Continuing are journey of testing the 613!
115. Rambam has, “Relate the Exodus from Egypt on the first night Passover.”
“And you shall inform your son in that day, saying, ‘It is because of what יהוה did for me when I came up from Mitsrayim (Egypt).” (Exodus 13:8)
We see that we are to tell our children the account of the Exodus on that day, and as Rambam has rightly discerned, it’s Passover. This becomes evident when reading from the beginning of chapter 13. Even if you do not have children it would still be worth going over the Exodus account on Passover. This commandment falls under love Elohim, can be fulfilled today, and in my notes, I titled it, “Inform your children of the Exodus on Passover.”
116. Rambam has, “Hear the ram's horn on the Feast of Trumpets.”
“And in the seventh new moon, on the first day of the new moon, you have a set-apart gathering, you do no servile work, it is Yom Teru‛ah (Feast of Trumpets).” (Numbers 29:1)
The literal command is that on the first day of the seventh month (Hebrew calendar), is the feast of Yom Teruah, which means the day of soundings or noises. Part of the soundings does include the blowing of the Shofar, a ram’s horn. How interesting that today we would go over this command as it is Yom Teruah (9/19/20)! This falls under love Elohim, can be fulfilled today, and I titled it in my notes as, “The first day of the Seventh month is Yom Teruah.”
117. Rambam has, “Dwell in a temporary shelter for the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles.”
“‘Dwell in booths for seven days; all who are native born in Yisra’ĕl dwell in booths, so that your generations know that I made the children of Yisra’ĕl (Israel) dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Mitsrayim (Egypt). I am יהוה your Elohim.” (Leviticus 23:42-43)
Rambam is correct, for 7 days are we to dwell in temporary shelters. Some maintain that only the native born are to do this, and others contend that as we have been grafted in, we are like the native born. I would advise praying and see where the Ruach leads you. I know there used to be ministries that would go camping for those 7 days and that sounds like a lot of fun. This falls under love Elohim, can be fulfilled today, and in my notes, I titled it the same as Rambam.
118. Rambam has, “Take up a Lulav and Etrog all seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles.”
“‘And you shall take for yourselves on the first day the fruit of good trees, branches of palm trees, twigs of leafy trees, and willows of the stream, and shall rejoice before יהוה your Elohim for seven days.” (Leviticus 23:40)
The literal command is to take the fruit of good trees, branches of palm trees, twigs of leafy trees and willows, and rejoice before YHWH for the 7 day of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles”. This is traditionally done by waving them around while sending praises to the Father. This falls under love Elohim, can be fulfilled today, and in my notes, I titled it, “Take the fruit of good trees, branches of palm trees, twigs of leafy trees and willows, and rejoice before יהוה for all seven days of Sukkot.”
119. Rambam has, “Each man must give a half shekel annually.”
“Everyone among those who are registered is to give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the set-apart place, twenty gĕrahs being a shekel. The half-shekel is the contribution to יהוה.” (Exodus 30:13)
The literal command is that all who is counted in the census is to pay a half shekel. Further more the annual tax was for the Tent of Appointment and later the Temple, and there is no temple. If you still wanted to give, however, you could calculate what a half shekel would be in your countries currency and donate that to either a ministry, orphanage, widow, or to the poor. This falls under love Elohim, cannot be fulfilled today as it was prescribed in Exodus, and in my notes, I titled it, “Those registered are to give a half shekel to the Temple.”
120. Rambam has, “The month of Passover (Nisan) shall be the first month.”
“This new moon is the beginning of new moons for you, it is the first new moon of the year for you.” (Exodus 12:2)
Plain to see, the month that Passover occurs in is the first month of the new year. This is also known as Rosh Hashanah (New Year). There is a difference between biblical new year and Judaism new year, in Judaism, today (9/19/20) on Yom Teruah they celebrate Rosh Hashanah. This falls under love Elohim, can be fulfilled today, and in my notes I titled it the same as Rambam.
