“JUDAISM”
WERE
THE RELIGIOUS SECTS OF JUDAISM, THE RELIGION GOD GAVE TO MOSES ?
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PART 3
If
we are to understand the full development of Judaism, we must go back
in history over 500 years before Christ. In these centuries history
has shown why and how “Judaism” replaced the law God gave
to Moses and became the religion of the Jews! Judaism is the religion
that Catholicism claims to be their roots! See the book compiled by
the Anti-Defamation League “Spiritual Pligrimage, Text on Jews
and Judaism 1979-1995, Pope John Paul II.”
We
must begin our study of the development of Judaism with the Babylonian
captivity. Between the years 604 B.C. and 585 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, made war with the Kingdom of Judah. In the first
year of the war, Nebuchadnezzar carried away the majority of the Jews
from Judah to Babylon. By the year 585 B.C. all the Jews, except those
under Gedaliah were finally carried away to Babylon.
The
Babylonian captivity came to an end in 539 B.C. Isaiah had prophesied
about 200 years before that Cyrus, the king of Persia, would be responsible
for the overthrow of Babylon. Thus, it was made possible for the Jews
to return to Palestine. “Thus saith the LORD to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before
him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two
leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee,
and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates
of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee
the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that
thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am
the God of Israel. For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel mine
elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee,
though thou hast not known Me” (Isa. 45:1-4). Babylon was captured
and absorbed into the Persian Empire.
Because
Cyrus was so concerned with the prophecy Isaiah wrote about him, he
determined to honor the God of Judah and decreed those of the Jews
who wanted, could return to Palestine and rebuild the Temple of God.
“Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word
of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished,
the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made
a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing,
saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth
hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and He hath charged me to build
Him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Who
is there among you of all His people? The LORD his God be with him,
and let him go up” (2 Chr 36:22-23). “Now in the first
year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth
of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of
Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his
kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king
of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of
the earth; and he hath charged me to build Him an house at Jerusalem,
which is in Judah” (Ezra 1:1-2).
Some
50,000 Jews later returned to Palestine. They were under the leadership
of two men. Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, and Joshua, the High
Priest. The Jews were to rebuild the Temple and establish the true
worship of God. The books of Haggai and Zechariah were written during
this period. These book describe the condition of the Jews at this
time.
The
majority of the Jews did not return to Palestine. Most elected to
remain in the Babylonian area. Under the rulership of Cyprus, many
of the Jews had their own home, business and they were wealthy and
influential. Most did not want to give up all this and return to the
wasted land of their forefathers. “Even Cyrus did not want all
to leave Babylonian area, since this would cause a setback to the
economy of the area” (Edersheim, Life and Times of Jesus The
Messiah, vol i, pg.8).
The
majority of the Jews were content with living in Babylon. They had
no desire to return. The Jews were settling down to stay. They built
permanent schools, colleges, and synagogues. Even though there were
several migrations to Palestine, the bulk of the Jews remained in
Mesopotamian area. Even as late as the New Teatament time, there were
still more Jews in Babylon than in Palestine (ibid., vol i, pg. 7-9).
This explains why the Apostle Peter was in Babylon in the later years
of his life. “The church that is at Babylon, elected together
with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son” (1 Pet 5:13).
After
the death of Zerubbable and Joshua, the people began to take a lazy
attitude regarding the Temple services and religion in general. Even
though the temple has been completed by 515 B.C. the people of Palestine
took no interest in rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. It still remained
in ruins. The people had also begun to intermarry freely with the
idolatrous Gentile people round about them. The religious life was
becoming corrupt. As the years rolled by, the condition became worse
and worse.
In
the summer of the year 457 B.C. Ezra came to Palestine to rectify
the serious situation that had gotten out of hand. Ezra was a direct
descendant of Aaron and some of his forefathers had been former High
Priests in Israel. His grandfather was the High Priest who returned
with Zerubbable and Joshua to Jerusalem in the first migration back
to Palestine (Cyclopaedia of Biblical Theological and Ecclesiastical
Literature, Vol iii, pg. 435). Ezra, himself, was a scribe, a ready
scribe of the law of Moses. A scribe of the words of the commandments
of the Lord and His statutes to Israel, a scribe of the Law of the
God of heaven” (Ezra 7:11-12). “He was considered by Josephus,
the Jewish historian of the apostles’ days, to have been in
a sense, the High Priest” of the Jews who were still living
in Babylon” (Antiquities of the Jews, xi, 5,1).
