What is the Foremost Precept of All?

[HARK!]

precept
noun
pre·cept | \ ˈprē-ˌsept \
Definition of precept
1 : a command or principle intended especially as a general rule of action
2 : an order issued by legally constituted authority to a subordinate official

Definition of PRECEPT

Thayer's Greek Lexicon
STRONGS NT 1785: ἐντολή
ἐντολή, ἐντολῆς, ἡ (ἐντέλλω or ἐντέλλομαι, which see), from Pindar and Herodotus down; the Sept. often for מִצְוָה, in the Psalms the plural ἐντολαί also for פִּקְּוּדִים; an order, command, charge, precept;


(CLV) MarK 12: 28-34
28 And, approaching, one of the scribes, hearing them discussing, having perceived that He answered them ideally, inquires of Him, "What is the foremost precept of all? 29 Jesus answered him that "The foremost precept of all is: Hear, Israel! the Lord our God is one Lord." 30 And, You shall be loving the Lord God out of your whole heart, and out of your whole soul, and out of your whole comprehension, and out of your whole strength. This is the foremost precept."

I didn't see that this one was carved in stone. Where did this come from?

Yahshua was quoting the Deuteronomy 6:4.

(CLV) DT 6:4
4 Hear, Israel! Yahweh is our Elohim; Yahweh the only One. 5 So you will love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your intensity. 6 These words which I am instructing you today will come to be in your heart.

These are the words to be written on our hearts? What words was he instructing that day?

Let's read on.



(CLV) Dt 6:13
Yahweh your Elohim shall you fear, and Him only shall you serve, and to Him shall you clings, and by His Name shall you swear.

I don't think that most people even know his name.

(CLV) Dt 6:14
You shall not go after other elohim of the elohim of the peoples who are around you

(CLV) Dt 6:16
You shall not probe Yahweh your Elohim as w you probed at Massah.

(CLV) Dt 6:17
You shall observe, yea observe the instructions of Yahweh your Elohim and His testimonies and His statutes, which He had enjoined on you.

It's expanding. Now it's instructions, testimonies and statutes.

He goes on to the benefits of these instructions and what lead up to them; lets read through to get to the instructions, testimonies, and statutes.

(CLV) Dt 6:24
Then Yahweh instructed us to do all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our Elohim for our good all the days so as to keep us alive, as it is this day.

(CLV) Dt 6:25
So it shall come to be righteousness for us when we |observe to do all this instruction before Yahweh our Elohim, just as He had enjoined on us.

He talks more about doing all them and the benefits; but he still hasn't really dug into what they are yet.

Here's one; but he talks about doing this when they go into the land:

(CLV) Dt 7:5
But rather, thus shall you do to them: You shall tear down their altars, break their monuments, hack down their Asherah poles, and you shall burn their carvings with fire.

Then he goes on as to why. Let's read on.

(CLV) Dt 7:11
Hence you will observe the instruction and the statutes and the ordinances which I am enjoining on you today, to keep them.

He repeats that we are to keep his instructions and statutes, and adds ordinances.

Let's read on to find out what they are.

He goes back into the benefits of obedience. Let's read on.

(CLV) Dt 7:25
You shall burn the carvings of their elohim with fire. You shall not covet the silver and gold on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be trapped by it, for it is an abhorrence to Yahweh your Elohim.

He reiterates what to do about the idols when they go into the land.

(CLV) Dt 7:26
You shall not bring an abhorrence into your house, or you will become doomed just as it is. You shall reject it as abominable, yea abominable; you shall reject it as abhorrent, yea abhorrent, for it is doomed.

Then he repeats that we mist keep all of his instructions.

(CLV) Dt 8:1
All the instruction which I am enjoining on you today you shall observe to do, that you may live and multiply and enter and tenant the land about which Yahweh had sworn to your fathers.

(CLV) Dt 8:2
And you will remember all the way which Yahweh your Elohim caused you to go these forty years in the wilderness, that He might make you humble, to probe you so as to know what is in your heart, whether or not you shall observe His instructions.

Interesting, it looks like these instructions are supposed to be on their hearts.

(CLV) Dt 8:5
So you know with your heart that just as a man |disciplines »his son, Yahweh your Elohim is disciplining you.

That's the way it looks.

(CLV) Dt 8:6
Hence you will observe the instructions of Yahweh your Elohim so as to walk in His ways and to fear Him.

He reiterates that we are to observe his instructions. Let's read on to see what they are.

Here's one!

(CLV) Dt 8:10
When you have eaten and are satisfied, then you will bless Yahweh your Elohim for the good land that He has given to you.

(CLV) Dt 8:11
Guard yourself lest you should forget Yahweh your Elohim by failing to observe His instructions and His ordinances and His statutes that I am enjoining on you today,

Hmmm. so when we forget YHWH's instructions and His ordinances and His statutes, we forget YHWH. Interesting, this makes sense.

Let's read on to get to those instructions, ordinances, and statutes.

Here's a little something:

(CLV) Dt 10:18
the One enacting the customary rights of orphan and widow, the One loving the sojourner, so as to give › him bread and raiment.

(CLV) Dt 10:19
You will love the sojourner, for you became sojourners in the land of Egypt.

