Actual Commandments- Worship

[alon]

The next category of commandments I want to talk about are those concerning worship. Recently there have been some questions on this topic, and I think our list here might help clear some things up there. This is less than half the category, but I'm breaking it up because there is a lot to consider, so it's probably best not to put up too much at once.

 Actual Commandments- Worship

One God

Exodus 3:14-15 (ESV)  God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” [Or I am what I am, or I will be what I will be] And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. This gives the Name by which the Almighty is to be known.

Exodus 20:2-3 (ESV) “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me.” Biblically Egypt represents sin. So for all who Elohim has brought out of sin, all of us who accept Yeshua and are saved, we have only One God, El Elohe Yisroel. Some who call themselves Messianic argue this means we can worship other gods, just do not place them first before Elohei Yisroel. But the word here translated “before” is פָּנִים pânîym, my face. This is strong language; God is saying “keep them out of my face!”

Exodus 23:13 (ESV) “Pay attention to all that I have said to you, and make no mention of the names of other gods, nor let it be heard on your lips.” This probably means in worship or idle talk, or in an oath. It is allowed to learn of them in order to refute them and their tenets as a witness to others.

Deuteronomy 5:7 (ESV) “‘You shall have no other gods before [Or besides] me.'" We absolutely do not give worship, credit, nor consort to any god but our God, El Elohe Yisroel.

Deuteronomy 6:4 (ESV) “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.” Or The Lord our God is one Lord; or The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; or The Lord is our God, the Lord alone

Deuteronomy 7:16b (ESV) neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you. Another oft repeated commandment. We serve El Elohe Yisroel, and Him alone!

Deuteronomy 32:39a (ESV) “‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me;’” This one verse encapsulates the theme of the entire song, and can be taken as a commandment to know that there is One supreme God who alone we are to worship and obey. And He does not share His glory with any other.

Give of Our Best

Exodus 23:19a (ESV) “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.” We bring only our best into God’s storehouse.

Leviticus 22:20 (ESV) You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. Offer only of your best to the Lord.

Deuteronomy 6:5-6 (ESV) You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. Considered the greatest commandment (Luke 10:27), we are to love God, the ways of God, the things of God more than even ourselves.

Deuteronomy 17:1 (ESV) “You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God. Give only our best to God.

Idolatry

Isaiah 42:10a, 11b-12 (ESV)  Hear, you deaf, and look, you blind, that you may see! There is a little doble entendre here. God, through the prophet was speaking of idols of wood and stone facetiously telling them to hear and see. However He is primarily telling us to wake up, put away our idols and worship the One True God.

Exodus 20:4-5 (ESV) “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,” This actually has 2 parts- do not make graven images, and do not worship graven images. Many argue that this means we cannot make images for the purpose of worship. But God explicitly says you shall not make those images! A corollary would be that if you do find them, destroy them.

Exodus 22:20 (ESV) “Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction [set apart (devoted) as an offering for destruction to the Lord].” Not as a human sacrifice, but either put to the sword or executed by legal decree. Today just permanently removed from fellowship. But what about giving tithes or offerings to organizations that either worship other gods (like many which support Islam today) or that misrepresent our God (like many churches)? That could be said to violate this command.

Leviticus 19:4 (ESV) Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the Lord your God. Pretty clear- no idols!

Leviticus 26:1 (ESV) “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the Lord your God. Again, no idols. Images, pillars and stones are specifically referenced here. That means no representations of beasts, “saints,” or demons; and certainly we don’t kneel before them and pray to those they represent.

Deuteronomy 5:8-9a (ESV) “‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God,'" We make no graven images, and bow before nothing; even to say it represents our God is a grave sin.

Deuteronomy 7:5 (ESV) But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire. We should destroy the items of pagan worship wherever and whenever we can. This can mean physically, but I also take it that every time we convince an idolater to stop, we just in a sense destroyed the idols he worships.

Deuteronomy 7:25a (ESV) The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. Destroy all items of pagan worship.

Deuteronomy 7:25b (ESV)  You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. Do not desire to profit from the idols, or the materials from which they are made.

