THE GREATEST COMMANDMENTS
The Covenant Core of Love, Allegiance, and Obedience from Torah to Yahusha
“Love Yahuah. Love Your Neighbor. — The Two Pillars Upon Which All Commandments Stand, Flow, and Are Fulfilled”
Greg Witter | Ephraim’s Cry
Hebraic Mindset Study Series
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This moment is one of the most quoted—and most misunderstood—teachings of Yahusha.
Matthew 22:36–40 records the question:
“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Yahusha answers:
“You shall love Yahuah your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Most stop there—and misinterpret what He said.
They assume:
He reduced the law
He replaced the commandments
He simplified everything into vague love
That is not what happened.
Yahusha did not reduce Torah.
He revealed its core structure, foundation, and governing principle.
HE WAS NOT INVENTING SOMETHING NEW — HE WAS QUOTING TORAH
This must be established first.
The first commandment He quotes is from:
Deuteronomy 6:5
“You shall love Yahuah your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.”
The second comes from:
Leviticus 19:18
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
So Yahusha is not introducing new doctrine.
He is:
pulling directly from Torah
identifying the governing principles
revealing the structure already present
This means:
What He said is not a replacement.
It is a summary of what already existed.
WHAT DOES “LOVE” MEAN IN A HEBRAIC CONTEXT?
This is where many go wrong.
Modern thinking defines love as:
emotion
feeling
affection
tolerance
acceptance
But in a Hebraic covenant context, love is:
loyalty
obedience
covenant faithfulness
alignment
action
commitment
Deuteronomy 6 is not emotional language.
It is covenant language.
To love Yahuah means:
to obey Him
to submit to Him
to honor His commands
to live according to His instruction
Deuteronomy 6:6–7 immediately follows with: “These words… shall be in your heart… you shall teach them…”
So love is not separate from commandments.
Love is expressed through them.
THE FIRST COMMANDMENT — LOVE YAHUAH
This corresponds directly to the first portion of the Ten Commandments.
The first four commandments deal with:
no other Elohim
no idols
honoring His Name
keeping His Sabbath
These define what it means to love Yahuah.
You cannot say: “I love Yahuah”
while:
serving other gods
creating false representations
dishonoring His Name
rejecting His appointed times
That is not love.
That is contradiction.
So the first commandment Yahusha gives is not abstract.
It is the summary of commandments 1–4.
THE SECOND COMMANDMENT — LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR
This corresponds to commandments 5–10:
honor father and mother
do not murder
do not commit adultery
do not steal
do not bear false witness
do not covet
These define what it means to love your neighbor.
You cannot claim to love your neighbor while:
harming them
betraying them
taking from them
lying about them
desiring what belongs to them
So again, love is not vague.
It is defined by behavior.
“ON THESE TWO HANG ALL THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS”
This statement is critical.
“HANG” means:
depend on
are supported by
are upheld by
are structured upon
This is not:
replacement
cancellation
simplification into less
This is: foundation and structure
The law and the prophets:
do not disappear
do not become irrelevant
They are: rooted in these two commands
Meaning:
Every commandment can be traced back to:
love for Yahuah
love for neighbor
THIS IS A COVENANT FRAMEWORK — NOT A REDUCTION
What Yahusha gives is a structure:
Vertical relationship → Yahuah
Horizontal relationship → neighbor
Everything in Torah falls into one of those two directions.
So instead of 600+ disconnected commands, you now see: one unified system flowing from two roots
That is clarity—not reduction.
THIS DESTROYS LAWLESS “LOVE” TEACHING
This must be said plainly.
Many say: “I just love people—that’s all that matters.”
But without Torah, love becomes:
subjective
self-defined
emotional
inconsistent
One person’s “love” becomes:
another person’s harm
another person’s injustice
another person’s confusion
Without commandments, love has no boundaries.
Torah defines love.
Not culture.
Not emotion.
Not opinion.
YOU CANNOT SEPARATE LOVE FROM OBEDIENCE
This is one of the most critical truths.
If you remove obedience, you redefine love.
