Quotes:
“I am more than ever certain that a great place belongs to him in Israel's history of faith and that this place cannot be described by any of the usual categories.” -Martin Buber, leading Jewish writer, thinker, philosopher, and theologian (1878-1965).
“No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates in every word.” -Albert Einstein (Quote taken from “What Life Means to Einstein,” The Saturday Evening Post, October 26, 1929)
“Christianity is completed Judaism... Christianity is incomprehensible without Judaism, as Judaism is incomplete without Christianity." -Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of England
“When asked why he had "given up the synagogue for the church," Zolli replied, "I have not given it up. Christianity is the completion of the synagogue, for the synagogue was a promise, and Christianity is the fulfillment of that promise." - Israel Zolli, Chief Rabbi of Rome
"I am poor and feeble, persecuted and vulnerable, Yeshua conquered me, and with the New Man he honored me, He delivered me from the poverty-stricken self with his great love, he cherishes me." -Daniel Zion, Chief Rabbi of Bulgarian Jews
The Bible was written thousands of years ago, in ancient languages and cultures that are vastly different from ours today. Even our English translations are translation of translations.
Therefore it is important to understand as much as we can about the original languages and cultures of the Bible.
For instance, consider how Paul was a tentmaker in Acts 18 and Lydia (Acts 16) was a seller of purple. Paul was a tentmaker (little tent); the prayer shawl was consider to be everyman’s little tabernacle (tent). Paul made Prayer shawls.
The writers of the Old Testament were Jews; the writers of the New Testament were Jews. They had a Jewish culture. It behooves us to learn more about it.
Matthew 4:14-17; Isaiah 9:6-7
“unto us [Jews] a son is given”
For Isaiah was a Jewish Prophet writing to Jews and wrote in Hebrew.
This then brings us to ask 3 primary questions:
1) Ethnically, was Jesus a Jew?
2) Was Jesus a Torah observant Jew?
3) If the answer to questions 1 & 2 are yes (Jesus was a Torah observant Jew) then why wouldn’t Christians follow Judaism?
Let’s dive right in:
ONE) Ethnically, was Jesus a Jew?
First off from reading the New Testament we clearly see that Jesus identified with the Jews of His day.
“He came to His own [Judah], and His own [Judah] did not receive Him. But as many [Jews] as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name...” -John 1:11-12 NKJV
Jesus said, "You [Gentiles] worship what you do not know; we [Jews] know what we [Jews] worship, for salvation is of the Jews.” (John 4:22).
Hebrews 7:14 says, “For it is evident that our Lord sprang out of [the tribe of] Judah…”
Judah is the name from which we derive the name “Jew” from.
The first verse of Matthew clearly proclaims the Jewish ethnicity of Jesus. “The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” -Matthew 1:1.
Mary, the mother of Jesus as found in the genealogy of Luke chapter 3, is also clearly identified as a direct descendant of King David, giving Jesus the legal right to ascend the Jewish throne as well as further establishing Jesus as a Jew ethnically.
So without any doubt Jesus was ethnically a Jew by birth and birthright.
TWO) Was Jesus a Torah observant Jew?
The parents of Jesus (Joseph & Mary) had “done everything required by the Law for their child, Jesus.
“And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth.” -Luke 2:39.
In the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5–7), Jesus said, “Ye have heard” and “it hath been said” several times.
When/Where had they heard… from their oral Torah (Talmud) not from the written Torah (the first 5 books of the Old Testament).
Jesus was correcting them with the written Word (Torah). That is why Jesus would say things like, “You have heard” & “it hath been said”, as compared to other places where He would say, “It is written”.
For example, Jesus said:
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” - Matthew 5:43-44
Was Jesus teaching something new? No.
God's law says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbour” -Leviticus 19:18;
However, God's law does not say, “hate thine enemy.”
Jesus continually confirmed/affirmed the authority of the Torah and the Prophets.
Jesus regularly attended synagogue: “…and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read.” -Luke 4:16.
Jesus’ teaching was respected by other Jews of His day: “He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.” -Luke 4:15.
Jesus taught in the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem: “And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives.” -Luke 21:37.
If He were not a Jew, He would certainly not have been allowed into that part of the Temple. (Acts 21:28-30).
Jesus also bore the outward signs of being a Torah observant Jew.
Jesus wore tzitzit (tassles) on His clothing to serve as a reminder of the commandments (Numbers 15:37-39):
The lady with an issue of blood touched the “border” (tassles/tzitzit) of His garment and was healed. (Luke 8:43).
“And besought him that they might only touch the hem (Kaspedon) of his garment (Himation): and as many as touched were made perfectly whole.” -Matthew 14:36
Malicha 4:2 “But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings [tzitzit];…”
Jesus even dealt with the improper way that some of the Pharisees wore the tzitzit in Matthew 23:5 “But all their works they do to be seen of men: they enlarge the borders (Kaspedon) of their garments (Himation).”
Kraspedon is the Greek word for Tzitzit and himation is the Greek for a cloak or covering, or in other words, a Tallit (Prayer Shawl).
In Mark 5:41 Jesus “took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.”
“Talitha” does not mean damsel in Hebrew; “Cumi” means arise in Hebrew. It would seem to be more accurate to say, “Arise even as my Tallit.” Thus a picture of Jesus (Yahshua) lifting her up with one hand and raising his Tallit heavenward with the other, which would have been a customary way of prayer for a Jew.
Jesus observed Passover: “The Jews' passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.” -John 2:13
Jesus observed Succoth (Booths), or the feast of tabernacles: John 7:2, 10 “2- Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand. 10- But when his brethren
were gone up, then went he also up unto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret.”
Jesus also observed Hanukah, the festival of lights in John 10:22
And Rosh Hashanah, the feast of trumpets in John 5:1.
Clearly, Jesus identified Himself as a Jew (John 4:22) and as King of the Jews (Mark 15:2).
From His birth to His last Passover Seder (Luke 22:14-15), Jesus lived as a Torah observant Jew.
Thee) So, if Jesus was a Torah keeping Jew, why is it that we as Christians do not follow Judaism?
First off, the Laws/Torah (613 Mitzvah/Commandants) of Judaism were given to Moses for the children of Israel in the covenant at Mount Sinai as recorded in the book of Exodus.
In this covenant, God wrote His laws on tablets of stone, and Israel was commanded to be obedient.
This covenant was a type/foreshadow of a New and better covenant that God bring to both Jew and Gentile.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 “31- Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 32- Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 33- But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34-
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
We as Christians do not follow Judaism today because the Mosaic covenant has been fulfilled in Christ Jesus.
Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” -Matthew 5:17.
& “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” -Hebrews 8:13.
As Christians we do not need to follow the old covenant because the old has been replaced with the new (a covenant of better promises).
Therefore we have a better covenant, with a better sacrifice, administered by a better High Priest – Jesus The Christ!
B “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” -Hebrews 10:19-23.
