The Biblical Passport
“I have been told of all that you did for your mother-in-law after the death of your husband, how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and came to a people you had not known before.” Ruth 2:11 JPS
Birth/ People – Two things indentify a person in the ancient Near East: where they were born and which tribe they belonged to. The two words, moledot and ‘am, describe the essentials about another person from an outside perspective. When Boaz speaks these words to Ruth, he acknowledges that she isn’t one of them. She wasn’t born in Bethlehem and she doesn’t come from the tribe of Judah. And that’s what matters – except for the fact that Ruth lives by a code of conduct that exemplifies what it means to be born in Bethlehem of the tribe of Judah. She doesn’t have the right external identifiers, but her behavior says otherwise. The biblical passport doesn’t ask where you were born and the country of your citizenship. It asks, “How do you live? What do you do about God’s image in you?” The biblical passport is a heart document.
Obviously, the world looks at other things. Your birthplace matters. Your citizenship matters. Don’t try to go to Egypt if you carry an Israeli passport, even if you were born in Cairo. But God works according to a different document. This should cause us to examine our own identification papers. Who issued them? The church? The denomination? The culture that raised you to believe in the Bible? The “Christian” nation of your birth? Frankly, given the behavior of many who claim to carry the right documentation, it’s difficult to believe they have anything more than an external passport. In fact, one good question you can ask yourself about your passport is this: Would a Jew recognize you as a member of the tribe?
That is essentially the question of Ruth. Like us, she is an outsider. But her heart passport demonstrates that place of birth and tribal origin don’t mean much when it comes to reflecting God’s character. Eventually the people of Bethlehem from the tribe of Judah recognize her for what she really is – one of them. But not because she says so. They recognize her because of the way she lives. It seems to me that the same thing applies to us. We can say all we want about our experiences with God. We can claim forgiveness, restoration and redemption. But until we live in ways that convince those born in Israel from the tribes of Israel, we are just blowing smoke. The truth of our claims must be recognizable in our lives, not according to our way of thinking but according to the way of thinking of the ones we claim to embrace. Ruth doesn’t protest, “But I already declared my allegiance.” She just lives it.
What do you think Paul had in mind when he called Gentiles to act in such a way that they would provoke Jews to jealousy? That Gentile believers would try to convert Jews?
Topical Index: birth, people, moledot, ‘am, jealousy, convert, Ruth 2:11
CORRECTION to yesterday’s Today’s Word: In the last paragraph, it should have read “It means that we are not empowered to change worship to fit our style or the calendar to fit our culture or doctrines to accommodate political correctness.”
~ For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you have showed toward His Name, in that you have served the saints, and do minister (to men) ~
~ You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? ~
“Would a Jew recognize you as a member of the tribe?”
Would a Jew recognize Yeshua HaMashiach as a member of the tribe? There seemed to be some dispute about this issue 2,000 years ago.
Humm? Not so sure. Isn’t it apparent that hundreds of Jews, perhaps thousands, did recognize Him not only as a member of the tribe but as the Messiah?
Sure, many recognized him. Some rejected him. Even though his was a life of perfect obedience, yet they did not recognize it. To your question, “would a Jew recognize you as a member of the tribe?” the answer appears to be “Depends on which Jew I’m talking to.” 🙂
Yep! He was part of the tribe.
Luke 2:52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men
Yep! How many yahoos would be given a Torah school to read? Certainly not me!
Luke 4:15-17 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah..
Yep! They knew He was Messiah.
Matthew 21:14-15 14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant
Yep! He was rejected & crucified intentionally by those in power in spite of their knowledge!
John 11:45-52 45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him. 46 But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things Jesus did. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs. 48 If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.”
49 And one of them, Caiaphas, being high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you consider that it is expedient for us[e] that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 Now this he did not say on his own authority; but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.
Is it possible that the persecution/dispersion of the Messianics, not only saved them from being involved in some of the deadly rebellions against Rome, but also revitalized and preserved Judiasm away from Jerusalem?
If that were true, Yeshua had a part in both the judgment of the Jewish people, but also in preserving a purified remnant. So modern Judiasm exists today, in some regard, thanks to Yeshua?
“nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish.” John 11:50
Yep! Could be!
Yeshua is both the Goel (Kinsmen Redeemer)the prosecutor of judgement and the High Priest, that when He dies gives everlasting life to those killers that sought shelter in the City of Refuge (Called by the sages as Torah, also a picture Messiah).
No need to look thousands of years in the past. if you want to know how observant Jews view Yeshua and the New Testament just read the news. MK Ben-Ari recently went on a tirade and ripped apart a New Testament blaiming it for all the Jewish deaths since the temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. Its a thorny issue since the law of Moses forbides teaching Torah to goyim (Det 33:4) and Yeshua obeyed this prohibition (Mat 15:21-28; Mk 7:25-30). According to rabbinical teaching if your not Jewish then no Jew has the right to teach you Torah and observance – that requires a conversion to Judaism just as Ruth did. That makes Skip teaching Judaism questionable at the very least. Everybody can’t be Jewish, that’s why there are christians. Being Jewish is about being part of Israel. Being christian is about being part of the Davidic Kingdom. Two different covenants and two different halacha. Judaism no longer has a priesthood whereas christianity does. MK Ben-Ari is just a tired old rabbi who is a slave to the pain and anguish of the past. He can not accept the evils christians have done to Jews and feels that the evils Jews have committed on christians are justified. If Israel is going to survive Islam it must come to terms with christians or they will be pulled into the Palestinian orbit by its many Arab christians. Times change and people must change, but we must not forget our roots or how we arrived where we are today. That’s also part of what Ruth is about.
It is certainly true that SOME Jewish rabbis, past and present, see the actions of Christians as reprehensible. And for good reason. Go visit Yad VaShem and you will be struck by the complicity of the Church and the Nazis in the extermination of Jews. It is also true that both sides contributed to the hatred between the religions. But, as you note, we (both sides) must ask forgiveness and learn to become one.
The situation involving the need to becomes Jewish through proselyte ritual in oder to be able to practice Torah is not new. It is the same issue Paul addressed in Galatians, so it is at least as old as the influx of Gentiles during the first Century. As for Ruth, please notice that Ruth does in fact violate several social norms and risk several others and yet she is accepted and blessed by God and by the people of Bethlehem. I guess there is more room under hesed then we might allow.
And, yes, being Jewish is about being part of Israel, but then what was Paul talking about when he spoke of being grafted into the Kingdom of God?
I am not so sure that having a priesthood (especially in its contemporary Christian form) is such a wonderful thing. I am sure that the modern view of Christian priesthood comes from Christianity’s adaptation of pagan temple worship since if we were to be strictly biblical, there is but one priest in “Christian” thought.
You give me plenty to think about, Christopher. Thanks.
Skip, do you think Ex. 19:6, ” and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” requires more than one priest? I’m not sure what you’re getting at with our comment “there is bu one priest in “Christian” thought.
I would argue that there is one HIGH PRIEST in Paul’s writing but I think you are forgetting Isaiah 66:20-21:
“20 And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the Lord, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.
21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord.”
Clearly there are goyim priests who are appointed by Adonai. That is why I have said that Israel has been stripped of the levitical priesthood at the destruction of the secong temple 70 C.E. and it has been given to the goyim. The goyim must fulfill this scripture and to do that requires a unity that does not yet exist but which is to come about. The reference to Levites means that some of the priests will also embrace Torah observance. They wont be offering animal sacrifice, however, it will be Todah.
Any thoughts on what Jonah might have said to the Ninevites in order for them to repent? Seems he most probably laid on them the obligation and duty to keep Torah, otherwise why would they need to repent.