1 John 5:3 says: “This is the love of Yahuah, that we keep His commandments.”
That is direct.
Love = obedience.
Not: Love = feeling
Love = belief
Love = verbal confession
Love is demonstrated through: alignment with Yahuah’s instruction
THIS CONNECTS DIRECTLY TO THE REST OF TORAH
Now we expand.
The Ten Commandments are the foundation.
What comes after—mishpatim, statutes, instructions—are the application.
So:
Love Yahuah → defines:
worship
reverence
obedience
allegiance
Love your neighbor → defines:
justice
fairness
restitution
responsibility
treatment of others
So when Torah speaks about:
servants
property
damages
restitution
honesty
sexual boundaries
justice
Those are not random laws.
They are: expressions of loving your neighbor
THIS IS WHY THE LAW CONTINUES BEYOND TEN
The Ten Commandments are not the whole system.
They are the headings.
Everything after explains:
how to love correctly
how to live correctly
how to treat others correctly
how to operate in covenant
Without those expansions, people redefine love into:
convenience
emotion
preference
Yahuah defines it precisely.
YAHUSHA DID NOT ABOLISH — HE CLARIFIED
This must be stated without compromise.
He did not say: “These replace the law.”
He said: “These uphold the law.”
Matthew 5:17: “I did not come to abolish…”
So if everything hangs on these two commands, then removing the law collapses what they hang.
That is logical.
You cannot remove the structure and claim to keep the foundation.
THIS ALSO EXPOSES HYPOCRISY
A person can claim: “I love Yahuah”
but:
reject His commands
redefine His instruction
ignore His boundaries
That is not love.
A person can claim: “I love people”
but:
lie
manipulate
harm
exploit
gossip
covet
That is not love.
These two commandments expose false claims.
They reveal whether love is real or self-defined.
WHAT SHOULD BE HERE THAT MOST MISS
Let’s bring out what is often missing:
Love is not the removal of law—it is the fulfillment of it
These two commands are the lens, not the replacement
Every commandment answers: “What does love actually do?”
Love without instruction becomes chaos
Love without boundaries becomes lawlessness
Love without truth becomes deception
The first commandment deals with allegiance
The second deals with relationship
Together, they define covenant life
KEY THEMATIC INSIGHTS
Yahusha Quoted Torah, Not Replaced It
Both commandments come directly from the Law.
Love Is Defined by Obedience
Not emotion, not intention—action and alignment.
The Ten Commandments Are the Structural Breakdown
First four = love Yahuah
Last six = love neighbor
All Other Laws Are Applications of Love
They show how love functions in real situations.
Without Torah, Love Becomes Undefined
And therefore distorted.
These Two Commands Are the Foundation of the Entire System
Not the elimination of it.
FINAL DECLARATION
The greatest commandment is not a shortcut.
It is the root.
Love Yahuah with everything you are.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
And understand this:
That love is not defined by you.
It is defined by Yahuah.
It is revealed through His commandments.
It is structured through His instruction.
It is proven through obedience.
Remove the commandments—and love collapses.
Keep the commandments—and love is made visible.
Because love is not what you say.
Love is what you live—according to the Word of Yahuah.
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#WholeCounsel, #Yahuah, #Yahusha, #CovenantTruth, #BiblicalLove, #Obedience, #ReturnToTorah, #TruthOverTradition,
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One Response
Thank you for this, Greg. I believe I will use this in class if anyone comes tomorrow. As this is TRULY foundational. Begin here and build from there! Can hardly wait to see what 13 says! Waits for tomorrow morning. Around 6 AM. I start my day with the Torah Portion and the 13 Commandments. Foundation. Solid, Firm. My humble opinion again. Academy beginning. Going in-depth to the rest of the Instructions which I believe are being “glossed over.” Explaining how to keep those we can and what cannot be kept. Don’t I wish they could be? However, if they were all alive and well in my life, I would have been killed a long time ago due to ignorance and rebellion. I just didn’t understand. NOW I have a clue – So blessed to have a “deep teacher” on my laptop, just one stroke away. Have a blessed day, Greg. And Sabbath Shalom early.