This next part was already covered:

(CLV) Dt 10:20
Yahweh your Elohim shall you fear, and Him shall you serve; to Him shall you cling, and by His Name shall you swear.

(CLV) Dt 11:1
Hence you will love Yahweh your Elohim and observe His charge, His statutes, His ordinances and His instructions all the days.

He repeats observance of His charge, His statutes, His ordinances and His instructions.

Let's read on.

(CLV) Dt 11:8
Hence you will observe every instruction which I am enjoining on you today, that you may be steadfast, and you enter and tenant the land where you are crossing over to tenant it,

He repeats observance of every instruction; then talks more about the benefits. Let's read on.

(CLV) Dt 11:13
It will come to be when you shall hearken, yea hearken to My instructions that I am enjoining on you today, to love Yahweh your Elohim and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul,

He repeats what was said in the Shema, then talks more about the benefits.

(CLV) Dt 11:22
For if you should observe, yea observe all this instruction which I am enjoining on you today, to do it, to love Yahweh your Elohim, to walk in all His ways and to cling to Him,

He said it again. This must be really important. He goes on about the benefits.

Let's read on.

 

[HARK!]

Here we go!

Deuteronomy 12
CLV(i) 1 These are the statutes and the judgments which you shall observe to obey in the land that Yahweh Elohim of your fathers gives to you to tenant it all the days that you are alive on the ground. 2 You shall destroy, yea destroy all the places where the nations (in whose stead you are tenanting) have served their elohim on the high mountains, on the hills and under every flourishing tree. 3 Tear down their altars and break their monuments; their Asherah poles you shall burn with fire, and the carvings of their elohim you shall hack down; thus you will destroy their name from that place. 4 Not so shall you do to Yahweh your Elohim. 5 But rather for the place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there, you shall inquire for His tabernacle, and there will you come. 6 You will bring there your ascent offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the heave offerings of your hand, your vows offerings and your voluntary offerings, and the firstlings of your herd and your flock. 7 You will eat there before Yahweh your Elohim, and you will rejoice in every undertaking of your hand, you and your households with which Yahweh your Elohim has blessed you. 8 You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, each man everything that is upright in his own eye. 9 because until now you have not come to the resting place and to the allotment that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you. 10 When you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment, and He gives rest to you from all your enemies from round about, so that you may dwell in trust, 11 then it will come to be:the place where Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to tabernacle His name, there shall you bring all that I am instructing you, your ascent offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand and all your choice vow offerings which you shall vow to Yahweh. 12 You will rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim, you, your sons and your daughters, your servants, your maidservants and the Levite who is within your gates, for he has no portion or allotment among you. 13 Guard yourself lest you bring up your ascent offerings in any other place which you see. 14 But rather in the place that Yahweh shall choose in one of your tribes, there shall you bring up your ascent offerings, and there shall you do all that I am instructing you. 15 But with all the yearning of your soul you may sacrifice and eat flesh, according to the blessing of Yahweh your Elohim which He gives to you in all your gates. The unclean and the clean among you may eat it, as they would of the gazelle and as of the stag. 16 But the blood you shall not eat. On the earth shall you pour it out like water. 17 You cannot eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, of your grape juice and of your clarified oil, neither the firstlings of your herd and your flock nor any of your vow offerings which you shall vow, neither your voluntary offerings nor the heave offerings of your hand. 18 But rather you shall eat it before Yahweh your Elohim in the place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose, you, your son and your daughter, your servant and your maidservant and the Levite who is within your gates. Then you will rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim in every undertaking of your hand. 19 Guard yourself lest you should forsake the Levite any of your days on your ground. 20 When Yahweh your Elohim widens your territory, just as He spoke to you, and you say:Let me eat flesh, for your soul yearns to eat flesh, you may eat flesh with all the yearning of your soul. 21 In case the place where Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to place His name is far from you, then you may sacrifice of your herd and of your flock which Yahweh gave to you, just as I instructed you; and you may eat it within your gates with all the yearning of your soul. 22 Indeed, just as the gazelle and the stag may be eaten so shall you eat it. The unclean and the clean among you may eat it together. 23 But be steadfast by no means to eat the blood, for the blood, it is the soul, and you shall not eat the soul with the flesh. 24 You shall not eat it; on the earth shall you pour it out like water. 25 You shall not eat it that it may be well with you and with your sons after you, for you shall do what is good and upright in the eyes of Yahweh. 26 But as for your holy gifts which you shall come to have, and your vow offerings, you shall carry them and come to the place that Yahweh shall choose. 27 You will make your ascent offerings of the flesh and the blood on the altar of Yahweh your Elohim, and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of Yahweh your Elohim, yet you may eat the flesh. 28 Observe and hear all these words which I am instructing you today, that it may be well with you and with your sons after you until the eon, for you shall do what is good and upright in the eyes of Yahweh your Elohim. 29 When Yahweh your Elohim cuts off before your face the nations where you are entering to tenant in their place, then you will tenant in their place and dwell in their country. 30 Guard yourself lest you should be trapped to go after them after they are exterminated before your face, and lest you inquire about their elohim, saying:How do these nations serve their elohim that I, I too, may do thus? 31 You shall not act thus toward Yahweh your Elohim, for every abhorrence which Yahweh hates they perform for their elohim, for even their sons and their daughters they burn with fire for their elohim. 32 Every word which I am enjoining on you today, you shall observe to obey it. You shall neither add to it, nor shall you subtract from it.