Dear Ian Hodge,
The book of Jonah, son of Amitta, is interesting to say the least. Jonah means dove and implies the notion of flight and passivity which characterize the first two chapters (see A. J. Hauser, JBL 104 [1985] 21-37). The patronym son of Amittai means trustworthy suggesting irony as he blatantly shirks his duty as prophet. Nineveh represents the epitome of inhumanity in the ancient world (cf Nahum 2:12-14; 3:1-4, 19; Zephaniah 2:13-15; Judith 1:1; Tobit 14:4, 15). Nineveh’s wickedness (compare Genesis 18:20-21) is specified in 3:8 as violence and lawlessness (hamas) a prophetic term for denouncing oppression and the arbitrary disregard of justice and the rights of others. Tarshish is repeated three times in the verse describing Jonah’s flight west away from Nineveh as his journey is portrayed as a descent (By: Jeff A. Benner The Hebrew name ירד (yered, Strong’s #3382), Latinized as Jared, comes from the verbal root ירד (Y-R-D, Strong’s #3381) meaning “to go down.” The name ירד (yered) means “descent,” a going down.) first to Joppa (modern Jaffa), then down into a ship and into its hold and finally to the bottom of the sea. (See N. Lohfink, BZ 5 [1961] 200 and Landes, Int 21 [1967] 13-15. Jonah understood that if he preached to Nineveh they would repent and Adonai would forgive them so that 40 years latter Assyria would invade the northern 10 tribes and scatter them among the goyim. His refusal to obey becomes an act of patriotism intended to save Jacob. Your question “what did he preach?” is properly understood as the imminent destruction of Nineveh which they averted via wearing sackcloth, ashes, and fasting. To imply that Nineveh somehow embraced Torah or that Jonah preached Torah infers that Assyria would have attacked 40 years later to restore purity to Jacob’s religious observance – a far stretch of the imagination. The text supports the notion that Nineveh was either ignorant of Jewish Torah observance, unconcerned, or both and was only responding to the moral implications of Jonah’s prophesy.
Moral implications . . . but doesn’t that mean Torah? Is there any other source of morality?
Dear Ian Hodge,
You wrote, “Moral implications . . . but doesn’t that mean Torah? Is there any other source of morality?”
That depends on your definition. If you accept Torah as the 5 books of Moses then those writings take place in a specific time and place and represent the Mosaic covenant. There are other definitions for Torah that you can choose. However, you are going beyond what is written when you do so. What makes the Torah of Moses different from these other types is that it was also a document of state formation whereas they are not. The Torah Moses wrote defined Israel as a theocracy – a religious government with state institutions that only came about through Moses. The written Torah is intended as a legal covenant document – a judical religious writing. You can ignore that and how the book of Jonah integrates into Israel’s religious governance but then your discussion will become detached from Jewish culture and understanding and become something else – typically an innovation. That is what motivated Jewish Conservatism to seperate from Jewish Reform and Progressive movements just as it motivated both of them to seperate from Jewish orthodoxy and even within orthodoxy it was the motivation for hassidic Jews to seperate from Misnagdim. Conservative Judaism claimed to be seeking a way to conserve Jewish observance but failed utterly in the process. Reform and Progressive abandoned it entirely. Hassidic Judaism at first sought to replace Torah study with supernaturalism and the pursuit of joy but has since began embracing Torah study so now Misnagdim accept them more or less as a permanent fixture in Judaism. What the difference means is that the written Torah is Israel’s identity and source of personhood something you will in your current approach towards Torah. The moral code is mankind’s likeness to Adonai whereas the Torah is a document of statehood that defines the person. It establishes identity and thus more properly belongs to man’s image as an instrumentality. It is a guide to man’s likeness that reflect’s Adonai, not Adonai Himself. The written Torah is not Adonai’s divine nature but rather a guide to finding it.
Dear Ian Hodge,
the sentence,
“What the difference means is that the written Torah is Israel’s identity and source of personhood something you will in your current approach towards Torah.”
should read,
“What the difference means is that the written Torah is Israel’s identity and source of personhood – something you will lose in your current approach towards Torah.”
in my original reply to your “Moral implications…”
Christopher, You wrote: “Judaism no longer has a priesthood whereas christianity does.” Do you refer to the eternal priesthood of Messiah in the heavenlies (after the order of Melchizedek) or the man made hierarchal priesthood as (falsely) practiced in many traditional mainline churches e.g. Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, etc.
