What's the Deal, Mark?

In Mark 7:3-4, the author (Mark) seems to call into question the tradition of kashering utensils:

Mark 7:3-4

"3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches."

And yet this tradition is deemed by Scripture to have originated from Moses:

Numbers 31:21-24

21 Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle, “This is what is required by the law that the Lord gave Moses: 22 Gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, lead 23 and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire, and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing. And whatever cannot withstand fire must be put through that water. 24 On the seventh day wash your clothes and you will be clean. Then you may come into the camp.”

Question 39:

How do we reconcile Mark's apparent words with Torah?  Is this a variant or is Mark merely trying to give some halachic background without necessarily making a value judgment?  

Share Your Story

Do you have a testimony to share that might be informative and/or encouraging to other One Law Messianic Believers in Yeshua?  I'm going to create a section of this blog for people to share their experiences.  If this interests you then I'd like to suggest the following format:

-1 to 5 pages in length

-Refrain from using people's real names in order to preserve privacy

-Include sections about (1) how you identify/practice; (2) areas where you're confused and looking for guidance; (3) thoughts about how Messianic Judaism can improve; (4) what types of obstacles have you encountered and how have you dealt with those obstacles.

And, yes, I'll try to draft something as well.

Blessings to you all,

Peter

Isaiah 58 and Not Speaking Your Own Words: Question 38

Courtesy of JD Hancock

There's some real puzzlers in this passage:

Isaiah 58

13 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, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:

14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Question:

What does it mean "not doing thine own ways", "nor finding thine own pleasure", "nor speaking thine own words"?  How do we tell the difference between delighting in Shabbat and delighting in our own pleasures?  And what possible pragmatic application might we find in the enigmatic instruction to not speak with our own words?  

The Shema: Question 37

The Shema connects the following:

(1) affirming the oneness of G-d;

(2) fearing G-d;

(3) keeping His mitzvot;

(4) loving G-d;

(5) teaching the Torah to one's children;

(6) making/using tefillin;

(7) making/using mezuzot

Question 37:  What does the oneness of G-d have to do with mitzvot, tefillin, mezuzot, etc?

photo credit: alvy via photo pin cc

Examples of Halacha in the New Testament

The following excerpts from Jewish Law From Jesus to the Mishnah by E. P. Sanders show the Biblical grounding for each of the primary mitzvot and then shows how these mitzvot were treated by Yeshua (N.B. the author is non-Messianic).  This is not intended to be comprehensive--it's just to give you an idea of how the New Testament can be a source for halacha:

Principles vs. Rules

Cajun wrote:

Peter, are you wanting the meforshim [commentary on Messianic halachic principles] to be limited to the New Covenant or may they range the Scriptures?

My response:

Statement of Principles: YOU CAN HELP!

Approaches to Messianic Halacha: An Introduction (Part III) [UPDATED]

Do Jews Have the Right to the Land of Israel? Question 36

Stuart Dauermann posed an interesting question at his blog The Messianic Agenda.  Do the Jewish people have the right to return to Israel after so long?

I think he misses something: there can only be two types of justification:  a secular justification and a religious justification.

I believe that all rights belong to G-d.  We only have the "right" to follow His will.  This is the religious justification for a return to the Land.

The secular justification isn't very persuasive.  Many, many years ago I attended a Zola Levitt lecture (my parents have always been huge fans).  And Zola alluded to some of the secular justifications:  (1) that Israelis have a historical claim (which is certainly true); (2) that Israelis took the Land through war, which is how most European countries and America originally laid claim to their land.  He might've cited some other rationales but this was so long ago that I don't remember.

The problem with the secular justifications are that they leave you feeling sorry for those who were living in Israel before 1948 and who had to leave.

But if we look at the "right" of return as G-d's right then consideration for the feelings of those dwellers in Israel prior to 1948 is less of a problem.  G-d's will trumps anyone else's will.  He is the sole rights-holder.

Question 36:

Do you have a more persuasive secular justification for Jewish right to the Land of Israel?






