Showing posts with label Torah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Torah. Show all posts

Sunday, August 3, 2025

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR OR LOVE YOURSELF? Cathy Hargett, Highway To Zion

 


                                             LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR OR LOVE YOURSELF?

By:  Cathy Hargett
August 3, 2025


 In a world where there seems to be no lack of people loving themselves and exalting themselves, perhaps the second greatest commandment makes sense - or maybe not?  Are we supposed to love ourselves first and then our neighbor?

Here is how Yeshua answered when one of the Torah scholars asked Him which is the greatest commandment in the Torah:

“And He said to him, ‘You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.”
(Matthew 22:37)

And then Yeshua went further and told the Torah scholar the second greatest commandment:

“And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The entire Torah and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’ ”
(Matthew 22:38-40)

Note that Yeshua said that these two commandments are the foundation for the entire Torah. In other words, without both of them, you do not have the Torah in its completeness, in its fulfillment.

And remember this, Yeshua said He did not come to abolish Torah but to fulfill it with His very life:

“Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.”
(Matthew 5:17)

To go right to the point, with the question “are we to love ourselves first and then love our neighbor”?  I think not.  The main reason for my conclusion is that Yeshua did not say there are three greatest commandments; i.e., “love God, love yourself, and love your neighbor”. No, He said there were two greatest commandments – “love God and love your neighbor as yourself”.

Getting to this conclusion was not without much prayer and study, especially because of the strain to filter out all the background noise and the voices “in the world”, and even in Christian psychology and counseling. So many of these voices are crying out to us with human logic, encouraging us to embrace “self-esteem” and “self-care” and to build ourselves up. But God says we are to build ourselves up in our most holy faith (Jude 20). It’s the Word that divides our flesh from our spirit (Hebrews 4:12). This is how we can hear the Lord. The answer for us, as followers of Yeshua, is in the Word, not in the world.

From what I have learned from the Scriptures, mankind does not need to practice ways to love themselves. It’s our default value. It’s clear in this passage:

“After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body….”
(Ephesians 5:29)

To be clear, the Lord made us in His image. This is our identity, but it is not the same as self-love. Neither are we to be self-deprecating. We are to respect and honor everything He has made. We honor Him who lives inside our mortal flesh. He gives us the responsibility to take care of His creation, which does include our own bodies. We are to steward everything that He has given us. He values us, and we are in awe that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by God. In this regard, yes, we have our identity. And in a manner of speaking, we can say, we love what He has made and we take care of it.

This is very different from being “lovers of ourselves”.  God makes this distinction in the Scripture when He says that being lovers of ourselves is not a good thing:

“..There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - ”
(II Timothy 3:2)

We are admonished throughout the Scripture not to love ourselves but to love others. This is the lesson we are taught, not the lesson about loving ourselves. We are to think of ourselves with “sober judgment”, to understand who we are, not to despise ourselves or to exalt ourselves, but to give freely of all that He has created us to be:

“For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”
(Romans 12:3)

 He is teaching us how to do what He has required – in Him:

 “with humility, consider others as more important than yourselves, looking out not only for your own interests but also for the interests of others.”
(Philippians 3:3-4)

“Let your attitude toward one another be governed by your being in union with the Messiah Yeshua.”
(Philippians 2:5)

And let’s not miss that Yeshua is the fulfillment of Torah. He desires us to walk in this way, too. In this way we join our Rabbi in reflecting Torah and the Prophets:

“So in all things, do to others what you would want them to do to you – for this is the Torah and the Prophets.”
(Matthew 7:12)

Finally, and amazingly, let’s really listen to what Yeshua told us about the first and second commandments. He said that the “second commandment is like the first commandment”.

“And the second is like it..”
(Matthew 22:39)

This is the major key to the revelation of what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves. And it answers the question, “Are we to love ourselves”? 

I prayerfully asked Him, “in what way is the second commandment like the first commandment?”. “What do You mean that the second is like it?” He explained this to me with these words “love Me with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor the same way that you love Me, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength”. When you do this, you will fulfill all the Torah and the Prophets.

I am remembering, too, when Yeshua gave instructions to His disciples. He said, “a new commandment I give to you – to love one another..”. He is, once again, revealing the “Transcendent Torah”, higher than we’ve understood Scripture before. Not only are we to love Him, to love God, but we are also to love others the same way we love Him, with everything we’ve got.

There is only one way we can do this. We must allow Him to love us, to receive His great love for us. It’s not self-love that we need to nurture. It is the love of God inside of us that we must have in order to obey the first and second greatest commandments. In this way, yes, we do love ourselves, as the expression of Messiah inside of us, and only because He first loved us and chose us to be His. He is inside of us. He dwells here. In this way we understand that His life abides inside these mortal bodies, His temple. Because of this miracle, we are empowered to love others as we love ourselves.


