Shake, Rattle and Roll
He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken. Psalm 62:2 NASB
Shaken – In Hebrew, the word for “shaken” is ‘emmots. It is from the same root as the word for yoke (motsa’). Both of these words carry the imagery of a pole used as a walking stick that shakes when it strikes the ground. We can visualize this situation quite easily. Hebrew is such a practical language!
But notice how David uses the word here. YHVH is my Rock and my salvation. I will not be shaken (or at least I will not be greatly shaken). This is a promise that God will remain faithful no matter what the circumstances. Read what Walter Kaiser says about mots.
Righteous men are unmovable and secure, for they have the Lord as their Rock and Salvation (Ps 62:2 [H 3], 6 [H 7]; 112:6; 15:5; 16:8; 21:7 [H 8]; 30:6 [H 7]). God gives them a hand on the pathway of life so that their footing does not slip (Ps 17:5). The enemy of the righteous will have no cause to rejoice in his being moved (Ps 13:4 [H 5)), for he trusts in the salvation of God.
Such assurance is strengthened even more by the everlastingly secure covenant which God made with Abraham and David. The promise is unconditionally maintained in perpetuity for all who will participate by faith. While the mountains may move (mûš) and the hills shake, God’s loyal love will never move (mûš) and his covenant of peace (the new covenant, the Ab-rahamic and Davidic covenant) will never shake (Isa 54:10). [1]
Did you catch this comment: “The promise is unconditionally maintained in perpetuity for all who will participate by faith”? That is a clear statement that the Church does not and cannot replace Israel made by a man who is a leader in Christian theology. As a scholar of Semitic languages, Kaiser recognizes that God’s promise to Abraham is unconditional and eternal. And Kaiser was one of my professors. But I can assure you that I never heard anyone at that school teach that the Church usurped Israel’s God in order to justify its own identity. Somehow the unconditional and eternal promise was rearranged to fit the Christian paradigm. If that can happen in spite of the work of scholars like Kaiser, what chance do ordinary believers have of breaking free of the yoke of Christian replacement thinking?
In Isaiah YHVH asks for a fast that breaks every yoke. We think of this passage in terms of addictions, sinful behavior and selfishness. And we should. But can you see that there are other yokes, so invisibly attached that we may not even be aware of their influence? Those need breaking too. How can that be accomplished without wrenching pain? How can the mind be readjusted unless we are willing to go through theological electro-shock therapy?
Topical Index: yoke, pole, stick, mots, to shake, motsa’, Psalm 62:2
[1] Kaiser, W. C. (1999). 1158 מוֹט. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke, Ed.) (electronic ed.) (494). Chicago: Moody Press.
It is better to go through theological electro-shock therapy than a lobotomy! I would venture to say that for those of us who have been partakers of your Daily Word for any length of time have both been “shocked ” at some your teaching, but then also healed via your electro-shock word treatments. For me the sooner that I recall that the reasons for my spiritual “illness” is grounded in the lies and errors I willingly inherited from our church Fathers and how your speaking to those issues have set me free from those false teachings in the past, the more willing I am to be willing to get up on the table, be strapped down and have those electrodes attached to my head. It doesn’t mean that I won’t scream, buck and foam at the mouth, but I will live and be the better for submitting to the treatment in the end. Thanks Skip for being the technician who pulls the switch. Michael
I appreciate your trust and thanks, but being the man who puts people into electo-shock is not the kind of picture I want of myself (even if it is in some sense true). I hope to be compassionate in this journey although I know that at times the other side shows up.
Sorry if I cast you in an uncomfortable role or light. That was not my intention. Prior to surgery, and even in the pain filled recovery, we may not consider the surgeon “compassionate” when he splays us open with a scalpel to excise a cancer. It is only after we are healthy and whole do we really appreciate his work and realize compassion and charity is what motivates his actions. Perhaps I should have compared you to a surgeon rather than conjure the image of a cruel technician who glees in pulling the switch to shock us or cure us. My opinion of you is not that base, but rather the opposite. I apologize. It only goes to show I need another electro-shock treatment (though some may argue that I have had perhaps one too many!)
no need to apologize at all. I knew what you meant. Thanks Michael.
I thought Skip was primarily an ophthalmologist. He, nay, seems to be an electrician. Now, I have more appreciation for the question, “Do you want to see?” There is an arc for that.
The *In Crowd
Since when has the “church” replaced Israel? Israel IS- always has been- and always will remain “God’s chosen people.” The church, the assembly- the (present) body of Christ,- the (future) Bride of Christ is composed of believers- both Jewish and Gentile. Get it? Got it? Good.
~ Believe on the LORD Jesus (who is the) Christ and you* (sir or m’am) will be saved. ~ Is this for the Jew only? or for that matter- for the Gentile only? No. It is for “whosoever will” And? “Whosoever will” may come and drink of the water of life- freely.
