Memra 22: On the Judgments That Do Not Save Those Who Observe Them

Memra 22: On the Judgments That Do Not Save Those Who Observe Them Now distinguish the judgments that do not save those who observe them, what they are. Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, wound for wound, bruise for bruise, blow for blow. This, then, is not everything: evil for evil. Love not the one who loves you, and hate your enemy. And if someone strikes your father, offer an oblation in the temple. And when he wishes to divorce his wife, give her a bill of divorce, without fear, something that is not good for the Lord nor for the sons of men. These are the commandments that are not good, and the judgments that do not save those who observe them. And why does the Lord give them? Only because they wished it. And why did they set evil judges over themselves? And why did they permit themselves to repay evil for evil, even one to another? For there are men even today who desire to free themselves from under the commandment and walk according to their own will, and say: This is not justice, that it does not harm a man; but this is justice, that it afflicts the good and harms the evil, as also God does on the day of judgment and on the day of punishment. Thus they do. If they do not understand from the Scriptures, from the world, what they do one to another, do they not know justice?

When they cry out and say, "He wants to cast upon so-and-so evil injuries, by my judgments and my decisions," and everyone says, "So-and-so does not act justly but wickedly." Behold, thus every man cries out, that injustice does not harm. But as for one who harms a man, or offends him, or takes his judgment, he appeases everyone and says, "I have offended; forgive me, and I will pay a man, and have mercy on me." And if he is not appeased, everyone who hears says, "Woe to him! So-and-so does not act as is fitting for God, for God said, 'Forgive one another,' seventy times seven." And if you do not forgive, your souls will be left, and no man will forgive you. He offended him and sinned; because of offenses the Lord said, "Blessed are the merciful, for mercy shall be upon them." If, when a man offends, no man shows mercy, how is mercy shown to one who is better than him or his equal? For he says to him, "How are you merciful to me? Am I not better than you?" And if he says, "It is written concerning the palms and the uncircumcised that a man should have mercy," the word is not limited only to the palms and the uncircumcised, but also to one who offends in all his will, if he has mercy and forgives, he does righteous deeds. A man also in this matter, then, when in this world he shows mercy on offenders, they will show mercy on him in that world, and they will forgive him his offenses and his sins.

If then the evil one is foolish in his malice, that he may burn his own guilt, as a father burns his son over evil things. See how God cries out in the Scriptures: that injustice does not repay evil injuries. For injustice is completed, and does not repay evil for evil. But if a judge has authority before one or two or three, or before the whole church, and a man does not wish to give to you, or to do your work, and you do not fall into evil, and the Lord does your work, but you do your own work for yourself. And you are not ensnared by that will which destroys. And if there is a man who says: I will not go against a man, but when he comes against me, I stand against him and I do evil to him, and this is not injustice, but evil. For all that happens in wars and swords, when two parties stand one against the other, when a man is inflamed against his companion and neither of them yields before the other. For this reason, injustice passes from both parties, and evil rule prevails. For God commands neither the victors nor the vanquished to sin against one another. But to the vanquished he says thus: If you remain in injustice and do not do your own work for yourself, I will do your work, says God. See how he commands: that even when you are vanquished, you do not do evil to a man, so that you do not fall from injustice.

If then there is a man who says: that God is compared to a man who pursues wrongdoers, this is the evil of evils, that God is compared to you, and you puff up and compare yourself to God, who is without law, so that even if there is a sinner, there is a man who is head over him, when he sees that he will do wrong. Do you then wish to be a judge for God? You become a creator like him, and make for yourself heavens and earth where the Lord is not, and create for yourself living creatures where the authority of the Lord who holds all is not, and do good to the good and evil to the evil when you were not yet existing and not made, and you were without law like him. Or rather, remember Adam your father and Satan, who because they thought to become gods, to what depth they descended. And you, who have not erred openly, behold, the evil one leads you astray secretly, so that you say: that as God does, so does man, so that you come to a blow that is incurable. For Adam was healed of his blow; see whether your blow is not incurable. And if you say that to the first righteous ones he commanded that they be set against wrongdoers, and a man is compared to them, it is not permitted for you to be compared to them, and God did not say to you as to them. And not because they sinned did they destroy one another with swords, did God destroy them with prophets, but they were saying what is the goodness of the Lord. And by this they were persecuted, until they confessed that the Lord is God who holds all.

