What is written in the LAW? HOW READEST THOU? - JesusA STUDY OF LOVE FROM THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS

Behold a Law of love that Moses the prophet of the Almighty taught

Deu 7:9  Know therefore that Yahweh your God

himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and

keep his commandments to a thousand generations

A Love Driven Law

G O D

L A W

LOVE

Deu 23:5  the LORD thy God loved thee.

Deu 11:22  to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;

Deu 10:19  Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt

Deu 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul

Deu 5:10  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

A law that taught to love by action and examples

Deu 22:4 You shall not see your brother's donkey or his ox fallen down by the way and ignore them. You shall

help him to lift them up again.

The Blessed Man does this:

But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he MEDITATE day and night. [Psa 1:2]

A law that taught to Love one’s enemies

Exo 23:4 "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.• A flat tire?

Exo 23:5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.◦ Our attitude

◦ he ‘deserves it’◦ Ha! God is punishing him?

Not just to do good to your ‘good’ neighbor who may have done good to you earlier but the law instructed its followers to do good to the very one who hates you.

If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink

Proverbs 25:21-22

The example of Elisha – Love your enemy

2 Kings 6:18-23 (KJV)

18 And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha.

19 And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria.

20 And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria.

21 And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them?

22 And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master.

23 And he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.

shall I smite them? shall I smite them?

Job’s example and his attitude towards his enemies

Job 31:29 "If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him

Job 31:30 (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse),

Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:

Pro 24:17

Joseph’s example

Gen 50:15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "It may be that Joseph will hate us and

pay us back for all the evil that we did to him."

Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:

Pro 24:17

Do not hate your brother

"You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin

because of him. (Leviticus 19:17 ESV)

Do not devise evil in your hearts against one another,

Zec 8:17

Do not even think of doing evil to others

Zec 7:9 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another,

Zec 7:10 do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you devise evil

against another in your heart."

Don’t devise evil against your neighbor, since he dwells securely by you.

Pro 3:29

The law taught us to be generous

Deuteronomy 15:9,10 (WEBA) Beware that there not be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, “The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand;” and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to Yahweh against you, and it be sin to you. You shall surely give, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; because that for this thing Yahweh your God will bless you

Don’t eat the food of him who has a stingy eye, and don’t crave his delicacies:

Proverbs 23:6

The law taught us to be generous

Lev 19:10 You shall not glean your vineyard, neither shall you gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.

If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which Yahweh your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother;

Deu 15:7

What about strangers and foreigners? – Exempted?

Exodus 22:21-24 21 "You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.

"You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brothers or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns.

Deu 24:14

Deu 10:19  Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt

The setting for receiving the Law1. God fed the people

2. Spoke to the people

3. In a setting of a dessert he was their tower and refuge and green pasture

4. He wanted to get intimate with the people

But, Eye for Eye?

Lev 24:19 If anyone injures his neighbor; as he has done, so shall it be done to him:Lev 24:20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; as he has injured someone, so shall it be done to him.Lev 24:21 He who kills an animal shall make it good; and he who kills a man shall be put to death.

Forgiveness was taught in the law

◦ Dealing with revenge – Revenge forbidden◦ Lev 19:18 “‘You shall not take vengeance, nor

bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.

◦ Exo 23:4 "If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.

◦Forgiveness Possible – As God Forgave◦ Num 14:19 Please pardon the iniquity of this

people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”Eye for Eye –> Justice

But Practice Forgiveness

Literal or principle?

◦ Dealing with revenge – ‘indemnity’◦ Exo 21:18 “If men quarrel and one strikes the

other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn’t die, but is confined to bed;

◦ Exo 21:19 if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed.

Eye for Eye –> Justice

[The Law was to put fright in people]

Principle:

Punishment must match the crime, but not exceed the

damage done

(Hell is not a proportional punishment)

As offender: Offer indemnity As offended: Forgive

Literal or principle?

◦ Rabbi Jesus did not go for a literal interpretation of the Torah:

You have heard that it was said, “Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.” 39 But I tell you, “Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right check, turn to him the other also.” (Matt. 5:38-39; cf. Luke 6:29)Interpretation is Key

The discretion of a man makes him slow

to anger. It is his glory to overlook an

offense.Pro 19:11

The LAW taught us to Love one anotherWhat is written in the LAW? HOW READEST

THOU? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord

thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all

thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.And he said unto him, Thou hast answered

right: this do, and thou shalt live. (Luk 10:26-

28)

Jas 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal LAW according to

the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour

as thyself, ye do well: (James)

Luk 10:26 What is written in the LAW? how readest

thou? (Jesus)

Gal 5:14 For all the LAW is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as

thyself. (Paul)

Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour:

therefore love is the fulfilling of the LAW (Paul)

Lev 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy

people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.(Moses)

Deu 24:20 When thou beatest thine olive tree, thou shalt not go over the

boughs again: it shall be for the stranger, for the fatherless, and for

the widow. (Moses’ example)

Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one

another: for he that loveth another hath

fulfilled the LAW. (Paul)

LOVE The Law is NOT obsolete

Is the Law against Faith?1. No

2. The law was designed to be followed by loving God hence by faith

Act 24:14 so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all

things which are written in the law and in the prophets (Paul)

Rom 2:13 (For not the hearers of the law are just

before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.

(Paul)

Rom 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith?

God forbid: yea, we establish the

law. (Paul)