I was thinking Melchizedek – offering of a Todah with bread and wine (minchah and nesekh). Paul discusses this in his letters, describing a daily offerring which included an agape and the distribution of bread to the widows in the community. If your asking about my opinion regarding traditional mainline religion I would have to say that Catholics appear to be closest to what the New Testament describes although Jewish Orthodoxy rejects them all and the New Testament as well. There is a clear refence in Matthew 16:17-19 where Yeshua references the keys to the kingdom. This is a reference to Isaiah 22:15 where Shebna was replaced by Eliakim. You can dispute, as some do, that the office of Peter was nontransferrable but that also means that Yeshua’s Davidic Kingdom ended with Peter. It is properly understood as an office maintained in perpetuity. The keys signify the power to loose what the other minsters bind and to bind what the other ministers loose. Examination of the 4 gospels and Acts shows that this authority is used to forgive sins (or hold them bound) and to determine halacha for Yeshua’s kingdom. For an observant Jew this is strictly academic since the New Testament is considered treif. The Catholic Church would serve the greatest good to Israel if it were united with Judaism – admittedly political and religious idealism when one considers the great seperation both must overcome. There is a lot of anti-Catholic sentiment on this site and some of it is no doubt well deserved, however I believe unity is a worthy goal. I have often wondered why Adonai permits division in His people. Jews are just as rife with division as goyim, so I thought that maybe Adonai sometimes allows seperation because a person is better for it, rather than always because someone is worse off. It can be punishment or discipline. Maybe the secular Jew is secular because he’s a better Jew than if he remained haredi, or Sepherdic, or Chabad, or Misnagdin, or Catholic, or Luthern, etc, etc. Obviously you disagree or you would not have posted your criticism of organized religion? In terms of the Levitical priesthood, when the toledot were destroyed in the second temple the priesthood ended forever. Even if a third temple were built and a new toledot established it wouldn’t be Judaism. Only Adonai can re-establish the Levitical priesthood and he wont because His mind is not changeable – as King Saul found out. Judaism has to go it alone walking in the footsteps of Abraham’s enuma. Eventually it will learn to use Torah observance to restore its brotherly love and worship of Adonai.
Christopher, you wrote, “Being Jewish is about being part of Israel. Being christian is about being part of the Davidic Kingdom.”
I beg to differ on this point, as I believe Rav. Sha’ul would also differ. To wit:
Gentiles who join themselves in covenant with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are no longer gentiles, no longer “strangers” or “sojourners” but are adopted by YHVH into the family of Abraham, becoming part of Israel (whether the religious Jews recognise it or not). Israel is not limited to the natural born descendants of Jacob. It was a mixed multitude from many nations that received Torah at Mt Sinai. So it is today that a mixed multitude from many nations are returning to Torah, as we prepare for the return of the bridegroom (Messiah).
Even Moshe wrote:
Exd 12:49 KJV – “[49] One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.”
Lev 24:22 KJV – “[22] Ye shall have one manner of law, as well for the stranger, as for one of your own country: for I [am] the LORD your God.”
Num 15:16, 29 KJV – “[16] One law and one manner shall be for you, and for the stranger that sojourneth with you. … [29] Ye shall have one law for him that sinneth through ignorance, [both for] him that is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger that sojourneth among them.”
One Torah for all who join themselves to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. No two, not many. One.
John 10:16 “I have other sheep which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will here My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.”
Revelation 7:4-8 – the remnent of Israel that fulfills Adonai’s covenant of seed with Abraham
Revelation 7:9 – the christians from Israel and the goyim that fufills Adonai’s covenant of blessing with Abraham
Being grafted onto the olive tree refers to the covenant of blessing, hence:
Revelation 11:4 – the Mosaic covenant and the covenant of Yeshua. You seem to be conflating scripture in your argument by inferring racial assimulation. There was a court of the goyim in both the temples but they are still goyim not Jews and sharing the likeness conferred by Abraham’s covenant blessing with out necessarily becoming ethnically Jewish – which Israel images. Goyim believers are Abraham’s offspring by covenant grace not nature. This doesn’t diminish goyim believers because they are joined with Jews in covenant worship of Adonai similar to marriage.
