Shavuot was big. God, our Father, moved powerfully on Sinai giving us the Torah, writing the Big Ten with His finger upon stone tablets [some say sapphire tablets]. The Abrahamic Covenant took a massive step upward as He revealed Himself to His people. He showed us how to live, what He expects, and how much He loves us. He did that for a people who were reveling in the camp making a golden calf.
He took a stiff-necked, argumentative people and loved them. They were not picked because they were worthy of special attention. He chose them because they were not. That continues today in Israel. His love for His people has not changed. He has told us how to please Him.
Keeping Torah is a glorious life. But in our sinful state it is impossible to live in 24/7/365, year by year, millennium by millennium. As a friend of mine wrote today:
I read to understand His commandments, not as a list of archaic rules, but as the loving boundaries of a good Father for children who are prone to wander into traffic.
Isn’t that the Truth? But, the Good News is that the Lord’s plan was always for a better way. He gave the word to two of His prophets, Jeremiah & Ezekiel, that a New Covenant was coming. An upgraded covenant which fulfilled the promises given to Abraham and the way of living given in the Torah.
Religion had become a major problem. Throughout the gospels of the New Covenant we read about the problems that Yeshua Messiah (Jesus Christ) had with the leadership of the religion of Israel. Remember, religion is man’s attempt to put God in a controllable box. Today, we are dealing with the same thing in the church. A religious elite who serve as a barrier between the people of God and God Himself. (Read how it’s supposed to work in First Corinthians 14: 26–33)
What is this system upgrade?
A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you;
and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put my spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) within you,
and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
Ezekiel 36: 26–27 gives us the barest glimpse of the incredibly wonderful solution the Lord had for the religion problem. It’s found in the Hebrew word halak. The Hebraic First Hermeneutics Study Tool explains what I am talking about.
The meaning is movement under guided direction. Not random wandering. Not autonomous walking. Walking that follows a directing rod. This is not an accident of etymology — it is the structural concept: halak is movement along a path that has been set.
But in these words found in Ezekiel it means more.
Sibling Forms — Same Root
Verb (Qal)הָלַךְ halak means to walk, to go, to live one’s life
Hiphil (causative)הִלַּכְתִּי hilakti means I will cause to walk / I will make walk
Noun (abstract)הֲלָכָה halakhah means the walk, the ruling that determines the path of lifeThe Verb → Noun relationship is critical here:
Torah itself is the halakhah — the body of instruction that defines how one walks. When YHWH says “I will cause you to walk” (hilakti), He is making Himself the active Hiphil agent of the halakhah — not merely commanding the path but generating the locomotion itself. The verb prevents the noun from becoming an inert legal code by inserting divine energy into it.
In Ezekiel 36: 27 The Lord makes it clear in the Hebrew that the Torah is not being left behind, it is being enabled.
The English "cause you to walk" is actually a slightly dynamic rendering of a more layered syntax: I will make it so that — in My statutes — you walk. The ruach is the mechanism of the Hiphil. YHWH does not bypass Torah; He places His Spirit inside the people so that Torah-walking becomes their natural locomotion.
This is what happens when you are born of God or reborn.
When I look at the changes HaShem has done in me since I met Yeshua, I am truly amazed. When I read the Torah today, I discover that the Lord has changed me so that I am walking out the Torah. Without any planning, I find out that my diet is kosher. I’m wearing 100% cotton clothing which has eliminated my original rank body odor problem. And the list goes on… As I wrote yesterday—
God has changed the orientation of my heart so that I am able live out what pleases Him. I love it. The truth about kavanah is that the giving of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost is what empowers this in the life of the believer.
God’s plan, to make those who choose to love Him righteous, displays a wisdom only seen in the Lord. Shavuot/Pentecost celebrates the Truth of Torah and the power to live it out. Believe it or not, it’s always been my favorite holy day [holiday].
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.