and that you may know that this is the case: see that on the day when they confess, He does not send prophets against them, but if they are not willing to repent, He keeps them for the day of judgment. The day of judgment, however, God does not send against men as He does against prophets. But if you wish, from the desire of your own self, to be a judge, you yourself know. For the Lord said: not even a foul word shall go out from your mouth. And if you say: that judges are compared to men, that there is no authority that was not from God, see that they rule over evil and judgments without men living in them judging. And see that evil judges judge the world evilly. This, however, that God established evil judges and gave evil judgments: so that the judges might not be justified, and those who are judged might not be saved. Because they rebelled against them in their lives, also from the anger which is the commandments after the first rebellion of our father Adam: that just as our father rebelled from the goodness of heart and from the purity of thought, and his heart stood to know evil by his will, so also the people rebelled from the anger which the Creator commanded: so that even if they know the evil, yet if they wish, they do not do it.

From this you may see, then, that God is angry with you also in this matter: and it is not one evil alone that is repaid for one evil, but many evils for a single evil—something which the Lord did not say and did not teach, nor is it in the evil that is repaid for evil. They take bribes and receive them openly, something which the Lord did not say. For indeed, by these judges, no life lives among them, because they are given in anger. For the Lord said: "The evil judges I appointed do not spare," because their judgment was that they cried out among the living and said: "Give us a king and these judges who subdue you harshly." And the Lord said to Samuel: "Tell them how the king subdues them: that he takes their sons and daughters, and exacts their cattle and their possessions." And they cried out that these are the judges who go to you and kill with the sword all who err, and otherwise they eat one another's sin. And God said: "Just as they abandoned my commandment, so also they abandoned me. I appointed over them evil judges, so that iniquity would be corrected by the iniquitous, and I would be corrected by both, so that the judges cannot live by these judgments of evil for evil, nor the evildoers, and both die by their own will." For indeed, the sons of men do not wish that there be judges and evildoers.

but because they love money, honor, and transient glory, they take bribes and become judges, and they accept the authority of the sword, so that they may kill when they wish. And through bribery they become executioners of those whom they are to kill. And all who are eager for bribery become those who do evil and plunder. For if a person wishes to flee from evil, he would not be a king, nor a judge, nor an executioner. But those who have not yet reached that point sit and wait for when they will become evil leaders who carry out their evil will. For if they wished, through the ways of life, that a person go on his way in sorrow, they would not wage wars and would not kill, they would not despise one another, and judges would not be sought. Now, however, judges do not flee from evil, nor do evildoers cease, and they all destroy one another, all who do not repent of their life and flee from evil. Where have you seen a righteous person who desires to be a king or a judge, or one of the evil leaders of the world, after the Lord ceased from anointing kings and setting up prophets and leaders for the first people? If you say that the Lord sets them against one another, or kings, or other persons as in the beginning, it is not fitting for you to say this or anything similar to it. He who desires peace from the ways of life is the one who says: "Swallow and do not strike," and they were oppressed and not oppressors.

And if from the beginning there was enmity between God and the wicked, the day God established peace through the blood of his crucified one, both on earth and in heaven, and said, “Let wars cease from the ends of the earth.” If then he said, “Let there be peace throughout all the ends of the earth,” how is it that the wicked do not desire peace, but bring one against another? Lest to one person God said, “Love your fellow human as yourself, and pray for the one who strikes you,” and to another he said, “Do evil to the one who does evil to you, and wage war and kill him”? Far be it from the Lord! For these are not judges, for the wicked do evil by their own will, and the avengers pursue many evils in exchange for one evil. But for this world that does not tire of evils, and they devour one another, these judges are suitable. And for the one who loves to pursue evil, that he may pursue again, the people who are evil go from this world. Because it is upon evil that he is sustained. For this reason, when God saw how the wicked are, that not even evil for evil do they repay one another, neither the people nor their judges, he wrote and showed them that evil for evil they should repay according to that first law, as he said: “I have set for you judges who do not kill the living among you; the killing of the wicked; I have given you commandments that are not good.

