Former rabbis had believed that the Messiah would bring in a
new set of laws to replace the Mosaic laws. We find a number of indications of
this in the Talmud, compiled around 550 AD. Jewish commentator Raphael Patai
had written:
·
The notion that the days of the messiah, the
messiah’s apocalyptic reign, will be served by a new law is a Jewish one. Paul
is quite Jewish in seeking to extend his new, more accessible, religion to
Gentiles in the interest of time as did some of his contemporaries among the
rabbis. In his essay, “The Crisis of Tradition in Jewish Messianism,” G.
Scholem reviews the most important rabbinic statements that look forward to a
utopian messianic age governed by a new, relaxed law:
·
Lev. Rabbah 9:7 - All sacrifices will be
abolished except for the offer of thanksgiving.
·
Yalkut and Midrash Mishle (on Prov. 9:2) - All
festivals will be abolished except for Purim which will never be abolished (and
the Day of Atonement will be like Purim)
·
Midrash Tehillim (in regard to Ps. 146:7) - The
Lord allows the forbidden … and will one day allow the eating of all animals
now forbidden to be eaten … In the time to come he will allow everything that
he has forbidden.
·
Lev. Rabbah 13:3 - A new Torah [law or teaching]
shall go forth from me.
·
Yalkut (in regard to Isa 26:2) - the messiah
himself will teach it (The Jewish Messiahs, Harris Lenowitz,
page 270ff)
·
Eccl. Rabbah 11:1 - R Hizqiya in the name of R.
Simon bar Zibdi said: “The whole Tora which you learn in This World is vanity
as against the Tora of the World to Come. For in This World a man learns Tora
and forgets, but in the Future to Come (he will not forget) as it is written, I
will put My Tora in their inward parts and in their heart will I write it (Jer.
31:33) (The Messiah Texts, Raphael Patai,
pages 247-257) http://www.hadavar.org/critical-issues/anti-missionary-arguments/additional-issues/the-law-of-moses-is-eternal/
However, modern-day rabbis have gravitated to a different
view – that the Mosaic Laws are eternally binding. The Jewish Encyclopedia's "New Testament" article states:
·
"The idea of the new covenant is based
chiefly upon Jeremiah 31:31–34. That the prophet's words do not imply an
abrogation of the Law is evidenced by his emphatic declaration of the
immutability of the covenant with Israel (Jeremiah 31:35–36); he obviously
looked for a renewal of the Law through a regeneration of the hearts of the
people."
(Please note that Jeremiah 31:35-36 says nothing about the continuation of the
Mosaic Covenant! Instead, Jeremiah 31:32 claims that the New Covenant will “not
[be] like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took
them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they
broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.”)
Elsewhere, The Jewish
Encyclopedia reads:
·
Judaism knows of no other than the old Sinaitic [Mosaic]
covenant. Eternal as the covenant with heaven and earth is God's covenant with
the seed of Jacob (Jer. xxxiii. 25 et seq.). http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4714-covenant
However, Scripture reveals that the Mosaic Covenant would be
unable to deliver what the Messiah and His New Covenant were finally able to
provide. When we examine Messianic prophecy, we find that Israel’s blessedness
was not to be found in their adherence to the Mosaic Law but in their Messiah.
The following are verses that the rabbis had also regarded as Messianic:
·
The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because
the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind
up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of
the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; to grant to
those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a
faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of
the LORD, that he may be glorified…you shall be called the priests of the LORD;
they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God; you shall eat the wealth
of the nations, and in their glory you shall boast. Instead of your shame there
shall be a double portion; instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion; they shall have
everlasting joy. (Isaiah 61:1-7; ESV)
In what state do we find Israel prior to the Messiah’s
return? One of shame and dishonor! It would be the Messiah, and not Mosaic Law
keeping, that would “bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.” Instead of
exalting Israel, the Mosaic Law would evidently afflict Israel through their
failure to keep it.
