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The purpose of God’s Law. In all things man must seek the healthy balanced position, trying to avoid all radical extremes. As it is written: “do not give me poverty, nor riches; (but) keep me of the necessary bread; lest I be satisfied, and deny you, and
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The purpose of God’s Law
The purpose of Torah (God’s Law) is to instruct the Hebrew believer, so that he may strive to be as wise and as holy (in other words, as humble, just, kind, loving, compassionate, and honest) as our master Moses, upon whom HaShem’s glory could be perceived. As is written:
כ ּ ִ י ה ִ ו א ח ָ כ ְ מ ַ ת ְ כ ֶ ם ו ּ ב ִ י נ ַ ת ְ כ ֶ ם, ל ְ ע ֵ י נ ֵ י ה ָ ע ַ מ ּ ִ י ם: א ֲ ש ׁ ֶ ר י ִ ש ׁ ְ מ ְ ע ו ּ ן, א ֵ ת כ ּ ָ ל -ה ַ ח ֻ ק ּ ִ י ם ה ָ א ֵ ל ּ ֶ ה, ו ְ א ָ מ ְ ר ו ּ ר ַ ק ע ַ ם -ח ָ כ ָ ם ו ְ נ ָ ב ו ֹ ן, ה ַ ג ּ ו ֹ י ה ַ ג ּ ָ ד ו ֹ ל ה ַ ז ּ ֶ ה
“for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, that, when they hear all these statutes, shall say: 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people' ”- Deuteronomy 4: 6
ד ּ ַ ב ּ ֵ ר א ֶ ל -כ ּ ָ ל -ע ֲ ד ַ ת ב ּ ְ נ ֵ י -י ִ ש ׂ ְ ר ָ א ֵ ל, ו ְ א ָ מ ַ ר ְ ת ּ ָ א ֲ ל ֵ ה ֶ ם --ק ְ ד ֹ ש ׁ ִ י ם ת ּ ִ ה ְ י ו ּ: כ ּ ִ י ק ָ ד ו ֹ ש ׁ, א ֲ נ ִ י י ְ ה ו ָ ה א ֱ ל ֹ ה ֵ י כ ֶ ם
“Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto them: Ye shall be holy; for I the LORD your God am holy”- Leviticus 19: 2
In all things man must seek the healthy balanced position, trying to avoid all radical extremes. As it is written: “do not give me poverty, nor riches; (but) keep me of the necessary bread; lest I be satisfied, and deny you, and say: who is Adonai? Or that, being poor, steal, and blaspheme the name of my God”- Prov. 30: 8-9. And also says in another place: “Do not be too honest, nor become too wise; why cause your own ruin? ” - Ecclesiastes 7: 16
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Adam and Eve were originally created with a mortal human nature
Hebrew Scripture says that, right after finishing His work of creation, the Lord said: “And God seeth all that He hath done, and lo, VERY GOOD; and there is an evening, and there is a morning -- day the sixth”- Genesis 1: 31 (Young’s literal Translation). In the former verse, the Hebrew words translated as “VERY GOOD”, are “tov meod” ( ט ו ֹ ב מ ְ א ֹ ד ). But the original Hebrew language had no written vowels, so the former words sounded eerily similar to the Hebrew words for “TOV MOT”, meaning “DEATH IS GOOD”.
Thus, the verse could also be read as saying, “And God seeth all that He hath done, and lo, DEATH IS GOOD…. ”. In other words, God foresaw men would turn so wicked, that only the fear of death could bring them back unto the path of righteousness. So Scripture hints men do not die due to any allegedly inherited (spiritual) sin, but rather because death was part of God's original Creation. And that could explain why from the very start God had to provide Adam with food and drink, as the latter would perished without them (why would an immortal being have any need to be sustained with food and water? ).
The fact is that, the reason why God commanded his people to get married and beget children is for Israel not to diminish. Why? Because these children would replace those men who would eventually die. As is written:
" Take you wives, and beget sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, that ye may be increased there, and not diminished" - Jeremiah 29: 6 (1599 Geneva Bible).
So, if the Israelites were immortals, they would've had no need to marry and beget children. And the fact that immortal people don't get maried [nor beget any children] was also attested by the gospel, when it went on to quote Jesus saying the following: "... The children of this world marry wives, and are married. But they which shall be counted worthy to enjoy that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry wives, neither are married. For they can die no more... " - Luke 20: 34-36 (1599 Geneva Bible).
Thus, since God himself married Adam and Eve, and commanded then to beget children (" And God blessed them, and God said to them, Bring forth fruit, and multiply, and fill the earth" - Genesis 1: 28), it is obvious that they were both created with a mortal nature.
In short, although Adam and Eve were created with a mortal nature, the tree of life could have prevented them from eventually dying from old age. But, regardless of any sin committed, had they both eaten from the tree of life, they would have lived forever. As is written: “Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, LEST HE PUT FORTH HIS HAND, AND TAKE ALSO OF THE TREE OF LIFE, AND EAT, AND LIVE FOR EVER”- Genesis 3: 22
Is astrology real? Do stars control our destiny?
Astrology is a pagan belief- the idea that your destiny is already written in the stars; so that, by studying them, you can know the fate that awaits you. But God's Law teaches otherwise; that neither curse nor blessing is pre-ordained for you; rather, the good [or evil] you freely chose to perform will determine your future. As is written:
" Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse: The blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you this day: And the curse, if ye will not obey the Commandments of the Lord your God, but turn out of the way, which I command you this day, to go after other gods which ye have not known" - Deut. 11: 26-28. Our father Abraham formerly lived as as pagan, but once he found the One true God, he abandoned his old paganism.
From R. Akiba too [we learn that] Israel is free from planetary influence. For R. Akiba had a daughter. Now, astrologers told him, On the day she enters the bridal chamber a snake will bite her and she will die. He was very worried about this. On that day [of her marriage] she took a brooch [and] stuck it into the wall and by chance it penetrated [sank] into the eye of a serpent.
The following morning, when she took it out, the snake came trailing after it. 'What did you do? ' her father asked her. 'A poor man came to our door in the evening. ' she replied, 'and everybody was busy at the banquet, and there was none to attend to him. So I took the portion which was given to me and gave it to him. 'You have done a good deed, ' said he to her. Thereupon R. Akiba went out and lectured: 'But charity delivereth from death': and not [merely] from an unnatural death, but from death itself (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 156b).
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