Assay Exam
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. Matthew 5:6 ESV
Hunger and thirst – Are we starving for God? It’s not an easy question to answer. We are inclined to say “Yes” as soon as we hear the question but maybe we need a deeper look into ourselves before we are so bold. Yesterday I saw a blind man overcome with his desperation for God fall to the floor weeping about his sins. It shook me. I recognized that he had spiritual sight and I was the one who was blind. He didn’t care about pride. He didn’t care about his physical state. He didn’t care about anything but finding God’s presence. His demonstration of abandonment before God tore a hole in my self-consciousness and my resistance. I was compelled to join him, weeping about my lack of sight, my inability to see God’s hand in every decision I make. I needed an assay exam.
To huger and thirst is to be in a state of continual need. Both words are present tense active participles. Both words imply constant malnutrition. This isn’t about “between meals” snack desire. This is about living day after day with a gnawing sense of emptiness. But the words do not suggest famine of the soul. The one who hungers and thirsts is not going to die from lack of nourishment. He is just going to live on empty. He is going to live with the awareness that something vital is missing. He is constantly dissatisfied with his own righteousness. Yeshua captured this deep anxiousness when He said, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees.” How is that possible? The Pharisees were the epitome of meticulous righteousness. But Yeshua was correct. Somehow our righteousness must exceed even this example of God-fearing behavior or the emptiness will continue.
There is no easy answer here. The more we examine ourselves, the more we find how far we are from the holiness of God. At the same time, we discover our own sense of longing draws us to Him. It is the great paradox of righteousness. The more we have, the more we need. This paradox in the hands of the yetzer ha’ra opens the way for the possibility of twisted discontent. We are likely to hear a voice telling us that there is no use in seeking this food and drink. We will always be hungry and thirsty so why bother to pursue nourishment? “Be satisfied where you are,” says the yetzer ha’ra. “You’re OK most of the time. You can manage like this. Sure, once in awhile you get those pangs, but they will subside. Why look for food that can’t satisfy?” It’s a seductive lie. The nourishment of righteousness leaves us always in need of more, but God Himself promises satisfaction. We will be filled. Perhaps not today. Perhaps not tomorrow. But God never intended His children to live in a permanent state of malnutrition. The problem is not that rightouesness does not inherently satisfy. The problem is the depth of our need. And the beginning of satisfaction is an examination of our diet. “Eat this book,” says the Lord, “and you will be filled.”
Topical Index: hunger, thirst, righteousness, Matthew 5:6
An itch.
Good grief, how all controlling is one little itch.
Scratch it.
That feels soooooooo good!
Pause for the briefest satisfaction.
There it is again! The itch.
Good grief.
Scratch it.
Mountain bike riding. It’s great.
I’m on the top of the world when riding. I love it.
A few days ago I picked up some red bugs AND poison ivy/oak/sumac – one of those insidious poison thingys. I love mountain biking and now its ushered me in to the presence of – the itch!
I’ve done everything, it seems. The relief is momentary, but it just keeps coming back. It affects everything.
That’s everything! It’s always there. Always demanding my attention and for me to do something. Endure, agonize, scratch. I’m always in one of these states, mostly scratching. And please don’t tell me not to scratch. It is just impossible. I have to scratch. Cut my arms off and I’ll comply. Probably. But I’m convinced I’ll figure out a way without arms.
I don’t know where this fits in to today’s TW, but it is glaring me in my face. I’ll figure it out I hope.
I guess I think about the possibility of no relief. Never being able to satisfy this itch or stop it. Horrible?
Maybe not.
Maybe I’ve got it backward. Maybe I don’t have enough of the ‘hunger and thirst’ itch. Maybe I’ve been itching but have allowed yetzer ha’ra to disguise my ‘hunger and thirst’ as nothing of significance. Maybe I think I’m doing just fine and I’ve gotten used to the itch. Maybe I’ve found a ‘cure’ within this world I live in and have inoculated myself from the itching of my soul and I satisfy myself, my hunger and thirst, with lotions and salves and washings of this world. I’ll get rid of it. It’ll go away eventually. If I wait long enough I can view a commercial that will provide me with a ‘new and improved’ solution. Easy. Make that itch go away.