But the “Jews” are at best only 1/6th of Israel – Binyamin and Yehudah (and part of Levi). The rest are scattered among the nations. Against Shammai, there is no requirement in Scripture for a goy to become a Jew. Hillel had this partly right (except for his assertion about the 7 Noahide laws for the goyim which I cannot find anywhere in Scripture). YVHV is the God of all peoples – not just the Jews.
We are m’lo ha’goyim’ – the “multitude of nations” spoken of in Gen 48:15, which in the LXX is the exact phrase used by Rav. Sha’ul in Romans 11:25, “Lest you be wise in your own sight, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.”
I am not implying ethnic assimilation at all, but covenant relationship through chesed, with all of the reciprocal obligation that is attached.
Was there a “court of the goyim” in the Tabernacle in the wilderness? I think not. Nor was there such a court in the Tabernacle of David. Nor will there be in the third temple. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Is Paul speaking literally? Of course not, but rather of our position in the kingdom.
We’re all servants of the Most High and as such all have the same rights (none – all the rights belong to the Master) and the same responsibilities (loyalty, obedience and faithfulness). The same set of instructions were given to all (Torah). Not all apply to every person, of course (e.g. I don’t have to obey the commandments that are specifically for women, or for the Levites, because I am neither).
We are agreed on your last point – that the relationship is through covenant and grace, not nature, but that misses my point. I was arguing against the rabbinic prohibition about teaching Torah to goyim because there is no such prohibition in Scripture, neither from Moshe nor anyone else.
In any case, does not the term goy refer to one who is “uncovenanted”? In which case, once you enter into the covenant(s) you are no longer goy, but Yisrael (not “Jewish”) i.e. the “Upright of El” or “he who walks uprightly with El”.
How do you get “law of Moses forbides teaching Torah to goyim” from Duet 33:4?
33:2 – 5
“The Lord came from Sinai,
And dawned on them from Seir;
He shone forth from Mount Paran,
And He came with ten thousands of saints;
From His right hand
Came a fiery law for them.
3 Yes, He loves the people;
All His saints are in Your hand;
They sit down at Your feet;
Everyone receives Your words.
4 Moses commanded a law for us,
A heritage of the congregation of Jacob.
5 And He was King in Jeshurun,
When the leaders of the people were gathered,
All the tribes of Israel together.
The Jewish meaning of inheritance is exclusive rather than inclusive and invokes seperating both Torah and the land from goyim. Sorry if that offends you but I didn’t write the Torah.
No offence taken, but I still strongly disagree. Just because you posit your opinion on covenants and elaborate at length about your views does not make your statements true.
There was Torah before Mount Sinai,
Genesis 7:2 Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate,
and there was repentance by goyim afterwards,
Jonah 3:10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
John defines sin as torahlessness,
1 John 3:4 Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness.
And the purpose of Israel has always been to spread the light of YHWH
Isaiah 42:5-7
5 Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk in it:
6 “I am the Lord; I have called you[a] in righteousness;
I will take you by the hand and keep you;
I will give you as a covenant for the people,
a light for the nations,
7 to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.
Isaiah 49:5-6
5 And now the Lord says,
he who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
I will make you as a light for the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
Just Sayin…
Can you expound on this sentence? Also, scripture verse too.
What do you think Paul had in mind when he called Gentiles to act in such a way that they would provoke Jews to jealousy?
I have written about this in the past. Please search the web site for “provoked to jealousy”
If I may, I would like to offer this as a modern-day example of “provoking the Jews to jealousy”. It was written by a “facebook friend” named Albert, whom I’ve come to respect a great deal. Here is his testimony:
Hmmm? Would a Jew recognize me as a member of the tribe? Which Jew? A typical Jew on the street-maybe one of the reformed sect? An Orthodox rabbi? How about the current chief rabbi in Jerusalem? Would any of the ancient prophets claim me as a tribe member based on my actions? How about Moses- the law giver himself? Would he acknowledge my spiritual passport? How about our father Abraham? A gentile himself, but one called of G*D to be the father of a multitude of the redeemed by faith.
Perhaps, but I’m convinced that the one Jew whom I must have to do, to whom I must give an account is a Jew by the name of Yeshua, the Messiah. And it is not my recognition of Him that is of primary importance, but He of me. The words “Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you” should be a sobering reminder of that inevitable and all important verification of your tribal identity.
