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Category: Walking Torah

The Truth & Torat Yeshua

“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” [1]

These memorable words of Yeshua, prominently incised on the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., hold a cherished place in our Western culture. Unfortunately, they are fundamentally misplaced in our thinking. Rarely do we come to know the “truth” spoken of and seldom do we experience the full “freedom” Yeshua promises. The cultural ancestors of Western thought, the Greeks, esteemed truth above all else. The holy pursuit of Hellenistic philosophy was “the True, the Good, the Beautiful.” But it seldom occurs to us that Yeshua was not a Greek philosopher! He was a Jewish sage. His was not a Hellenistic but a had Hebraic orientation to life, and His mission was much closer in spirit to Moses than Socrates.

In Yeshua’s Jewish world, the pursuit of truth was not the highest good so much as the doing of it. Truth was given in the self-disclosure and instruction (torah) of the Holy One of Israel. The paramount task of the Jewish sage, therefore, was to rightly interpret the Divine revelation preserved in Holy Scripture, and to teach his disciples, by word and example, how to obey the Divine will. In so doing, he brought them into the fullness of life intended and blessed by God. Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses our Teacher) reminded Israel that the words of Torah “are not just idle words for you, they are your life. By them you will live…” [2] The greatest joy and chief duty of every son of Abraham was to study God’s word so as to obey it. [3] This process of engaging and wrestling with Scripture enlivened and sanctified all of one’s existence. Life was for learning, and learning for the sake of life.

Study to Obey

Study was supremely important because Torah/Teaching was divinely given. Study that led to doing was considered a high form of worship. Talmud Torah or the study of God’s word, therefore, formed the dis...

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© 2009 First Fruits of Zion. All rights reserved. We encourage you to share this material with your friends for further personal study. However, This material may not be republished, in print, electronically, or any other form without our prior permission. Adapted from Bikurei Tziyon #68 .

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