Somehow I think I need more of the good itch. More of the cravings for Yashua’s life ensuing in me from simple obedience and seeking after him.
Can I accept this itching and just keep scratching?
Either my mind is really warped or I’m on to something. Don’t know yet.
I’ll keep you posted.
Scratch, scratch, scratch. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh…
Thanks, Skip. You’ve renewed my scratching somehow. 🙂
Michael C,
This is a suggestion for the physical poison ivy/sumac itch. There’s a new product called Tech Nu that is a wash/scrub that washes and scrubs away the poison oils of the poison ivy/sumac. This product is very different from any other I’ve ever used. I bought some last week at Walgreen’s. And…your analagy was great!
Thanks, Darlene. Yep, I got it. It works and is helpful to a degree and up to a point. Just this morning I went to an acute care facility because I couldn’t wait until this Friday’s regular doctor appointment. I found out I also had a secondary infection from the red bugs, so nothing topical would even touch it.
Steroids and antibiotic has already begun to show some results. Horay!
Thanks for the head ups on the OTC stuff.
Maybe you’ll even sleep tonight! Are red bugs the same thing as chiggers? I’ve had the misfortune of having about 300 chigger bites on one occasion many years ago and I still remember the itching and the terrible bites. I’m glad you’re improving.
Yep, the very same. I’ve been trying to figure out why God invented them!
Nasty little critters!
Hi Michael C,
Would you like to try freshly grated ginger tea with honey? Ginger fights inflammation, and so does red grapes (WITH SEEDS!). That should help to ease the itch.
Also grated garlic to apply on the bite areas. This will sting due to the natural sulphur, but will stop itch and rash 🙂
P.S. – as you can probably surmise from the early time of my post, my scratching all through the night kept me from any good sleep…again!
Had to get up, take an itch relieving shower, fix the internet connection that went down in the night and see what Skip had to say today.
Itching appears to be the topic of my day. Glorious.
I just finished reading the chapter “Hungry and Thirsty” in Skip’s book, “The Lucky Life The Backwards Beatituds.”
He offers four questions at the chapter’s end:
1-How has your true insufficiency been revealed to you?
2-Where does God meet your needs?
3-Do you trust Him to completely provide?
4-Are you wiling to be fed?
I almost immediately thought up answers that ‘fit’ as the accepted correct answers.
Then I backed up a bit.
These are questions that need some serious considerations rather than flippant answers.
Wanna hear something weird?
My itching has subsided while reading this chapter.
Seriously.
What’s that all about??
Whatever it is, I feel fed and nourished for the moment.
Glad to hear this. I will have to write a lot more about the deceptive nature of the yetzer ha’ra, especially after your very perceptive comment that it is a GIFT. “The inclination to evil” is a gift? Yes, it is. We probably don’t understand the nature of this gift because we literally translate ha’ra as “evil” and we think that whatever is “evil” must be removed. But God created me with the yetzer ha’ra and called it “very good.” More needs to be said about this.
PSALMIST DAVID shares his heart with us today with the deep need of his own need within.
As for me…don’t know about you…but as for me , I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake…..WITH THY LIKENESS.
We understand from this that David is fully aware that it will be a time of stress, distress and by the sweat of his brow UNTIL HE COME.
He is fully alive and fully awake but he knows that it is appointed for man to die and then the judgment. He knows that after death is the RESURRECTION unto eternal life for him and he longs to see HIS FACE .
He knows that only then TRUE SATISFACTION will be experienced in GOD.
I am sure that Skip will be able to say this a lot better than I but the truth is here.
The truth of the RESURRECTION of the dead from the dead has been lost and it appears that death has the glory in many a heart as the way to get up in to heaven.
You just die and voila, you are up in heaven.
NOT !
The remedy for sin is still the blood and the remedy over death is still the resurrection.