Deuteronomy 7:26 (ESV)  And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction. We should loath idols, and never bring one into our homes which are dedicated to God.

Deuteronomy 12:2-3 (ESV) You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and burn their Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and destroy their name out of that place. Destroy all traces of idolatry.

Make No Covenants

Exodus 23:32 (ESV) “You shall make no covenant with them and their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me; for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.” We are not to compromise with other religions, nor to make covenants with them. We serve only the God of Israel.

Exodus 34:12-17 (ESV) Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in your midst. You shall tear down their altars and break their pillars and cut down their Asherim (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God), lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they sleeper after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and you are invited, you eat of his sacrifice, and you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters sleeper after their gods and make your sons sleeper after their gods. “You shall not make for yourself any gods of cast metal.” An oft repeated theme, to go whoring after those outside the covenant ends in worship of other gods. We are to make no covenants, marriage or otherwise with unbelievers. We are to destroy their idols and altars. We are not to eat food sacrificed to other gods nor participate in any form of worship of strange gods. And we are to make no gods ourselves.

Deuteronomy 7:2c (ESV) … You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. Contextually this speaks of those we have conquered in His Name. We, with the Ruach share in Yeshua’s conquering of sin when we accepted Him. Therefore we should not compromise with sin. And when dealing with the world, I have a saying, “Never compromise with evil.”

Deuteronomy 7:16a (ESV) And you shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you. Too often, when we should be pressing our witness home, we feel pity for the persons discomfort. We care more about not hurting their feelings, and so quench the work of the Spirit. So I am listing this as a commandment for us.

Sacrifices

Exodus 13:14-15 (ESV) And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ While we do not do animal sacrifices until the Temple is rebuilt, we still should redeem our firstborn                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Leviticus 17:3-5 (ESV)  If any one of the house of Israel kills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or kills it outside the camp,  and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it as a gift to the Lord in front of the tabernacle of the Lord, bloodguilt shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people.  This is to the end that the people of Israel may bring their sacrifices that they sacrifice in the open field, that they may bring them to the Lord, to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the Lord. Sacrifices are only to be made at the Mishkan (later theTemple in Jerusalem). We have neither, so sacrifices are temporarily halted. I am however leaving this in the list of “currently observed” commandments because there is an all to common idea that with Yeshua’s death the sacrifices were done away with. Nowhere does it say or imply that.

Leviticus 18:21 (ESV) You shall not give any of your children to offer them [to make them pass through the fire] to Molech, and so profane the name of your God: I am the Lord. Proscription against child sacrifice. Moreover, do nothing to sell your children into sin.

Deuteronomy 12:17-18 (ESV) You may not eat within your towns the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present, but you shall eat them before the Lord your God in the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake. Do not eat things set apart to HaShem as offerings outside His Temple. Today, with no Temple in Yerushalayim we no longer set aside these sacrifices. However we typically do set aside a tithe, and we give offerings. These are to be separated from profane, or common use. They belong to God.

Deuteronomy 26:10 (ESV)  And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O Lord, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God. Three things here: giving to God is and should be an act of worship, and we pay what we owe Him first. This is an act of both trust and obedience.

Blood of Sacrifice And leaven

Exodus 23:18 (ESV) “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the fat of my feast remain until the morning. Any time wine or grape juice representing the blood of either the Paschal sacrifice or the blood of Yeshua is present, there should be no leaven present or consumed.

Exodus 34:25 (ESV) “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, or let the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover remain until the morning.” Whether the Christian custom of The Lord’s Supper or the Messianic/Jewish one of Pesach, we should not profane the prophetic example of Pesach with leaven/sin.

[mystic]

I think what I was having issues with is that my pics are not of any "other" God.

What about people having a cross on their walls or wearing it on a necklace or having it tattooed on their bodies? It that also idolatry if it represents Christ?

[alon]

Oct 31, 2020 6:28:52 GMT -8 mystic said:

I think what I was having issues with is that my pics are not of any "other" God. He said not to make a likeness of Him either: Exodus 20:4-5; Leviticus 19:4,26:1; Deuteronomy 5:8-9a. Whenever He said "make no images" there were no exceptions.

