WRITTEN BY THE JEWS

Good morning Boker Tov Haverim!

I pray that you slept well and have been renewed through the wonderful rest of Sabbath this last weekend.

A while ago I posted a little bit of a history lesson regarding a wonderful Jewish rabbi.
My Ministry and focus is to bridge the gap between Christians and Jews and come together as one body in Messiah.
Messiah said A House Divided will not stand.
When it comes to certain doctrines yes absolutely we need to stand up to what goes against what is in Scripture…. and always called to task those who are making statements trying to teach others but are in error.
But we need to do this with love and do care.

So today we will continue and as I said it’s always best to go into history it is from this we learn from our mistakes and from our Great Teacher and instructor. Enjoy today’s lesson.

WRITTEN BY THE JEWS

When ministering to Jews here is a question for you to ask your Jewish friend or neighbour who has dismissed the New Testament out of hand or even if you yourself are Jewish and hold to this View ; ” how can the New Testament be anti-semitic when the vast majority of it was written by Jews ?”

The answer : ” it cannot.” The offending passages that some regard as anti-semitic are really part of an internal family squabble as I have previously stated in many teachings. Yes, some passages in the New Testament can be viewed as anti-Semitic, but only when they are twisted and taken out of context ! These passages appear to be anti-jewish for two reasons.

First, there are and have bean Jewish leaders who consider some of the words of Jesus to be harsh pronouncements against the Jewish people. Yet even more passages in the Tanakh Old Testament could be taken the same way. And this is why it is important to put all scripture in context when analyzing….. there are 66 books in the Bible it seems the Hebrew roots and Messianics are focussing only on the first five but on the other side of the spectrum the Christians are only focussing on the New Testament. In the passages of the Tanakh or Old Testament, G-d speaks to Israel through prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
Often these profits and others like them pronounced YHVH HASHEM’S judgment on the Jewish people for their disobedience …… and they did not mince words ! Was Isaiah being anti-semitic when he said of Israel, ” everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks vileness ” Isaiah 9 verse 17 ? Or was Jeremiah sowing seeds of racial hate when he pronounced, ” like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, oh House of Israel ” Jeremiah 3 verse 20 ? And how about Ezekiel ? He Wrote, ” For the whole house of Israel is hardened and obstinate ” Ezekiel 3 verse 7. Clearly, these three men spoke words that Hashem G-d had given them to spur Israel toward repentance and correction. Why should faithful Jews, who accept as inspired the harsh pronouncements of the prophets, say that similar words from Yeshua are anti-Semitic ? But yet many Jewish leaders do.

The second reason why some new testament passages come across as anti-semitic is that spirited debate has always been a part of Jewish life. ( Beit midrash ) As a general rule, when we Jewish people who have something to say, we do not hold back. Lol . We tend to be honest to a fault. Debating and arguing have always been a part of Jewish learning. If you go to a modern yeshiva, a place of religious learning, for Christians you might compare it to going to Seminary…… there you will see what we call ” pilpul”, a Hebrew term loosely meaning ” sharp analysis “. It is a method of Tallmidic study aimed at clarification of scriptural texts by examining all the arguments pro and con in order to find a logical application of the law and to sharpen the wits of the students. It may seem that the students are angry with each other…. and even yelling…. when, in fact, they are simply involved in a spirited debate.

During bible times, debates were common and even encouraged in formal study. After the morning worship on Sabbath, the men went to a room called the Beit Midrash, where they debated the merits of the sermon they had just heard. Can you imagine this happening on Sunday morning in the average Christian Church ? Lol. What if after the final benediction was pronounced, everyone went to one of the classrooms to debate what the pastor had said ? It might not be a bad idea….. lol….. it would certainly keep the pastor on his toes. Yet this uniquely Jewish idea is not likely to take hold in The American or Canadian churches.

Some Christians have the mistaken idea that the Jewish people of Jesus day were extremely narrow-minded and that anyone who did not toe the line would be punished. The truth is that many different branches of Judaism flourished during the time of Jesus Yeshua. First of all you had two schools one liberal and one conservative…. Hillel and Shammiah. And then there were the branches Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zelots and others disagreed with each other. They argued and called one another names, but it was “All in the Family.” The bottom line they were all Jews.

Luke Chapter 2 describes the time when Yeshua was 12 years old and His parents ” lost ” Him in Jerusalem. The Bible says they, ” found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, and listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers” Luke 2 : 46 – 47. Nothing in this passage suggest that the teachers were angry with Jesus Yeshua for asking too many questions. Rather, they were amazed by His knowledge at such an early age. Being willing to ask questions was not seen as a character flaw; it was a virtue !

Over the next few weeks I will continue along this line of teaching….
Bridging the Gap of misunderstanding between what Christians see in the New Testament and what many practicing Jews believe and bringing truth to the surface.

Baruch Atah Adonai, Elohaynu Melech ha-olam,
Asher natan lanu had’var haemet, V’chayay olam natan
b’tochaynu
Baruch Atah Adonai, notayn HaBrit Hachadashah, Amein