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My Wife and I were Playing Bible Trivia and...Question: 35

One of the questions in the Bible Trivia game referred to Zechariah 13:9... I don't remember the question but this passage has always baffled me.  It says:

9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The Lord is my God.

Question 35:

Does anyone understand this prophecy?  

Leadership Qualifications (Cajun)

Here's a great, Biblically-based list of leadership qualifications (thanks, Cajun!):

Leadership Qualifications

Gene Occasionally Gets it Right : )

Recently, I posed the question "To codify or not to codify" and Gene suggested creating a "Statement of Principles for Messianic Halacha" (I'm paraphrasing quite a lot).

I think this is a good idea for several reasons.  As I explained earlier, halacha should be straightforward and understandable.  Rabbinic Judaism created an oxymoronic written, oral-Torah that has many weaknesses (e.g. it's impractical, confusing, inefficient, un-democratic, convoluted, esoteric, etc).  The original Oral Tradition was flexible, democratic, approachable, straightforward, and understandable even to the layperson.  So we need to restore the oral tradition--no big deal.

How do we do that?  Scientific method:

(1) observe all possible sources for halacha (e.g. Written Torah, New Testament, secondary sources such as Talmud, Codes, Commentaries, etc, etc);

(2) hypothesize as to general principles (which in my opinion should be topically categorized according to the Mishna's system of classification but more on that later);

(3) verify the principles (this is where the Kol Echad Initiative might be handy);

(4) systematize an integrated body of halachic principles---no biggie

In short, our goal with regard to halacha should be to devise a straightforward, understandable, yet comprehensive guide to Messianic halacha in order to bring stability, autonomy, and cohesiveness to the One-Law Messianic movement.

Our next step then will be to discuss how to categorize halacha so that people can start providing input as to the New Covenant Principles for Messianic Halacha.  I'll post something soon about this so that we can all get to work.  This will have to be a communal effort because the scope of it exceeds the intellectual reach of any single man (unless one of you out there is the next Maimonides).  : )

Shalom

Messianic Halacha: To Codify or Not to Codify...Question 34

It seems to me that the Torah communicated precisely that which could be communicated in writing and nothing more, implying that anything left indefinite was meant to be supplied with a flexible tradition.  However, my thinking is at odds with Rabbinic Judaism...sort of.  Rabbinic Judaism admits that the Oral Torah, ideally, should've been left alone as a pluralistic, oral tradition.  And they'd probably agree with me that, in addition to being an oxymoron, the Talmud has the following WEAKNESSES:

(1) impractical (as evidenced by the presence of law codes such as Shulchan Aruch and Mishneh Torah), an idea best expressed in Ecc 12:12, "My son, beware of anything beyond these.  Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh";

(2) confusing (as evidenced the genre of endless Talmudic commentaries);

(3) inefficient (as evidenced by the historical fact that the original oral tradition was transmitted orally);

(4) un-democratic (as opposed to the oral transmission method which resulted in each layman being a master of the oral tradition).

But they'd also say that it was necessary to codify due to the overriding threat that all tradition could've been lost post-70 C.E.  And they say that since it has been established then it carries the force of law (albeit, a law that is open to interpretation).

Are there any STRENGTHS to having a codified oral tradition?  Well, I wouldn't call it a strength but there is a POSSIBILITY that the codification ensured that the oral tradition was not lost.  I'm not sure I agree but this is the common understanding.  Although, it seems to me that the advantages of a written oral tradition would've been outweighed by the confusion brought on by eliminating the back and forth, give and take, question and answering process of the oral tradition.

However, allowing Messianic halacha to remain un-codified would be a threat.  It would mean implicitly allowing the non-Messianic community to have authority over the Messianic educational sphere.

So let's open it up for discussion:

QUESTION 34:

What are the pros/cons of codifying Messianic halacha?

Baptists Celebrate Shabbat Now?????????

So my wife just handed me a brochure from Grove Avenue Baptist church and said, "Look, they celebrate Shabbat."

So I looked and on the main brochure that they handed out earlier today it read...

Handy Article on the Structure of Jewish Law

This is a good introduction to the Jewish legal system if anyone is interested [I'm not affiliated]:

Link to Article