You are currently browsing the category archive for the ‘Intersections’ category.
I mentioned in an earlier post that some of things I write here are as much to provide an online archive of things I’ve noticed as they are for others’ information, amazement, or amusement. This post will be along those lines; a sort of “note to self” that I can refer to without having to find my paper notes which by now may well be lost in a stack of Bibles. But if you also gain something from reading these things, then all the better.
A friend recently lent me a copy of Dan Juster’s The Irrevocable Calling – Israel’s Role as a Light to the Nations. This book details some of the ways in which the ancient nation of Israel has been a living priesthood that not only brought forth the Savior of the world roughly 2000 years ago, but also provided a sacrificial covering for the sins of the world for a millennium or two before that time, and continues to be a living witness of the reality of God to the world, even in a current “state of unbelief” (meaning not having yet seen by faith and acknowledged the first coming of Yeshua HaNatzri as Mashiach and Goel).
My notes on Chapters 4 and 5 of the book cite Juster (hopefully accurately – I returned the book to my friend) as writing:
In summary, Israel was called to establish a nation in the midst of the earth that has preserved and lived out the truth of God. Their life under the Lord shows the significance of God’s Word, his standards, and his redemption…
Even in unbelief, the Jewish people can’t help but testify to the truth of the Scriptures. In their dispersion, but also by their preservation… Scripture continues to be fulfilled…
Israel’s continued faithfulness to the Sabbath and the Holy Days maintains a picture of redemption and spiritual truth for the world’s benefit…
Though Jewish people do not engage in literal sacrifices, the liturgy… is still done with direct reference to the practices of the ancient temple… The irrevocable call – to act in an intercessory-representative role for humanity – continues, though in a weakened form… there are also some Orthodox Jews who fully comprehend their life and practice (their call) as a means of intercession for the redemption of the world…
Even in partial unbelief, Israel speaks the Word of God [in daily prayers] and this Word will not return void. There is still power released that moves history toward the goal of the fullness of the kingdom of God on earth…
And then some notes regarding the relationships between Jewish and Gentile believers, both from the inception of the church, and now (chapters 6 and 7):
In reference to Acts 15:21, Juster sees James’ intent as pointing out the continued value of the weekly synagogue Torah readings in teaching Godly precepts to the Gentiles without their needing to follow the regulations [of kashrut]…
The Jewish believers, by maintaining their Jewish identity and traditions, keep alive the authentic context for understanding the Scriptures…
Jewish life proclaims that God exists and He will rule the world. Every time a Jewish person keeps the Sabbath and the feasts… they proclaim the reality of God and look forward to the fullness of redemption…
All the nations seek a world order that excludes the God of the Bible, who is the God of Israel… Israel, even in unbelief, challenges this view…
Dr. Peter Hocken notes that the first church division came from a rejection of the legitimacy of the early Messianic Jewish community… [and also] suggests that doctrinal differences within the church can likely be bridged by a return to the Jewish roots and context of our faith…
Tragically, both the church and the synagogue have rejected the organic link between them, [which is] the Messianic Jews…
And then some notes on Malachi 4:5-6 (Behold, I am sending you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of Jehovah.
Mal 4:6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers, that I not come and strike the earth with utter destruction):
Some contemporary leaders have discerned… some larger implications… Just as scholars have seen in the fifth commandment to ‘honor your father and mother’ an implied concern to honor all authorities, these verses in Malachi can also be applied in a wider sense…
The church needs to honor her Jewish spiritual parents. Though the church may consider the Jewish people as ‘missing it’ with regard to Yeshua, it is still appropriate to act as a respectful child to parents who do not yet believe. Honoring its spiritual parentage is crucial for the church to come into right order, understanding, and unity.
It is equally important for the Jewish people to see the church as their own offspring, even if it appears to be a wayward child… Messianic Jews know that unless the church fulfills its call and destiny, Israel will not be saved and world redemption will not come…
As I said, these are just my notes jotted down when I first read Juster’s book. Placing them in this blog post doesn’t mean I’m completely on board with everything he says – but he does give us some things to consider.
Mat 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Another well-recognized phrase that we think was first heard in the Sermon on the Mount? Think again.
Here is one of the greatest medieval Jewish sage’s comment on Exodus 4:14: Rashi explains that the import of the word eh-heh-yeh – I Shall Be – is as follows, "I shall be with them in this sorrow as I shall be with them in other sorrows." According to the Midrash, Moshe responds with "An evil in its own time is enough."
Please note that I am not saying that Jesus was laying a false claim to originality in any of these instances. Rather it is that he was reminding his students of precepts they should be recognizing. This, I think, puts it in a perspective that is even more instructive than the traditional Christian one.