What about people having a cross on their walls or wearing it on a necklace or having it tattooed on their bodies? It that also idolatry if it represents Christ? A cross is a Christian symbol, so if you are a Christian I suppose you could hang a cross. My problem with it is that it can easily, and very subtly become an idol itself. Many Christians kneel before it and gaze up at it in reverence when they pray. "But, but, it focuses my attention ..." So did the Golden Calf.

Tattoos are another thing:

Leviticus 19:28 (ESV) You shall not make any cuts on your body for the dead or tattoo yourselves: I am the Lord.

The term for tattoo there is כְּתֹבֶת ketho'beth, which means any mark made upon the skin.

So no tattoos.

Dan C

[alon]

Oct 31, 2020 6:28:52 GMT -8 mystic said:

Nov 1, 2020 4:12:40 GMT -8 mystic said:

I think most people need to see or have something tangible which represents God, that is the issue.

That is human nature. It is not what God tells us He wants us to do.

Dan C

Mod note: the rest of this post was moved to "B'reishit (Genesis)" so as not to hijack or detract from this thread. Dan

[alon]

So continuing with the category "Worship":

Worship as God Said

Exodus 30:9 (ESV) You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering, or a grain offering, and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. We should strive to worship HaShem as He tells us to worship Him. Leviticus 10:3 (ESV) Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Among those who are near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron held his peace. Nadav and Abihu had just offered “strange fire” before the Lord; mixing pagan rites with worship of the Almighty. This would diminish our God, not glorify Him. We should not mix pagan practices with our worship of HaShem. HaSHem takes our worship seriously- Nadav and Abihu paid for their transgression with their lives.

Deuteronomy 12:4, 30-31 (ESV) You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. … take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods. Do not worship El Elohe Yisroel as pagans worship their gods.


Exodus 30:22-23a,24-25,32-33-35 30:34-35,,37-38 (ESV) The Lord said to Moses, “Take the finest spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, …, and 500 of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil. …  It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person, and you shall make no other like it in composition. It is holy, and it shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’” … The Lord said to Moses, “Take sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet spices with pure frankincense (of each shall there be an equal part), and make an incense blended as by the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. … And the incense that you shall make according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves. It shall be for you holy to the Lord. Whoever makes any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.” Do not reproduce anointing oil or incense for profane use; do not anoint anyone other than priests with this oil .

Numbers 10:10 (ESV) On the day of your gladness also, and at your appointed feasts and at the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. They shall be a reminder of you before your God: I am the Lord your God.” “The day of your gladness “ apparently refers to Pesach, as that is what was being discussed. Vss. 1-9 talk about having a definite order and distinction in the trumpet blasts (it also specifies silver trumpets, Hebrew חצוצרה ḥaṣoṣrah, for the Mishkan). Many times in scripture a shofar שׁוֹפָר was specified. Blowing a shofar at the beginning of each convocation harkens back to this. However I am opposed to the practice of everyone showing up with their own shofarot and just blasting away. This usually sounds more like slaughtering goats than calling an assembly to worship. Our God is a God of order, and calling His people to worship should be a recognizable sound and pattern.

Deuteronomy 4:2 (ESV) You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. Keep the mitzvoth as HaShem gave them to us, not as we want.

Deuteronomy 10:20b (ESV)  You shall serve him and hold fast to him, We serve God and hold to Him and to His ways and to His people.

Firstborn Belongs to God

Exodus 34:19-20 (ESV) All that open the womb are mine, all your male livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none shall appear before me empty-handed. We are to redeem our firstborn of livestock and our marriage(s).

Leviticus 27: (ESV)  “But a firstborn of animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the Lord, no man may dedicate; whether ox or sheep, it is the Lord's. And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back at the valuation, and add a fifth to it; or, if it is not redeemed, it shall be sold at the valuation. We are to redeem a firstborn animal, or sell it and donate the money to God.

Numbers 3:12-13 (ESV)  “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine, for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the Lord.” All firstborn are consecrated to the Lord.