Elsewhere, Isaiah prophesies that the Messiah will bring
justice, not the Mosaic Law:
·
Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in
whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth
justice to the nations… “I am the LORD; I have called you in righteousness; I
will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the
people, a light for the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out
the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.
(Isaiah 42:1-7; 9:6-7; 11:1-10)
The Messiah will also be the covenant and the light, which
the Mosaic Covenant (MC) could not provide. He would open blind eyes and
release those in bondage. Clearly, the MC would fail to do this.
·
The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their
voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the
LORD to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem,
for the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has
bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the
earth shall see the salvation of our God. (Isaiah 52:8-10)
At the time of the Messiah’s return, there will be “waste
places of Jerusalem.” Why would this be if Israel’s adherence to the MC had
been adequate? Evidently, it wouldn’t be. Instead, Israel’s hope would have to
be in the Messiah and not in their ability to keep the MC.
Who is “his holy arm?” Isaiah tells us:
·
Who has believed what he has heard from us? And
to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a
young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that
we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised
and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one
from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely
he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted. (Isaiah 53:1-4)
Why would the Messiah have to carry “our sorrows” if the MC
had been adequate? Instead, the Messiah, the one who would bear Israel’s sins,
would ultimately be their hope.
The Messiah’s return will mean comfort for the afflicted and
a worldwide awakening:
·
The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied; those
who seek him shall praise the LORD! May your hearts live forever! All the ends
of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the
nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he
rules over the nations. (Psalm 22:26-28 [This Psalm might not have been
considered Messianic by the rabbis]; also see Psalm 2, 40, 69)
Salvation wouldn’t come through Israel’s obedience to the MC.
Instead, as so many prophecies indicate, it would come through the Messiah:
·
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout
aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous
and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal
of a donkey…and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea
to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because
of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your prisoners free from the
waterless pit…On that day the LORD their God will save them, as the flock of
his people; for like the jewels of a crown they shall shine on his land. (Zechariah
9:9-16)
The MC would not bring salvation, but death, because of
Israel’s disobedience:
·
Why then has this people turned away in
perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return. I have
paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents
of his evil, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turns to his own course. (Jeremiah
8:5-6; 5:3; Isaiah 1:3-4; 9:3; 64:7; 65:2-3; 66:4; Hosea 4:6; 7:10)
Instead of bringing glory to God, Israel under the MC would
profane Him. This is why a New Covenant was necessary. Besides, the MC governed
by fear. Israel had been terrified to hear God’s voice and dared not to come
into His presence lest they be struck dead.
Why weren’t the rabbis willing to see that the MC brought Israel
under the curse of God, as so many verses indicate?
·
“But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD
your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I
command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you…”
(Deuteronomy 28:15; 27:26)
After this, God gave Moses a prophetic song to teach to His people
that would illustrate their future rebellion under the Mosaic Covenant:
·
“They [Israel] stirred him to jealousy with
strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger. They sacrificed to
demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had
come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded. You were unmindful of the
Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.” (Deuteronomy
32:16-18)
However, the song ended with a promise of God’s mercy:
·
"Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For
He will avenge the blood of His servants, And render vengeance to His
adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people." (Deuteronomy
32:43 NKJV)
There is no mention anywhere in this song of Israel
successfully keeping the law and meriting God’s mercy. Why don’t the rabbis see
that an eternal MC offered them no hope and no blessedness? Why would they put
their hope in their ability to keep the Law? Why do the rabbis reject the New
Covenant and its promised blessedness through an intimate love-relationship
with their Savior, something they could never enjoy under the MC?
·
And I will make for them a covenant…And I will
betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in
justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in
faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. (Hosea 2:18-20)
Sadly, my Jewish people continue to harden their heart
against their Savior, and, by doing so, they have also hardened their heart
against wisdom, plunging themselves headlong into the darkness (John 3:19-21).
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