ROOTS FIRST – PART ONE

Too many people-like modern-day religion-twist newer-writings verses the way Pharisees twisted Torah: adding rules instead of obeying what’s already there. Hosea six-six isn’t a suggestion, it’s a command: mercy over sacrifice, Elohim over burnt offerings. The Pharisees missed that, inventing fences instead of walking through the door. Same mistake today. What I’ll show are some verses straight from newer writings, rooted in older ones-but we read what the older ones actually say first, so the newer ones don’t get lost in our noise.

Matthew 9:13

Yeshua says in Matthew 9:13: Go learn what this means: I desire mercy, not sacrifice. Direct from Hosea 6:6: For I desire mercy, not sacrifice; the knowledge of Elohim more than burnt offerings. Meaning: Elohim isn’t rejecting the altar-he’s rejecting the offering if it comes from a heart that ignores Him. Half the commandments teach us how to love Elohim; the other half teach us how to love our neighbor. The Pharisees kept the rituals but skipped both halves-so their incense rose like false religion. Mercy isn’t optional; it’s full obedience to those ten categories. Everything else is just performance.

Matthew 15:8-9

Look-Isaiah 29:13 isn’t about feelings; heart means obedience-center. The Pharisees swapped Elohim’s ten-written with His own finger on Sinai-for man-made upgrades: extra fences, extra guilt. Elohim sees through it. Then Hebrews 8:10 (pulling straight from Ezekiel 36:26) promises: I’ll give you a new heart and write My laws on it-not new ones, the same laws from Mount Sinai. When Yeshua recites Isaiah in Matthew 15:8-9, he’s not inventing grace over law-he’s calling them back to the finger of Elohim, not the finger of men. Modern religion says heart over rule. Scripture says: get a new heart-so the rule finally works.

Matthew 21:42

Matthew 21:42-Yeshua says: Have you not read in the older writings, ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the head of the corner’? This is Elohim’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. That quote comes straight from Psalm 118:22-the root. Psalm 118:22 doesn’t flatter the builders-it indicts them. In David’s day, those builders were kings and priests who ignored the prophets, ignored Elohim’s covenant-so the nation crumbled. Same in Yeshua’s day: Pharisees build a fence around the law, call it holiness, then reject the One the law points to. And now? Same spirit-men in suits or on stages, quoting scripture while adding their own cornerstones. Elohim never said accept every stone. He said: the one I choose-the one I put My words in his mouth, who will only quote My words-that’s the head of the corner. The rest? Worthless.

Mark 7:6

Mark 7:6-Yeshua says: Isaiah 29:13 was right: This people honors me with lips, heart far from me; in vain they worship, teaching commandments of men. You see, here it goes again-the heart. Deuteronomy 6:6: These words I command thee today shall be in thine heart. His commandments-the ten, the categories: love Him, love neighbor-not the love the world calls love, not the sloppy feelings we learned young. The love Elohim defines: hate evil, bind mercy, walk humbly. When the heart holds that, lips match. When it holds men’s extras-washing rituals, guilt trips-it’s just noise. Deuteronomy 4:2 forbids adding. Isaiah calls it vanity. And Hebrews 8:10? Elohim already put those same laws in the hearts of whoever follows-because they accepted Him as he is, without any changes. No additions needed. Just obedience from the start. Only what Elohim spoke in His Torah.

People mistake kindness for a loophole-think if it feels loving, it’s fine. But that’s corrupt. Obedience isn’t harsh; it’s the scaffold that keeps kindness upright. Without it, kindness is just preference dressed in soft words. Elohim’s mercy starts with His rules-only then can we show true kindness.

Matthew 22:37-39

Matthew 22:37-39-Yeshua says: Love Elohim with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind-this is the first commandment. And love thy neighbor as thyself. Again, heart-it’s not emotion; it’s the seat where Elohim’s own commandments sit. Deuteronomy 6:5, same words: love Him with all your heart-that heart already carries the Ten, written by His finger at Sinai. Leviticus 19:18 adds neighbor-love, but not the mushy kind, not the fake mercy that lets a murderer walk free while widows starve. Elohim’s love punishes evil, protects the weak-justice in action. The world calls that harsh. Scripture calls it faithful. The second half of the ten carved on Sinai? That’s how you love neighbor-no murder, no lies, no theft, no envy. So Yeshua isn’t inventing warm fuzzies-he’s repeating the categories, reminding: half the law is Elohim in your heart, half is neighbor in your life. Obey them, or don’t pretend it’s love.