Thank you again for this timely word Skip. I know first hand what the above scripture means. A few years ago, when we moved into our new subdivision, I found out that one of my neighbors were Jewish. I thought this was very strange, I had never had a Jewish family as a neighbor. I was very anxious to meet them, since I had been studying Torah for a few years, they could help me out. I would ask questions, and more questions which Rachel could not answer. At one point, she told me I would have to ask her 10-year old son, because he had been to yeshiva and could give me an answer to the questions I had. Now, you have to understand her background. She had lived in Israel for three years. She spoke modern Hebrew fluently. Her grandfather was a Holocaust survivor, her parents were Orthodox Jews…..and she could not answer my questions about Rosh Chodesh, help me with a kosher kitchen, Purim, etc..she had questions for me also,like how did we come up with our Sunday sermons? I knew what she meant, and I explained to her that they were kind of like the Torah commentaries, except we did not go by a set reading of the scriptures like they did. Long story short, several months went by and I did not see her for a while, and when we met up again, she told me that her family had joined a nearby synagogue. You see, I did not know that they were not practicing Jews…but she told me that the questions I had been asking them and they could not answer..prompt them to go back to study…Torah! what a blessing that was for me to see and understand at that moment, what the scripture means..and as I’ve told you before, until we know what they know and do what they do better than what they know and do…THEY HAVE NO REASON TO LISTEN TO US…but this scripture/prophecy will be fulfilled whether people like it or not..it is God’s Word. I believe this is the meaning of the Master’s prayer…”Father, that they be one as You and I are One..It is not ironic that as always, TW flows with the Torah portions…As we start with Deut. 1 this week, the Haftorah happens to be Isaiah 1:1-27
Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,
For the Lord has spoken:
“I reared children and brought them up —
And they have rebelled against Me!
3 An ox knows its owner,
An ass its master’s crib:
Israel does not know,
My people takes no thought.”4 Ah, sinful nation!
People laden with iniquity!
Brood of evildoers!
Depraved children!
They have forsaken the Lord,
Spurned the Holy One of Israel,
Turned their backs [on Him].
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcMp1d1UT90&feature=plcp ( tribute to Corrie ten Boom)
ROBIN, I THINK WHAT HAPPENED HERE WAS THE PERFECT EXAMPLE OF PROVOKING THEM TO JEALOUSY – JEALOUSY IN A GOOD WAY – THEY WANTED TO KNOW WHY YOU WERE SO INTERESTED IN WHAT THEY HAVE AT THEIR FINGERTIPS & BELONG TO THEM AS JEWS – YOU PROVOKED THEM TO JEALOUSY IN A GOOD WAY…
jan
Christopher Slabchuck
No need to look thousands of years in the past. if you want to know how observant Jews view Yeshua and the New Testament just read the news. MK Ben-Ari recently went on a tirade and ripped apart a New Testament blaiming it for all the Jewish deaths since the temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. Its a thorny issue since the law of Moses forbides teaching Torah to goyim (Det 33:4) and Yeshua obeyed this prohibition (Mat 15:21-28; Mk 7:25-30). According to rabbinical teaching if your not Jewish then no Jew has the right to teach you Torah and observance – that requires a conversion to Judaism just as Ruth did.Christopher Slabchuck
You sound like a reporter from ABC news……speaking in general without ALL of the facts.
Fact #1 MK Ben-Ari-Ben-Ari, a member of the National Union Party and reportedly a devotee of the late Meir Kahane, invited a legislative aide to photograph him ripping up a New Testament and throwing it in the garbage.
Fact #2While some saw Kahane’s goals as laudable, his actions were often criminal. He spent time in jail after being convicted of conspiring to make bombs.
Kahane and his family moved to Israel in 1971, where he founded the militantly anti-Arab Kach party. The party’s platform called for the anexation of all conquered territories and the forcible removal of all Palestinians. Under the auspices of Kach, Kahane continued to lobby for his beliefs in violent ways, and was jailed on several occasions. He was the first Jew in Israel to ever be accused of sedition.