PRAISE THE LORD ! 🙂
Some I know would say that the ‘evil’ is a result of demon possession, i.e. demons of pride, lust, hate, etc. and they must be cast out. What did the Rabbis think/know about demons? Certainly some suggested Yeshua was possessed by them. And He did cast out demons on occasions – ‘Legion’ being the premier example, probably.
This was meant to be a comment on Skip’s post above.
Interesting question. In Matthew 12 the pharisees said that only by Beelzebul (the ruler of all demons) could Yeshua heal people. So obviously they had some thought about demons. But I wonder if they had a geniune fear (respect) for them, or were they looked at similar to today’s society (“the devil made me do it”).
Hunger and thirst … great word to reflect on in a deeper way then I ever have before. It just so happens that I fasted yesterday and on and off during the day as thoughts would urge me to grab a bite to eat, I continued my fast with the prayer – Lord, I desire to hunger and thirst for You and Your Word as this fast causes me to desire food. So Skip, Today’s Word really resonated with me. Love Michael’s analogy to the ‘itch’. Glad you got some relief from that Michael. The Lord’s richest blessings on your day!
Questions: Did you attempt to comfort or be with the blind man in his agony? What is righteousness? Is it different from holiness? Is there a temptation in being too conscious of hungering and thirsting after God? Is it possible that those who are righteous are least self-conscious about being so? What is the meaning of yetzer ha’ra?
Weep with those who weep. Paul’s instructions and my action. My tears for him and for me. My arm around his shoulder because I needed God’s arm around mine.
You made me cry again! (I was the lady on the front row, Sat. morning in St. Joseph) that you asked if I was okay!) 😉
It has been my observation that there is a tendency to throw out all emotion when I began to search out the deeper knowledge of God. Wild emotional displays are an everyday occurrence in many charismatic churches. Much of what I experienced was out of balance…yes, yes I know that the concept of balance is a Greek thing but how do we pray the deep groaning prayers if we don’t allow ourselves to become emotional? I don’t think it’s possible. Somehow I “feel” closer to God when my emotions are involved. I’ve grown up and realized that how I “feel” doesn’t necessarily mean anything but still strong emotions can move us along the journey by leaps and bounds. Experiencing emotional empathy for someone whom God is touching is a glorious thing.
Sandy
In our Greek world, emotions are “out of control” and therefore interference in the pursuit of a regulated life. But in Hebrew thought, emotions are a primary channel for connection with God. That doesn’t mean ONLY emotions are the way to God. It means that the way of the Spirit is often through those deep groans that can be expressed only in wordless experiences.
This really resonates with the meditation I was given this morning in the book of Colossians. In Chapters 1 and 2 we are told that we are complete in Yahshua. But in Chapter 3 we are told about a man named Epaphras who is wrestling for his fellow believers in prayer so that they stand perfect and complete in all the desire of Elohim. In the throne room, he was helping to serve food and drink to his brethren! May we do unto others as we would have done to us!
Shalom,
–Melissa
“Eat this book”, says the Lord,”and you will be filled.”
This is merely one man’s experience. In 1977 I became a “new creation’.
Upon eating from this book, I became filled with the edifying truth penned
in 2 Cor 5:17.
While my yetzer ha’ra certainly wasn’t removed, it did become remarkably
restrained by a “new” hunger and thirst for righteousness. I heartily agree
with TW’s Topical Index of Matt 5:6. For that matter, chapters 5, 6 and 7
of Matthew’s gospel are all wonderfully illuminating guidelines for any
“new creation”.
“This book” IS truly revolutionary!!! It keeps me VERY hungry and thirsty.
And you’re so right, Skip, it’s a state of deep continual need.
Sandra,
Thank you for sharing your experience and struggle with emotions.
You wrote “Experiencing emotional empathy for someone whom God is touching is a glorious thing.”
Matthew 15:29-31 ESV – Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God Israel.
Luke 9:37-43 ESV – On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him, And behold, a man from the crowd cried out, “”Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child. And behold, a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly cries out. It convulses him so that he foams at the mouth, and shatters him, and will hardly leave him. And I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.” Jesus answered, “O faithless ant twisted generation, how long am I to be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.” While he was coming the demon threw him to the ground and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astonished at the majesty of God. But while they were all marveling at everything he was doing, Jesus said to his disciples, . . .
