613 Mitzvot
Positive Mitzvah # 8
Walking in YHVH's ways

Devarim/Deuteronomy 28:9
Yekimecha YHVH lo le’am kadosh ka’asher nishba-lach ki tishmor et-mitsvot YHVH Eloheycha vehalachta bidrachav.

YHVH will establish you for a holy people to Himself, as He has sworn to you; if you shall keep the mitzvot of YHVH your Elohey, and walk in His ways.

The reason of this mitzvah is YHVH establishes us as a holy people for Himself.

Devarim/Deuteronomy 7:6
For you are a holy people to YHVH your Elohey: YHVH your Elohey has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.

1 Kefa/Peter 2:9
But you are a chosen people, the King’s cohanim, a holy nation,a people for Elohim to possess! Why? In order for you to declare the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

How do we walk in His ways? By keeping the mitzvot.

Think of it as a child who wants to be just like his daddy. So we should be children desiring to be like our heavenly Father.

Matthew 5:48
Therefore, be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

Also a student (talmid) will become like his teacher (rabbi)

Luke 6:40
A talmid is not above his rabbi; but each one, when he is fully trained, will be like his rabbi.

1 Kefa/Peter 1:15-16
On the contrary, following the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in your entire way of life; since the Tanakh says, "You are to be holy because I am holy."

Devarim/Deuteronomy 13.5(4)
Acharey YHVH Eloheychem telechu ve’oto tira’u ve’et-mitsvotav tishmoru uvekolo tishma’u ve’oto ta’avodu uvo tidbakun.
You shall walk after YHVH your Elohey, and fear him, and keep his mitzvot and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cleave to him.

"R. Hama son of R. Hanina further said: What means the text: Ye shall walk after the Lord your God [Deut. 13:5]? Is it, then, possible for a human being to walk after the Shechinah; for has it not been said: For the Lord thy God is a devouring fire? [ibid. IV, 24] But [the meaning is] to walk after the attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He. As He clothes the naked, for it is written: And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skin, and clothed them [Gen. 3:21], so do thou also clothe the naked. The Holy One, blessed be He, visited the sick, for it is written: And the Lord appeared unto him by the oaks of Mamre [ibid. 18,1], [Since the preceding verses deal with Abraham's circumcision, it is deduced that the occasion was when he was recovering.] so do thou also visit the sick. The Holy One, blessed be He, comforted mourners, for it is written: And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son [Gen. 25:11], so do thou also comfort mourners. The Holy one, blessed be He, buried the dead, for it is written: And He buried him in the valley [34:6], so do thou also bury the dead. (Talmud Sotah 14a)

So not only are we to imitate His ways of holiness, but also His ways of compassion and mercy. We are to imitate the good deeds and lofty attributes by which the Holy One, Blessed be He, is described in a figurative way - He being indeed immeasurably exalted above all such description.

Shalom v'brakhot v'simcha,
Moreh Chizkiyah Shlomo (Carl)