Fact # 3 Rabbi Meir Kahane nor MK Ben Ari represent the Jewish people…I would refer to them more as the sons of Korach…..hmmmThe Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee issued statements condemning the action. In an interview with JTA, Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations called it an “outrageous” action that was “not acceptable.”
The Jewish Federations of North America told JTA it had no comment on the incident.
The Knesset’s lone Christian parliamentarian, Hanna Sweid of the Hadash Party, told The Jerusalem Post, “This is hooliganism, bullying and an apocalyptic act of hatred that was baseless and unnecessary.”
Other Knesset members, including a spokesman for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, condemned the incident, and Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin denied Ben-Ari a chance to explain himself on the Knesset floor, saying Ben-Ari should stop giving the Knesset a bad name.
://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/kahane.html
Also, would you please elaborate and explain why Deut 33:44“Moses charged us with a law,
A possession for the assembly of Jacob.” condemns or forbids teaching Torah to gentiles?
Personally I don’t think Deut 33:4 does forbid teaching the Torah to gentiles, since that would conflict with other instructions given in Torah (as I quoted above). The word used here for possession is מוֹרָשָׁה mowrasha. It can be translated as possession, inheritance or heritage. In every other case where it is translated as possession in the NASB it has to do with land (as part of a Royal Grant covenant) or with the handing over of Israel to her enemies for a time (for judgement).
In this case I think the KJV translators had it correct; it is better translated as inheritance. My personal opinion only, based on how it fits in with other scriptures both in the Torah and the Nevi’im (Prophets). Still, I will be interested in Christopher’s input.
[For reference, the KJV renders the verse thus: “Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.” (“even” is a translators’ gloss not present in the MT).
Please correct me if I’m mistaken on this (anyone) however it would seem the interpretation comes from the statement that it is a posssesion (inheritance) of Jacob. You can read (only) Jacob, hence the restriction.
One of the problems with that interpretation is that it violates the previous verse which reads, (speaking of YHWH) “and He came from the myriads of holy (ones) from His right hand a law of fire to them…”
Although it was properly an inheritance or possesion the point is that it was GIVEN to them and if Jacob is to become Israel, or the “et ha adam” of “and created God the man in His image…” then in order to reflect that image, that law is to be GIVEN out, not hoarded, in the same way that God Himself gave it to Jacob.
The only exception on teaching Torah to goyim was Jubilee. There is a christian argument, not accepted by Jews, that we are living in the age of Jubilee (cf Capernum and Yeshua’s reading of the Torah).
What is the role of the priests apart from the Temple service? When not serving in the Temple they lived among the nation and instructed them in Torah.
What is the role of a kingdom of priests and a set-apart nation? To teach Torah to the world. Yisrael were to be Adonai’s priests for the rest of the world, to teach them His ways. A kingdom of priests, rather than a kingdom with priests.
Dear Rodney,
Just a quick reply:
Priests offer sacrifice and prayer for the faithful. They act as advocates for the faithful. Your notion of a christian tribe appears to be that of Josephus. If I understand your argument, then believers are adopted into the line of David via Yeshua and become members of the Davidic Kingdom restored by Yeshua acting as High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek. A change in priesthood necessitates a change in law. Therefore you have 2 covenants – the Mosaic covenant and the Davidic covenant of Yeshua. The Mosaic covenant is resored by Yeshua’s teaching in the gospels and the Davidic covenant is addressed in the rest of the New Testament. The Davidic covenant teaches that Yeshua is the divine Son of Adonai the Mosaic covenant doesnot although it accepts his teachings on Torah. If that is not your meaning then let us clarify the differences.
Robert, you wrote,
Right. The principles of chesed – unmerited, reciprocal, transitive (i.e. the obligation to pass it on in the same manner in which it was originally shown). Seems the transitive part got forgotten somewhere along the way.
Mind you, can you blame Judah for not trusting the goyim after all we’ve done to them over the centuries? I don’t wonder at all why the rabbis say, “Don’t teach Torah to goyim”. We don’t deserve it. But, neither did they but that didn’t stop Adonai.
