One Torah for All

back

What Does YHWH Require?

Micah 6:8 
He has showed you, man, what is good; and what does YHWH require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your Elohim?

YHWH has shown His people what is good and what He requires of them.  It is a very short list.

1.  They are to do justice
2.  They are to love kindness (or mercy)
3.  They are to walk humbly with YHWH our Elohim

This article is going to discuss each one of these three in turn.  Before these are examined individually, please realize that this is the same message Yeshua brought from the Father in heaven.   Please consider what Yeshua taught as recorded in what has come to be known as “the Beatitudes.” 

Matithyah (Matthew) 5:3-5
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.”

The first three Beatitudes are dealing with those who are humble in spirit and life and what they will receive as a result of this.

Matithyah (Matthew) 5:6-7
6 “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful; for they shall obtain mercy.”
 
These two are dealing with those who love kindness.

Matithyah (Matthew) 5:8-9
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see Elohim.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called sons of Elohim.”

These two Beatitudes are dealing with doing justice.

As we can see from this one short passage, Yeshua taught concerning what is good in the eyes of YHWH and what He requires of His people in this life.  As we will see, Yeshua taught on these three things a lot.

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 10:12-13
12 “And now, Israel, what does YHWH your Elohim require of you, but to fear YHWH your Elohim, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve YHWH your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul,
13 to keep the commandments of YHWH, and His statutes, which I command you this day for your good?”

At first reading, what YHWH is speaking through the prophet Micah may seem to be a different requirement than what He spoke through Moshe.  However, when one prayerfully considers these two requirements together, one sees that the messages of these two passages are quite compatible.  In fact, to do the requirement as spoken by Moshe, one must do so in the manner as spoken through the prophet Micah.

This is what Moshe records in the passage above that YHWH requires.

1.  Fear YHWH your Elohim
2.  Walk in all His ways
3.  Love Him and serve Him with all our heart and soul.
4.  Keep the commandments and statutes of YHWH

Please note what Yeshua taught in regards to YHWH Elohim and in regards to all men.  It is important to note this in regards to this present discussion.

Matithyah (Matthew) 22:37-40
37 And he said to him, “You shall love YHWH Your Elohim with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second like unto it is this, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments the whole Torah hangs, and the prophets.”

Please note that Yeshua categorizes the Torah and all the prophets into two sets.  The first category is all those commandments, statutes, and ordinances dealing with one’s relationship with YHWH Elohim.  The second category is dealing with all those commandments, statutes, and ordinances dealing with one’s relationships with others, both those within Israel as well as those outside of Israel.  Please note that in the passage from the prophet Micah, one finds this also to be the case.   One is to do justice and love kindness.  Both of these are dealing with one’s relationships with others.  The last one, to walk humbly before YHWH our Elohim, is dealing with one’s relationship with YHWH.

Moshe records that what YHWH requires, is that one fears YHWH, and loves and serves Him, and keeps and obeys all of His commandments.  So here is a question to ponder.  If one does not fear YHWH, can one love Him?  And if one does not love YHWH, how can he truly love his neighbor?  He cannot!

Yochanan Aleph (1st John) 4:20 
If a man says, “I love Elohim”, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he that loves not his brother whom he has seen, cannot love Elohim whom he has not seen.

The simple truth is that one cannot love YHWH if he is consistently mistreating his brother.

Requirement #1:
............To do justice

Luqa (Luke) 11:42
“But woe to you Pharisees!  For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and pass over justice and the love of Elohim; but these you ought to have done, and not to leave the other undone.”

In this passage, Yeshua ties together doing justice and loving YHWH Elohim.  Yeshua chastises the Pharisees because they did not seek to do justice, and they did not love YHWH Elohim.  They were very careful to tithe everything, even the smallest of herbs.  However, when they did tithe, it was not because they loved YHWH, but rather it was for other selfish reasons, which made their actions unacceptable in the eyes of YHWH. 

The Pharisees were not interested in justice; what they were interested in, was keeping their own manmade rules and traditions.  They did this even to the point of casting aside the commandments of YHWH, all the while claiming to be keeping the commandments.