121. Rambam has, “To afflict and cry out before G-d in times of catastrophe.”
“And when you go into battle in your land against the enemy that distresses you, then you shall shout with the trumpets, and you shall be remembered before יהוה your Elohim, and you shall be saved from your enemies.” (Numbers 10:9)
The command here is that when you go into battle in your land (Israel), then shout with trumpets. Whether or not this command can be fulfilled will very from person to person. Depending on how you interpret this verse, you can read as where ever you are is your land or just the land of Israel. But I encourage everyone to seek out this matter on their own and decide if they think this command can be fulfilled today. This falls under love Elohim, maybe could be fulfilled today, and in my notes, I titled it, “When you go into battle in your land, then shout with trumpets.”
122. Rambam has, “Marry a wife by means of a marriage agreement and sanctification.”
“When any man takes a wife, and shall go in to her, and shall hate her,” (Deuteronomy 22:13)
The piece Rambam highlighted states that as a married couple, the man and wife will have relations. I find it odd that he used this verse as it’s connected to the wife not being a virgin. I’m not sure this particular verse is commanding the husband and wife to have relations, furthermore, by virtue of being married the man and wife will have relations. Not sure I would count this as a commandment but as always you test it out yourselves. This would fall under love others, could be fulfilled today depending on how you interpret it, and in my notes, I put, “A man takes a wife and shall go in to her (connected the issue of a non-virgin wife).”
123. Rambam has, “Do not have sexual relations with women not married by means of a marriage agreement and sanctification.”
“None of the daughters of Yisra’ĕl (Israel) is to be a cult prostitute, nor any of the sons of Yisra’ĕl (Israel) be a cult prostitute.” (Deuteronomy 23:17)
The actual commandment that Rambam highlighted, is that no daughter of Israel is to be a cult prostitute. This falls under love others, can be fulfilled today, and in my notes, I titled it, “No daughter of Israel is to be a cult prostitute.”
124. Rambam has, “Do not withhold food, clothing, and sexual relations from your wife.”
“If he takes another wife, her food, her covering, and her marriage rights are not to be diminished.” (Exodus 21:10)
The literal command is that if a man takes another wife, he should treat them both equally. Now polygamy is something that is both frowned upon and illegal in most countries, so most of us will never have to worry about this command. With that being said, the practice of taking another wife was not something done lightly, or done in the spare of the moment. When you read the bible, you’ll notice that there is usually trouble when a man takes another wife. We can still apply this verse today, however, for the verse is explicitly talking about the first wife not being discarded. This falls under love others, can be fulfilled today in the sense that men should take care of their wives, and in my notes, I titled it, “Provide your wife with food, covering, and marriage rights, even if you were to take another wife.”
125. Rambam has, “Have children with one's wife.”
“And Elohim blessed them, and Elohim said to them, “Be fruitful and increase, and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over all creeping creatures on the earth.” (Genesis 1:28)
This seems more of a blessing than a commandment, it even starts off by saying Elohim blessed them. The only other time (to my knowledge) we see this statement again is when Noah and his family leave the Ark.
“And Elohim blessed Noaḥ and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase, and fill the earth.” (Genesis 9:1)
Once more we see that the verse starts off with “And Elohim blessed…”, I encourage everyone to test number 125, but for me I see this as more of a blessing than a commandment.
126. Rambam has, “Issue a divorce by means of a get document.”
“When a man takes a wife and shall marry her, then it shall be, if she finds no favour in his eyes because he has found a matter of uncoveredness in her, and he shall write her a certificate of divorce, and put it in her hand, and send her out of his house.” (Deuteronomy 24:1)
The uncoveredness that it speaks of is finding out that your newly wedded wife was not a virgin. Of course, the bible does mention in other places that if your spouse commits adultery you can file for divorce. The commandment here is that when the spouse has been unfaithful and you want to end things, do it right and file for divorce. This does not mean that you have to divorce your spouse if that does occur, think of Hosea, but if you are going to end the relationship do it legally. This falls under love others, can be fulfilled today, and in my notes I put, “Issue a certificate of divorce when infidelity has occurred.”
