Church of God, In Truth
Part 13
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Part 13
JUDAISM, IS IT THE RELIGION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT?
Why were the Pharisees divided among themselves in New Testament times? Why did they come to Jesus to ask
Him to settle disputes?
Part 13
In the last issue we found that the Pharisees were divided into two Schools, the Hillel and the Shammai. The Hillel School emerged the victorious Pharisee group among the Jews.
Within one to two hundred years after Christ, the Jews as a whole gravitated to complete devotion to the teachings of this School of Hillel. There remained remnants of the older denominations which existed in Christ's day, but these remnants were only individuals scattered here and there. Only Pharisaic Judaism, became the real teaching of the Jews, and to this day it is the basis of contemporary Judaism!
The Pharisees saddled burdens on the people. The many commandments that had been enacted by the Pharisees from the time of Joseph ben Joezer, "the Permitter," until a short time after the destruction of Jerusalem were compiled into a book about A.D. 200. This book was later incorporated into the Jewish Talmud. It was call the Mishnah.
The Jewish Talmud was written over a period of years from A.D. 200 until about A.D. 500. The Talmud is composed of two sections: the original Mishnah and a commentary on the Mishnah called the Gemara. The commentary, the Gemara, is the largest part of the Talmud. Both sections together comprise 34 huge volumes in the English translation of the Jewish Talmud.
The Talmud is a vast storehouse of Jewish laws and commandments, plus the discussions and commentaries on them. It is not necessary to review the whole of the Mishnah in order to understand the spirit behind the Pharisaic commands. Only certain special examples of Jewish teachings are necessary to notice. Many examples illustrate that the Judaism of Christ's time was not the religion of Moses.
The Sabbath law of God was not annulled by the Jewish leaders. However, they modified the law in many ways, which are hinted at in the Scriptures.
In the divine Scriptures God does not take volumes of texts to explain what a person's every activity on the Sabbath should be. In God's Word we find the basic and fundamental principles of Sabbath observance. "If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on My Holy Day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words" (Isa. 58:13). "And if the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the Sabbath, or on the Holy Day: and that we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt" (Neh. 10:31). Nehemiah also tells us: "In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the Sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath. And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the Sabbath day. So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice. Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? If ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the Sabbath. And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy" (Neh. 13:15-22).
The Jews of Christ's time were not content with Sabbath principles--the principles of rest from labor, of taking time to study, pray, meditate and go to Sabbath service. They sought to do what the inspired Moses and the prophets never thought necessary.
The Pharisee enacted law after law to regulate every single activity that could be done on the Sabbath. They discarded the plain principles of the Scriptures. They instituted in their place, without any Scriptural authority, the cold and formal Sabbath rules of legalistic Pharisaism, in which no real principles were left---only a maze of exacting and over-burdensome laws. The Sabbath laws of the Pharisees were part of their erroneous teaching which prompted Christ to denounce their binding heavy burdens "which were grievous to be born" (Matt. 23:4).
Edersheim says this about the man-devised teachings on the Sabbath laws. "They will show...how utterly unspiritual the whole system was and how it required no small amount of learning and ingenuity to avoid committing grievous sin" (Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol ii, page 779).
Let's see more of their man-made commandments concerning Sabbath observance. First: the Pharisees decreed "A person would be guilty of breaking the Sabbath if he carried from one place to another any food which weighted as much as a dried fig! Only the weight of half a dried fig or an olive was allowed,
otherwise it would be considered, by the Pharisees, as work, and was prohibited" (Shabbath, 28a. 70b, 71a). A person would be guilty of desecrating the Sabbath, in their eyes, "If he carried more than one swallow of milk or enough oil to anoint a small part of the body" (Shabbath 76a). Even to carry a sheet of paper was forbidden (Shabbath 78a).
"If a fire broke out on the Sabbath in a persons home, he could carry out only the necessary food for the Sabbath. It was interpreted in this manner: if a fire broke out Sabbath evening (Friday night), the owner could take out enough food for three meals; if the fired broke out on Sabbath afternoon, he could take out only enough food for one meal. All the rest of the food had to be left to burn up with the building, for the Pharisees prohibited putting out such a fire--that would be working and constitute a grievous sin" (Shabbath, 115a, 118b). "Also a victim could only take out necessary clothes. It was permissible, however, for a person to put on a few extra clothes, as long as they were worn. Thus, a person could take out some clothes from the burning building, take them off, then go back and put on more clothes, continuing until he was unable to re-enter the building" (Shabbath, 120a). We could go on and on with examples of these traditions of men!!
Christ taught the true spiritual intent of the Sabbath. God's Sabbath is not a burden to man. It is a spiritual blessing. Christ said, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27-28).
To do good works on the Sabbath was forbidden by the Pharisees. Notice how they sought to accuse Christ for healing on the Sabbath! "And He entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched Him, whether He would heal Him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse Him. And He saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. And He saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill? But they held their peace" (Mark 3:1-4). The Pharisees could not answer! They knew that they could not say it was right to do evil. But they also knew that their (traditional) laws forbade doing this kind of good on the Sabbath!
Another example of man made laws is: "Every man upon rising from his sleep in the morning is alike a newborn creature, insofar as the worship of the Creator is concerned, he should prepare himself for worship by washing his hands out of a vessel, just as the priests used to wash their hands daily out of the wash-basin before performing their service in the Temple. This hand- washing is based on the biblical verse Psalms 26:6-7. There is another reason given by the Kabbalists, (Zohar, quoted in Beth Joseph), for this morning hand washing; when a man is asleep, the holy soul departs from his body, and an unclean spirit descends upon him. When rising from sleep, the unclean spirit departs from his entire body, except from his fingers, and does not depart until one spills water upon them three time alternately. One is not allowed to walk four cubits (six feet) without have ones hands washed, except in cases of extreme necessity" (Code Of Jewish Law by Rabbi Solomon Ganzfried and translated by Hyman E. Goldin, LL.B. 1993, pg.8). Now we can understand why Christ spoke to the Pharisees the way He did. "Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. Howbeit in vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. And He said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition" (Mark 7:5-9).