Scripture
says, “Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD,
and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments”
(Ezra 7:10). We can see Ezra was determined to live by the laws of
God and to teach them to the people. “He had profound influence
over the Jews, and so righteous was his character that later Jewish
writers said he would have been the lawgiver to Israel had not Moses
preceded him” (The Talmud, Sanhedrin, c.ii).
Ezra
knew the laws of God–he was well trained in them. God directed
that he go to Jerusalem to beautify the Temple, establish its services
in proper order, to teach the people the laws of God and to rebuild
the city. He went with the authority from the Persian government in
457 B.C. About 2000 went with Ezra to Palestine. These were notable
priest, Levites and servants of the Temple. They went to restore worship
of God to Jerusalem.
Ezra
went to Jerusalem with a royal decree from the king of Persia. Ezra
had the power he needed to carry out reforms. He had the power to
restore true worship of God and he also had the authority from the
King to appoint magistrates and judges which may judge all the people
that are beyond the river in Palestine. “And thou, Ezra, after
the wisdom of thy God, that is in thine hand, set magistrates and
judges, which may judge all the people that are beyond the river,
all such as know the laws of thy God; and teach ye them that know
them not. And whosoever will not do the law of thy God, and the law
of the king, let judgment be executed speedily upon him, whether it
be unto death, or to banishment, or to confiscation of goods, or to
imprisonment” (Ezra 7:25-26). Ezra went to Jerusalem not only
as a priest, but he went to establish law and order by rebuilding
Jerusalem as the capital of Judah.
Why
was the king of Persia so interested in the Jews religion and why
did he want Jerusalem to be rebuilt and inhabited? “Esther,
a Jewish girl, from the tribe of Benjamin, became Queen of Persia,
and Mordecai, her uncle, became Prime Minister of the Kingdom. Esther
was married to King Xerxes (Ahasuerus) who ruled, according to Persian
reckoning from 485 to 465 B.C. The King under which Ezra was appointed
to rebuild Jerusalem was Artaxerexes I--the son of Exerxes, Esther
was still, undoubtedly, the Queen Mother, when Ezra left for Jerusalem
in 457 B.C. Thus we see that there was considerable Jewish influence
in the king’s palace at this time. The real intent of Ezra was
to establish the Law of Moses as the constitutional law throughout
Judaea” (Herford, Talmud and Aprocrypha, pg. 33). This was to
make Judea a model state within the Persian Empire. The Persian rulers
living far from Judea, seldom interfered with the internal affairs
of their Jewish subject, as long as the royal taxes were paid, and
order maintained. This was the policy of the Persian rulers for the
two centuries they governed Palestine. This gave the Jews ample opportunity
to settle down firmly in Palestine and to practice their religion
without undue interference.
The
first thing Ezra found upon his arrival in Palestine was that most
of the people possessed only a small amount of knowledge about religion.
Temple services were not being conducted properly and a great number
of people had intermarried with foreign women. Ezra warned the people
that these very acts were a violation of the Law that caused their
forefathers to be carried away into captivity! “And at the evening
sacrifice I arose up from my heaviness; and having rent my garment
and my mantle, I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto
the LORD my God, And said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift
up my face to thee, my God: for our iniquities are increased over
our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens. Since the
days of our fathers have we been in a great trespass unto this day;
and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered
into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity,
and to a spoil, and to confusion of face, as it is this day”
(Ezra 9:5-7).
We
find all people were not willing to put away their foreign wives.
It took about 13 years to get all the people to forsake their own
ways and be obedient to the Laws of God. The reason why they were
commanded not to take foreign wives was because people have a tendency
to accept the religion of their mates. King Solomon was the perfect
example of leaving the true God for pagan worship to please his wives.
Solomon even set up pagan idols in Jerusalem and throughout Israel
to please his pagan wives. “For it came to pass, when Solomon
was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and
his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart
of David his father” (1 Kings 11:4). God’s law specifically
commands the Israelites not to marry heathen women or men. “Lest
thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go
a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and
one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; And thou take of their
daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their
gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods” (Exo.