 

[HARK!]

Deuteronomy 13
CLV(i) 1 In case there arises a prophet or a dreamer of dreams among you, and he gives to you a sign or a miracle, 2 and the sign or the miracle comes about, of which he spoke to you, saying:Let us go after other elohim (whom you have not known), and let us serve them, 3 you shall not hearken to the words of that prophet or to that dreamer of dreams because Yahweh your Elohim is probing you to know whether you are loving Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 After Yahweh your Elohim shall you go, and Him shall you fear; His instructions shall you observe, and to His voice shall you hearken; Him shall you serve, and to Him shall you cling. 5 Then that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death because he spoke of defection from Yahweh your Elohim (the One bringing you forth from the country of Egypt and the One ransoming you from the house of servants) so as to induce you from the way in which Yahweh your Elohim has instructed you to walk. Hence eradicate the evil from among you. 6 In case your brother, the son of your father, or the son of your mother or your son or your daughter or the wife of your bosom or your associate who is as your own soul should incite you in concealment, saying:Let us go, and let us serve other elohim (whom you have not known, you or your fathers, 7 of the elohim of the peoples who are around you, those near to you or those far from you, from one end of the land to the other end of the land). 8 neither shall you comply with him, nor shall you hearken to him; neither shall your eye commiserate over him, nor shall you spare him; and you shall not cover up for him. 9 For you shall kill, yea kill him. Your hand shall be among the first against him to put him to death, and the hand of all the people thereafter. 10 You will stone him with stones so that he dies, for he sought to induce you away from Yahweh your Elohim, the One bringing you forth from the country of Egypt, from the house of servants. 11 Thus all Israel shall hearken and fear, and they shall not again do anything like this evil thing among you. 12 In case you hear it said of one of your cities which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you to dwell there, 13 that men, sons of decadence, have gone forth from among you and induced the dwellers of their city, saying:Let us go, and let us serve other elohim (whom you have not known), 14 then you will inquire, investigate and ask diligently. And behold, if the truth of the matter is being established that this abhorrence was done among you, 15 then you shall smite, yea smite the dwellers of that city with the edge of the sword. Doom it, all those who are in it and its domestic beasts, with the edge of the sword. 16 All its loot shall you get together to the middle of its square, and you will burn the city with fire and all its loot as a holocaust to Yahweh your Elohim. It will become an eonian barrow; it shall not be built again. 17 Nothing whatsoever shall cling to your hand from the doomed loot so that Yahweh may turn back from the heat of His anger and be compassionate to you. He will show you compassion and cause you to increase, just as He had sworn to your fathers, 18 provided that you shall hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim to observe all His instructions which I am enjoining on you today, to do what is upright and good in the eyes of Yahweh your Elohim.

 

[HARK!]

Deuteronomy 14
CLV(i) 1 Sons are you to Yahweh your Elohim; you shall neither slash yourselves nor make a baldness between your eyes for a dead one, 2 for you are a people holy to Yahweh your Elohim, and Yahweh your Elohim chose you to belong to Him as a special people above all the peoples who are on the surface of the ground. 3 You shall not eat anything abhorrent. 4 This is the beast that you may eat:the bull, the flockling of the sheep and the flockling of the goats;" 5 the stag, the gazelle, the bubale, the wild goat, the addax, the antelope and the mountain sheep. 6 And any other beast bisecting the hoof, cleaving the cleft into two hooves and bringing up the cud, among beasts, it you may eat. 7 Only this you may not eat of those bringing up the cud and of those bisecting the cloven hoof:the camel, the hare and the coney, for they are bringing up the cud yet do not bisect the hoof; they are unclean to you;" 8 and the swine, for it is bisecting the hoof and cleaving the cleft of the hoof, yet it is not stirring up the cud; it is unclean to you. From their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcass you shall not touch. 9 This may you eat of all that is in the waters:anything which has fins and scales you may eat. 10 Yet anything which has no fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean to you. 11 Any clean bird you may eat; 12 yet these are those of which you shall not eat:the vulture, the bearded vulture and the eagle, 13 the black kite and the falcon, all of its kind, 14 and every raven, all of its kind, 15 the ostrich, the screech owl, the gull and the hawk, all of its kind, 16 the little owl, the eagle owl and the ibis, 17 the pelican, the Egyptian vulture and the cormorant, 18 the stork and the heron, all of its kind, the hoopoe and the bat. 19 Every swarmer of the flyers, it is unclean to you. They shall not be eaten. 20 Every clean flyer you may eat. 21 You shall not eat any carcass. You may give it to the sojourner who is within your gates so that he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a people holy to Yahweh your Elohim. You shall not cook a kid in the milk of its mother. 22 You shall tithe, yea tithe all the yield of your seed which is coming forth from the field year by year. 23 You will eat before Yahweh your Elohim, in the place where Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to tabernacle His name, the tenth of your grain, your grape juice and your clarified oil, the firstlings of your herd and of your flock, that you may learn to fear Yahweh your Elohim all the days. 24 Yet in case the way is too much for you, so that you are not able to carry it because the place where Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to place His name is far from you (seeing that Yahweh your Elohim has blessed you), 25 then you will convert it into silver, bundle the silver in your hand and go to the place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose. 26 You will give the silver for anything after which your soul may yearn:for one of the herd or one of the flock, for wine, for intoxicant or for anything which your soul may ask of you; then you will eat there before Yahweh your Elohim, and you will rejoice, you and your household. 27 Now the Levite who is within your gates, you shall not forsake him, for he has no portion or allotment with you. 28 At the end of every three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your yield in that year and leave it within your gates, 29 that the Levite may come (for he has no portion or allotment with you), and the sojourner, the orphan and the widow who are within your gates, and they may eat and be satisfied, so that Yahweh your Elohim may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