Salvation (only according the word of God) is to (is anyone listening?)
to the Jew first… (And?) – also to the Greek. Friend, “It is written” (Hallelujah!)- If (who?) *any man be *in Christ.. he (or she) is a new creation.. where (what??) – there is neither Jew nor Greek (you may throw your ethnic culture and background and/or former “status” out the window!) BUT – a *new creation *in Christ. 2 Corinthians 5.17 Sir, (or m’am) – are YOU *in?
~ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, (the Good News of the Messiah) for it is the power of God for salvation to EVERYONE who believes, – to the Jew first and also to the Greek ~ (Romans 1.16)
Carl, I know you understand the “church” has not replaced Israel. However, history is important. And the sad fact is that the history of the founding of what the world knows as Christianity is not pretty. I think the biblical example is one of facing our histories. Unfortunately, many Christian denominations, wittingly or unwittingly, do subscribe to some form of replacement theology.
SHOCK THERAPY OR REMOVING THE VEIL
“Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord,
the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit;
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”
2 Cor 3:16-17
Okay I am stuck: From your perspective Skip, are we gentiles now to behave as non-ethnic Jews, embracing all the Laws and rites and rituals? If not then whats the model? How does dispensationalism fit or not fit (I am clear from your posts that “the church” is no “replacement” for the Jewish Nation)? My interpretation of your perspective is that the Laws are still to be followed with certain exceptions (priestly order, tithes to the Aaronic order, although not clear on menstruation 🙂 ). Could you “cliff note” a summery for those of us that have “followed” your teaching for years but evidently are too thick to really “get it”?
Cliff Notes version: Acts 15 demonstrates that Gentiles were welcomed into the fellowship on the basis of God’s call, not their merit, just as Jews. But Gentiles needed to leave behind the typical pagan practices of the polytheistic culture of Rome in order to participate as full members of the Messianic synagogue community. Once they abandoned their pagan practices, they were taught the Torah (Moses) in order to incorporate the new culture (the Jewish way of life as dictated by the God of Israel) into their daily routine. So, grace came free. It was God’s call that mattered. But once accepted, the way of life of the children of God applied regardless of the original ethnic background.
Of course, if you do a study of the 613 Torah commandments, you will find that nearly all of them either don’t apply to you or are not possible for you to perform today or you are already doing them. Jew and Gentile are the same in the Kingdom (didn’t Paul say that?) so just look for the ones that apply to you and do them. Easy.
For those keeping Sukkot, I pray everyone is having a most meaningful Festival!
Skip, since becoming a reader a few years ago, I notice many of us are confused a lot or a little by terms such as Israel, Judaism and the Church. So, it is hardly surprising that the confusion appears again in today’s discussion. It is a complex and tricky subject matter often clouded by passions.
A Cliff Notes response is way too short to clear up the confusion but its possible a longer response will not help either! In any case, I will lay out a few thoughts I have on the matter and I would liked them critiqued by you and the readers too for my own benefit.
I do not like the term church and Israel and Judaism too much any more as they mean different things to different people and I think we will do well to avoid them ( or better define them) I mean Paul told that a real Jew is one who is a Jew spiritually! And today most of Judaism is secular! Then I prefer to use the term “called out ones” rather than “church” to define those who are the true followers of Messiah. That being said, I feel quiet comfortable calling “the called out ones” – the true church of Messiah – the NEW Israel!
Skip, it seems to me that your gripe (and my gripe too!) is not against the primitive church, per se, but against the large apostate group that evolved out of the original apostolic group that continued to worship at the Temple and in Synagogues for a while. Quickly this group was forced out of such fellowship
Three monster influences caused this horrible split but it had to be God’s will
First, the Jews and Synagogue life. Even while Messiah walked among them, for a follower of Torah, life was very difficult in many ways. The Priesthood was terribly corrupt, The Ark of the Covenant was not longer behind the curtain in the Temple, (centuries earlier Jeremiah had hidden it away), and the leadership also gave precedence to Jewish traditions over the Torah. So as I see it, the Judaism of the first Century CE was hardly a place where Messiah would have wanted His called out ones to stay. It was way too corrupt!
Second, the called out ones could not have stayed anyway because the Jews greatly persecuted them. Though they were most all of the Jewish faith and Jewish blood, they became a group on the run – to save their very lives! Acts records how Stephen and Paul were treated. for example. They fledgling group fled to places such as Pella and Antioch and on from there into the Hellenistic World. So a split from synagogue life became inevitable.
Third, the Jewish political uprisings against Roman rule played a huge role too. It resulted in their beloved Temple being flattened in 70CE The Romans used Sabbath keeping as one way to identify those who were Jewish so they could round them up. This caused many called out ones to keep Shabbat in secret and tragically drove many to start worshipping on Sundays to keep the Romans off their backs. Dr Samuele Bacchiocchi, Adventist Historian documents this in detail in his Book: From Sabbath to Sunday. This was two centuries before Constantine came on the scene and formalized what became apostate “christianity”, a massive church organisation full of paganism and little respect for Torah.
