Dark Side of the Moon

“I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”  John 13:34-35  NASB

New – Yeshua says, in the Greek text, “I am giving you a new commandment.”  But it’s clearly not new!  It’s already included in the Torah commandment concerning your neighbor (actually, in Hebrew, your friend or companion).

Leviticus 19:18  “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.”

If this is already part of Jewish consciousness, why does Yeshua say that his commandment is new?  And, furthermore, why does he give this commandment to his disciples who, of all people, should already embrace love for each other?

The answer to both of these questions is found in the Hebrew word he speaks (translated into Greek and then into English).  That word is also found in this verse:

“This cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant in My blood.”  Luke 22:20

The “new” covenant isn’t new either.  The Hebrew reference is to Jeremiah 31:31 where the root word is ḥādāš, a word that means “renew, repair,” and is most often used of the “new” moon, which, of course, is not “new” but rather “renewed,” that is, seen again.

Yeshua is doing what every great prophet did.  He’s providing a single statement summary of the Torah.  Here are other examples:

He has told you, mortal one, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk ^[b]humbly with your God?  Micah 6:8

“Behold, as for the impudent one,
His soul is not right within him;
But the righteous one will live by his faith.”  Habakkuk 2:4 and Paul in Romans.

In answer to the scribe’s question, Yeshua once provided a two-command summary: “Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:40).  Now he goes one step further—a summary in a single command.  But none of this is new, that is, brand new never heard before.  What all of these prophets provide is a shorthand condensation of Torah.  Augustine did the same with his statement, “Love God and do as you please.”  The real question isn’t about a “new” commandment.  The real question is why he had to give this to his disciples.  And the answer is that despite their close attachment to Yeshua, they still demonstrated jealousy and distrust among each other.  They didn’t understand the scope of Leviticus 19:18.  Yeshua makes it clear that until they do, they won’t be reflections of his love.   His “new” commandment is a summarization of everything he taught demonstrated in action.  Until that becomes part of the character of a person, the Torah isn’t working as it was intended.

Topical Index: neighbor, new, ḥādāš, Micah 6:8, Habakkuk 2:4, Matthew 22:40, John 13:34-35