Cathy Hargett
Highway to Zion Ministries
http://www.highwaytozion.org

#LOVEYOURNEIGHBOR #LOVEYOURSELF #CathyHargett #HighwayToZion #Jesus #Torah #Yeshua #Scripture #love

Sunday, July 13, 2025

“Take My Yoke” Cathy Hargett, Highway To Zion

“TAKE MY YOKE”

Cathy Hargett, Highway To Zion

As I was studying the words of Yeshua in Matthew 11:28-30, the Holy Spirit showed me that I have only fully “heard” part of these verses. I have heard His compassion and His love and His caring in that He desires to give us “rest for our souls”.

But this time I heard more. I heard about the level of devotion that He is requiring of those who follow Him. I learned about the “Transcendent Torah” and what it means to take His yoke upon us.

Like He always does, He transforms us with His Word. It is so amazingly breathtaking to see the intricacies of what He speaks. God decided to humble Himself and to take on the form of a man and to enter history as a Jewish man in the culture of Israel.

Using every Word of Torah, He revealed Himself as Elohim, the God of Israel, the Father, Son, and Ruach ha Kodesh. He lived the Word in perfection, explaining Himself in ways that His chosen ones would understand.

Many times, He spoke in parables and with idioms that they would have known and understood to be Messianic. He was clear about the Truth. He showed them that He is Torah. He is the Living Word. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

He said this –

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

(Matthew 11:28-30)

Yeshua was acknowledged as a rabbi, a rabbi who had authority. He was recognized as a rabbi by His disciples, lawyers, scribes, the common people, and even by the leaders of the Pharisees.

The issue for the Pharisees was, “by whose authority?” was He recognized as a rabbi? Yeshua told them plainly that His authority was not the authority of men.

“My teaching is not My own. It comes from the One who sent Me. Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether My teaching comes from God or whether I speak on My own.”

(John 7:16)

There was a system of education among the Jewish people. It was the highest priority of the people of Israel to educate their children. Even though there are passages in the Bible that shed an unflattering light on the people who lived in the Galilee as being “unlearned”, the historical evidence reveals that this was an area of conscientious learning and following of Torah, the Word of God.

The youngest children, from age five or so until about age ten went to Beit Sefer, the House of the Book and these little ones, even the girls, were taught Torah. In fact, they were tasked with memorizing the entire Torah.

The next level (the girls didn’t go to this level) was the House of Learning, where from about age ten to about age fourteen, the students memorized what we know today as the prophets and the writings. If a student excelled, they could be eligible to go to the next level, which is the study to become a rabbi.

It is thought that most students made it through the first level. So even the first-level students had memorized all of Torah! After that, there was a filtering-out process. Only the very best students would make it to the level of actually taking on the “yoke of a rabbi”.

When a disciple took on the yoke of a rabbi, it meant much more than sitting in a classroom learning. In order to be eligible to follow the rabbi, the rabbi would have to deem a student capable of learning and following him to the point that they would be exactly like him.

They were expected to think like him, walk like him, speak like him, live like him, act like him, and to imitate him perfectly. This was a highly selective process.

This is the meaning of “take my yoke upon you”. It means “be like me” in all your ways. At some point, those who followed the rabbi could become rabbis themselves.

A person who was given this authority would then be able to teach his own interpretations of the Word, and his disciples would then follow him.

It was into this culture that our Messiah Yeshua, the Son of God, the Son of Man, lived His life on earth. He was a Rabbi like no other. His teaching came directly from God. His students were like no other – and this, my friends, is still true today!

The ones He selected were those that He knew would be able to hear Him and to follow Him, and to take His yoke upon them. These were those who would seek to be just like Him. Do we really understand that Yeshua chose us for Himself and that He believes we are capable of following Him by the power of the Holy Spirit?

What a humbling privilege to be chosen by Him to take on His yoke.

And this is where I find my total amazement today, at this very moment – this is the level of life with Him that He is requiring of me, and of you, if we profess to be His disciples. Yeshua wants us to live like Him, walk like Him, talk like Him, think like Him, love like Him, heal like Him, and to do the things He does.

He is not asking us to follow a rule book or live a legalistic life of ritual obedience. He is requiring much more than that. He is telling us to take on His yoke, which far surpasses rules, regulations, and following the traditions of men. God, in His mercy, saw it was impossible for man to do this.

He came Himself to make a way for us to do even more than this! His burden that is easy and His yoke that is light requires of us this one thing – love Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Love your neighbor as yourself. He says that “all the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:40).  

And He, through his sinless life, receives you into Himself to live. You live in Him. You live in His heart. You are alive inside of the “Transcendent Torah”, the perfect One, the sinless One, the Savior of your soul, the Living Word.