 

[HARK!]

Deuteronomy 15
CLV(i) 1 At the end of seven years you shall make a release. 2 And this is the term of the release:every possessor is to release the loan of his hand that he lent to his associate. He shall not exact it from his associate or his brother, for Yahweh's release has been proclaimed. 3 From the foreigner you may exact it. Yet that which you came to have from your brother, let your hand release it;" 4 only that there should be no needy among you, for Yahweh shall bless, yea bless you in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment to tenant it. 5 Now if you should hearken, yea hearken to the voice of Yahweh your Elohim so as to observe to obey all this instruction that I am enjoining on you today, 6 then Yahweh your Elohim will bless you, just as He promised to you. And you will cause many nations to give you securities, yet you yourself shall give no securities. You will rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you. 7 In case there should be among you a needy person, one of your brothers within one of your gates in your land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, you shall neither make your heart rigid nor shut your hand from your needy brother. 8 Rather you shall open, yea open your hand to him and let him give security, yea security sufficient for his lack that is lacking to him. 9 Guard yourself lest there should be in your heart the decadent word, saying:The seventh year is near, the year of the release, so that your eye is evil toward your needy brother, and you give him nothing. Then he may call out to Yahweh concerning you, and it will be held as a sin against you. 10 You shall give, yea give to him, and your heart shall not feel bad at your giving to him. For owing to this matter Yahweh your Elohim shall bless you in all your work and in every undertaking of your hand. 11 Since the needy shall not leave off from being within the land, therefore I am instructing you, saying:You shall open, yea open your hand to your brother, to your humble and to your needy in your land. 12 In case your brother should be sold to you, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, who has served you six years, then in the seventh year you shall dismiss him from you free. 13 And when you dismiss him from you free you shall not send him away empty-handed. 14 You shall furnish, yea furnish him some from your flock, from your threshing site and from your wine vat; just as Yahweh your Elohim has blessed you shall you give to him. 15 Remember that you had become a servant in the country of Egypt, and Yahweh your Elohim ransomed you. Therefore I am instructing you to obey this word today. 16 But it may be that he says to you:I shall not go forth from you, since he loves you and your household because it was well for him with you. 17 Then you take an awl and put it through his ear and into the door, and he will come to be your eonian servant; and so you shall do to your maidservant too. 18 It should not seem hard in your eyes when you dismiss him from you free because he was worth double the hire of a hireling when he served you six years. So Yahweh your Elohim will bless you in all that you shall do. 19 All the firstborn males that shall be born in your herd and in your flock you shall sanctify to Yahweh your Elohim. You shall neither serve with the firstborn of your kine nor shall you shear the firstborn of your flock. 20 You shall eat it before Yahweh your Elohim year by year in the place that Yahweh shall choose, you and your household. 21 Yet in case there should be a blemish in it, lame or blind, any bad blemish, you shall not sacrifice it to Yahweh your Elohim. 22 Within your gates you may eat it, the unclean among you and the clean together, as you would of the gazelle and of the stag. 23 But its blood you shall not eat. On the earth shall you pour it out like water.

 

[HARK!]

