SPEAKING WORDS OF CENSURE: THE CASE OF ISRAEL

A Messianic Jewish minister had written:

• Antisemitism has one cause – Satan.

I responded that antisemitism is not simply Satanic:

“Understandably, you do not want to blame the victim. Nor do we want to give additional ammo to the anti-Semite. Besides, we do not want to give needless offense to the Jewish community and to further alienate them from the Gospel by suggesting that they have played a role in bringing misfortune upon themselves.

However, we cannot deny the reality of Israel’s rebellion either and betray the Word of God in the process. Moses had attributed anti-Semitism to Israel’s unfaithfulness:

• Deut. 28:58 If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law… 28:64-65 Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations… Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart.    
• Deut. 28:37 You will become a thing of horror and an object of scorn and ridicule to all the nations where the LORD will drive you.

The Prophets of Israel also attributed anti-Semitism and the resulting misfortunes to Israel’s unfaithfulness. We must do likewise and warn Israel for their own good:

• Ezekiel 2:3-5 And He said to me: "Son of man, I am sending you to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. For they are impudent and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you shall say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD.' As for them, whether they hear or whether they refuse--for they are a rebellious house--yet they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Sometimes, we misunderstand the nature of biblical love, thinking that it requires us to only speak comforting words. However, God sending the Prophets with His accusing words was also a reflection of His love for Israel.

Peter, writing to the Jews living in the Diaspora, even went a step further, accusing his people of rejecting their promised Messiah:

• 1 Peter 2:7-8  So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” [Quoting Psalm 118:22] and “A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” [Quoting Isaiah 8:14]. They stumble because they disobey the word.

Peter didn’t make such accusations because of any disdain for his own people. Instead, he evidently knew that Israel needed to hear these words of censure, perhaps to shake them loose from their rebellion.

There are also other verses that my people should have considered about our rejection of our Messiah:

·           Isaiah 53:3-6 He [the Messiah] was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

·           Isaiah 49:6-7 he says: "It is too small a thing for you [the Messiah] to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth." This is what the Lord says--the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel--to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation [of Israel], to the servant of rulers: "Kings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

These might sound like harsh words, but they are also words of love from God, who is trying to call Israel to repentance. However, God will do more than call. He will also open Israel’s eyes to the One whom they have pierced:

·           Zech. 12:10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they [Israel] have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”

As He has promised, He will also save His chosen in the end:

·           Hosea 1:9-11 Then the LORD said, "Call him Lo-Ammi, for you are not my people, and I am not your God." Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.' The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be reunited...

·           Isaiah 49:14-17 But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me." "Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. Your sons hasten back, and those who laid you waste depart from you.

·           Romans 11:25-29 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so ALL Israel [even rebellious Israel] will be saved, as it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins." As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they [Israel] are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God's gifts and his call are irrevocable.

Nevertheless, if we love, we will not withhold the necessary words of censure, even if our people has suffered so much already.

Talmudic Judaism and its Fruits

Today’s Orthodox Jews are Talmudic Jews in contrast to Biblical Jews. This means that they esteem the Talmud - a vast collection of ancient rabbinic writings compiled around 550 AD - above all other writings, even Scripture.

The Talmudic writings represent a departure from the Hebrew Scriptures in many ways. It has also superseded the Scriptures, according to its own statements. For example:

• "Those who devote themselves to reading the Bible exercise a certain virtue, but not very much; those who study the Mischnah exercise virtue for which they will receive a reward; those, however, who take upon themselves to study the Gemarah exercise the highest virtue." (Babha Metsia, fol. 33a)

• "The Sacred Scriptures is like water, the Mischnah wine, and the Gemarah aromatic wine. (Sopherim XV, 7, fol. 13b)

• "He who transgresses the words of the scribes sins more gravely than the transgressors of the words of the law." (Sanhedrin X, 3, f.88b)

Not only does this constitute adding to the Law, something that God had forbidden Israel to do (Deut. 4:2; 12:32), it also involved replacing the Law - something that Moses had warned repeatedly against. Isaiah had denounced Israel for teaching commandments of men in place of those of God:

• Isaiah 29:13-14 And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth    and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their [faithfulness] fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

Regarding “commandment taught by men,” the Talmud teaches many things counter to what is found in the Scriptures. For example, it teaches the superiority of the Jew, something that Moses had repeatedly warned against believing:

• Deuteronomy 9:4, 6 “Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you… Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.”

Moses also warned our people to not take credit for their successes:

• Deuteronomy 8:17-19  Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’  You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.  And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.

Sadly, our people have gone after a very different g-d – a Talmudic invention. Instead of being the light to the world, we have covered it with the darkness of the Talmud. And the dreadful promised consequences have continually followed. Moses warned that we would be hated by the world. This prophecy has become a persistent fact of history, always accompanied by the disobedience of our people in turning from Scripture.