Is it not marvelous how the crowd responded to the miraculous ministry of Yeshua as he brought healing to shattered people? They responded with wonderment, marveling, astonishment, and of course the glorifying of the God of Israel! As I have read, pondered, and talked out loud these passages, I have wondered if others in the crowd were not healed as they responded to these Ruach HaKodesh moments of the Kingdom breaking forth in the lives of God’s people?
Wonderment, marveling, astonishment, and glorifying the God of Israel, are these not fully filled with emotive power?
May we all “grow up” into the full response to the God of Israel working among us!
YHWH is King!
‘Eat this book and you will be filled.’ Love it!
Skip,
Thank you for your teaching today; it meets me where I am at.
You quoted Yeshua in Matthew 5, “Unless ‘your righteousness’ exceeds that of the Pharisees.”
Continuing with Yeshua in the next chapter, we read what he was referring to when he said, “your righteousness”:
“Beware of practicing ‘your righteousness’ before other people in order to be seen by them” . . . Yeshua then talks about three areas of practicing ‘your righteousness’: giving, praying, and fasting. In all three practices, he does not denounce the practice itself, but the hypocrisy of doing these things to be seen by others!
So in the continual context of the teaching on the mount, it could simply mean that for ‘your righteousness’ to exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees in the particular areas of giving, praying, and fasting, our focus is not to do it to be seen by others, but to be seen by our Father in heaven.
Yes we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness..these thoughts come to my mind. In the times we live how often do we hunger and thirst (if we are even still sensitive to these bodily functions any longer – and many are not) only to satisfy those urges with false products delivered up and called food. Processed sugar, flour, wood pulp, soda, “fruit juice” even processed milkish products. Very little of what we eat is actually food.
Could we extend this to the spiritual hunger and thirst, do we slake that appetite with junk even while doing so think that we are ingesting food? Thinking we are satisfied, but never really are?
Have we perhaps reached the point in existence where it is so difficult to actually find food (of any sort) that we find it easier to simply give up and try to cobble together something that provides some temporary relief?
In my opinion, one of the reasons I find so many hungry for something more from Scripture and from their experience of God is that the church has served genetically modified spirituality for centuries and the population now carries a spiritual dis-ease transmitted by this intentional alteration.
EXACTLY!! Thank you for what you do Skip, providing a bounty of heirloom produce to the starving and malnourished (at least that is how I think of myself when it comes to knowing God and understanding the Scriptures)
I agree and think that is a legitimate evaluation. I certainly was in dis-ease for quite a while.
How long has the Hebrew Roots Movement been around?
________________________________________________
I am not starving. Our New Testaments are not ruined.
When born again and filled with the Spirit, God WILL teach and fill, all anyone wants.
Read your Bibles. Its the only book that the Author Himself is present with you.
No special teacher is needed. (Teachers are helpful and good, but not necessary)
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you. John 14: 26
“But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. John 16: 13
Rev 3:14-22 And to the messenger of the congregation of Laodicea, write: These things says the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Head of the creation of YAHWEH: (15) I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold, or hot. (16) So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to vomit you out of My mouth. (17) Because you say, I am rich, and I am made rich, and I have need of nothing, and do not know that you are miserable and a wanderer and poor and blind and naked. (18) I advise you to buy from Me gold having been fired by fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, and your shame and nakedness may not be revealed. And anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. (19) “I, as many as I love, I rebuke and I chasten.” Be zealous, then, and repent. (Prov. 3:12) (20) Behold, I stand at the door “and knock:” If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will enter to him, and I will dine with him, and he with Me. (Song 5:2) (21) The one overcoming, I will give to him to sit with Me in My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father in His throne. (22) The one who has an ear, hear what the Spirit says to the congregations. (HRB)
K — I think this was kindly meant for my benefit. Since I don’t get reply/comments to my email, sometimes I guess.
Yes, I know these verses, thanks.