Luke 4:18-19

Luke 4:18-19: The Spirit of Elohim is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of Elohim. – that’s Isaiah 61:1-2, verbatim. And Isaiah 61:1 says the same-except Yeshua stops mid-sentence, right before Isaiah 61:2 continues: …and the day of vengeance of our Elohim. Why? Because Deuteronomy 15:1-3 commands: Every seven years you shall release every Hebrew brother-no debt, no slave. That’s Jubilee’s preview. Leviticus 25:10 seals it: Ye shall hallow the fiftieth year… it shall be a jubilee unto you. Proclaim liberty throughout the land. The blind? Not metaphor-Exodus 21:26: if a slave’s eye is damaged, you set him free. The bruised? Deuteronomy 15:4: There shall be no poor among you-if you obey. All this was law, not poetry. Yeshua reads it in synagogue, closes the scroll, says, Today this scripture is fulfilled. Not soon. Today. Because the Spirit didn’t come to feel sorry-He came to do what Torah demanded: cancel debts, free slaves, heal, proclaim. Same book, same words. No new gospel-just old law, finally breathing.

Luke 6:35

But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward shall be great, and you shall be sons of the Most High, because He is kind to the unthankful and evil. This is Jubilee spoken as lifestyle: you give, and do not lock it behind pay me back because the seventh year cancels it anyway. You’re not being foolish-you’re obeying Torah’s memory-erase on debt. When you don’t get paid, you don’t rage-Elohim already promised: Because you opened your hand to the poor, I will open the heavens (Deut 15:10). Faith isn’t maybe He’ll pay-it’s He already said He will. So the lender who keeps a ledger becomes the fool. The one who lets it go? He’s practicing what Elohim etched in stone: forgive as you were forgiven. That’s not charity. That’s Sabbath economics with a pulse.

When someone asks to borrow, I have two Torah-backed choices: lend it, trusting Deuteronomy 15-every seven years the debt vanishes anyway-so if they don’t repay, I still get repaid by Elohim on earth, through blessing. Or I can say, No loan-take it outright, and Proverbs 19:17 kicks in: He that hath pity on the poor lendeth unto Elohim, and that which he hath given will He pay him again. One path stores my reward on earth, the other in heaven-both real. I tell the guy upfront: Choose-do you want a loan, or a gift? Either way, Elohim settles the account; I just pick the ledger. That’s not charity. It’s obedience with options.

The beauty of understanding Torah-line by line-is that you see real freedom: not modern-day religion’s blanket rules, but Elohim’s clear options. Lend and forgive, give outright and bank it in heaven-that’s not confusion, it’s design. That’s why I don’t teach modern-day religion. I teach Torah. Because Torah doesn’t trap you. It equips you to obey, to choose, to win-every single time.

Matthew 19:5-6

A man shall leave father and mother… and they two shall be one flesh. From Genesis 2:24. The man Elohim speaks of isn’t just anyone-he keeps Torah, heart circumcised (Deut 10:16), law in his mouth (Deut 6:6). And you don’t marry unless evenly yoked-2 Corinthians 6:14: no fellowship between light and darkness. Divorce? Not for irreconcilable differences-that’s man-made. Yeshua’s adultery rule (Matt 5:32) echoes Exodus 21:10–11: food, clothing, marital duty. Fail any, she’s free. Adultery breaks duty outright. If she marries another, Deuteronomy 24:4 seals it-they cannot return to the first husband, and we cannot use a man-made version of mercy or forgiveness, because that’s also not Torah. Torah locks it.

Matthew 5:17

I came not to abolish the Torah, but to fulfill it-meaning I came to do it perfectly, so you’d see exactly what obedience looks like, and follow me while the law still stands. The Pharisees said don’t pick grain-they heard Deuteronomy 23:25 as no touch at all, but the verse says no sickle, and only from the edges, when you’re hungry. So Yeshua plucks by hand-he’s not breaking, he’s obeying. Their version of Shabbat was work-avoidance; Elohim’s is doing good-rescuing, healing, feeding-without breaking the other six rules: no kindling, no carrying, no court, no trading, no load, no death march. Mercy counts as work only if you hate the poor. He doesn’t. So do what he did: honor Shabbat by Elohim’s good, not man’s freeze. The law didn’t end. It got walked.