Maybe that is also why goyim tzadikim are returning to Torah largely independently of Yehudim teaching them. OK, our observances may not look exactly like theirs, but we’re doing so because we’re responding to the call of Adonai, not the call of Yehudah. If Yehudah will not teach us, Adonai will through the ruach ha’kodesh (the Holy Spirit) and through His Word.
Baruch attah Adonai notein ha’torah. Blessed are you Adonai, giver of the Torah.
“We don’t deserve it. But, neither did they but that didn’t stop Adonai.”
Agreed Rodney, hence the term used by God in calling the people “Jacob” vs. Israel. It’s laid out pretty clear for us if we would only search Him out.
Christopher speaks much of unity, and I agree with him on that. However, ultimately there is and will be only one unifing point, God’s written revealed word accepted as the “only” authority by Jews, whatever their affiliation and christians over and above their denominational factions. It will be a difficult road, if not impossible, because of traditions and assumptions on all sides. It both grieves me deeply, for the contention that’s inevitable and thrills me as well at the prospect of unity of God’s people.
But isn’t that just like God, to take the impossible and make it not only possible but a reality. Yeshua said, “you can do NOTHING without me. and I say Amen, I don’t really want to do it any other way!
Dear Rodney,
Mowrasha implies exclusivity hence the term possession – i.e. ownership. English doesn’t properly convey the hebraic thought because inheritance isn’t viewed like marriage in english. It’s like your misunderstanding in your post above about being grafted to Israel. Yeshua’s covenant doesn’t replace the Mosaic covenant, it adds to it. What you are arguing is replacement theology – i.e. christians are now the true Jews – which violates the covenant faithfulness of Adonai to Abraham. Adonai always keeps a faithful remnant, hence the Mosaic covenant remains until the end of time (Mat 5). Revelation 11 has two trees, not one, and each tree is a covenant – Moshe and Yeshua. Otherwise Isaiah 66:20-21 becomes jibberish because there is no Mosaic covenant for Jews to return to.
Absolutely correct. I have taught this for years.
I am absolutely not arguing for replacement theology – the exact opposite, in fact. For too long Christianity has “boasted against the natural branches”. The root is Christ, the trunk is Israel (prophetically, Ya’akov, all 12 tribes), the natural branches that were broken off are both Yehudah and Yisrael (the 10 northern tribes). The wild branches that are grafted include both descendants of the 10 tribes plus believing goyim. The “gentile believers” (which term I consider to be an oxymoron) do not an never will replace Yisrael but rather are added to the Yisrael of YHVH (as opposed to Israel, the modern Jewish nation).
Indeed, and Revelation 22 has only one – the Tree of Life.
Rev 22:1-2 ESV – “[1] Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb [2] through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
The Tree of Life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. Is not the Torah referred to as the Tree of Life?
Dear Rodney,
The difference between Revelation 11 and 22 is that 11 applies to the here and now only whereas 22 applies to the regeneration which began with Yeshua but is not completed until Yeshua’s return. I would call 22’s reference to a single covenant one of consummation.
I didn’t write the Torah. In Judaism inheritance is exclusive, not inclusive. Both Torah and the land are Israel’s inheritance – to be kept for Jews alone. I’m sorry if that offends you but that is the universally recognized rabbinical interpretation for Orthodox Judaism. For Jews inheritance is identity. Losing one’s inheritance is losing one’s humanity because you cease to be a person. That’s one reason the conflict in Israel with Palestinians is so intractable. Regarding MK Ben-Ari, UTJ party leader, I am not supporting or approving his actions. In fact I strongly disagree with them. However, his extreme views are quite representative in Orthodoxy, even if his actions are to be condemned. His actions are condemned for political reasons but represent the Orthodox religious view in general. I think I have all the facts in this case. Everything you mention I know previously. Reform and Conservative (Masorti) are not the same as with secular Jews. When you deal with the Orthodox – and especially with the haredi – you begin to enter into varying degrees of religious purity (some of which are actually fanatical such as the Neturei Karta in Mea Shearim). I’m not trying to paint haredi with the same brush. It’s a range of belief and behaviors based on kadash where the greater the purity the more closed the society involved.
~ For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified ~
( 1 Corinthians 2.2)
Tell me more (please) concerning the tslav of the Messiah!