Was this because I said I am not starving? I am only NOT starving because He feeds me. He satisfies all needs and hungers to the very deepest pit of my existence.
John 4: 14 ….but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.
I constantly want Him in my days and nights, Nothing else will do in His place, but He satisfies completely, He doesn’t leave me in need since He has come into my heart. 🙂
Nobody is hungry in my house, how much more is nobody hungry in the Father’s house!
if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. I sup with Him.
“The Pharisees were the epitome of meticulous righteousness. But Yeshua was correct. Somehow our righteousness must exceed even this example of God-fearing behavior or the emptiness will continue.”
Hi Skip, I read your TW early this am. You made some lovely thought provoking points as usual. But I was struck by your comment on the Pharisees as the “epitome of meticulous righteousness”???
I had to leave before making a comment and questioning the comment. Now its evening time and looking over the comments, I see that it is only Brian who took you to task a tiny little for the comment. There is not much that I find myself disagreeing with you on (yet!), but the Pharisees are perhaps the last sect on earth that I would use as an example of the epitome of righteousness. Is there something that I am missing?
I couldn’t get your statement out of my head all day! I thought maybe you are making the statement like a university professor might do to see if his students would pick up on it?? If that’s the case, there are a lot of C- and D’s to be given out today!!!
Here is why I see the sect of the Pharisees as a group of self-righteous legalists giving more weight to Talmudic traditions than Torah. At one point, we see Yahshua grouping them with the Herod – strange company!
I will quote from the Gospels using Young’s Literal Translation in attempting to retain accuracy
Here is why I feel as I do about the Pharisees:
Matthew 3:7 ..”And having seen many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming about his baptism, he said to them, `Brood of vipers! who did shew you to flee from the coming wrath?”
So we see John the Baptist early on calling these dudes – a “brood of vipers.”
Matthew 12:14 ..”And the Pharisees having gone forth, held a consultation against him, how they might destroy him,” Righteous? – their evil intent was to destroy the Messiah and they did!
Matthew 15:1-3.. Then come unto Jesus do they from Jerusalem — scribes and Pharisees — saying,2 `Wherefore do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they do not wash their hands when they may eat bread.’3 And he answering said to them, `Wherefore also do ye transgress the command of God because of your tradition?” They elevated their traditions above Torah, a no no!
Matthew 16:11-12… “how do ye not understand that I did not speak to you of bread — to take heed of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?’12 Then they understood that he did not say to take heed of the leaven of the bread, but of the teaching, of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Leaven is usually a symbol of sin!
The following 7 woes are self-explanatory. Of course all of this sect were not all bad. Nicodemus was of their sect but was clearly cut from a different cloth: see John 3 and John 19
Matthew 23:13 …`Wo to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye shut up the reign of the heavens before men, for ye do not go in, nor those going in do ye suffer to enter.
Matthew 23:14… `Wo to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye eat up the houses of the widows, and for a pretence make long prayers, because of this ye shall receive more abundant judgment.”
24.Matthew 23:15 `Wo to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye go round the sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and whenever it may happen — ye make him a son of gehenna twofold more than yourselves.”
Matthew 23:23 …”`Wo to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye give tithe of the mint, and the dill, and the cumin, and did neglect the weightier things of the Law — the judgment, and the kindness, and the faith; these it behoved [you] to do, and those not to neglect.” – majoring in the minors! Righteous – hardly?
Matthew 23:25 …`Wo to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye make clean the outside of the cup and the plate, and within they are full of rapine and incontinence.
Matthew 23:27 …`Wo to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye are like to whitewashed sepulchres, which outwardly indeed do appear beautiful, and within are full of bones of dead men, and of all uncleanness;
Matthew 23:29 …`Wo to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and adorn the tombs of the righteous,
Talk about a double witness – Yahshua here witnessed 7 times that they were a bunch of hypocrites!
Mark 8:15 …and he was charging them, saying, `Take heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and of the leaven of Herod,’ –Here grouped in with Herod by Yahshua, very dubious company!