Numbers 3:45-47 (ESV)  “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel, and the cattle of the Levites instead of their cattle. The Levites shall be mine: I am the Lord. And as the redemption price for the 273 of the firstborn of the people of Israel, over and above the number of the male Levites, you shall take five shekels[c] per head; you shall take them according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel of twenty gerahs),” All firstborn should be redeemed by paying 5 shekels.” A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams, so the price would be 55 grams of gold. Gold can be purchased from rare metals dealers. Small amounts are usually sold in strips, and these can be cut to give exact amounts. My old synagogue collected this even if the firstborn was grown and had left home.

Numbers 18:14-16 (ESV)  Every devoted thing in Israel shall be yours. Everything that opens the womb of all flesh, whether man or beast, which they offer to the Lord, shall be yours. Nevertheless, the firstborn of man you shall redeem, and the firstborn of unclean animals you shall redeem. And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels [about 2/5 ounce per shekel] in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, which is twenty gerahs. We are commanded to redeem all firstborn (exceptions noted in vs. 17).

Numbers 18:17 (ESV) But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, you shall not redeem; they are holy. You shall sprinkle their blood on the altar and shall burn their fat as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. These are typically animals raised for slaughter or for sale. So today we’d give 10% of what we earn from them or of the value of their produce (for example, what we ourselves consume must also be tithed on). Therefore their firstborn are not redeemed at birth.

Deuteronomy 15:19 (ESV)  “All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock you shall dedicate to the Lord your God. You shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.” Firstborn clean animals are consecrated, and should not be worked or sold for profit.

Be Sober

Leviticus 10:9 (ESV) “Drink no wine or strong drink, you or your sons with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, lest you die. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. We should be sober in mind and body when worshiping or going before our Lord.

Leviticus 26:2b (ESV) reverence my sanctuary: I am the Lord. While meant of the Mishkan and/or Temple, I think this can safely be applied to the synagogue as well.

Do Not Cheat God

Leviticus 27:9- (ESV) “If the vow is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the Lord, all of it that he gives to the Lord is holy. He shall not exchange it or make a substitute for it, good for bad, or bad for good; and if he does in fact substitute one animal for another, then both it and the substitute shall be holy. And if it is any unclean animal that may not be offered as an offering to the Lord, then he shall stand the animal before the priest, and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall be. But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a fifth to the valuation. Don’t try to renege or cheat God with what is owed Him.

Leviticus 27:30-33 (ESV) “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord. If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman's staff, shall be holy to the Lord. One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.” The tithe is already separated and considered holy by God.

Vows

Leviticus 27:14-15 (ESV)  “When a man dedicates his house as a holy gift to the Lord, the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand. And if the donor wishes to redeem his house, he shall add a fifth to the valuation price, and it shall be his. We may give property to the synagogue, so this could apply.

Leviticus 27:16 (ESV)  “If a man dedicates to the Lord part of the land that is his possession, then the valuation shall be in proportion to its seed. A homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. We may donate land, and its valuation is based on its yield. However not all land is farmland, and the most common current standard for valuing those is based on the highest use- i.e. land downtown zoned for business is worth more than land in the poorest part of town zoned residential only. That valuation would be its “yield.”

Leviticus 27:28-29 (ESV) “But no devoted thing that a man devotes to the Lord, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord. No one who is to be devoted for destruction from mankind, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death. All devoted to the Lord is set apart to Him, and cannot be touched nor its fate altered by men.

Deuteronomy 10:20c (ESV)  and by his name you shall swear. When it becomes necessary to swear, as when testifying before a court, we swear only in His Name.

Deuteronomy 23:21 (ESV) “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.” Give what is owed to God first.

Purification

Numbers 19:11-12 (ESV)  “Whoever touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean seven days. He shall cleanse himself with the water on the third day and on the seventh day, and so be clean. But if he does not cleanse himself on the third day and on the seventh day, he will not become clean. We should undergo tevilah on the 3rd and 7th days after touching death. And we should forgo any duties in our assemblies for the 7 days as we are tumah, ritually unavailable. Sadly I cannot say what those with no access to a suitable mikvah should do.