Deuteronomy 16
CLV(i) 1 You are to observe the month of Aviv and prepare a passover to Yahweh your Elohim, for in the month of Aviv Yahweh your Elohim brought you forth from Egypt by night. 2 So you will sacrifice the passover to Yahweh your Elohim from the flock and the herd in the place where Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to tabernacle His name. 3 You shall not eat anything leavened with it. Seven days shall you eat unleavened cakes with it, the bread of humiliation (for in nervous haste you went forth from the country of Egypt), that you may remember the day of your going forth from the country of Egypt all the days of your life. 4 Let no yeast be seen with you in all your territory seven days. And let none of the flesh that you shall sacrifice in the evening on the first day lodge until morning. 5 You cannot sacrifice the passover within any one of your gates which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, 6 but rather only in the place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to tabernacle His name. There shall you sacrifice the passover in the evening as the sun sets, the appointed time of your going forth from Egypt. 7 Then you will cook and eat in the place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose, and you may turn around in the morning and go to your tents. 8 Six days shall you eat unleavened cakes, and on the seventh day, a day of restraint to Yahweh your Elohim, you shall do no occupational work at all. 9 You shall count off seven weeks for yourself. From the start of the scythe in the raised grain shall you start to count off seven weeks. 10 Then you will observe the celebration of weeks to Yahweh your Elohim with a tribute of a voluntary offering from your hand which you shall give, just as Yahweh your Elohim may have blessed you. 11 You will rejoice before Yahweh your Elohim, you, your son and your daughter, your servant and your maidservant, the Levite who is within your gates, the sojourner, the orphan and the widow who are among you, in the place where Yahweh your Elohim shall choose to tabernacle His name. 12 Remember that you had become a servant in the country of Egypt; hence observe and obey these statutes. 13 As for the celebration of booths, you shall observe it for yourself seven days when you gather in the yield from your threshing site and from your wine vat. 14 You will rejoice in your celebration, you, your son and your daughter, your servant and your maidservant, the Levite, the sojourner, the orphan and the widow who are within your gates. 15 Seven days shall you celebrate to Yahweh your Elohim in the place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose, for Yahweh your Elohim shall bless you in all your yield and in every work of your hands, so that you will indeed be rejoicing. 16 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before Yahweh your Elohim in the place that He shall choose:at the celebration of unleavened cakes, at the celebration of weeks and at the celebration of booths. And none shall appear before Yahweh empty-handed, 17 but each according to the gift of his hand, according to the blessing which Yahweh your Elohim will give to you. 18 You shall appoint judges and superintendents for yourselves in all your gates which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you for your tribes; and they will judge the people with just judgment. 19 You shall not turn aside the judgment; you shall neither recognize faces in partiality nor take a bribe, for the bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the words of the righteous. 20 Justice and justice only shall you pursue, so that you may live and tenant the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you. 21 Neither shall you plant for yourself an Asherah pole, any kind of wood, beside the altar of Yahweh your Elohim which you may make for yourself, 22 nor shall you set up for yourself a monument that Yahweh your Elohim hates.

 

[HARK!]

Deuteronomy 17
CLV(i) 1 You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your Elohim a bull or a flockling in which there is a blemish, any bad thing, for it is an abhorrence to Yahweh your Elohim. 2 In case there should be found among you, within one of your gates which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, a man or a woman who does evil in the eyes of Yahweh your Elohim so as to trespass against His covenant, 3 and he goes and serves other elohim and bows himself down to them or to the sun or to the moon or to any of the host of the heavens, something that I have instructed not to do, 4 and it has been told to you and you have heard it, then you will inquire diligently. And behold, if the truth of the matter is established that this abhorrence was done in Israel, 5 then you must bring forth that man or that woman who did this evil thing to your gates, the man or the woman, and you will stone them with stones so that they die. 6 At the mouth of two witnesses or three witnesses, the one about to die shall be put to death. He shall not be put to death at the mouth of one witness. 7 The hands of the witnesses shall come to be the first against him to put him to death and then the hands of all the people afterward. Thus you will eradicate the evil from among you. 8 In case a matter for judgment should be too difficult for you, between blood and blood, between adjudication and adjudication and between assault and assault, any matters of contentions in your gates, then you will arise and ascend to the place which Yahweh your Elohim shall choose. 9 And you will come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who shall come to be in those days; they will inquire and tell you the word of judgment. 10 Then you must act in accordance with the word that they shall tell you from that place that Yahweh your Elohim shall choose. You must observe to act according to all that they shall direct you. 11 In accordance with the law by which they shall direct you and according to the judgment that they shall deliver to you, you shall act. You shall not withdraw from the word that they shall tell you, neither to the right nor left. 12 Yet the man who acts with arrogance by not hearkening at all to the priest (who is standing to minister in the name of Yahweh your Elohim) or to the judge, that man must die. Thus you will eradicate the evil from Israel, 13 and all the people shall hear and fear, and not act arrogantly again. 14 When you come to the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, and you tenant it and dwell in it, and you say:Let me set a king over me like all the nations who are around me, 15 then you shall set, yea set over you a king whom Yahweh your Elohim shall choose. From among your brothers shall you set a king over you. You cannot put over you a foreign man who is not of your brothers. 16 But he shall neither increase horses for himself nor cause his people to return to Egypt in order to get many more horses, for Yahweh, He has said to you:You should not again return in this way further. 17 He shall neither increase wives for himself, that his heart may not withdraw, nor increase silver and gold for himself to excess. 18 It will come to be when he is seated on the throne of his kingdom, that he will write for himself a duplicate of this law on a scroll from the one before the priests, the Levites. 19 And it will be with him, and he will read in it all the days of his life that he may learn:to fear Yahweh your Elohim, to observe all the words of this law and these statutes to obey them, 20 by no means to exalt his heart above his brothers and by no means to withdraw from the instruction, neither to the right nor left, so that he may prolong his days on the throne of his kingdom, he and his sons among Israel.

 

[HARK!]