Jesus attempted to turn Israel back to their G-d. However, He observed that there was no way that they would hear Him since they even refused to believe Moses (John 5:44-47).

Meanwhile, the greatness and restoration of the Jewish nation has always accompanied a return to our G-d. (Adherence to the Talmud has only brought despair and dispersion.) God built Israel into a great nation because of the faithfulness of King David. This greatness continued through much of Solomon’s reign. It was restored, in great measure, under the faithful reigns of the great kings of Judah - Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Josiah. All of these kings had revived Israel by returning to the very Words of God and not to the traditions of the elders or the Talmud.

Even the modern rebirth of Israel had nothing to do with the Talmud. Instead, the Talmud has been a blight upon our people. Yet our G-d promises that He will open the eyes of disobedient Israel:

• Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me [Jesus], on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.”

What does our G-d require of us? Return:

• Jeremiah 3:12-13 “Return, faithless Israel,” declares the Lord. “I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord; I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God.”

Are We Understanding the Bible Wrongly – Hellenistically?

A faith quarantined from life and obedience isn’t a real faith. It’s sterile, lifeless, and unbiblical (James 2:18-24). If we trust in Christ, we do what He tells us to do, albeit very imperfectly.

If we trust in our doctor, we do the things he tells us to do. Faith in Christ is similar. Brian Knowles starts with this point, but he builds upon it with wood, hay, and stubble:

• In fundamentalist Christian circles, it is often more important to believe and espouse "the right thing," than to live the right way. This is why we are so obsessed with creeds, doctrinal statements, Systematic Theologies, orthodoxy vs. heresy, and creating "Evangelical" or "Sabbatarian" or "Trinitarian" theologies. This mode of thinking is thoroughly Western, utterly Greek. 

Knowles is right to examine how our cultural influences – Greek, postmodern, or otherwise - might have skewed the way we understand Scripture. However, if he truly cares about living the “right way,” he errs by disparaging “creeds, doctrinal statements, Systematic Theologies” – our attempts to get our mind around what Scripture is teaching us. If we fail to systematically understand Scripture in a comprehensive way, we then fail to understand how to live our lives. This failure to grapple with Scripture was the very thing that Jesus criticized:

• “Now if a child can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing the whole man on the Sabbath? Stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment." (John 7:23-24)

Jesus’ opponents were technically right. Healing was a form of work, and work shouldn’t be performed on the Sabbath. However, they failed to understand Scripture comprehensively (probably because their hearts were hardened).

If we are to “stop judging by mere appearances, and make a right judgment,” we have to systematically grapple with Scripture:

   

• Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. (2 Tim. 2:15)

However, Knowles does not believe that a systematic preoccupation with the teachings of Scripture is a Hebraic Biblical thing, but the stealth corrupting influence of Greek thought:

·        In Biblical Judaism, it is precisely the opposite. Christians are inclined to subject each other to litmus tests of orthodoxy, while Jews are concerned mainly with behavior…It was gentile Christians, influenced by Greek philosophy, who both intellectualized and systematized Christian doctrine. Worse, they radically changed much of it. The Biblical Hebrews, and the Apostolic Era of the Church, had no formal theology as such. Nothing was systematized.

While Knowles is correct that the Judaism of today downplays doctrine in favor of “behavior,” “Biblical Judaism” is entirely different. In the Hebrew Scriptures, there is surpassing emphasis on what we believe/know. Hence, the Jews are often instructed to remember (know/believe) what God had done for them. Consequently, the Ten Commandments are prefaced by:

• And God spoke all these words: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” (Exodus 20:1-2)

Commands require a faith-rationale. Israel had to remember and believe that their God had redeemed them from Egypt. Otherwise, obedience is foundation-less.

In fact, it is apparent that entire Biblical revelation rests upon knowing God and His character:

• This is what the Lord says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23-24)

If instead, God had been a sadist and a deceiver, everything He revealed to Israel should have be discarded. Obedience requires faith; any action demands a rationale.

Besides, what evidence does Knowles present that the early Jewish church was “concerned mainly with behavior?” And what evidence does he put forth that the “gentile Christians, influenced by Greek philosophy…intellectualized and systematized Christian doctrine” in a way contrary to the thinking of the Hebrew Scriptures? None! Knowles concludes,

• If we are to understand the Bible, and what it means to be a follower of Yeshua ha Mashiach (Jesus the Messiah), then we will have to understand it Hebraically, not Hellenistically. This will require a philosophical and intellectual paradigm shift on our part. It will mean coming at Scripture from an entirely different angle. It will mean learning to think like the Hebrew who thought more like God.

Knowles is correct that the Bible must be understood “Hebraically.” However, he has failed to show that it is he who understand the Bible correctly and “Hebraically.” Perhaps instead, Knowles has been unduly influenced by his prevailing culture?