Numbers 19:13 (ESV) Whoever touches a dead person, the body of anyone who has died, and does not cleanse himself, defiles the tabernacle of the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from Israel; because the water for impurity was not thrown on him, he shall be unclean. His uncleanness is still on him. We don’t have a Tabernacle to defile, however we may still defile the sanctuary/synagogue. This may be a tough one since traditionally the corps is brought into our sanctuaries as part of the funeral service.

Numbers 19:14-16 (ESV) “This is the law when someone dies in a tent: everyone who comes into the tent and everyone who is in the tent shall be unclean seven days. And every open vessel that has no cover fastened on it is unclean. Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. Since the Hebrews lived in tents at the time, I think this may also apply to our homes.

Numbers 19:19b (ESV) Thus on the seventh day he shall cleanse him, and he shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he shall be clean. If you must attend a funeral or touch dead bodies, a 7 day observance should be done.

[alon]

This will wrap up our "Worship" category:

Prayer

Deuteronomy 6:8 (ESV) You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. This is fulfilled in Judaism by binding Teffilin and saying prayers at prescribed times (which coincide with the times of the daily sacrifices in the Temple). Many Messianics also do this. Others take this as a metaphor, that we are to bind our minds and the work of our hands to serve God.

Deuteronomy 6:9 (ESV) You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. This is fulfilled by placing a Mezuzah on the front doorpost of your home. It should also be taken metaphorically that this home and all in it are dedicated to HaShem.

Deuteronomy 8:10 (ESV)   And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Bless the Lord after we’ve eaten. It is easy to remember to be grateful before we eat. Afterwards when we are sated it is easy to forget. And contextually it is not only the food we are to be grateful for, but everything He has given us.

Respect for God

Exodus 20:7 (ESV) “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” Cursing using the term “God,” to falsely curse someone in His name, to swear falsely or even just rashly, impulsively, by His name. Even to make the Covenant Name of Elohim overused and commonplace. And to profane His name. Any use of any of the names of the Most High which does not glorify Him, representing Him faithfully to a lost world is a violation.

Deuteronomy 5:11 (ESV) “‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
vain  (vān) adj. vain·er, vain·est
1. Not yielding the desired outcome; fruitless: a vain attempt.
2. Lacking substance or worth: vain talk.
3. Having or showing excessive pride in one's appearance or accomplishments; conceited.
4. Archaic Foolish.
5. Idiom: in vain A. To no avail; without success: Our labor was in vain. B. In an irreverent or disrespectful manner: took the Lord's name in vain.

Deuteronomy 6:16 (ESV) “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. There the Hebrews tried to threaten Moshe and manipulate God into giving them water on their command. They also questioned God’s motives. But we are not to test God. He tests us, we do not test Him.

Deuteronomy 10:20a (ESV) You shall fear the Lord your God. Show reverence and respect to God.

False Teachers

Deuteronomy 13:2b- (ESV) if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’  you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.  You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. Do not follow false teachers, but hold fast to HaShem.

Deuteronomy 13:5-9 (ESV) But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from your midst. “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him. But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. While we do not kill false teachers today, we still can remove them from fellowship. We can also warn others of this evil should they try to find another congregation to influence. And no matter who they are or how close to you, you should be the first to condemn them.

Deuteronomy 13:12-14 (ESV)  “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to dwell there, that certain worthless fellows have gone out among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which you have not known, then you shall inquire and make search and ask diligently. And behold, if it be true and certain that such an abomination has been done among you, Investigate charges of heretical doctrines thoroughly, and if a congregation is found to have fallen away that entire assembly should be removed from fellowship.

Deuteronomy 13:15-17 (ESV) you shall surely put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, devoting it to destruction [setting apart (devoting) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction)], all who are in it and its cattle, with the edge of the sword. You shall gather all its spoil into the midst of its open square and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It shall be a heap forever. It shall not be built again. None of the devoted things shall stick to your hand, that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger and show you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers, Today we must deal with them by disfellowshipping and shunning. But do not go after the things the proscribed fellowship owns, as all are set aside to whatever fate HaShem has in store for them.