Deuteronomy 18
CLV(i) 1 There shall be for the priests, the Levites--the entire tribe of Levi--neither portion nor allotment with Israel. They shall eat the fire offerings of Yahweh as their allotment. 2 Yet there shall be for them no allotment among their brothers. Yahweh, He is their allotment, just as He had spoken concerning them. 3 This then shall be the priest's due share from the people, from the ones sacrificing the sacrifice, whether bull or flockling; one will give to the priest the shank, both the cheeks and the pelvis. 4 You shall give to him the firstfruit of your grain, of your grape juice and your clarified oil and the first of the fleece of your flock;" 5 for Yahweh your Elohim has chosen him from all your tribes to stand before Yahweh your Elohim to minister and to bless in the name of Yahweh, him and his sons, all the days. 6 In case a Levite should come from one of your gates, from anywhere in Israel where he sojourned, he may come with all the yearning of his soul to the place that Yahweh shall choose;" 7 then he may minister in the name of Yahweh his Elohim, like all his brothers, the Levites, those standing there before Yahweh. 8 Portion for portion shall he eat, besides what comes from his sales of the fathers' holdings. 9 When you come to the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, you shall not learn to act according to the abhorrences of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you one causing his son or his daughter to pass through fire, or one divining divinations, or consulting clouds, auguring or enchantin. 11 or charming with charms, one asking of a medium or wizard or inquiring after the dead. 12 For anyone doing these things is an abhorrence to Yahweh your Elohim, and owing to these abhorrences Yahweh your Elohim is evicting them from your presence. 13 Flawless shall you come to be with Yahweh your Elohim. 14 For these nations in whose place you are tenanting, they hearken to cloud consulters and diviners. As for you, Yahweh your Elohim does not allow you to do so. 15 A Prophet from among you, from your brothers, like me, shall Yahweh your Elohim raise up for you. To Him shall you hearke. 16 according to all that you asked from Yahweh your Elohim at Horeb on the day of assembly, saying:Let me not continue to hear the voice of Yahweh my Elohim, and let me not see this great fire any further so that I may not die!" 17 Then Yahweh said to me:They have done well in all that they have spoken. 18 A Prophet shall I raise up to them from among their brothers, like you, and I will put My words in His mouth, and He will speak to them all that I shall instruct Him. 19 Yet it will come to be that the man who should not hearken to My words that the Prophet shall speak in My name, I Myself shall require his blood from him. 20 But the prophet who shall act arrogantly by speaking a word in My name which I did not instruct him to speak, or who shall speak in the name of other elohim, that prophet must die. 21 In case you should say in your heart:How shall we know the word that Yahweh has not spoken? 22 When a prophet shall speak in the name of Yahweh, and the word shall neither come to be nor come about, then it is a word that Yahweh did not speak, In arrogance did the prophet speak it. You shall not shrink away from him in awe.

 

[HARK!]

Deuteronomy 19
CLV(i) 1 When Yahweh your Elohim cuts off the nations whose country Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you, and you tenant in their place and dwell in their cities and in their houses, 2 you shall separate for yourself three cities in the midst of your land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you to tenant it. 3 You shall prepare for yourself the road to them and trisect the territory of your land that Yahweh your Elohim shall give to you as an allotment; and it will come to be that every manslayer is to flee there. 4 This is the word about the manslayer who may flee there and live:Whoever should smite his associate without knowledge when he was not hating him heretofore, 5 or he who should come with his associate into the wildwood to chop trees, and his hand may be impelled with the axe to cut down a tree, and the iron head flies off the wooden handle and finds his associate so that he dies, that man, he shall flee to one of these cities that he may live. 6 Otherwise the redeemer of blood may pursue after the manslayer while his heart is furious, and he may overtake him because the road is long enough, and he may smite his soul even though he had no judgment of death, seeing that he was not hating him heretofore. 7 Therefore I am instructing you, saying:Three cities shall you separate for yourself. 8 And when Yahweh your Elohim widens your territory just as He had sworn to your fathers, and gives to you the whole land that He had promised to give to your father. 9 (in case you observe all of this instruction to obey it, that I am enjoining on you today, to love Yahweh your Elohim and to walk in His ways all the days), then you must add for yourself three more cities to these three. 10 Thus within your land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment, the blood of the innocent shall not be shed so that no guilt of bloodshed comes to be on you. 11 But if a man is hating his associate, and he waits in ambush for him, rises against him and smites his soul so that he dies, and he flees to one of these cities, 12 then the elders of his city will send for him, take him from there and give him into the hand of the redeemer of blood so that he may die. 13 Your eye shall not commiserate over him. Thus you will eradicate from Israel the shedding of innocent blood, and it will be well with you. 14 You shall not move away the boundary marker of your associate by which the former ones bounded your allotment that you are allotted in the land that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you to tenant it. 15 A single witness shall not rise against a man regarding any depravity or any sin. In any sin which one may sin, the matter shall be confirmed at the mouth of two witnesses or at the mouth of three witnesses. 16 In case a malicious witness should rise against a man asserting his defection, 17 then the two men who have the contention must stand before Yahweh and before the priests and the judges who shall come to be in those days. 18 The judges will inquire diligently, and behold, should the false witness assert false testimony against his brother, 19 then you must do to him just as he schemed to do to his brother. Thus you will eradicate the evil from among you. 20 The remainder shall hearken and fear, and they shall no longer continue to do anything like this evil matter among you. 21 Your eye shall not commiserate:soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

 

[HARK!]