And the judgments that do not save those who observe them. As though they had not willed it: that is, they did not intend to abandon the beautiful commandments of love. That is, the entire force of the law and the prophets was delivered up in them. That is, they loved God and their fellow human. If sin stood in them or they sinned, then Satan would be guilty. For it is through a human being that a person sins, and through a human being that one is justified. They loved murder, enmity, and hidden hatred. For this reason, I gave them commandments: that which you have preserved, preserve your death. If you walk with me in peace, I will walk with you in peace. And again he said: They loved cursing and did not desire blessings, because they rejected the blessings of the kings for those who rule in meekness that does no harm to a person, but preserves itself from evil and flees from judgment, and fears to speak harshly with a person without striking him; and if it happens that a person strikes her, she endures, and she is ill, and she judges her judgment. There is no limit for one who walks in meekness, love, and perfection, to follow himself from one who leads him in a short way; but if he follows him, he is ill, and severe affliction comes upon him until he is humbled.

Therefore, because they loved the curses, evil came upon them like a yoke. And because they walked in a manner that was called holy, evil judges rose up against them, who have no mercy, and who pour out blood like water, and who repay one evil with a hundred evils, and who love bribery and judge with injustice. And they made rebellion a sin that does not forgive sin, and they condemned the very ones who were the fountains of wrath. And they did not remember the judge of truth, neither sin nor the very ones, who repays each according to his deeds. But they resemble evil judges who judge the evil, and kill them and die in them, like Satan who kills the sons of the Church who obey him, and he himself from the furnace does not come out. Even the apostles taught the executioners until they killed them, and they did not repent. And they themselves were not moved, for they were evil judges, and they were not grieved that they do not harm a person like Adam, of whom it is not written that he struck him, nor did Cain have a care for the one who killed his brother, but he let him go on his way, and the Lord judged the blood of Abel from the hands of Cain.

For if they were walking each one in his own way, also in this world they loved each other like Adam, because of the transient beauty that is seen. And if they were grieving each one for himself, and were working and living, and whatever they needed they did not do for the sons of their flesh, and as each one wished that another would do for him, so each one did for another. There were no murders, and no wars, and no plagues, and no evil judges were sought, and no kings, and no man needed his fellow man. And God saw what they were doing among themselves, that they were despising one another, and that no man was restrained from evil, and that he destroyed every man his own way, as it is written in the beginning, and also in the present day. Everything that is hidden he reveals, as it is written, and they made swords for themselves, and they set up kings and judges for themselves, that is, lords and murderers. And they fell one upon another, and they bound themselves in enmity, and they made wars until the end. God gave himself to them for their reasons, that by his blood they might drink what is on earth and what is in heaven. And they did not spare his self, and they did not repent of his blood, and they were not ashamed of the son that they had made a slaughter on earth as he had done. Woe to you if you do not repent: you will not be ashamed on the day of judgment, as he was not ashamed. Everyone who is not ashamed of the son, the wrath of God awaits him.

For he said in the Law: Cursed is everyone who does evil to his companion in secret or in open. And the whole people says Amen. See, then, how it is that everyone who does evil to his companion is under a curse like Satan. For it is fitting for the disciple to be like his teacher, and for the one who was a servant of sin and heard it to be like his teacher. And when he completed the humility of Christ, he became like his teacher and his master. But the Law was not laid upon the afflicted, because they themselves were a law unto themselves. For it is permitted to a person to be a law of love unto himself, as were the first fathers, and they were likened to God, who spreads his love over the good and the evil, and sends his rain upon the afflicted and upon the wicked, and they were not separated from God, but were praised and glorified. And here, in this passage, in the place where it is necessary to interpret concerning the love of the fathers, that in these things are the beautiful and good works that God desires that all the living be likened to him, and thus they examined and were likened to him, while he humbles himself and asks of everyone that they be reconciled to him and live, through the hand of the prophets and through the hand of the apostles, while the feet of those who mock him are washed, while he gives peace to those who betray him, while he embraces Judas Iscariot and calls him his companion.