Matthew 5:17 isn’t a standalone line-it’s the hinge. When Yeshua says I came not to abolish the Torah but to fulfill, he’s echoing Deuteronomy 18:18-Elohim says, I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in his mouth. That’s him. The prophet who keeps every letter, every dot. So when he heals on Sabbath in Luke 13:16, Should not this woman, whom Satan hath bound these eighteen years, be loosed on the Sabbath day? – he’s quoting Isaiah 61:1, set the oppressed free, which Deuteronomy 18:18 said he’d speak. Same Torah. Same breath. Fulfill isn’t end-it’s do it so perfectly no Pharisee can add or subtract. We’re not following a rebel, nor the modern-day church. We’re following the Law in human body.

John 12:13

They cried, Hosanna: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. That’s Psalm 118:26. Zechariah 9:9 – Thy King cometh unto thee… lowly, and riding upon an ass. Same entry. Same King. No spin-just Tanakh and Torah walking in. No modern-day spin, not biblical.

Matthew 4:4

all right letMan shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of Elohim. That’s Deuteronomy 8:3, where Elohim reminds Israel: He let you hunger, then fed manna, so you’d know man does not live by bread only, but by every word that comes from the mouth of Elohim. So when Yeshua throws it back at Satan-It is written-he isn’t quoting my teaching. He’s quoting Torah. Not spirit over letter. Not faith over rules. The same Elohim who taught about adultery, taught about the Sabbath, his day, his mark.

Matthew 26:31

Then saith Yeshua unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. Zechariah 13:7 – Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. The sword isn’t Rome. The shepherd isn’t David. But the promise stays: the scatter isn’t the end. Later, John 21:15 – Feed my sheep. Same flock. Same shepherd. Scattered, yes- But re-called. By the same Word that struck him.

Matthew 27:46

And about the ninth hour Yeshua cried, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is, My Elohim, My Elohim, why hast thou forsaken me? Psalm 22:1 – My Elohim, my Elohim, why hast thou forsaken me? By going back to the root, to Psalm 22, we see it’s not despair out of nowhere-it was already prophesied, every nail, every gasp, the soldiers’ lots for his clothes in verse eighteen, the pierced hands in verse sixteen. We understand exactly what he was going through: the Torah being screamed from a stake, not a cross, verse for verse, until the breath gave out. Same psalm. Same suffering. Just finally heard.

Matthew 2:6

And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Micah 5:2 – But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

Matthew 21:16

Matthew 21:16 – Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast perfected praise? Psalm 8:2 – Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies. Same words. When the kids cried Hosanna, Yeshua didn’t hush them-he pointed to David. Praise is strength. Praise is obedience. Praise is Torah on lips too small to hold a scroll. The adults missed it. The children didn’t. That’s the root.

Matthew 12:18

Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. Isaiah 42:1 – Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Not metaphor. Not type. It’s Yeshua-chosen, Spirit-filled-bringing the same Torah judgment Isaiah meant: justice for the outsider, mercy for the broken, obedience for the kingdom. When the Pharisees demand signs, when the crowds ask, Are you the one?- Isaiah already answered. The scroll said it. Yeshua lived it, rather than ignoring it.

Acts 2:34 

For Dawid did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself said, Yahweh said to my Adon, Sit at My right hand. Psalm 110:1 – Yahweh said to my Adon, Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies Your footstool. Notice how Yahweh – which is Elohim – says this to Adon, meaning Yeshua; so Yeshua is not God the Father, because Father is speaking to Son – no confusion, no merging, just Torah-precise roles, same as when Yahweh told Moshe, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:1). Positions clear, power undivided, but persons distinct. And John 10:34-35: Yeshua quotes, Is it not written in your Torah, I said, Ye are gods? – proving if messengers who speak Elohim’s word are called gods, how dare they stone me for saying I’m His Son?

John 7:38

Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within him. Isaiah 58:11 – And Elohim shall satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. Same promise. Not emotion. Eternal Sabbath rest, eternal Torah obedience, eternal words pouring out- not from head knowledge, but from a gut that keeps every command. Drink, live, overflow. Isaiah wrote it. Yeshua quotes it. No new doctrine-just the same old undefiled water.