Luke 6:2 ….’and certain of the Pharisees said to them, `Why do ye that which is not lawful to do on the sabbaths?’
Luke records them as behaving like self-righteous legalists!
Luke 6:7 “and the scribes and the Pharisees were watching him, if on the sabbath he will heal, that they might find an accusation against him.” They felt it was OK to pull your ox out of the ditch on Shabbat but heal a human being, no way!
Luke 11:43 …`Woe to you, the Pharisees, because ye love the first seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the market-places.”
What did HE teach about humbly taking a back seat..? But, as sometimes happens,the Pharisees fulfilled a role and were surely a blessing to Yahshua for they provided endless fodder for His teachings on what NOT to do! Skip,Maybe that is what you meant??
John 11:57 ..”and both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a command, that if any one may know where he is, he may shew [it], so that they may seize him.”
And seize HIM, and convict HIM illegally according to Torah and crucify HIM they did?! Evil beyond words!
John 12:42 ..”Still, however, also out of the rulers did many believe in him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing, that they might not be put out of the synagogue,”
These dudes were intimidating!
John 18:3 ..”Judas, therefore, having taken the band and officers out of the chief priests and Pharisees, doth come thither with torches and lamps, and weapons; John 11:57”
They were threatened by true righteousness, and wanted HIM put away. So they helped fulfill God’s prophecy of Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22 etc.,
Skip,I feel their behavior is a no brainer example of what not to do> but I also feel that I must be overlooking something in what you said! Your comment will be appreciated. In any case, I found this a meaningful exercise.
Very briefly, the debate with the Pharisees in the New Testament is intramural. There is no question that some of the Pharisees were legalists. But read Pirke Avot as an example of the work of most of the Pharisees or the Talmud and you will find that they speak much like Yeshua did, even against some in their own group. The common Christian assumption that ALL of these men were legalists is not correct. Try Bard Young’s book, Meet the Rabbis, for even more material and discussion.
The evidence in the synoptic Gospels with Yeshua and His relationship and critique of the Pharisees is one of within the family. He speaks strongly against their “hypocrisy”, not their practice, as I try to point out in the teaching on the mount (Matthew 5-7). We find in the beginning of Matthew 23, as Yeshua is talking to the crowds, a vivid confirmation of the authority of the scribes and the Pharisees.
There are two passages where Yeshua warns of the leaven of the Pharisees. John Walsh mentioned the one found in Mark 8:15, and a similar passage is found in Matthew 16:5, here, Yeshua adds the Sadduces to His warning. Both remarks by Yeshua is prompted by the disciples forgetting to bring bread (even though in Mark the disciples do have one loaf), though the contexts by each writer is different.
Mark’s tendency in his Gospel is to portray Yeshua being forsaken and misunderstood by everyone. As we see in the context of this saying and event in Yeshua’s ministry, the disciples seem to be confused and somewhat bewildered by what Yehua said.
Matthew’s object is very different, and he reveals what Yeshua meant by His statement to the disciples. This is the only place I believe within the Synoptic Gospels where Yeshua is addressing the teaching of the Pharisees! And in the larger context of the Gospel of Matthew, we should read it within the tension of His positive statement of the scribes’ and Pharisees’ authority in Matthew 23.
The theology of Yeshua mirrors those of the Pharisees, and His constant critique of their “hypocrisy” is true to the culture of the day and to the Pharisees’ constant self-examination. Their continual status as villains within the Christian church needs some major challenge and rectification.
Brian,
I thank you for your response to this discussion on the righteousness of the Pharisees or the lack thereof.
The response from you and Skip has not convinced me yet of the overall righteousness of this sect. It is evident that there were some who were Godly among them. Nicodemus was one such man mentioned in the Gospels. But where is the record of all those “good and influential” Pharisees standing up and protesting the illegal arrest and trial and Crucifixion of Yahshua? Even evil Pilate acknowledged HIS innocence! This historical silence is deafening to someone like me.
