write with me, which was wonderful, this whole thing of “A Prayer to Our Father,” going through the actual words of the one who we call Yeshua or Jesus.

And then when we get to this, Nehemia, what I appreciated was you talking about 30 years before Yeshua that this was something that was being discussed and something that was known regarding the Torah. And so, again, what I think is pretty amazing is that Yeshua comes along and, of course, because of my Methodist tradition, I’ve been so disconnected from the Tanach and the Torah, when I hear him say, “love your neighbor as you love yourself,” I make the assumption that that’s something he created on his own because I don’t know history, I don’t know context, and I wasn’t a person who read the Torah.

So, for me, again, why I wanted to take my time on this verse is because this verse was kind of a real game-changer for me, regarding the significance of the Tanach, the Torah, being used, being spoken by Yeshua. And again, why he picked this particular verse I think is connected to everything we’ve been talking about; our neighbor, the holiness of the Creator of the universe, and the fact that he says, “Ani Yehovah,” “I am Yehovah.” And we hear that over and over and over and over again. And so, for me when I see this, and then I hear you, Jono, talking about it, you even went to Matthew, and Nehemia talking about it historically. I’m sure there are some folks listening out there that think, "Wow, there is some connection to some parts of the New Testament." So, I appreciate you guys doing that. I mostly appreciate him picking this particular verse to proclaim the things that the Torah hangs on.

Jono: Amen.

Nehemia: Yeah, one more thing on this verse…

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: …which is something that I think a lot of people kind of take for granted. So, it says, “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” A lot of people forget that second part of it, which is first, you’ve got to love yourself, then you can love your neighbor. You need to have a love for yourself and then you can transfer that love to others. If you hate yourself, then you’re going to have a hard time keeping this commandment.

Keith: Amen.

Jono: "You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your livestock breed with another kind. You shall not sow your field with mixed seed. Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.” There’s a…

Nehemia: Yeah. Alright, can I be really controversial? In fact, we might need to edit this out…

Jono: I’m pretty sure you can be controversial.

Nehemia: It’s really, really controversial. So, I’ve had people come to me with this verse and say…you know, I’m not even going to bring it up.

Keith: Okay.

Jono: There’s some strong opinions there.

Nehemia: What do you mean, “Okay”? Oh, no, we got this far, we’ve got to bring it. So, I’ve had people come to me with this verse and say, "Nehemia, this verse proves that interracial marriage is forbidden."

Jono: What?

Keith: Oh.

Nehemia: Can we talk about that?

Jono: I haven’t heard that one. Are you serious?

Nehemia: Can we talk about that? I’m dead serious. I’ve never had a Jew say this, but I’ve had gentiles, Christians, come to me, and say, "Well, this is why you can’t marry a black person. You know, this is why you shouldn’t…"

Jono: Let me…can I just…okay, let me put it this way. I love it when people say…

Nehemia: Is that too controversial?

Jono: There’s only one race, there’s the human race. Say, “Amen.”

Nehemia: Amen.

Jono: When it comes to humans…

Nehemia: Now, can I prove it from the verse?

Jono: Go on.

Nehemia: So, we have here, let’s see, where is this in the verse? So, it talks about your animals, you know, two different species of animals breeding. Well, what’s the actual prohibition here? Does this mean that we’re not allowed to take, I don’t know…

Jono: A sheep and a goat?

Nehemia: You’re a goat guy.

Jono: A sheep and a goat.

Nehemia: No, not a sheep and a goat. What’s two different types of goats, I don’t really know goats. You’re the goat guy.

Jono: Oh, an Angora and a Nubian. There you go.

Nehemia: So, are we allowed to take an Angora, and that’s appropriate, an Angora and a Nubian, which we know is black from Africa, the Nubians, are we allowed to take those and mix those? And the answer is, absolutely yes.

Jono: Amen.

Nehemia: What we’re not allowed to do is take…

Jono: A goat and a sheep.

Nehemia: A horse…I’m not sure. Could a goat and a sheep interbreed?

Jono: There is such a thing as a geep.

Nehemia: A geep!

Jono: Yeah.

Nehemia: Okay. Alright.

Jono: Were you going to say a horse and a donkey, and you get a mule, right?

Nehemia: I was going to say…exactly, a horse and a donkey and it produces a mule. And the thing about the mule, the reason it’s forbidden, what makes it “kilayim,” kilayim is the word here, the mix, is that it produces an offspring which is infertile. It’s no longer a horse and it’s no longer a donkey; it produces an infertile offspring.

And that’s actually what the prohibition is about, that God has created this fertility in the world, and we’re not supposed to mix two things and create infertility. That’s as far as the animals are concerned.