Deuteronomy 20
CLV(i) 1 When you go forth for battle against your enemies, and you see horses and chariots and a people more numerous than you, you should not fear them, for Yahweh your Elohim is with you, the One bringing you up from the country of Egypt. 2 Then it will be as you approach to the battle that the priest will come close and speak to the people. 3 He will say to them:Hear, Israel! You are near today to the battle against your enemies. Let not your heart be timid, do not fear, do not be in nervous haste and do not be terrified because of their presence. 4 for Yahweh your Elohim is the One going with you to fight for you with your enemies and to save you. 5 And the superintendents will speak to the people, saying:Whoever the man be who has built a new house and has not dedicated it yet, may go and return to his house, lest he should die in the battle and another man should dedicate it. 6 And whoever the man be who has planted a vineyard and has not taken it yet for profane use may go and return to his house, lest he should die in the battle and another man should take it for profane use. 7 And whoever the man be who has betrothed a woman and has not taken her yet, may go and return to his house, lest he should die in the battle and another man should take her. 8 Then the superintendents will continue to speak to the people and say:Whoever the man be who is fearful and timid of heart may go and return to his house so that the heart of his brothers may not be melted as his own heart is. 9 And it will come to be when the superintendents have finished speaking to the people that they will commit chiefs of the militia hosts at the head of the people. 10 When you come near to a city to fight against it then you should call to it for peace. 11 And it will come to be if it should answer you with peace, and it opens up to you, then it will come to be that all the people who are being found in it shall become tributary to you, and they will serve you. 12 Yet if it should not make peace with you but engages in battle with you, then you must besiege it. 13 When Yahweh your Elohim delivers it into your hand, then you will smite every adult male of it with the edge of the sword;" 14 but the women, the little ones, the domestic beasts and all that is in the city, all its loot, you may plunder for yourself; and you may eat from the loot of your enemies which Yahweh your Elohim gives to you. 15 Thus shall you deal with all the cities which are the very farthest from you, those that are not of the cities of these nations. 16 But in the cities of these peoples which Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment you shall not keep alive anything that has breath, 17 for you shall doom, yea doom them, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Girgashite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, just as Yahweh your Elohim had instructed you, 18 that they may not teach you to act according to all their abhorrences which they do for their elohim so that you might sin against Yahweh your Elohim. 19 When you besiege a city many days to battle against it to grab it, you shall bring ruin on no tree of it by wielding an axe against it; if you may eat of it, you shall not cut them down; for is the tree of the field a human to come before your face in the siege? 20 But a tree that you know it is not a tree for food, you may bring ruin on it and cut it down, so you may build siege-works against the city which is engaging in battle with you until it comes down.

 

[HARK!]

Deuteronomy 21
CLV(i) 1 In case someone mortally wounded is found on the ground that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you to tenant it, having fallen in the field, and it is not known who smote him fatally, 2 then your elders and your judges will go forth and measure the distance to the cities that are around the mortally wounded one. 3 And it will come to be that of the city nearest to the mortally wounded one, the elders of that city will take a heifer of the herd by which no one has been served and which has not drawn in a yoke. 4 The elders of that city will bring the heifer down to a perennial watercourse by which no one was served and it was not sown, and they will behead the heifer there in the watercourse. 5 Then the priests, the sons of Levi, will come close, for Yahweh your Elohim has chosen them to minister to Him and to bless in the name of Yahweh, and at their bidding every contention and every assault shall come to be settled. 6 Then all the elders of that city, the ones nearest to the mortally wounded one, shall wash their hands over the beheaded heifer in the watercourse, 7 and they will respond and say:Our hands, they have not shed this blood, and our eyes, they have not seen it. 8 Make a propitiatory shelter for Your people, Israel, whom You have ransomed, Yahweh, and let not guilt for the blood of the innocent remain among Your people, Israel. Thus a propitiatory shelter for them will be made concerning this bloodshed. 9 So you yourself shall eradicate the shedding of innocent blood from among you, for you shall do what is upright in the eyes of Yahweh. 10 When you go forth for battle against your enemy, and Yahweh your Elohim delivers him into your hand, and you capture his captives, 11 and you see among the captives a woman of lovely shape and are attached to her and take her to yourself as a wife, 12 then you will bring her into the midst of your household, where she will shave her head and pare her nails. 13 She will put away the garment of her captivity from her and dwell in your house. Then she will lament her father and her mother a month of days, and afterward you may come to her and may possess her, and she will become yours as a wife. 14 Should it come to be that you find no delight in her, then you will dismiss her to go at her soul's desire. You shall not sell, yea sell her for silver; you shall not make a chattel of her, inasmuch as you have humiliated her. 15 In case a man should come to have two wives, the one loved and the other disliked, and they bear sons for him, the loved and the disliked, but the firstborn is the son of the disliked one, 16 then it will come to be in the day when he gives allotments to his sons of that which is his, that he should not be able to treat as firstborn the son of the loved in preference to the son of the disliked, who is the firstborn. 17 For he shall recognize the firstborn son of the disliked by giving to him a double share of all that is being found his; since he is the beginning of his virility, the customary right of the firstborn belongs to him. 18 In case a son of a man should become stubborn and rebellious, and he is not hearkening to the voice of his father or to the voice of his mother, and they discipline him, but he does not hearken to them, 19 then his father and his mother will grasp him and bring him forth to the elders of his city, at the gate of his place. 20 They will say to the elders of his city:This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He is not hearkening to our voice. He is a glutton and carouser. 21 Then all the men of his city will pelt him with stones so that he dies. Thus you will eradicate the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear. 22 In case there should be in a man a sin incurring a judgment of death so that he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his carcass shall not lodge on the tree all night, for you shall entomb, yea entomb him on that day, for one being hung is under a malediction of Elohim, and you shall not defile your ground that Yahweh your Elohim is giving to you as an allotment.