And he did not say to him, "Where are you going, murderer?" But he humbled himself and pressed him, that he might be a companion to him, so that he would do to him as he who does evil to him, and he would overcome the evil, as the Lord showed. And he was the beginning and the end of his faith, that in his likeness it would be completed and thus he would be compared to him, while he prayed over his crosses, and while he covered with his love the sins of those who had called him by foul names, so that the apostles could not separate their eyes from their company, but they wrote thus: that they called him a son of men and a deceiver. And the shouts of the last ones from their company fell silent, the apostles. And he was looking at that time at the murderers who were there, and at the killers, and at the thieves, and at the oppressors, who knew where they had killed and where they had stolen and where they had done all evils, and he concealed their sins and did not reveal their eyes. And they were spitting in his face, and striking him on his head, and breaking his hands and feet, and giving him vinegar and gall, something that not even to murderers they would do, and they called him by his side. And when they had done all these evils to him, beyond the evils that were done to them by others, instead of not ceasing their eyes and revealing their eyes, they had mercy, they had compassion on their eyes, and they prayed over them, that the Father might forgive them, because he would be a companion of perfection, by whom the sin of all the children of Adam would be compared.

And thus he is to be imitated in this as well: when he calls and invites tax-collectors and prostitutes, and when he bows his head before one who is smaller than he, and stands without being distressed, so that he might become a companion to him, so that he might be blessed by one who is smaller than he and distressed over him. And he is to be imitated in this: when he asks after the welfare of his servants and his maidservants, and greets them. And when he was poor and had no support, he laid his head on the ground, so that through his poverty he might become rich. And when he makes himself a sinner, and seeks and entreats like a fool, and makes himself a sinner for the sake of iniquity, and so that through him righteousness might come to be. Thus must we be imitators of him in the ways of life in God, and be imitated in him in all the good deeds that he did and does towards all creatures. And thus shall all the children of Adam do, both good and evil, and even the perfect and complete rulers, so that they might become a law unto themselves, and be imitated in all his good works of God. But it is not permitted for a human to be imitated in God when he errs, or when he kills, or when he curses, or when he is angry and wrathful, or when he condemns and calls the son of snakes, or when he calls by the name of the Evil One, who from the beginning was a murderer. It is not permitted for a human to be imitated in God in any of these deeds that are not to be condemned.

but in these things he is to be imitated: when he calls his servants "brothers" and "sisters," and "mother" and "fathers" and "daughters," when he calls a daughter of the world "my daughter." For God is without law and is sovereign over his creation. The creation is beneath God; it goes to be and to be subjugated to him. And if I, who am without law, am so, and your Lord and your Master is thus humbled, how much more ought you, who are beneath God, to be, and you have a Lord and a Master, to humble yourselves more than he. Nor, moreover, is what is imitated in the humility of the Lord comparable to his humility. What he gave, as it were, to the senses, as is his nature that can be grasped—this humility is small compared to that humiliation: that nature which was not to be grasped and did not consume, and was grasped and consumed. And what he became poor, as the Lord became poor—as there are poor people, this humiliation is small compared to that one who enriches all who became poor, for he became rich through his poverty. And what he became needy, as the Lord became needy and begged for bread for Zakkai and water for the Samaritan woman—your need is small compared to that one who is sufficient for all who became needy. And what he died for the wicked, as the Lord died for the wicked—your humiliation is small compared to that of the Lord, for he, as is his nature which is of living waters, not like that nature which gives life to all that tastes death.