Fourth, Golgotha changed everything too! The Book of Hebrews explains that.
So Skip, I think what we need to be looking to for our roots is not Judaism per se but to what Acts called the Way – the way of Torah PLUS the magnification that Yahshua brought to Torah that was manifested in His Sermon on the Mount, Passover and the Gospel of John, the letters of Paul and on and on.
What advantage has the Jew? Paul answered: “Much in every way”! Those advantages were that they knew the Hebrew God for thousands of years – they knew His Will even though they did not do it very often! They had Torah! They understood the language of Torah. They had Shabbat and the annual Festivals – precious stuff to God and man! Like many of you on TW, I love the wisdom of the Rabbis and read AISH.com every week for the wisdom I see there. We would be foolish to avoid or minimize the wisdom of the rabbis. This is one reason I like TW – Skip brings some of that wisdom to us too!
But there are two sides to every coin. The Jews too will do well to ask the question: What advantage has the Christian? What does the orthodox Christian bring to the spiritual table? Sad to say – not that much. do you and I want to be teaching Jews that: Torah was done away, its all grace now! Sunday is now God’s day of worship, all foods are clean – ugh! God’s Feasts were fulfilled at Golgotha and so on. This I think is a major part of what Skip is trying to point out every week in his word studies.
It gets interesting, doesn’t it?
So, I think we will do well to embrace the understanding of Torah keeping that the rabbis (others too) continue to bring to us Gentiles (and even historical Israelites – there is little question in my mind that, for instance, the English speaking peoples represent Ephraim and Manasseh – the sons of Joseph)
But we do not need to embrace modern Judaism at all.
One quick comment on the 613 Laws of Torah. I agree with Skip – many of them do not have application at this time; the Temple is gone and so all the laws applicable to the sacrificial system are set aside. God does not rule any nation at this time so all the agricultural and civil laws have little application – but I have reason to believe that they will be restored when the KING returns to reign.
Helpful comments, John, and may your Festival be meaningful as well.
You make it plain that neither modern Judaism nor modern Christianity existed during the first century C.E. For all who want to be good historians and find out more about what WAS in existence, I suggest looking at Skip’s recommended reading list, found on his website. There are many authors and scholars who are working hard to try to rectify the wrong assumptions handed down through the centuries about “Jews,” “Church,” and “Israel.” These theological researchers offer evidence and advice that can help ease the pain of the theological electro-shock therapy Skip talks about.
I appreciate your effort to clear up some of this confusion. Ultimately it comes down to what the text really says and what really happened. With that in mind, I would like to offer a few corrections to your details. 1. It is not true that the Jews in general persecuted the followers of the Messiah. While some sects of first century Jewish thought opposed the Messianic group, other sects embraced them. After all, most first century believers were Jews. None were Christians. Categorizing all Jews as persecutors is historically and textually inaccurate. We must pay close attention to the roles of the Saduccees and the Hellenized Jews of Jerusalem here. 2. The critical split dividing Messianic believers (both Jew and Gentile) from “orthodox” rabbinic believers MUST include the proclamation of Akiva and the result of the Bar Kochba revolt. In fact, prior to 135 AD even Roman persecution was sporadic and at times the Roman government even made special provision for Jewish practices. Nero’s persecution of Christians came much later. All of this is well documented in John Gager’s book on anti-Semitism. 3. While you are certainly correct about the priesthood at the time of Yeshua, this is not necessarily the case for other sects of the Jewish way of life. In fact, Yeshua recognizes the inner self-criticism of the Pharisees and his theological position is quite close to the views of the Pharisees. There are further indications that Yeshua embraced the oral Torah as understood by the Pharisees and there is no doubt that Paul did as well. 4. The claim that internal persecution of Messianic believers was rampant in the first century cannot be established particularly since Paul was generally welcomed in the synagogues of the Diaspora. The reason Paul’s claims eventually caused him trouble was based on the Gentile issue, not the the claims about the Messiah. 5. You are correct that the “church” was a product of later Greek philosophy based Gentile elites and that it did not exist at all in the first century (see my lectures on the formation of the Christian church). But I think we must also be careful to distinguish between “Christian” and “Christianity,” because it seems to me that many who call themselves Christians do in fact have a sincere desire to worship YHVH and follow His ways. They have simply been led astray by the religion of Christianity which, as far as I can tell at this point, is the invention of anti-Jewish thinkers in the second century.
Thanks for all your effort here. It is a great start to a long study.
Thanks, Skip for the critique. What I wrote was written quickly off the top of my head on a busy first day of Sukkot for me! Now as I re-read my comments on Sunday morning, I would perhaps modify a few statements a little. But the main thing for me was getting feedback from you. I know that I need to read a lot more about this fascinating time period which set the stage for many beliefs we hold two thousand years later!
Thanks again.
John and Skip,
Thanks for that exchange. I enjoyed and appreciated it. Very informative and thought provoking.