127. Rambam has, “A man must not remarry his ex-wife after she has married someone else.”
“1When a man takes a wife and shall marry her, then it shall be, if she finds no favour in his eyes because he has found a matter of uncoveredness in her, and he shall write her a certificate of divorce, and put it in her hand, and send her out of his house, and if she left his house and went and became another man’s wife, and the latter husband shall hate her and write her a certificate of divorce, and put it in her hand, and send her out of his house, or when the latter husband dies who took her to be his wife, then her former husband who sent her away is not allowed to take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled, for that would be an abomination before יהוה. And do not bring sin on the land which יהוה your Elohim is giving you as an inheritance.” (Deuteronomy 24:1-4)
The literal commandment here is that after the divorce, if a spouse remarries and then ends up being single again, you are not allowed to remarry them. This commandment also has prophetic elements to it, as the House of Israel would later be divorce, unable to reenter into covenant with Elohim since Israel had been defiled by following after other gods. Then Yeshua comes for the lost sheep of the House of Israel and dies so that, he being the former husband, is now able to bring back the House of Israel into covenant with Elohim. If this is new information, then I suggest heading over to a post I made titled, “Redeeming the Bride.” This falls under love others, can be fulfilled today, and in my notes I put, “Do not remarry your former wife(spouse), if they have been defiled by another.”
128. Rambam has, “A man must marry the widow of his childless brother.”
“When brothers dwell together, and one of them has died, and has no son, the widow of the dead man shall not become a stranger’s outside. Her husband’s brother does go in to her, and shall take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her. “And it shall be that the first-born son which she bears does rise up for the name of his dead brother, so that his name is not blotted out of Yisra’ĕl (Israel). But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Yisra’ĕl (Israel), he does not agree to perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’” “The elders of his city shall then call him and speak to him, and he shall stand and say, ‘I have no desire to take her,’ then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, and remove his sandal from his foot, and shall spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’” (Deuteronomy 25:5-9)
The commandment here is that the brother should, however, if for whatever reason the woman or the brother does not want to have this marriage (a levirate), then they do not have to. This is not really an issue in today’s society, as family lineage is usually passed on by last name, whereas back then it was like this, “Jacob son of Isaac.” This falls under love others, could be fulfilled today if the brother is unmarried and wants to and the widow wants too as well, and in my notes I put, “A levirate marriage should take place if both parties are willing.”
129. Rambam has, “A man must free the widow of his childless brother from the obligation to marry him if he is unwilling to marry her.”
“But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s wife, then let his brother’s wife go up to the gate to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name to his brother in Yisra’ĕl (Israel), he does not agree to perform the duty of my husband’s brother.’” “The elders of his city shall then call him and speak to him, and he shall stand and say, ‘I have no desire to take her,’ then his brother’s wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, and remove his sandal from his foot, and shall spit in his face, and answer and say, ‘Thus it is done to the man who does not build up his brother’s house.’ And in Yisra’ĕl (Israel) his name shall be called, ‘The house of him who had his sandal removed.’” (Deuteronomy 25:7-10)
Suppose I jumped the gun but here we see that if the brother does not want to, then there would be this ceremony (a halizah) to show he didn’t want to have a levirate marriage. This falls under love others, cannot be fulfilled today in the sense of having a ceremony with Judges that abide by Torah but either party can still refuse the levirate marriage, and in my notes I put, “If the levirate marriage does not occur then perform a halizah.”
We’re at 10 minutes so that will conclude this part, I hope all of you are finding value from this series and are testing the 613 for yourselves. I pray that the Ruach Hakodesh leads you into all truth.
P.S.
Check out some of my books! Available in both print and kindle versions.