Romans 15:12

And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. Isaiah 11:10 – And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek. No later invention – the law said no unrepentant Gentile in the temple (Ezekiel 44:9), but the Prophet said this branch from David will draw them in. Paul isn’t preaching a new grace – he’s quoting Isaiah: the same throne, same law, same trust. Gentiles don’t replace Israel – they join it, once repentant. That’s why Paul later demands the man sleeping with his father’s wife be thrown out – 1 Corinthians 5:5 – not because Gentiles are banned, but because unrepentance is. Torah still rules. The door opens wide – but only to those who bow. Same verse. Same gate. Not letting the unrepented join the children in Elohim’s house, that’s not mercy, that’s not faith, that’s rebellion. That’s disobedience.

Acts 13:33

Elohim hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Yeshua again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Psalm 2:7 – I will declare the decree: Elohim hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. The tomb opening does not mean Torah abolished, does not mean Sabbath replaced-it’s the moment Elohim stamped His decree: resurrection, yes; law changed, no. Same voice that thundered at Sinai, still commanding from the grave. Crowned by resurrection, guarded by Torah, voice unbroken. The second psalm isn’t poetry. It’s the law of kingship- and it just got physical.

Acts 17:2-3

Paul, as was his custom, went into the synagogue on Shabbat and reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that Messiah had to suffer and rise from the dead. Every Sabbath he did it – not a new message, Deuteronomy 18:15, Yahweh shall raise to thee a prophet like me – Moses, pierced, raised, teaching. Not once. Week after week. The Torah never predicted a sword-wielding king. It predicted a dead one, then alive. Paul didn’t add Paul-isms. He let Moses speak. And Shabbat? Still the meeting place. No church building necessary. No Sunday swap. Same scroll. Same day. Same proof.

Luke 20:17

What Yeshua says is Psalm 118:22. The stone the builders rejected – that’s them. The head of the corner – that’s him. Deuteronomy 28:63 warns: just as Elohim planted them, he will uproot if they disobey. The builders are the priests, the teachers, the ones who quote Torah but break it. He quotes back – not to shame, but to show: rejection isn’t new. It’s warned. And the stone that falls on you? Same law. No last words from me. Just first words from Elohim.

Romans 11:26-27

And so all Yisra’ēl shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Tsiyon the Deliverer, and shall turn away unrighteousness from Ya’aqoḇ. For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. Direct pull from Isaiah 59:20-21 – And a Redeemer shall come to Tsiyon, and unto them that turn from transgression in Ya’aqoḇ, saith Yahweh. As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith Yahweh; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth… No middleman. Paul isn’t inventing national revival-he’s reading Isaiah out loud, adding the last clause from Jeremiah 31:33-when I shall take away their sins-because that’s the same breath, same promise: new hearts, old law, sins gone. Not replacement. Restoration. The Deliverer doesn’t start a new club. He finishes what Yahweh signed on Sinai.

Conclusion,

Modern religion fixates on petty disputes absent from Scripture. Observe Yeshua: at times, He didn’t recite word-for-word, yet preserved the precise meaning. Hosea 6:6—I desire mercy, not sacrifice—carries perfect clarity without added syllables. Today, if I substitute “love” for “mercy,” I’m condemned. I reject that approach; I understand the truth. I don’t squander time debating names. When ministering to modern religionists, I’ll use “Jesus” despite its absence in the older writings, because in debate, you meet people where they stand. The physical name isn’t the mountain—the Torah is. Argue the Torah first. Once it takes root in their hearts, then—gently—address the minor details: Sabbath timing, name pronunciation, fasting rules. Perfection isn’t immediate, but it must begin with Torah.

Exodus 6:3 declares, I appeared to Abraham, to Yitsḥaq, and to Ya’aqoḇ as Ěl Shaddai, but by My Name, יהוה, I did not make Myself known to them. Thus, when Yeshua reveals the Name, He’s clarifying: Abraham walked with Ěl Shaddai, unaware of יהוה until Sinai, until Moshe, until Torah. Yet they were saved. The Name was veiled, the promise active. Now the Name is declared, the promise fulfilled. Same Elohim. Same redemption. When ministering or debating modern churchgoers, I focus on core principles, initially overlooking small errors while addressing greater ones.

Warning

Understand this: any denomination publicly promising revival without adhering to the Commandments is delusional—a false assembly. They neither know Elohim nor His Messiah. No one can live while disregarding the Commandments. Such a person is not saved, regardless of their claims. If they proclaim salvation while ignoring the Sabbath, flee—they are liars and deceivers. Transgressing the Commandments breeds death, not holiness.

Shalom!