Forbidden Forms of Worship

Exodus 22:18 (ESV) “You shall not permit a sorceress to live.” Not sure why the feminine is used in the ESV. According to Strong’s the Hebrew term is כָּשַׁף kâshaph, kaw-shaf'; to whisper a spell, to inchant or practise magic: sorcerer, (use) witch(-craft). So the gender is neutral. They are to be put to death, however today it would be more expel them from our fellowship.

Deuteronomy 18:10b (ESV) (There shall not be found among you) anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, None in your congregation may use magic to tell the future.

Deuteronomy 18:10c (ESV) (There shall not be found among you) a sorcerer None in your congregation may be a witch.

Deuteronomy 18:11a (ESV) (There shall not be found among you) or a charmer None in your congregation may cast enchantments.

Deuteronomy 18:11b (ESV) (There shall not be found among you) a medium None in your congregation may channel spirits.

Deuteronomy 18:11c (ESV) (There shall not be found among you) a necromancer, one who inquires of the dead, None in your congregation may communicate with the dead.

Exodus 34:26b (ESV) “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.” An extremely cruel pagan practice of presenting a newborn kid to their gods, then boiling it alive in front of the mother. Jewish sacrifices (as well as slaughtering for meat) were done as humanely as possible. This is where Rabbinic Judaism gets its infamous prohibition of mixing meat and dairy. The way I read this they went way too far in extrapolating that mitzvah from this verse. In fact, since this was in the “other” 10 Commandments I’d say it is more about worship than food.

Deuteronomy 16:21-22 (ESV)  “You shall not plant any tree as an Asherah beside the altar of the Lord your God that you shall make. And you shall not set up a pillar, which the Lord your God hates. Some of the shrubs, Christmas trees, and even the altars of Christian churches are seen by God as idolatry, regardless of their intent.

Deuteronomy 18:9 (ESV) “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. This is evidence that just because it says “when you come into the land” it does not necessarily mean only in Israel. Few would argue we should adopt “abominable practices” just because we are elsewhere.

Deuteronomy 18:10a (ESV)  There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, None in your congregation may offer his children up to evil.

Deuteronomy 18:20 (ESV)  But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ Again, we can’t kill a false prophet, but we can evict him from our fellowship.

Deuteronomy 18:22 (ESV)  when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him. We are not to fear the false prophet when we do evict him.

Deuteronomy 23:18 (ESV) You shall not bring the fee of a prostitute or the wages of a dog [male prostitute] into the house of the Lord your God in payment for any vow, for both of these are an abomination to the Lord your God. Pretty straight forward.

Those Excluded from the Assembly

Deuteronomy 23:1 (ESV) “No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.” No male who has had debilitating injuries to the groin shall be allowed into the congregation. The term qahal is used both to mean the Hebrew people and the religious assembly.

Deuteronomy 23:2-4 (ESV) “No one born of a forbidden union may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants may enter the assembly of the Lord. No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever,  because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the way, when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.” 10 signifies testimony, law, responsibility and the completeness of order. In this context it means forever. What we do can have serious consequences for our children. They may not be held responsible for our sins, but they may bear the consequences.

Deuteronomy 23:7 (ESV) “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a sojourner in his land. Children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the Lord. They could live as resident aliens during the time of their prohibition. Then, since they would know the ways and think like Jews, they could join Israel. Odd though, since Egypt had enslaved them and Edom would participate it the destruction of the Temple.

[mystic]

BTW, I was a member of a facebook Group on Talmud discussion and had asked the same question on "Graven images" wanting to know just out of sheer curiosity and knowledge if Jews use anything visual to remind them of God? A lot of people posted immediately stating their situations that no they don't use any visuals, only things like Mezuzah but nothing relating to an image of God himself.

However, one member immediately posted "Can an admin remove this Messianic's post?" At first when I saw that response I got angry but in always trying to avoid conflicts and arguments I ignored his post but then my questions and posts was removed only a few minutes after I had asked the question. I immediately left the group.

I had never told anyone that I am Messianic so was very surprised to see that guy's response. I have to wonder though if Orthodox Jews general take is not to have anything to do with Messianic's?