One Torah For All

One Torah shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
Exodus 12:49

Shema Yisrael

Devarim (Deuteronomy) 6:4
“Hear, Israel; YHWH our Elohim YHWH is one.”

This is the Hebrew of the above verse.

שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוֺ יְהוָה אְחָד

This verse consists of six words, which are actually three pairs of words. These three pairs of words actually should be rightly understood in the following manner.

Shema Yisrael          שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל       the bride
YHWH Eloheinu      יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוֺ      the Father
YHWH Echad           יְהוָה אְחָד            the Son

Shema Yisrael represents the bride of Mashiach. Shema Yisrael is made up of all those who choose to hear and obey His Voice. The Hebrew word שמע - “shema” means “to hear and obey.” So, the phrase “shema Yisrael” means that those who shema His Voice are the ones who are His people, Israel. It is not merely a matter of being born into the right or correct bloodlines to be able to be considered a part of His people. For YHWH our Elohim to consider a person to be a part of His people, that person must shema His Voice, regardless of who their parents are. We clearly see this in the next passage.

Shemot (Exodus) 19:5-6
5 “Now therefore, if you will obey My Voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine;
6 and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

YHWH desires all to come and to be a part of shema Yisrael. However, we know that only a remnant will be saved. Those who are saved and will be Israel are those who shema His Voice. If a person does not shema His Voice, then he is not a part of Israel.

Yochanan (John) 10:27
“My sheep shema My Voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.”

Even Yeshua clearly teaches this truth to us as well. This truth is one of the themes that runs from B’reshit to Gilyana (Genesis to Revelation). It is a truth, which if one ignores, he does so to his own peril and ruin.

So, who is Israel? Israel consists of each and every person who hears and obeys His Voice, that is, who shemas His Voice. Please note the following passage.

Romans 11:17-24
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and did become a partaker with them of the root of the fatness of the olive tree;
18 boast not over the branches; but if you boast, it is not you that bear the root, but the root you.
19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”
20 Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Be not arrogant, but fear;
21 for if Elohim did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.
22 Behold then the goodness and severity of Elohim; towards them that fell, severity; but toward you, Elohim's goodness, if you continue in His goodness; otherwise you also shall be cut off.
23 And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in; for Elohim is able to graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

This truth goes right along with Torah.

Shemot (Exodus) 12:49
“One law shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the stranger that sojourns among you.”

From the perspective of YHWH, whoever chooses to learn, keep and do His commandments is a part of Israel regardless of who their parents were. There is no Torah commandment that requires a person born to non-Israelite parents to go through a conversion process. This is a manmade tradition. This tradition actually teaches the candidate to break Torah commandments in favor of following manmade traditions.

Yeshua Himself set the conversion process that one must go through to be grafted into the tree of Israel. One must confess His sins, repent (which means stop sinning! Stop breaking His Torah), and shema His Voice, i.e., hear and obey Him! If a person does this, then he is a part of Israel. No other conversion is necessary to be a part of Israel, the people of the Living Elohim.

Ruth 1:16
And Ruth said, “Entreat me not to leave you, and to return from following after you, for where you go, I will go; and where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your Elohim my Elohim.”

This declaration by Ruth was the sole extent of her conversion and becoming a part of Israel. So complete was this conversion through this declaration that YHWH brought her into the bloodline of Mashiach Himself.

What we need to understand is that becoming a part of Israel is a matter of the heart more than anything else. Once the heart is made right and one is in a right relationship with YHWH through Mashiach Yeshua, then such a one is ready to live a life pleasing to Him. As Yeshua said, “If you love Me, obey My commandments.”

This brings us to the last part of the Shema, יְהוָה אְחָד - YHWH Echad. But who is YHWH Echad? Already you may be wondering why it is that we are including the word “echad” as part of His Name? Well, only because He did!

Zecharyah (Zechariah) 14:9
And YHWH shall be King over all the earth; in that day YHWH shall be Echad, and His name Echad.

Please take careful note of what YHWH is teaching us through His prophet Zecharyah. YHWH clearly states that His name is Echad. So, the question that this brings before us is this: is YHWH Echad the Father or is He the Son? Please note this passage from earlier in the same chapter.

Zecharyah (Zechariah) 14:1-4
1 Behold, a day of YHWH comes, when your spoil shall be divided in the midst of you.
2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city.
3 Then shall YHWH go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle.
4 And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be cleft in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.

The YHWH spoken of in this verse is Mashiach. We know this from other verses as well. Please note the following passage in which Yeshua ascends back up into the heavenly realm from the Mount of Olives and then two messengers appear and tell them that He would return in like manner.

Ma’aseh (Acts) 1:9-12
9 And when He had said these things, as they were looking, He was taken up; and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
10 And while they were looking steadfastly into heaven as He went, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 who also said, “You men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Yeshua, who was received up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as you saw him going into heaven.”
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount called Olives, which is near Jerusalem, a Shabbat day's journey off.

We see the same event being spoken of in both passages above. One of the things that we can know with certainty from these passages is that YHWH Echad is one of the names of the Son, who is our Mashiach.

This brings us to the second phrase, יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוֺ - YHWH Eloheinu, which means YHWH our Elohim. YHWH Eloheinu is one of the names of the Father in Heaven. YHWH is a name common to both the Father and Son and the context of its usage will indicate which one it is referring to in any given text. Elohim is a title referring to the Father and the Son collectively. In this instance it is referring specifically to the Father.

What we see in the Shema is a family. The first one mentioned is the bride - shema Yisrael. The second one mentioned is the Father. The third one mentioned is the Son or Bridegroom. The Father is standing between the bride and the Bridegroom because it is His presence which strengthens and ensures the bond between the bride and the Bridegroom. Without the presence of the Father in this union it cannot last and be successful. However, with the presence of the Father in this marriage union, it not only will succeed, but prosper as well.

ABBA YHWH, open our eyes to see that one needs to shema Your Voice if he truly desires to be a part of the bride of Mashiach; for it is in His name that we pray. Amein and Amein.

Shabbat Shalom
Zerubbabel ben Emunah
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