THE BELIEF IN ONE G-D
Ex. 20:2-3
PROHIBITION ON IDOL WORSHIP
Ex 20:4,5; 23:13; Lev. 19:4
PROHIBITION AGAINST MAKING IDOLATROUS IMAGES OF SILVER AND GOLD
"Ye shall not make with Me gods of silver and gods of gold" (Ex. 20:23
TAKING THE NAME OF THE L-RD IN VAIN
Ex. 20:7; Lev.19:12
NOTE: Scripture doesn't really explain this. In Rabbinic literature, this mitzvah is taken to refer to oaths. However, I believe it should be construed in broad terms as follows: we are a People chosen for His Name and thus we must conduct ourselves accordingly. If we give G-d a bad name as it were then we've taken His Name in vain.
REMEMBERING THE SABBATH
Ex. 20:8,10; 23:12; Deut.5:12
NOTE: We are required to sanctify Shabbat in several ways. One of the primary ways that Shabbat is sanctified is by our refraining from doing work associated with the common workday. However,the concept of "work" is not intended by Scripture to be a purely subjective idea. Rather, Scripture provides many examples of activities that are objectively prohibited as melakha--on such Scripturally defined matters there should be no debate. However, one issue for Messianics is whether to accept the rabbinically defined categories of work--the 39 categories of melakha.
GOING FORTH FROM ONE'S PLACE ON THE SABBATH
"Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day" (Ex. 16:29)
NOTE: Clearly by the time of the Prophets this concept of "place" had been precisely defined (e.g. Jer. 17:21-22). This definition of "place" is also alluded to in the Apostolic Writings (Acts 1:12). For there to be a "sabbath day's walk" implies that the permissible distance was precise, well-known, and agreed upon in the system of first-century Judaisms. However, it may have been a matter of halachic debate as to what could be carried on Shabbat. For example, in John 5, Yeshua and a man are in a public domain and Yeshua tells him to pick up his bed and walk. The Jewish leaders then said that the law prohibits carrying a mat. Modern halacha (Shulchan Aruch) states "In the public domain and in a semi-public domain it's forbidden to carry (on Shabbat) any object four cubits. Whether one carries it, or throws it or passes it. To carry it, in several stages, each one less than four cubits, is also forbidden."
TO BE CONTINUED...
I like much of your observations, however, ""Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day" was specifically a command against going into the field to search for manna when G-d had already said there would be none. Very much "unbelief" in the word of G-d, but also calling him a liar.
ReplyDeletePeter, maybe there was some kind of eruv (maybe in debate in the pharisaic environment by the time of the mat case...)
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