 

[HARK!]

There's more to this. It might be wise to read and obey all of YHWH's word.

 

[timothyu]

Or simply put as Jesus said, put God's will ahead of our own.

 

[Jeshu]

Luke 10:25-27
'On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”


He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”'

 

[HARK!]

Luke 10:25-27
'On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”


He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”'

Yes, the second one came from Leviticus.

(CLV) LV 19:18
18 You shall not avenge nor shall you be resentful against the sons of your people. You will love your associate as yourself:I am Yahweh.

 

[Tolworth John]

What is the foremost precept of all

For the Christian this is a pointless question.
Pointless because the standard is perfection and we know as sinners that is impossible so our salvation depends solely on Jesus, rather than on being obedient to the law.

Our obedience to Jesus's commandments is as a mark of our love for him.

 

[SabbathBlessings]

For the Christian this is a pointless question.
Pointless because the standard is perfection and we know as sinners that is impossible so our salvation depends solely on Jesus, rather than on being obedient to the law.

Our obedience to Jesus's commandments is as a mark of our love for him.

So what you're saying you're free to sin, because its too hard to keep Gods laws?

What is impossible on our own, is possible with Him.

Your last sentence is correct though according to Jesus

John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.

Which commandment(s) do you struggle with? Ask God for His help in keeping it. Jesus promises us the Holy Spirit to help keep the commandments of God
John 14: 15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

Jesus died so He can forgive us of our transgressions, but He didn't die so we can keep sinning and not worry about it. When you stumble, get yourself back up, pray for forgiveness and try to sin no more.

I do believe with the help of God, we can be sinless. No one said its easy, but with Him all things are possible. He would not ask if it was impossible.

There is this scripture in Revelations 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

So I think its possible to be sinless when we set our eyes on Him and make Him our priority. We put away our own will and let Him lead our life. God wants to bless us and be happy, so following Him on the narrow path is better than following the other path that leads somewhere you don't want to be once you are there.

God bless

 

[Jeshu]

There is this scripture in Revelations 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

We can make perfection only ever in part, we fall away, if only for seconds, our dark thoughts rob us of our purity in Christ, and we need to be brought back to the obedience of Christ eating grace. Everyone who says they are sinless are fooling themselves and everybody else.

We might be able to keep our self imposed laws but we will fail loving God with all our strength and we will fail loving our neighbour as ourselves.

Not that it matters. When we walk with Christ then we need Him 24/7 to cover us, we can never rely on our own good works to save us or give us good standing with God.

Knowing that Jesus covers us does not give us permission to sin or stay in sin, such is never the right thing to do. Rather we go to Christ in our sinful spirit and lay down our life for Him - time and again - and take on newness of life through the thankful love His grace works in our hearts.

When we think we are sinless then we stop needing Christ, while when we are aware of our sin and shortcomings then we need Jesus to cover us. This will make us drink in His blood and eat His flesh - time and again - celebrating God's grace through Christ until He comes again.

Peace

 

[SabbathBlessings]

We can make perfection only ever in part, we fall away, if only for seconds, our dark thoughts rob us of our purity in Christ, and we need to be brought back to the obedience of Christ eating grace. Everyone who says they are sinless are fooling themselves and everybody else.

We might be able to keep our self imposed laws but we will fail loving God with all our strength and we will fail loving our neighbour as ourselves.

Not that it matters. When we walk with Christ then we need Him 24/7 to cover us, we can never rely on our own good works to save us or give us good standing with God.

Knowing that Jesus covers us does not give us permission to sin or stay in sin, such is never the right thing to do. Rather we go to Christ in our sinful spirit and lay down our life for Him - time and again - and take on newness of life through the thankful love His grace works in our hearts.

When we think we are sinless then we stop needing Christ, while when we are aware of our sin and shortcomings then we need Jesus to cover us. This will make us drink in His blood and eat His flesh - time and again - celebrating God's grace through Christ until He comes again.

Peace

I think you misunderstood my post. I never said anything about thinking we are sinless. I said with the help of the Holy Spirit we can try to be sinless. The Holy Spirit tells us when we are sinning, we listen to Him and follow the laws He asked us to keep. Grace is a gift by God, but He tells us over and over how important obedience is. Jesus summarized the 10 commandments as the greatest commandments. The first 4 is how we are to obey and love God and the last six is how we are to love and treat each other.

God bless

 

[timothyu]

It's a mater of allegiance to the will of God over the will of man (following governance of one over the other). A simple choice just like Eve faced.