Yeshua quoted vast truth from the passage in Jeremiah 6:16 when He gave us the words of Matthew 11:28-30. Compare those Scriptures and you will see. Here’s Jeremiah 6:16:

“This is what the Lord says: Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls..”

(Jeremiah 6:16)

Yeshua revealed so much with these few words. He said that He is the Ancient Way. He is the Way. He is the One of Whom the prophets spoke. He is the Messiah of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

In the Torah/the Law, the Writings, and the Prophets, He is revealed. He is God. He is the God of Israel. He has fulfilled every requirement to reconcile man back to God. We learn of Him from following the Ancient Way. We see Him as the revelation of the Living Word, the Transcendent Torah. Without Torah, we do not see or comprehend the “real Jesus”.

“..This is what I told you while I was still with you. Everything must be fulfilled that is written about Me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”

(Luke 24:44)

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets: I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.”

(Matthew 5:17)

This yoke He is giving us is easy, and this burden is light because He has paid the price to mark you as one who has fulfilled Torah. We are counted as righteous and justified as if we, ourselves, had perfectly kept all of Torah.

Wearing the yoke of this Rabbi means that you are looked upon as having fulfilled all the requirements of Torah because you are marked with the blood of the covenant of Messiah Yeshua.

You have now been accepted, you take on Yeshua, you clothe yourself with Him. You die with Him and you live with Him – your whole life is His. There is nothing more important, more significant, more intimate, more desirable than this one thing, not your family, not your vocation, and not your personal desires.

You leave all these things to follow Him. He is above all and in all. In this way, we find rest for our souls.

Cathy Hargett, Highway to Zion Ministries

http://www.highwaytozion.org


#CathyHargett #HighwayToZion #Yeshua #TakeMyYoke #Torah #parables #humbleofheart #takemyyoke 



Thursday, June 19, 2025

Keep Israel as the apple of Your eye. Plus Israel video from Steve Martin & David Peterman




Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Presenting our Messianic Jewish perspective on the Torah - ONE FOR ISRAEL

SHALOM!
As the Festival of Sukkot comes to an end, the yearly reading through the Torah begins again.

The division of the Bible into chapters and verses came quite late in history. Before that, Jewish people had divided the Torah, the first five books, into sections called "parashot" (portions). We read one "parasha" (Torah portion) each week, and we invite you to read along with us!

Each week, a faculty or staff member from ONE FOR ISRAEL Bible College will guide us through a brief study of the traditional Jewish Torah reading portion from a Messianic Israeli perspective.
Dr. Erez Soref, President
of ONE FOR ISRAEL 
FIVE ALIVE! READ THE TORAH WITH US
Genesis 1:1 – 6:8
בְּרֵאשִׁית Bereshit (In the Beginning)

Though many believers tend to think of the books of the law as old and outdated, our desire in these weekly studies is to show you that these FIVE books are very much ALIVE! 

This week we are looking at the very first Torah portion, “In the Beginning.” The opening chapters not only introduce the key themes of the Torah – land, seed, and blessing – they also lay the foundation for the future Messianic hope.
Why Bother Reading The Lists In The Bible?

You don’t have to go far in either the Hebrew Scriptures or the New Testament before you hit them – those lists of unpronounceable names! The lists and genealogies in the Bible have been a source of much consternation (and sometimes merriment) as hapless readers struggle through exotic and multi-syllabled Middle Eastern names in their Bible study groups. Do we really have to bother with these lists? Is it so bad to just skip them?
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Monday, March 5, 2018

God and the Birds ✡ "Let The Mother Go" - Israel365

Let the mother go, and take only the young, in order that you may fare well and have a long life
Deuteronomy 22:7 (The Israel Bible™)

שַׁלֵּחַ תְּשַׁלַּח אֶת־הָאֵם וְאֶת־הַבָּנִים תִּקַּח־לָךְ לְמַעַן יִיטַב לָךְ וְהַאֲרַכְתָּ יָמִים
Hear the verse in Hebrew

sha-LAY-akh t’-sha-LAKH et ha-AYM v’-et ha-ba-NEEM ti-kakh LAKH l’-MA-an YEE-tav LAKH v’-ha-a-rakh-TA ya-MEEM


God and the Birds

The Torah (Bible) talks about the importance of chasing a mother bird from its nest before taking its fledglings. Commentators believe this reflects the state of the Jewish People in exile. The mothers bird who has been chased away cries about the separation from her children. When Hashem (God) hears these cries, he compares the suffering of the mother bird to His own fate. Hashem’s  presence has been driven out of the Beit Hamikdash (Holy Temple), and His children have been driven into exile. The Jewish People must return to their homeland and restore the Beit Hamikdash so that Hashem’s presence can once again dwell in Yerushalayim (Jerusalem).
Read more about the metaphor of God and the birds

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