34:15-16). Ezra commanded the Jews to repent of their pagan ways and
begin keeping the commands of God. “Neither shalt thou make
marriages with them; thy daughter thou shalt not give unto his son,
nor his daughter shalt thou take unto thy son” (Deu. 7:3).
Ezra
was to establish the civil law in Palestine. He was to follow the
laws given to Moses by God. He was determined to see that the Jews
obeyed the commandments of God as revealed in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers
and Deuteronomy. Within these four books are found the basic spiritual
commandments of God, plus many basic laws and statutes of the civil
nature for the governing of the physical nation of Israel. Also within
these books are the ritualistic and ceremonial laws of purity and
the sacrificial ordinances that formed such a distinctive part of
the Law of Moses that by the New Testament times the term “Law
of Moses” often became a special and exclusive term for the
sacrificial ceremonies and physical rituals. “And by Him all
that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not
be justified by the law of Moses” (Acts 13:39). “But there
rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying,
That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep
the law of Moses” (Acts 15:5). It took the help of Nehemiah
to finally implant the Law of Moses as the law of the land.
Nehemiah
was a high government official in the Persian kingdom. After learning
of the Jews plight in Palestine and the difficult time Ezra was having
getting the Jews to obey the laws of Moses, he resolved to help the
situation. He petitioned the king to become governor of the province
of Judea directly under the king. The petition was granted. He went
to Jerusalem as governor of the whole province of Judaea!
Upon
his arrival in the twentieth years of Artazerxes, Ezra position was
greatly strengthened. Both Ezra and Nehemiah worked together in harmony
toward getting the people back to God. They established the Law of
Moses as the law of the land and set up the Temple service in proper
order and made the people put away foreign wives. The ordained priests
were judges, teachers, and administers of the government.
Under
Ezra and Nehemiah, the people, the Levites and all the principal men
came and signed a covenant that they would henceforth obey the laws
of God. In the covenant they signed, they all agreed to perform seven
things. 1). They were to keep all the laws, statutes, judgments and
commandments of God. 2). Not to intermarry with the heathen. 3). To
keep the Sabbath holy. 4). To observe the Sabbatical year. 5). To
pay the annual third of a shekel for the upkeep of the Temple. 6).
To supply wood for the altar in the temple. 7). To pay all the tithes
that were commanded in the Law (Nehemiah 10:28-39). The leaders signed
the covenant on behalf of the people. This proved to be a spiritual
renewal in Israel. It was a kind of Church and state relationship.
This resulted in a religious unity not known since the days of Joshua.
Ezra was called the second Moses.
The
convening of the Jewish elders was of great importance. This assembly
was called the “Great Assembly.” It was comprised of Ezra,
Nehemiah, two of God’s chosen along with all the principal priests
of the Jews. This assembly was the ruling institution to guide the
religious life of the Jews. It was the religious supreme court. This
assembly initiated by Ezra and Nehemiah has often been called by the
Greek name “The Great Synagogue.” The word “synagogue”
in Greek means assembly.
“According
to the most ancient tradition, this assembly or synagogue was styled
great because of the great work it effected in restoring the divine
law to its former greatness, and because of the great authority and
reputation which it enjoyed” (Cyclo. Of Bible, Theo. And Ecc.
Literature, Vol x, pg. 82). Some of the decisions of this Great Assembly
have had far-reaching effects---even to our present day.
The
Jewish historians tell us that there were 120 members in the original
Great Assembly (Beerkoth,ii,4; Megillab, 17B) all of these members
were priests (Herford, Talmud and Apocrypha, pg. 59). The president
or ruler was the High Priest. However, when the Great Assembly was
organized by Ezra and Nehemiah, the High Priest, Eliashib did not
meet with the assembly. He did not agree with the covenant the Great
Assembly made binding. “And before this, Eliashib the priest,
having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied
unto Tobiah” (Neh. 13:4). The priests were the leaders of the
Jewish nation at the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, about 400 years before
Christ. In the next issue we will see how the Great Assembly put together
the Old Testament Scriptures with the help of God’s Spirit.
☜
(To
be continued in the next issue of the “Prove All Things.”)
Information
for this article was taken from the Good News Magazine, February 1961.
We
encourage you to read the original article titled “Is Judaism
the Law of Moses".