613? Six Hundred and Thirteen? Really? Examining a Gross Caricature of the Hebrew Bible
Author: Bobby Valentine | Filed under: Deuteronomy, Hebrew Bible, Precision Obedience, Salvation
Jewish Tradition on 613 Commandments
The Babylonian Talmud relates the story of Rabbi Simlai, a 3rd century Amora, taught that David reduced the 613 mitzvot/commandments to 11, Isaiah to six, Micah to three (do justly, love mercy and walk humbly before Your God [6:8]), Isaiah again to two (keep justice and do righteousness [56:1]) and finally Amos to one, “Seek Me and live” (5:4) and Habakkuk to one “the just shall live by faith” (2.4) (Makkot 23b-24a).
There is a Serious Misunderstand that Prevails
The Hebrew Bible teaches on almost every page, the importance of justice, mercy and faithfulness in everything we do as People who belong to God. “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind, and all of your strength” (Deut 6.4). “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19.18).
– We are created out of love.
– We are created for love to God and others.
It sometimes comes as a complete shock to modern disciples when they learn that the Hebrew Bible teaches us to focus on the “weightier matters of the law.” Much of this surprise is rooted in the historic Protestant caricature of the Hebrew Bible (sometimes outright prejudice!).
It is not uncommon to hear preachers (and even Evangelical scholars) bemoan the “burden” of the law with its 613 commandments. The Jews were dying, literally, under the crushing weight of “the law.” And each and every command must be obeyed with Precision Obedience or that Jew would suffer the dire consequences.
This bad (horrific!) reading (from prejudice) is also rooted in a bad reading of the NT precisely because the Hebrew Bible is ignored. But the Hebrew Bible calls us to the weightier matters of the law.
It may be true there are 613 commands CONTAINED in the Hebrew Bible. To get this number every conceivable thing has to be construed as a command to be obeyed by all Israelites.
However, this is an absolutely false construct. It is NOT true that the Hebrew Bible ever – even for a second – imagined that all of these laws must be obeyed or that they even apply to ALL Israelites. A couple of quick points.
Take Leviticus as a case in point, a fascinating book btw. The directions in Leviticus is not for the average Israelite but priests. And then not even all priests but those who would be serving at a specific time (special days, etc). Many of the “rules” in Leviticus apply to one person and only on one day of the year, Yom Kippur. The vast majority of the “laws” in Leviticus simply tell the priests how they are to assist Israelites in various acts of worship (how to inspect the animal, how to sacrifice the animal, how to remain ritually pure during the service, etc).
But the vast majority of “laws” in the Hebrew Bible is called casuistic law. This is a law that is “on the books” but only is only relevant/applies under certain specific conditions. They usually say something like “If this then …” If a dead body if found near a town then … If a man/person strikes another … If, If, If. The bulk of “law” in the “Law” of Moses comprises these kinds of rules. No one was expected to observe these laws except when the condition arose. A large number never would!
Further Biblical Truth: At no point in the Hebrew Bible is perfect performance of any of these laws a condition for relationship with Yahweh. God established the relationship through the act of salvation, the Exodus. Exodus comes before Sinai. God Saved, Redeemed, Rescued Israel before “the law” was given! The “law,” the rules, never redeemed/saved a single person because Yahweh had already redeemed them before the “law” was even given on Mt. Sinai. This fact of Hesed is etched into Israel’s worship through the Sabbath and the Passover (the entire liturgy in fact).
The Hebrew Bible’s Focus on Weightier Matters
What we find in the Hebrew Bible itself is a sifting so to speak. Not one Israelite ever owned a copy of the Bible (we cannot stress this enough). Not even the High Priest! They did not carry one around because it did not exist. But Israelites knew what many preachers don’t, the Hebrew Bible never required the learning of 613 commands.
The Hebrew Bible “reduces” to what actually matters, Deuteronomy 10.12-22 is textbook example. Here Moses talks to the ORDINARY Israelite. He asks point blank, “What now does Yahweh require of YOU?” Moses does not list 613 commands. Moses does three things:
1) He proclaims the incomparable majesty of the LOVE of Yahweh;
2) Israel is to circumcise their hearts; and
3) Israelites are to love the aliens. (Read and meditate upon Deuteronomy 10.12-22)
“So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being. Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it, yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today. Circumcise, then, the foreskin of your heart, and do not be stubborn any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them food and clothing. You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall fear the Lord your God; him you shall serve; to him you shall hold fast; and by his name you shall swear. He is your praise; he is your God who has done for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen. Your ancestors went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in heaven.“
The “Ten Commandments” is the summary par excellence. “Ten Commandments” is a term that betrays anti-Jewish prejudice in reality. The Bible itself calls them the Ten Words (another place where prejudice has influenced us, Ex 34.28 & Deut 4.13), we see the emphasis of Deuteronomy 10. The First Word is not a command but a declaration of divine grace. It is NOT “have no other gods before me.” The First Word is “I am Yahweh who rescued you.” The First Word is the word of Hesed, the word of Grace, the word of God’s love. The Hebrew Bible never gets the chart before the horse!
The remaining Nine Words then respond to that First Word with a call to love God, to not have a divided/uncircumcised heart toward God. So, the first half the Ten Words focus on our relationship to God.
The second half of the Ten Words focus on relationships with other human beings. Father & Mother; Killing, Adultery, Stealing, Lying Coveting … all of these are aimed at how one human values another human being created in the image of God.
What is remarkable about the Ten Words is there is not a single ritual requirement listed. Nothing is said of sacrifices, prayer tassels, kosher foods, not even circumcision. This includes the Sabbath which in both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 is the “bridge” between “loving God” and “loving neighbor.”
The Sabbath does what Moses did in Deuteronomy 10. It preaches the astonishing grace/Hesed/love of Yahweh in creating the world and in redeeming slaves. On the Sabbath one remembers the love of God who created humans and redeemed them. Barriers of class and status are removed on this day to remember the moment of creation and the moment of redemption. We are ‘one’ on the Sabbath Day. Or as Moses said, “love the alien BECAUSE you were an alien” that has been redeemed by God. Jesus was fully in line with Moses when he said, the Sabbath was made for humans not humans made for the Sabbath because it preaches why we love God and that we do love our neighbor.
Other texts within the Hebrew Bible that state as clearly as can be what was expected of the Israelite are Deuteronomy 6.4; Psalm 15; Psalm 24; Micah 6.8 (he has shown you owe human …). Etc. Psalm 24 was sung by pious Jews every Sunday. It is telling Psalm.
No pious Jew disagreed with Jesus when he said the greatest of all commands are to Love the Lord and to love our neighbor. This is indeed what Moses says in Deuteronomy 10; it is the Ten Words; it is Psalm 24; it is Micah 6.8 and the Pharisees from Paul to Rabbi Akiba shouted, “Amen!”
So, there may possibly be “613 Commands” that actually exist but most of which never applied the average Israelite. But the Prophet Moses said there were THREE THINGS the faithful Israelite would never forget:
– Never forget God first loved you,
– Circumcise your heart (i.e. love God), and
– Love your alien neighbor (aliens are neighbors!).
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