Now, so a lot of people…it’s interesting, it then says, “In your field you shall not plant kilayim,” which also means a mix. Now there, it’s not a matter of taking wheat and barley, because wheat and barley don’t actually mix. There what it’s talking about is planting the two in the same field, which then creates, essentially, a low-grade mixture, because in ancient times wheat was a valuable crop and barley was really a low-grade crop. If you mix those two together there’s no way, with the ancient technology, to sift out the barley. So, people think they’re getting wheat when you sell the grain, but they’re ending up getting a mixture of wheat and barley. And that, essentially, is a deception; that’s the principle behind that.

Now, what’s interesting is, most people look at this verse and they say, “Oh, this is why I can’t eat…I don’t know, a citrus fruit where the orange has been grafted onto a lemon tree.

Jono: Okay.

Nehemia: Actually, it doesn’t say anything about grafting; it talks about planting seed in your field. It says nothing about grafting two different types of trees. I’m pretty sure if you graft an apple branch onto a citrus tree that it won’t produce anything, but I could be wrong about that.

Jono: So, now, what about…speaking of the seed, Nehemia, there’s the other example of producing an orange that doesn’t have seeds or producing grapes that don’t have seeds by hybridizing; the different manipulations done to the fruit so that they don’t produce seed. What’s your feeling on that?

Nehemia: That’s an interesting question. It definitely requires some deep thought and prayer and needs to be worked out in fear and trembling before the Creator of the Universe. But going onto the third one, which is a mixed garment, “you shall not put upon yourselves,” or you shall not wear, so it then has the word in Hebrew “sha-at-nez,” which is a very unusual word.

We’ve got to stop here for a second and lay out a clear principle of scripture, or of ancient Hebrew, which is that every word in Hebrew, with a few exceptions, has a three-letter root. That’s a primary principle of Biblical Hebrew; it’s actually true of all Semitic languages. The word “sha-at-nez,” has five root letters, and what that tells you is that it’s actually not a native Hebrew word. It’s actually a foreign loanword, which is unusual; there aren’t very many foreign loanwords in the Bible. And why have a foreign loanword all of the sudden when it says, “mixed garment “sha-at-nez” you shall not wear upon yourselves?" A lot of translations don’t know how to translate “sha-at-nez.” Like, what do you have in yours, Jono?

Jono: Okay, so what I’ve got is, “Nor shall a garment of mixed linen and wool come upon you.”

Nehemia: Okay. "Mixed garment of linen and wool." It doesn’t actually say linen or wool in this verse. What have you got, Keith?

Keith: "Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material."

Nehemia: Well, that’s really significant. If that’s what the commandment means, that means we can’t wear polyester and cotton.

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: So, what is it? We need to figure this out. What is “sha-at-nez”? And “sha-at-nez”, it turns out, is defined in Deuteronomy, chapter 22, verse 11, and there it says, “You shall not wear sha-at-nez, wool and linen together.” So, it defines sha-at-nez as wool and linen.

Now, why would it have this big, strange, foreign word for this type of mixture of wool and linen? The answer is that a lot of times a cloth will be named after the place where the cloth is produced. Just to name a couple of examples, there’s a famous, very beautiful, Middle-Eastern type of cloth called the Damask. Now, why is it called Damask? Because it comes from Damascus. The more famous example in the Western world is cashmere. Why is it called cashmere? Because the original cloth came from Kashmir in India.

Jono: Sure.

Nehemia: So sha-at-nez is apparently some foreign loanword that describes a type of garment that consisted of wool and linen interwoven together. And so, in Leviticus, it doesn’t even define it for us; we’re just expected to know because we’ve gone to the market place and we know, if you’re an ancient Biblical Hebrew speaker, you know that sha-at-nez is wool and linen together. In Deuteronomy, thankfully, it tells us sha-at-nez, that is wool and linen together, in case you didn’t know. So, it’s not any two garments or any two cloths, really, it’s specifically a mixture of wool and linen, which in ancient Hebrew was called sha-at-nez. Actually, to this day, it is known as sha-at-nez in the Hebrew-speaking world.

Jono: So, you know, if this is an example of…

Nehemia: No.

Jono: Okay.

Nehemia: My point is that sha-at-nez is like Damask or cashmere.

Jono: Very specific, yeah.

Nehemia: It’s a specific term of a specific type of garment…

Jono: Interesting.

Nehemia: …and Deuteronomy 22:11 is defining it. This is actually a very common structure in Biblical Hebrew, where you have an abstract term, followed by a concrete definition of what that term means, to the point where it sounds redundant. Exodus 21:11 is one of my favorite examples. It’s talking about a female servant, and it says, “She shall go free without payment.” Well, why did we need payment, to say, “without payment”? It just said, “She shall go free,” and if she shall go out for free without payment, it’s defining that “to go out for free” means without payment.

