Handout #17: Shema, mezuzah, tefillin, Brigham, Moses’ ministry, mezuzah, fulfill Torah, Maimonides, D&C 84.
Words of Christ, Torah is forever. May 2014
Deuteronomy is a title formed from the two Greek wordsdeutero, “second,” and nomos,“law.” Thus, the title means “the second law,” or “the repetition of the law” (see Fallows, Bible Encyclopedia,
Deuteronomy 6:1–9; 11:18–21. Moses gives instructions to the Israelites to help them remember their covenants. He instructs parents to teach their children his words.
Deuteronomy 6:10–12; 8:1–20. Moses reminds the Israelites of God’s blessings to them. He warns them that they will perish if they do not obey God’s commandments and remember Him.
Deuteronomy 32:1–4, 15–18, 30–40, 45–47. Moses counsels the Israelites to be mindful of the Rock of their salvation.
Shema Yisrael (hear,obey) Heb: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל; is the core creedal Hebrew prayer, an affirmation of Judaism and belief in one God. During recitation in synagogue, Orthodox Jews pronounce it and cover eyes with right hand. Many do this twice daily. A Jewish man wishes to die with the Shema on his lips. Parts are written on a small scroll rolled up and put inside a mezuzah. When a person is praying alone, he begins the Shema with the phrase “God, Faithful King” to bring the number of words in the Shema up to 248, the number of parts in the human body. This indicates that the worshiper dedicates his or her whole body to serving God. A daily declaration of faith. “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One”
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/shema.html
(Deuteronomy 6:4-9) You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might. And these words which I command you this day shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and you shall speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the way, and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be frontlets between your eyes. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates…” (Also 11:13-21, Num 15:37-41) Jesus said verse 5 contained the greatest commandment in the Law: (Matt 22:36-37) See www.aish.com, www.jewfaq.org
Tefillin: Box and straps
Taking the command literally, the Jews inscribed certain scriptural passages, including Deuteronomy 6:4–9, on tiny pieces of parchment, folded them up, and put them into tiny leather boxes about 1½ inches square. These boxes were then tied to the head to be over the forehead, or on the left biceps, suggesting that the wearer would “fulfill the law with the head and heart”. Also called phylacteries. The arm tefillin is in response to Deut 6:8: Only leather used.
Mezuzah (doorpost) Hebrew. A piece of parchment with Shema written on it, inside a decorative case that is nailed to an observant Jew’s doorpost. Part of the scroll’s words teach that Jewish destiny depends on fulfilling God’s will.
Reverse side: Hebrew SH=Shaddai, “Guardian of doors of Israel.
President Brigham Young said: “The worst fear that I have about [members of this Church] is that they will get rich in this country, forget God and his people, wax fat, and kick themselves out of the Church and go to hell. This people will stand mobbing, robbing, poverty, and all manner of persecution, and be true. But my greater fear for them is that they cannot stand wealth; and yet they have to be tried with riches, for they will become the richest people on this earth”
“As was the case with many of the ancient prophets, Moses’ ministry extended beyond the limits of his own mortal lifetime. In company with Elijah, he came to the Mount of Transfiguration and bestowed keys of the priesthood upon Peter, James, and John (Matthew 17:3–4;Mark 9:4–9; Luke 9:30; D&C 63:21; History of the Church, 3:387). From this event, which occurred before the resurrection of Jesus, we understand that Moses was a translated being and had not died as reported in Deuteronomy 34 (Alma 45:19). It was necessary that he be translated, in order to have a body of flesh and bones at the time of the transfiguration, since the resurrection had not yet taken place. Had he been a spirit only, he could not have performed the work on the mount of giving the keys to the mortal Peter, James, and John (D&C 129)” (Bible Dictionary, “Moses,” 735)
In Deut 10:1-11, Moses is told to chisel out two stone tablets like the first; God would write on them again. Moses made a wooden chest to hold these. The order of events recorded here does not match the initial longer account in Ex 34-37. The report here implies Moses himself made the chest (ark) prior to climbing Mt. Sinai the second time and that he personally placed them in it just after descending the mountain. Ex 37:1-9 tells us the ark was built by Bezalel (Ex 31:1-6), “in shadow of El”, chief architect of Tabernacle, after Moses’ return during the course of tabernacle construction. Mosaic law is called the “preparatory gospel” (D&C 84:26). Because Israel lost the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood, they could not have the fulness of the law of Christ.
Law of Moses (moishe): A preparatory gospel.
a. Burnt offering
b. Faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and baptism
c. The Ten Commandments
d. The law of the covenant
2. Law of Carnal Commandments
a. Ordinances—offerings
b. Performances—including dietary and purification laws
To accurately describe the law of Moses, we would have to say that it contained the basic part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was never intended to be something apart, separated, or even lower than the gospel of Christ. It was simply to help the people in their focus and understanding.