But if all your humility is compared with that of the Lord, it is small in relation to his. And by his goodness he makes you worthy of the perfection of his stature, when you humble yourself as he humbled himself. And because of this he said: "Whatever you have done, you have done everything I commanded you," they said: "Servants sin in small things. And those who do what you commanded by your power are saved from the snares of death because they called you at every moment to be saved. And now that you are saved from the burning coals of the Evil One, by your goodness receive them to yourself and show them everything they saw in this world, and also their transgressions." But do not be arrogant as Adam was arrogant and fall as he fell. Rather, God gave authority to the righteous to do good and beautiful things as they wish and as it pleases them, because no limit is set for sin and for good deeds, as Paul said. And if all the righteous were to act thus, the law would not be established; rather, the law was established for all evildoers: for murderers, for thieves, for robbers, for deceivers, for oppressors, for plunderers, for swindlers, for idolaters, for sorcerers, for poisoners, for cutpurses, for cursers, for arsonists, for the wrathful, for those who break oaths, for the arrogant, for drunkards, for singers, and for speakers of frivolous words, who are frivolous and foolish.

And for those who boast in pride and in revelry, and in shouts and in lineages that are not to be sought, let no vain and idle word come out of your mouth, but only lineages that give grace, as is fitting for the standing of your rank. For the law is not established for the humble and the saints, nor for the blessers and the merciful, nor for the lovers and the doers of good deeds, nor for the penitent and the gentle and the blessed. For these, the law is not established, because they themselves are the law of love for themselves, by loving their God and all human beings, both good and evil, and they imitate the Lord and have compassion on them and make peace with them, even though they are not worthy of peace, just as Judas Iscariot was not worthy, and the Lord made peace with him. For this from the Lord all his beloved learn and imitate him in it. And the entire Gospel that the Lord wrote and all his heralds, both earlier and later, is because they were among human beings, good among evil, just as the Lord Jesus the Teacher was. But if a person says that he imitates God in evil, and labors in evil and does evil like him, he errs greatly, and the law condemns him on the day of judgment, because the law does not give him permission to imitate the evil deeds that God does, but only in good deeds.

And this again gives him: that he teaches humility to all the penitents by his own likeness to the Lord, except for the son of man, that this thought may not be for him a curse, as God curses, or as God becomes angry, or as God becomes wrathful. For what then, when he likens himself to God in these harsh deeds, he falls from the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. When the Lord saw that not only is evil repaid for evil, and that sins are judged, but many evils for one evil, and they are not permitted to pass from evil and do good and live, concerning these he wrote for you in the law: that evil for evil alone shall be repaid, so that your affliction may be light on that day, rather than that which repays many evils for one evil. He gave you commandments that are not good, and judgments that do not live in you. But why, then, do they not even in these, that evil for evil, confirm that your affliction may be light, but they do many evils for one evil, so that their Gehenna may be severe? For the Lord interprets and says: It was said to the ancients: an eye for an eye. But I say: When he strikes you on your cheek, present the other to him. And be perfect. And it was said to the ancients: Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.

He says to you again: "Love your enemies and bless those who curse you." And the one who divorces his wife when she has not committed adultery and takes another—that one is cursed. The scribes say to him: "The law permits you to divorce the wife of the Lord God, and how can you, his son?" And Yeshua said to them: "I am not the one who permits the law." They said to him: "Then why did Moses tell you that thus says the Lord, and you say that thus the Father wills?" Yeshua said to them: "Because of the hardness of your heart it was said to you thus. But the rest, the Father did not will that you do thus, but because the hearts of your fathers were hard and they would not be reconciled with evil in exchange for evil, for this reason God permitted you to set evil against evil. For he to whom it was said, 'An eye for an eye,' wanted to kill the one who had plucked out and injured the eye. For this reason God said to him: 'Let an eye be set for you in place of the eye, so that his death might be easier for him than that of the murderer.' What do you say? Is it good that you give these judgments that have no life in them, or not?" Then they began to understand that it was necessary for them to pass beyond these, as Yeshua said. And the one who strikes a blow for a blow—the hand of the one who struck and dealt the blow wanted to cut it off, or a hundred blows for one would have been sufficient to strike him.

