Oops - looks like I accidentally read ahead yesterday when I posted! God specifying craftsmen to head up the Tabernacle project is here in chapter 31, so I apologize for any confusion from those who read my last post.
The other main topic of today's reading is the Sabbath, which has been mentioned before as well. I've often struggled with this myself: does this still apply today? I know many Christians who won't do much at all on Sundays, taking that to be the modern Sabbath, but I myself find it hard to avoid any kind of work for a whole day. Don't get me wrong - I'd love to be lazy, I just have so much going on that I cannot imagine go 24 hours without getting anything done.
There is a phrase here that pertains to this question, though: verse 16 says "The Israelites must keep the Sabbath by observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant" (NET). That only speaks to the Israelites, and while Christians are sort of the spiritual descendants of Abraham we are not (or at least many of us are not) directly related to them by blood. Does that mean that a modern Messianic Jew would need to observe the Sabbath, but the rest of us do not? I suspect I'll have to wait till I get to the New Testament to answer this in more depth.
Voting on Laws
15 years ago
Posts
2 comments:
Hello,
My name is Anders Branderud, I am 23 years and I am from Sweden.
I have practised Orthodox Judaism through Netzarim (www.netzarim.co.il) in Ra’anana in Israel (led by the Orthodox Jew Paqid Yirmeyahu ha-Tzadiq), who are followers of Ribi Yehoshua (the Messiah) since 2007-05. Before that I was a devoted Christian for 6 years.
You write: “That only speaks to the Israelites, and while Christians are sort of the spiritual descendants of Abraham we are not (or at least many of us are not) directly related to them by blood.”
Yes, and the only Covenants in the whole of Tan’’kh is the Covenants with the Israelites. And according to Torah no one is included in the Covenant with the Creator that does follow Torah selectively!
le-havdil,
So who then was the historical Jesus? His name was Ribi Yehoshua.
Anyone educated in this field knows that the only sect of Judaism that had rabbis was the Pharisee and even the Christian NT described him as a rabbi. Parkes, Bagatti, Wilson, Charlesworth; all world-recognized authorities in this area leave no doubt that Ribi Yehoshua was a Pharisee, of the school of Hileil - who was also Pharisee. There is no serious dispute about that among scholars in the field. Ribi Yehoshua taught in "synagogues"; which were a strictly Pharisee institution.
That Ribi Yehoshua was a Pharisee implies that you need to practise his Torah-teachings if want to follow him. You do that by practising Torah (including oral Torah, which is the application of the commandments in Torah; see “Mishpat” and “Halakhah” at Glossaries in the first page at the above website)! The followers of Ribi Yehoshua – the Messiah – are indeed practising Judaism.
From Anders Branderud
Hi Anders - thank you for posting!
I'm afraid I must take issue with you, though, about the identity of Jesus (the Messiah). While he was often called 'Rabbi' by His followers, the term is referring to His position over them as a teacher. He was not a professional Rabbi, and not a Pharisee - He was a carpenter by trade before He began His ministry.
Furthermore, Jesus specifically called out the Pharisees as a collective group because they had put their outward appearance of holiness above true inward service to God. Why would He have associated with that sort of behavior if He condemned it?
Post a Comment