Another example is Genesis 24:16. It says, “The maiden was very beautiful, a virgin whom no man had known.” Well, why are you telling us, “no man had known”? You just said she was a virgin. Well, that’s…again, the abstract term ‘virgin,’ followed by the definition, “whom no man had known.” Same exact thing, “sha-at-nez,” wool and linen together. It’s the same exact structure that appears throughout the Bible.

Jono: Alright. Okay. We better start whipping through these because, man, we could probably spend a half hour on this one.

Keith: Right. I mean, Jono, if you’re going to ask from every verse a word from your translation, we’re never going to get through this chapter.

Nehemia: Okay. Can I jump ahead into verse 23, where we’ve got an interesting little thing? I’ll really quickly say this…

Jono: What is circumcised fruit?

Nehemia: Uncircumcised, it says, literally…you know about this, okay?

Jono: What is a…

Nehemia: It literally says, “And you shall plant every tree of food,” ve-a-ral-tem, “and you shall uncircumcised its uncircumcision its fruit, and for three years they’re to be considered uncircumcised for you, this fruit, and it’s only on the fourth year you’re allowed to eat it.”

Jono: Interesting. "You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor shall you practice divination or soothsaying. You shall not shave around the sides of your beard, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard. You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you. I am Yehovah." We actually went into detail on that in Metzora.

Keith: Went into detail, yes.

Jono: So…

Keith: Listen…

Jono: "Do not prostitute your daughter," that’s a good idea. “Keep My Sabbaths and revere My sanctuary: I am Yehovah. Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits; do not seek after them, to be defiled by them: I am Yehovah your Elohim. You shall rise before,” now you don't see this very often anymore, at least where I am from, “You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old man and fear your God. I am Yehovah.”

Keith: I would like to ask a question there; Jono, how old are you?

Jono: I am 40.

Keith: Nehemia, how old are you?

Nehemia: 39.

Keith: You two better start rising when I’m on this show.

Jono: Hang on…

Keith: I’ve had enough of this, either we’re going to go by the Torah or we’re not.

Jono: Now, look…

Keith: This whole thing where I don’t get to speak, even…look, I want some respect! I’m the oldest guy on this darn show.

Jono: Are you telling me that you’re gray-headed? Who would know because you shave your head? What are you talking about?

Keith: I’m bald, for goodness’ sake. But I did find some gray hairs, so I’m going to let them grow to see you guys start…

Nehemia: Some gray hairs in his little tiny beard.

Keith: Okay.

Jono: Ha! ‘His little tiny beard.’ “And if a stranger dwells with you in your land, you shall not mistreat him.” Well, there you go, “The stranger who dwells among you shall be to you as one born among you, and you shall love him as yourself.” So primarily, chapter 20 is a repetition of chapter 18, but it has the penalties in there, as well. And it’s worth going through and taking your time with those and lining them up. But is there anything else we want to take out of chapter 20 before we go, fellows?

Nehemia: Well, there are some interesting things here, but I think we’ll save it; you know, for other sections.

Keith: That’s a first.

Jono: There we go. Alright, wrapping this up. You have been listening to the Torah Pearls. Thank you Nehemia Gordon and Keith Johnson. Their books and DVDs are available from Truth2U where you can also freely download this and other Torah Pearls programs. And next week we are in “Emor,” Leviticus 21, verse 1, to 24, verse 23. Until then dear listeners be blessed and be set apart by the truth of our Father’s word. Shalom.

You have been listening to The Original Torah Pearls with Nehemia Gordon, Keith Johnson and Jono Vandor. Thank you for supporting Nehemia Gordon’s Makor Hebrew Foundation. Learn more at NehemiasWall.com.

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  • donald murphy says:

    isn’t just the priests that shouldn’t use clothing that is of a mixture of wool and linen.??

  • Casondra says:

    Cursing the deaf, stumbling block to the blind .. reminds me that HE created us in his image… what does that say about Him when we are not kind

  • Renee says:

    I love your podcasts!
    Re: Lev 19:17, to hate in your heart, reminds me of the controversial section (sorry) in Matt 5:28: “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” The reason I mention it is because I have heard it used to say that Yeshua was ADDING to God’s law.

    Perhaps he was just acknowledging that thoughts in our mind often translate to action being eventually taken. Police are aware of this and search a criminals (ie) computer for a history of “hate speech” etc.

  • Nakia says:

    Nehemia may Yehovah bless you abundantly for not making boxes for Him. It blesses so many. Wisdom is like a pearl of great price. When one finds it. Spends all that they have to buy it.

  • donald murphy says:

    to much christian junk.