Marqos (Mark) 7:6-9
6 And He said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
7              But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men.’
8 You leave the commandment of Elohim, and hold fast the tradition of men.”
9 And He said to them, “Full well do you reject the commandment of Elohim, that you may keep your tradition.”

The simple truth of the matter is this:  one cannot do justice following the precepts and doctrines of men!  Why?  One following the creeds of men cannot do justice, simply because the precepts and doctrines of men are self-serving and are in opposition to YHWH and His Torah.

Requirement #2:
...........To love kindness (mercy)

Ya’aqov (James) 2:13
For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

Yeshua taught that one is to treat others the way he desires to be treated.

Matithyah (Matthew) 7:12 
“All things therefore whatsoever you would that men should do to you, even so you do also to them; for this is the Torah and the prophets.”

This is one thing that seems to be seriously lacking in the Hebrew Roots movement:  kindness and mercy towards one another.  We all know that we are all at different places in our walks in serving YHWH and coming into His truth.  Yet, even though most people know this, most people also act like everyone else should be at their levels of understanding.  And if someone is not at their levels of understanding, then many times fellowship is broken off and a barrier is raised simply because there was no mercy and no kindness granted.  Would these same people who act this way not also expect to receive mercy and kindness?  To be sure!

Brothers and sisters in Mashiach, this is not an option.  YHWH requires that each person love kindness and mercy.  To love kindness and mercy simply means that one will give it to all without reserve!  To practice this trait in a manner which pleases YHWH, it must be the default setting of one’s thinking.

Galatians 6:7 
Be not deceived; Elohim is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap.

If you desire, yea, if you want to receive mercy and kindness, particularly upon the Day of Judgment, then you had better start giving kindness and mercy out in very large doses to all around you.  Do not hold back on this precious commodity, but give it out freely as His Spirit empowers you to do so.

Requirement #3:
            To walk humbly with YHWH our Elohim

Ya’aqov (James) 4:6 
But He gives more grace.  Therefore the scripture says,
“Elohim resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

In Christianity at large, it is common to hear teachings that promote pride.  Oftentimes pride will be divided into a “good” kind of pride and a “bad” kind of pride.  However, it will not take anyone very long to go through Scripture and look at those places where it talks about pride.  What one will find in Scripture is that there is no such thing as a good kind of pride.  According to Scripture, pride is evil.  Pride is the opposite of humility.  To walk in true humility before YHWH our Elohim, means that all pride has to be rooted out and destroyed.  This is an enormous task, and this undertaking will not happen overnight.  It will be a process that will most likely be quite lengthy.  The length of time it takes to do this will depend upon the person and how prideful he is.

Pride is a very tricky thing and is not above hiding and disguising itself, even disguising itself as humility.  Yep, you read that right.  So how can one recognize pride disguising itself as humility?  It is easier for another to see it than for the prideful person himself to see it.  If another person gives you indication that there is pride present in you, then you had better get on your face before YHWH and ask Him if it is true or not, and don’t get up until you have a clear answer.  And don’t let pride answer, because it will attempt to answer this query, and you cannot afford for pride to answer, for your answer needs to come from YHWH Himself.  If pride is able to deceive an individual, then he is truly deceived and is on the road to death and destruction.

May each one of us determine to heed the Voice of YHWH as He has told us what He requires of us!

ABBA YHWH, we are willing to walk in all Your requirements of us. Please empower us to do as You require us to do; in the name of Yeshua our Mashiach.  Amein.

Shabbat Shalom
Zerubbabel ben Emunah
www.onetorahforall.com
zerubbabel@onetorahforall.com

© All material is copyrighted and no part may be changed, added to, shortened or edited; however, the entirety of the article may be reproduced as long as the author’s name remains attached to the article.  It is encouraged and a blessing for others to forward these teachings to others, and permission is hereby granted for this as long as the teaching is kept wholly intact, which includes the author’s name and contact information, the “One Torah For All” header, and this copyright paragraph.  Furthermore, it must be passed on without any cost whatsoever to those who receive it.  The act of forwarding or sharing this teaching in any way constitutes agreement by the party forwarding it that he agrees to the terms and conditions of this paragraph.