Point #2 The argument you make for Matt 23:2-3 as supporting this “good guy” Pharisee image may well go the other way, which makes sense to me as Yahshua spends the rest of Chapter 23 blasting these guys. The respected Jewish Hebrew scholar, Nehemia Gordon took a look at the text of a copy of the Matthew’s Gospel in Hebrew and wrote a short commentary book on these two verses. It is titled “The Hebrew Yeshua vs The Greek Jesus” available on Amazon. Nehemia – a Jew who is NOT Messianic, argues that there is every reason to believe that Matthew’s Gospel was originally written in the Hebrew. Some of my books are unfortunately in storage so I do not have his book to reference exactly here. But Gordon argues that the Hebrew says to neither practice nor observe what the Pharisees and Scribes taught. Of course, there are those who take issue with his take on verse 3 but like I said, considering the tone of the rest of Chapter 23 it makes sense to me.
Point #3 Backing up to Matt 21 we find Yahshua indicting them with a couple of stinging Parables!
Did they understand – you bet! The narrative tells us:
“When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was talking about them.” (Matt 21:45)
In verse 44 Yahshua hit them with an uppercut that must have really hurt!:
“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it.” (Matt 21:44)
What was the “fruits” that Yahshua was looking for? It is evident that it was RIGHTEOUSNESS!
And Yahshua is saying that they disqualified themselves for their lack thereof. The facts of history support Yahshua. God graciously gave the Jews 40 years to repent after HE began His public ministry to repent and acknowledge Him as the Messiah. When they did not – God send Titus to take down the Temple and scatter the Jews around the world before they started to trickle back to the land in late 19th century to start the fulfillment of end time prophecies. To this day the Jews are mostly outside looking in at Gentiles who are zealous for Torah and wearing tzits etc Then some misguided Messianics are showing up at Orthodox synagogues and being told to go away. It has happened to a few of my Messianic friends. It would be humorous if it were not so pathetic. Not much will change for most Jews till Messiah comes. Of course, at least12000 righteous will be among the 144,000 for sure. History shows that God always preserves a remnant!
Point #4 The Book of Acts, the writings of Paul and others, as well as other documents record immense persecution and blood letting by Jews against Christians in the early apostolic church era. Where is the record of the “righteous” majority of Pharisees standing up against that.. the silence of their protests in the historical record is again deafening, best I can tell.
II have said enough to show you why I am still cynical about the Pharisee sect as a whole. Most definitely, Skip, I am looking forward to reading the work of Brad Young and Pike as you suggested and I will report in after I do so.
I will end by quoting one of my son’s favourite expressions: “Dad, its all good”! And long term, it is. The great Benjaminite, Paul tells us that ALL Judah and ALL Israel will be saved (Romans 11)….all we are doing is arguing about some details along the Way. Our Great God will make it all good in the end. Of that we have His Blessed Assurance!
John,
I like the last paragraph, it’s all for good.
“God graciously gave the Jews 40 years to repent after HE began His public ministry to repent and acknowledge Him as the Messiah.”
May I say, your history would be better than mine, that period was not the time for Messiah to be revealed, He was then Ben Yosev, the Suffering Servant, soon, He will return as Ben Dawid, the reigning King!
“Then some misguided Messianics are showing up at Orthodox synagogues and being told to go away.” Rightly so, as these Messianics would have brought their church baggages in, as so much has been indoctrinated in them, as seen in the many Messianic Judaism assemblies I have been to. It’s a shocking experience, as it looks just like church, except for a few Hebrew songs being sung, and Hebrew terms used. The mindset and ways are still much the same, pews and pulpit.
Just a few comments.
1. Nehemia Gordon is a Karaite Jew. This shapes some of his argument. No one is arguing that the Pharisees were as a whole righteous. Would you argue that the Christian as a whole are righteous? The point we are arguing is that the claim they were all UNRIGHTEOUS is unjustified.
2. The gospels portray the legalism of some of the Pharisees because this portrayal serves the purpose of the authors who wish to distinguish Yeshua’s teaching from the Pharisees. The gospels do not record what is not necessary for their message. They are not historical surveys.
3. If you want to know what the Pharisees taught and how they lives AS A WHOLE, then you have to read THEIR writings, not writings that deliberately cast them as the opposition.