The Pharisees called this washing rite a custom of the elders of Moses and the prophets. But it was nothing of the kind. Edersheim in his book "Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol ii, pg. 9 note 2, gives reference to the fact that the washing of the hands was similar to rites that were used in heathen religious ceremonies. There can be no doubt that many of these foolish rites of so-called cleanliness came directly from heathenism during the time the Jews were under the domination of Hellenism.
Lauterbach says: "Certain religious practices, considered by the later teachers as part of traditional law, or as handed down from Moses, originated in reality from other, perhaps non-Jewish sources, and had no authority other than the authority of the people who adopted them. This, of course, reflects unfavorable upon the authority of the traditional law in general" (Rabbinic Essays, pg. 241).
The first traces of traditional washing the hands before meals, in a ritualistic sense is found in certain Jewish writing having their origin in Egypt immediately following the period of the religious anarchy--about 160 B.C. In the Sibylline Books, there is mention of some Jews continually washing their hands in connection with prayer and thanksgiving. (Sibyl,iii, 591-593). The Jews in Palestine were also using this new custom. Edersheim tells us: "It was reserved for Hillel and Shammai, the two great rival teachers and heroes of Jewish traditionalism, immediately before Christ, to fix the Rabbinic ordinances about the washing of hands...this was one of the few points on which they agreed...." (Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah, vol ii, pg 13). This particular rite was made into Law just before the days of Christ. Edersheim continues, concerning this rite: "It was so strictly enjoined that to neglect it was like being guilty of gross carnal defilement. Its omission would lead to temporal destruction, or, at least, to poverty. Bread eaten with unwashed hands was as if it had been filth!
There is a direct analogy between the laws of the Rabbis and those of the Greek philosopher Plato. The Jewish historian, Moses Hodas, admits: "The Rabbis were men of faith, and their object was the service of religion, but their method for securing discipline was like Plato's, to provide authority for men's smallest actions" (Hellenistic Culture, pg. 82). Such laws as enacted by the Pharisee Rabbis were never conceived until after Hellenistic influence had implanted itself strongly in Palestine.
Judaism is a physical, carnal religion---not spiritual worship! The Pharisees looked upon the common people as having a curse of God upon them since they did not follow the rules of the Pharisees. In the New Testament it is recorded that the Pharisees accusingly asked an officer: "Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him? But this people (the multitude, an Am-ha-aretz) who knowth not the law are cursed" (John 4:47-49).
Even though the Pharisees were the rulers of the synagogues, and though some of the common people regularly attended the synagogue, nevertheless, the Pharisees remained aloof socially. The Pharisee was not to invite a common person into his home, nor was he to go into the home of a commoner. "A Chaber (an associate of the Pharisee fraternity) does not go as a guest to an Am Ha-aretz nor receive him as a guest within his walls" (Demai ii,3).
The example of Christ and the disciples, by contrast, was one of love and compassion for the people at large. No wonder many of the people were beginning to believe on Christ--these were Am ha-artetz. "And He went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto Him, and He taught them. And as He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow Me. And he arose and followed him. And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and His disciples: for there were many, and they followed Him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw Him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto His disciples, How is it that He eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, He saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Mark 2:13-17). Also see Matthew 9:9-13 and Luke 5:27-32.
The Pharisees would not have thought for a moment of going into the home of a commoner and partaking of a meal with him. That was just not done!!! It was the practice of Christ and His disciples to eat with the common people! Christ's opinion of the ridiculous and snobbish commandments of the Pharisees is found in the book of Mark 7. "And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do" (Mark 7:4-8). Christ was trying to tell them they were to keep God's Word, not the traditions of their fathers (meaning Hillel and Shammai).
Christ kept Scripture commands, not the traditions of men!! Christ taught His disciples to obey the commandments of God and reject the commandments of men. Christ came to restore the Laws of God among a people who had lost them. The Pharisees had become blind leaders of the blind! "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch" (Matt. 15:14).
Christ told His disciples: "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, It is because we have taken no bread. Which when Jesus perceived, He said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason ye among yourselves, because ye have brought no bread? Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matt 16:6-12). Christ came to a Jewish world which, in most part, had totally left the simple Laws of the Scripture!! Most of the people were not really religious at all. The common people, over 95% of the population, were truly sheep without a shepherd!
Christ came into a world which needed Him and His message! The people needed God's laws and His commandments restored! God the Father, at the appropriate time, sent His Son into the world to give it the unadulterated Laws of Scripture in their full spiritual significance. Christ not only came to restore the
Scripture as a proper guide to the people, He also came with the New Testament revelation which gave completeness to the Scripture!
(To be continued in the next Prove All Things. Information for this article was taken from the January 1962 issue of the Good News Magazine, published by Ambassador College. We encourage you to read the original article entitled "Is Judaism the Law of Moses?" Part 13).
IT IS NOT THE CHURCH OF GOD, IN TRUTH'S INTENTION TO DEGRADE THE JEWISH PEOPLE. IT IS OUR INTENTION TO SHOW AND PROVE THAT JUDAISM IS NOT THE RELIGION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT, JUST LIKE CATHOLICISM IS NOT THE TRUE RELIGION OF JESUS CHRIST!
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