For the sake of a tooth, it was said, a tooth in exchange for a tooth alone: that he might be relieved a little on the day of judgment from the one who knocks out his companion’s tooth or strikes him a hundred teeth. With humility and lowliness the Lord suppressed many judgments: that they might be relieved a little on the day of judgment. See that it is written: “I have seen you in the work of your hands and in your prostrations I have seen you.” God, is not your holy way from all evils, and does it repay good for evil? Because of the hardness of their heart, among the wicked he wrote evil for evil, as one whose way is thus: so that judgment might not be severe upon them. And a cross for a cross, and a wound for a wound—many things he wanted to do to the one who does thus to him. For this reason he said to him thus: that when a wound is for a wound, and a cross for a cross, his affliction might be a little lighter on the day of judgment than that of the one who inflicts many wounds and many crosses. And the one to whom it was said, “a soul for a soul,” he wanted to kill many souls for one soul, so that his affliction and death might be lighter than that of the one who kills many souls. And the one to whom it was said, “Spare your enemy,” he wanted to kill him.

For this reason he said to him: “Strive to make peace with your enemy, and do evil to him by doing evil, but do not kill him, so that his affliction may be a little lighter on the day of judgment than that of murderers.” And again he said: “Be angry, one with another, in a way that is not good, and do not do evil to one another and sin,” because it is easier that you be angry and not do evil, than that you be angry and do evil while you are angry, so that you may be better than evildoers. For just as he who does many good deeds is exalted, so he who commits many evil deeds is abased. For this reason our Lord Jesus, in his judgment, afflicts a man who multiplies wickedness with many afflictions; and one whose folly is slight, he strikes with small blows. And it is good that our Lord, in his kingdom, rewards each one according to his labor, and up to the point that his worthiness reaches. And as for him to whom it was said, “Divorce your wife,” his companions were angry. And because the law did not permit him to divorce his wife and take another, that angry one used to kill his wife by poison or by one of the swords, and go take the one he desired. And in the hardness of his heart, if she had a husband, he would kill him as well, just as David dared and killed Uriah because of his wife.

For this reason he said to him: “Strive to make peace with your enemy, and do evil to him by doing evil, but do not kill him, so that his affliction may be a little lighter on the day of judgment than that of murderers.” And it was said to you: “Thus it is written in the Malachi: ‘Cast away your weapons.’” Because you testified among yourselves to the children of your youth, that you have revealed yourselves in her, and her children are the children of your covenant. And he remained with you. For the blood of those who do these things does not prevail, but like the poison of death it weighs down their doers, if they do not repent and pass away from them, as the Lord said in the Gospels. And when he commanded you, it was not thus that he wished, but he intended to diminish your hands from the hard ones of the voice in evil for the sake of evil. As in the case of a man who, if he is provoked and strikes his fellow with one blow, strikes him a hundred blows and is not appeased, or strikes him with a stone and crushes his skull because of one blow. Behold, he would have paid a penalty for a penalty, as it is written: “For he who does not prevail, and he who strikes him with many blows, his affliction will be severe on the day of judgment, if he does not repent and pass away from evil.” But if he repents, whether from the first or from the last, he leaves and the Lord leaves him. And that which was said to him: “When you have reconciled with your father or your mother, offer the sacrifice in the temple,” because that is what he commanded him thus.

The rest of them, however, are not saved when they strike their fathers; rather, does he repent and turn away from evil? For it says in the Law: “He who strikes his father shall die.” But they commanded him this either because of his loss, or because of the shame from the priest and the deaconess, so that every day the priest says to him: “Are you not ashamed, you who strike your parents who bore and raised you?” And if he strikes again another day, and comes to present the offering, the priest and the deaconess spit in his face. For his offering was known, each one, because of what he presented; the cause of the burning of the whole and of the censers was known, and the cause of the sin was known. And the priest would ask how great the sin was, and then he would present it. For this reason it was said to him thus: either because of his loss, or because of the priest and the deaconess, he is ashamed and does not strike his father, so that his death may be lighter than that of one who strikes his father with a blow. For if a man strikes and injures his father and harms him, he dies. But if, however, he becomes angry and errs and repents of his sins and does good deeds, the Lord has mercy on him because of his compassion. For when it says that he did both, one of the Testament and the Law of the commandments in its commandments, it is void, because in the one Testament everything is renewed.