Matthew 22:1-14 And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding …So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast [him] into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few [are] chosen.
Johanan b. Zakkai illustrates the necessity of daily conversion and of constant readiness to appear before God in heaven by the following parable: "A king invited his servants to a banquet without stating the exact time at which it would be given. Those who were wise remembered that all things are ever ready in the palace of a king, and they arrayed themselves and sat by the palace gate awaiting the call to enter, while those who were foolish continued their customary occupations, saying, ‘A banquet requires great preparation.’ When the king suddenly called his servants to the banquet, those who were wise appeared in clean raiment and well adorned, while those who were foolish came in soiled and ordinary garments. The king took pleasure in seeing those who were wise, but was full of anger at those who were foolish, saying that those who had come prepared for the banquet should sit down and eat and drink, but that those who had not properly arrayed themselves should stand and look on" (Shab. 153a).
Matthew 13:10-11 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Ezekiel 20:49 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! they say of me, Doth he not speak parables?
——————————————————————————
One of the first things I noticed in reading Everyman’s Talmud was that it has long been a common rabbinical practice to teach in parables; it wasn’t just something that Jesus invented during the time of his earthly ministry. That misconception is quite understandable, consistent with the traditional Christian interpretation of Matthew 13, but it’s obviously not quite correct. Never mind that the Hebrew prophets who came before either the rabbis or Jesus also taught in parables, as the example from the book of Ezekiel shows.
My personal outlook is that Jesus, being the living Word & wisdom personified, did it a little differently, and more effectively, but even saying that much to my more tradition-bound fellow believers got me some funny looks. We’re just not used to this stuff yet.
And, just to balance things out, I should note that The Jewish Encyclopedia takes a competing viewpoint, conceding that parables were used both by their rabbis and by Jesus, but theirs were better. We all have our preferences.
Or not, actually. But I was amazed to read just this morning that there was a sort of anticipation – and refutation – of the phenomenon years before. Stone Chumash cites Pesachim 87a as the source of this commentary on the Book of the Hosea (Haftarah Bamidbar):
God told Hosea that Israel had sinned, to which the prophet replied, “All the world is Yours. [If they are unworthy] exchange them for another nation.”
God responded by commanding him to marry a harlot and have children with her, even though he knew she was unfaithful. Chapter 1 of Hosea relates that he had three children from this marriage and, at God’s command, named them as follows:
Stone runs through the story of the names of the children, the second and third being Lo-ruhamah and Lo-ammi. These verses are some of the key Scriptures used to say that God has replaced Israel with the Church. But Stone goes on the relate:
…for the Jews had forfeited their claim to chosenness. Then, after the three children were born, God ordered Hosea to send his family away. Hosea pleaded that he could not part with the children!
God then said: “Your wife is a harlot whose children may not even be yours but the product of adultery, yet you say that you cannot abandon them. Israel is the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – how dare you say I should exchange it for another nation!”
I really don’t understand any longer how the church theologians who have wanted to go with the first premise have so completely missed the second and more important one, unless it’s through some sort of willfulness.
One of the things that occurred to me early on is that the coincidences between NT writings (or other Christian teachings) and Talmud (or other rabbinical teachings) make complete sense if they are both elucidations of the same underlying tradition. And could it be that the underlying tradition for both is the Oral Law?
(Don’t expect me to explain here what the Oral Law is – that sort of thing is beyond the scope of these short “intersections” posts. You’ll also notice if you read these posts that I don’t necessarily start or end them neatly packaged as a post ought to be, since they are mostly just musings on various points.)
This thought is just foreign enough to my mind (my experience with Christianity as relationship rather than religious formality has been in a Protestant stream, not the Roman one which openly acknowledges the validity of the Oral Law) that I’m just keeping an eye out for it for now.
Revelation 4:8 And each one of the four living creatures had six wings about him, and within being full of eyes. And they had no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.
My first encounter with Mesorah publications was through the Artscroll Siddur. I had picked it up in a bookstore more or less on a whim, having no idea yet what a siddur is – a prayer book, basically. So naturally I started at the beginning. On the first page following the front matter I found this:
The Names of God
The Four-Letter Name of God [Y-H-V-H {transliterated}] indicates that God is timeless and infinite, since the letters of this Name are those of the words Hayah Hoveh Veyheyeh, He was, He is, and He will be…
Of course the connection between Revelation 4 and Isaiah 6 is easily recognizable, but I’d never seen the Three Part Name in the Hebrew Scriptures (maybe it’s there & I haven’t seen it). It instantly struck me that when Jesus appeared to John on Patmos, John did not recognize his friend and rabbi until he identified himself as “the First and the Last.”
So what the Artscroll rabbi wrote, and what John wrote, are essentially the same. Consider the implications.
Shabbes Goy 