Is It Possible to Keep All of the Commandments?

January 22, 2022 - Shvat 20 5782

Table of Contents

• The Problem
• The Solution
• The Conclusion

The Problem

Leviticus 26:3-4 says, "If you follow My statutes and observe My commandments and perform them, I will give your..."

Many a Christian will challenge a Jew by saying, "It's impossible to keep all of the commandments, which is why you need Jesus, the Son of God, who chose to take on the form of a human and die for your sins."

Let us therefore turn to Leviticus 26:14-16, which says, "But if you do not listen to Me and do not perform all these commandments, and if you despise My statutes and reject My ordinances, not performing any of My commandments, thereby breaking My covenant then I too, will do the same to you..."

To understand this properly, we first need to look at the beginning of this chapter in verse 3, which says, "If you follow My statutes and observe My commandments and perform them, I will give your..." This verse is followed by what God would do if the Jews follow the commandments. Therefore when we reach verse 14 we should expect it to say the simple opposite of verse 3: instead of saying, "But if you do not listen to Me and do not perform all these commandments," it should have simply said, "But if you do not perform all these commandments..." In other words, the phrase "if you do not listen to Me" is extra information that prevents verses 3 and 14 from being direct opposites. This extraneous phrase, "if you do not listen to Me," conveys something in addition to the inverse of "if you do not perform all these commandments."

The question is, what is this extra information conveying to us, and what does it mean?

The Solution

If we break down its meaning we can begin to understand what it is saying. In verse 14, the phrase "and do not perform all these commandments" follows this "extra" phrase - "But if you do not listen to Me." It seems that this phrase provides the reason for "But if... you do not perform all these commandments... thereby breaking My covenant, then I too, will do the same to you."

The verse is therefore understood as saying, "But if you do not listen to Me and [for that reason] do not perform all these commandments... thereby breaking My covenant, then I too, will do the same to you..."

In other words, the phrase "if you do not listen to Me" means "if you deliberately break my commandments," excluding unintentional violations of the Torah, and perhaps violations caused due to a lapse in judgment or failure to sustain oneself against temptation.

For example, Numbers 23:21 says, "He does not look at evil (אָ֨וֶן֙ - aven) in Jacob, and has seen no perversity (עָמָ֖ל - 'amal) in Israel; the Lord, his God, is with him, and he has the King's friendship." How can this be true if we know for a fact that as a whole the Jews had not managed to keep themselves completely free from sin? Some sources, such as the Nesivos Shalom (a chassidic analysis of the Five Books of Moses), offer the explanation that the Hebrew words translated as "evil" and "perversity" refer to a transgression done with a clear and committed mind. To contrast, a sin performed amidst an internal conflict, i.e., one which causes the doer remorse even while committing and enjoying the sin, is not considered "perversity." If so, then such a sin is not classified along with the type of deliberate sin to which the person is absolutely committed to perform.

The Conclusion

In conclusion, the Christian challenge to the Jew is a misunderstanding: the Torah is telling us that breaking the commandments only amounts to breaking the covenant if a Jew violates the commandments on purpose as an act of rebellion against God. Indeliberate violations of the commandments are a sign of weakness, yes, and perhaps even negligence that needs to be rectified, but does not equate to breaking the covenant.

If true, the challenge that "it's impossible to keep all of the commandments, thereby necessitating Jesus," is based on a misunderstanding; God does not unequivocally sever His relationship with the Jews for committing unintentional sins or sins borne of weakness. This indicates that the Christian challenge commonly posed to Jews is based on a demonstrably incorrect explanation of the Torah, be it deliberate or indeliberate.

Be well...