4. The idea that Jews persecuted Christians and therefore showed themselves to be unrighteous is historical fiction. There were no Christians prior to the Bar Kochba revolt (as we understand the term) and after the failure of the revolt, those Jews who supported the revolt “persecuted” other JEWS and GENTILES who did not support the revolt (not “Christians”). The historical record is quite the reverse. Christians were responsible for the slaughter of tens of thousands of Jews “in the name of Jesus.” Church revisionist history does not accurately reflect this (I recently lectured on this development in Jerusalem). Read John Gager.
5. God did not graciously give the Jews 40 years to repent. That is pure Christian revisionism. God has been with Israel for thousands of years and continues to be with Israel. WE CHRISTIANS are the ones who are grafted on to the root. We did not replace the root. Yeshua didn’t come to give Israel a “last chance.” He came to bring Israel back to its original purpose, to be a light to the nations. Have you considered that Yeshua himself says he comes for the lost sheep of the house of Israel and he refused to speak with the Greeks. You must remember that there are NO CHRISTIANS in the gospels. There are Jews and Gentiles. Christian revisionism needs to be removed from your perspective. That will clear up a lot of the confusion.
6. Finally, remember the AUDIENCE. The gospels were not written for YOU. They were written for people who were already either in a Messianic synagogue or interested int he Jewish Messiah. They were not written for anyone who did not already have a good working knowledge of the Jewish culture of the first century. In other words, they don’t have to spell it all out because the authors ASSUME the readers know all lot of the cultural trappings (which, by the way, we DON’T).
One more point while I think of it. Nearly everything Yeshua says in his teaching is echoed or anticipated in the teachings of the rabbis and they were in large part Pharisees.
“The more we examine ourselves, the more we find how far we are from the holiness of God. At the same time, we discover our own sense of longing draws us to Him. It is the great paradox of righteousness.”
This is the reality, as I progress from knowledge to knowledge after years of traveling on the strait and narrow, then on the set-apart Torah living, having more time these days to reflect, ABBA reveals more and more of my shortcomings in the past, even though most folks know me to be a very hungry and thirsting-after- YHWH person, I realized that there is so much more of HIM that I desire, more so than ever, even though the yetzer ha’ra/evil inclination was not that much of my problem, yet, letting my guard down at times in the midst of problematic situations, caused much heart-aches.
Going with the Hebraic paradigm shift has been a fabulously liberating journey.
The spiritual is revealed in the natural. As Skip has pointed out above, Christianity has gobbled so much GMO “food”, church folks have become numb to real nourishing food that will grow and mature them to the roles in the Body/community of believers.
So…”And the beginning of satisfaction is an examination of our diet.” Rightly so.
When there are gourmet meals offered, why go for junk food, to end up sickly and dysfunctional, affecting the eye sight, not able to perceive issues in the right perspective?
You are a blessing Skip, for being a genuine born-from-above.
I can relate to so much that your share, Ester.
“Going with the Hebraic paradigm shift has been a fabulously liberating journey.”
That has certainly been true for me as well. It’s like I’ve been walking around in the foyer of God’s house all these years and someone invites me to come further in. I do and discover a whole mansion sitting connected to where I’ve been loitering.
It’s been like an open house tour since beginning the study of the Hebraic paradigm. Things are so much more clear and functional for me now.
I’m loving the journey and ache for others to walk along with me.
Well I thought I was doing good, and “in” the Most Kadosh place, when I was wasn’t fully keeping Shabbat. We used to go out in a big group for lunch, presuming it was my ‘shabbat’ and so no cooking!
Then there was the Feast Days which we were not fully keeping though we were aware of them and celebrated them without even a thought if those were the right days, nor understanding the significance of those Feast Days.
And, dietary laws! That was the final break through, not I am much into seafood except lobsters and oysters! Pork was an easy choice as it had always been known as unhealthy, especially the fats.
The best part is learning Hebrew, and the beautiful culture; and discovering a totally different Scriptural perspective. ABBA is amazing, how He directs our path when we are hungry for more.