An instructive perspective about this law is found in Mosiah 13 in the Book of Mormon. This is the great discourse given by the prophet Abinadi as he labored with the wicked priests of King Noah. They had questioned the prophet, asking the meaning of a verse in Isaiah 52: “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings” (Mosiah 12:21; see also Isaiah 52:8).
The prophet answered and in the process revealed something of the nature of the law of Moses that the people of Noah were practicing: “And now I say unto you that it was expedient that there should be a law given to the children of Israel, yea, even a very strict law; for they were a stiffnecked people, quick to do iniquity, and slow to remember the Lord their God; Therefore, there was a law given them, yea, a law of performances and of ordinances, a law which they were to observe strictly from day to day, to keep them in remembrance of God and their duty towards him” (Mosiah 13:29–30).
The Doctrine and Covenants says that the Law of Moses consists of the preparatory gospel and the law of carnal commandments. The preparatory gospel includes the elements of faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and baptism. We are counseled to “come unto Christ,” which ultimately means to become Christlike… These fundamentals are called the first principles of the gospel: faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism. They are a part of the preparatory gospel, which is part of the law of Moses. Other scriptures include the law of sacrifice or the burnt offering as an integral part of the preparatory gospel.
Doctrine and Covenants 84 indicates that the Lord added something to these fundamental things. He described it in verse 27 as the “law of carnal commandments.” The purpose of the law of carnal commandments was to help the children of Israel focus on the basic fundamentals of the gospel. (To teach repentance.) These two elements, then—the preparatory gospel and the law of carnal commandments—are what we commonly call the Law of Moses.
The law and its purposes, particularly the law of carnal commandments, were fulfilled at Christ’s first advent, both to the Church established in the holy land and also to the peoples of the Americas. Jesus declared that this law was fulfilled in Him and that it therefore had an end:
And it came to pass that when Jesus had said these words he perceived that there were some among them who marveled, and wondered what he would concerning the law of Moses; for they understood not the saying that old things had passed away, and that all things had become new.
And he said unto them: Marvel not that I said unto you that old things had passed away, and that all things had become new.
Behold, I say unto you that the law is fulfilled that was given unto Moses.
Behold, I am he that gave the law, and I am he who covenanted with my people Israel; therefore, the law in me is fulfilled, for I have come to fulfill the law; therefore it hath an end.
Behold, I do not destroy the prophets, for as many as have not been fulfilled in me, verily I say unto you, shall all be fulfilled.
And because I said unto you that old things have passed away, I do not destroy that which hath been spoken concerning things which are to come.
For behold, the covenant which I have made with my people is not all fulfilled; but the law which was given unto Moses hath an end in me.
Behold, I am the law, and the light. Look unto me, and endure to the end, and ye shall live; for unto him that endureth to the end will I give eternal life. (3 Nephi 15:2–9)
It was one of the very few real dogmas of rabbinic theology that the Torah is from heaven; i.e., the Torah in its entirety was revealed by God. According to biblical stories, Moses ascended into heaven to capture the Torah from the angels. In one of the oldest Mishnaic (bible commentary) statements it is taught that Torah is one of the three things by which the world is sustained. Eleazar ben Shammua said: “Were it not for the Torah, heaven and earth would not continue to exist”. There are two Torahs: written and oral.
The Torah was often compared to fire, water, wine, oil, milk, honey, drugs, manna, the tree of life, and many other things; it was considered the source of freedom, goodness, and life; it was identified both with wisdom and with love. Hillel summarized the entire Torah in one sentence: “What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow”. Akiva said: “The fundamental principle of the Torah is the commandment, ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself ‘”.
The message of written and oral (Talmud) Torah is for all mankind. Before giving the Torah to Israel, God offered it to the other nations, but they refused it; and when He did give the Torah to Israel, He revealed it in the extraterritorial desert and simultaneously in all the 70 languages, so that men of all nations would have a right to it. Alongside this universalism, the rabbis taught the inseparability of Israel and the Torah. God Himself created Torah. Yet, were it not for its accepting the Torah, Israel would not be “chosen,” nor would it be different from all the idolatrous nations.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/The_Written_Law.html
Maimonides (born 1135, Arabic Torah scholar, codified Jewish law, ethics) offered the following explanation of the Torah’s eternity, based on its perfection and on the theory of the mean: “The Torah of the Lord is perfect” (Ps. 19:8) in that its statutes are just, i.e., that they are equi balanced between the burdensome and the indulgent; and “when a thing is perfect as it is possible to be within its species, it is impossible that within that species there should be found another thing that does not fall short of the perfection either because of excess or deficiency.”