Now, one sign of the Law shall not pass away from the Law and from the Prophets. The rest of the entire Law and the Prophets, up to John, were set for service and for passing away. For something that has grown old is worn out and near to destruction. And concerning these, then, they are not guilty of sin in speaking of them. And now, that one sign of the Law is enduring: it is the Ten Commandments, which are called the Law, which are the Ten Commandments in the summary of the Sermon. These Ten Commandments which are written here in the summary: it is the Law that does not pass away from the Torah and from the Prophets. Hear, O Israel: the Lord and your God is one. That you should love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your strength and with all your soul. And you should love your neighbor as yourself. Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not commit adultery. Do not bear false witness. This is the sign of the Law, and it is written in the Gospels. Now, do not again serve those other commandments that have been abolished, or those in which you do not live, because they were given for the hardness of the people and were given for their bitterness. The rest, however, these Ten Commandments are sufficient for the lives of the righteous, for whoever observes them lives by them.

All of the Law and the Prophets, then, have grown old, except for these commandments of this Decalogue, which were inscribed on the two tablets. As the Lord said: the entire force of the Law and the Prophets hangs on these two commandments. And whoever fulfills these two commandments fulfills the entire Law. As Paul said: the whole is fulfilled in brief, in that you should love your neighbor as yourself. This, then, my beloved, is the sum of all the beauty of the excellent commandments that are found in the Law or in the Prophets: their force is this—these commandments that are called the Decalogue. As the Lord said: that you should love the Lord God, and all human beings who are all the sons of Adam, who are your neighbors and the sons of your flesh and your race. So it is handed over to the Gospels, and to the Decalogue, which is one covenant that is administered anew among human beings. But whatever is outside this Decalogue in the Law and in the Prophets is called the covenant of sins, because it was inscribed on account of the sins of the people of the covenant of sins.

All those, then, who served this Yod of the first ones in spirit, had it for a glory, as Paul said: that in the righteousness of the Lawgiver without beginning, which is the Yod, I was, because the Spirit saw their humility and taught them to abandon commandments that are not good and judgments in which there is no life, and showed them these commandments on which hang the force of the Law and the Prophets, in which they live among the living; and the Spirit taught them how to serve these in spirit. And thus it was for them a testament to glory. And all who served outside the Yod in the flesh, because of their calling, the Spirit did not teach them to serve in spirit the commandments of righteousness and of life. The commandments that are not good and the judgments in which there is no life were for them a testament inscribed in the sins of the hard-hearted people. Hear with understanding, O hearer of truth, and see that all the harshness that is in the Law and in the Prophets is contained in that great commandment: Love your fellow man of flesh as yourself. Where have you seen a murderer who kills himself when he has sinned? When his companion has sinned or not sinned, does he kill and not spare? Where have you seen from murderers or from those who have not sinned, that he blinds the eye of himself, that he blinds the eye of his fellow man, because he sinned, or when he did not sin?

How do you see yourself, who strikes himself and spreads himself over the folly, that outside his flesh he strikes and spreads? How is it that he does not have mercy on himself, as the sons of Adam do to one another, and oppress souls one of another? But if you were loving in the sons of your flesh as yourself, as you do not do to yourself an evil sin, and you would not harm the sons of your flesh. And if you were loving the sons of your flesh as yourself, the good things you do to yourself you would also do to the sons of your flesh. But you desire that everyone leave you, while a sin without mercy pursues you for the sons of your flesh, not to hide the sword and prepare it to strike yourself. But you prepare for yourself a weapon to guard your souls, you prepare for yourself a sword to strike the souls of the sons of Adam. The end of Memra 22: On the Judgments That Do Not Save Those Who Observe Them.