    • Angelica says:

      Too!! Not to or two.. & yes it’s just one book before and after Yah’shua that makes YeHoWaH’s Word

  • Laura says:

    Shalom, I felt like Nehemia’s explaination was cut because of time 🙁 Regarding the shaatnez, is it forbbiden due to the same thing explained on barley and wheat? You are paying for one material but it is actually mixed therefor is not okay to participate in that type of markets? Or is there any archeological proof of what happen with this material? Help

  • Cymmie Allgood says:

    I am wondering why you didn’t comment on men having sexual relations with men. It was written in both Acherei Mot and Kedoshim, yet you said not a word. Since the penalty was death, don’t you think it important to discuss? I know politically it is taboo- but is Yehovah’s word also taboo?

  • Joseph Cartwright says:

    Good day! I understand not breeding a horse and a donkey. So why did King David and others have mules?

  • Brendan says:

    Nehemia, can you please explain verse 23 in Leviticus 19, does it apply to fruit all over the world, like in the usa, or just the land of Israel, cause the verse says when you enter into the land, cause what about supermarket fruit that we dont know is orlah, and what if we cannot get access to certified fruit from a tree older then 3-5 years, I hope you can answer soon as possible for I did not know about this until yesterday when I came across the verse.

  • Reyes Nava says:

    The explanation Nehemiah gave regarding the feeding of the poor (Lev. 19: 9-10) is so wonderful. This concept provides the poor & the stranger with food for their bodies and dignity for the soul. Well-being has been replaced with welfare by taking away the use of their hands and replacing it with an attitude of self-entitlement which quenches the desire to improve oneself.

    By keeping this commandment there would be no need to steal or lie regarding the fruit of the field that was taken thus benefiting the owner of the field & vineyard.

    Also the stranger would see that obedient Israel is a light to all nations:
    “So keep and do them, for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

  • Nancy says:

    Love the explanation of being holy

  • Nancy says:

    I would like to thank you guys for teaching us some very important things in the Word
    a comment on prohibition of mixing species with and without seed
    if the prohibition is against fertility then it would be forbidden because there are no seeds present in the fruits to reproduce
    like a man with man and a woman with woman
    to be very plain spoken ; any sexual activity done that would not result in fertility is wrong it is not holy sexual activity because it will not produce fruit
    before the flood , the earth was corrupt
    meaning ? the flesh of men and animals and angels had interbred and produced offspring that were corrupt?
    the flesh of the animals and man had come from the earth
    was that the earth that was corrupt

  • Wanda says:

    Thank your for sharing your wonderful hebrew/Torah knowledge with us all Nehemia, abundant blessings always

  • Pamela says:

    Wow! Power packed! I will listen over and over, til I get it all! Love you, guys! Glory to YeHoVAH!

  • really enjoyed this ! thanks

  • Jerry Noblitt says:

    Thank you Nehemia, I wished you would open a Torah class for serious students who want to further understand the Torah. Awesome program as always blessings

  • daniel says:

    Excellent, again. Regarding v.16, I thought of the Good Samaritan.

  • Erin Hunter says:

    Couldn’t it be that the sheep cloth not be mixed with goat a parallel to mean if we belong to YHVH we where sheep’s clothes?
    Just a thought for conversing.

  • Nicholas Mansfield says:

    Fascinating but I got a bit lost towards the end. Are we not supposed to wear mixed fabrics as in Deut. 22:11 seems to suggest?

  • Mandy Smith says:

    I just Love your Torah Pearls and you, Nehemia and Keith and Jono, do this very well and keep it interesting, as well as educational and you also All have a great sense of humour. Did it rub off from Michael Rood, I wonder? as he is just as “funny” sometimes as well as serious. It breaks the ice, doesn’t it?

  • Stubblefield, Herman says:

    Outstanding looking forward to more

  • Mark Blue says:

    We can’t be holy. Only the resurrection power of God’s Salvation can change the heart to achieve that.

  • Joy Butcher says:

    Love it and learnt more every second of the discussion . Thank you

  • Anthony Garcia says:

    Keep Keeping On! It is refreshing to hear all the words over and over again. If we never meet, may we see each other on that Mountain Top.

  • Cosmin says:

    Hallelu Yah!

  • Owen Murphy says:

    Nehemia -What is in ones heart and mind, would this not be the same with ‘Thou shalt not covet” as you explained in v-17? Keith- mixed seed, could we apply the teaching in Matt. 13 the tares and wheat?

  • wanda craig says:

    This was wonderful! Home and sick so no Shul for me but i have been well fed and don’t feel left out. This was likw Torah Talk at Shul. Thank you, thank you!

  • Nehemia, about mixed seed: Would Hybrid plants then be forbidden? They are not open pollenated.

  • chris says:

    great stuff