I feel that I should start this post by addressing\u00a0worries concerning the integrity\u00a0of the Bible, because it may seem to be called into question here. \u00a0I believe that, in its original form, the Bible which is YHVH’s communication to us is infallible and without contradiction. \u00a0However, we do not have the Holy Scriptures in their original form. \u00a0We have\u00a0the Old Testament which was\u00a0faithfully handed down in Hebrew, and the New Testament which was handed down in Greek. \u00a0The New Testament is different from the Old Testament in that it is\u00a0put\u00a0together from copies of copies of Greek manuscripts. Both the Old and New Testaments have then been translated for those of us who do not read Hebrew or Greek. \u00a0Nonetheless, read in context and by referring to the more faithful scriptures\u00a0we have access to the invaluable transmission of information from YHVH. \u00a0Any apparent contradictions and errors can be reconciled by allowing the Bible in its entirety to act as its own translator.
\nThe translation of Matthew 23 contains a contradiction that must be reconciled. \u00a0In this chapter Jesus is warning the people against the Scribes and the Pharisees:<\/p>\n
…The scribes and the Pharisees sat down on Moses’ seat. Then all things, whatever they tell you to keep, keep and do. But do not do according to their works, for they say, and do not do. (Matthew 23:2-33 [LITV])<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Jesus is\u00a0telling the people that the scribes and Pharisees do not practise what they preach, but\u00a0this statement also\u00a0seems to\u00a0implicitly command that what they preach, their teachings,\u00a0should be followed. \u00a0This understanding of Jesus’ words\u00a0is not consistent with what he did and said, and is in fact contradicted in the same chapter a few verses later.
\nWhat the Scribes and Pharisees teach is today embodied in the “Talmud” which at that time consisted of oral teachings. \u00a0The oral teachings compiled by the Scribes and Pharisees is\u00a0used as a “revealing” or expansion of the Torah: YHVH’s Law as given to Moses which is summarised by the Ten commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) and given in detail\u00a0in the rest of the book of Exodus, and also in Leviticus and Deuteronomy. \u00a0The original motives for the additions made by the Scribes and Pharisees may well have been the benign wish to promote adherence to the Torah, but ultimately they produced tenants which confounded the Torah, making a burden for the people (Luke 11:46, Matthew 11:29-30, Jeremiah 6:16).
\nJesus is not shy in severely condemning the Scribes and the Pharisees (Matthew 23:4-15). \u00a0Still speaking in Matthew 23 he explains\u00a0two direct examples of the errors of their teachings:<\/p>\nWoe to you, blind guides, who say, Whoever swears by the Holy Place, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the Holy Place is a debtor. Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold, or the Holy Place that sanctifies the gold?
\n(Matthew 23:16-17 [LITV])
\nAnd you say<\/em>\u00a0, Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift on it, he is<\/em>\u00a0a debtor. Fools and blind! For which is<\/em>\u00a0greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? Then the one<\/em>\u00a0swearing by the altar swears by it, and by all things on it. And the one<\/em>\u00a0swearing by the Holy Place swears by it, and by the One dwelling in it. And the one<\/em>\u00a0swearing by Heaven swears by the throne of God, and by the One<\/em> sitting on it. (Matthew 23:18-22 [LITV])<\/p><\/blockquote>\nJesus makes reference to other errant aspects of the behaviour of the Scribes and the Pharisees at other times, but in these two statements he describes in detail two of their teachings which are wrong, these teachings are:<\/p>\n
\n
- It is more important to swear by the gold of the Holy Place, than the Holy Place;<\/li>\n
- It is more important to swear by the gift on the altar than by the altar.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
It is here that we have the point of contradiction, because how can Jesus start the chapter by commanding\u00a0that the teachings of the Scribes and the Pharisees should be followed (Matthew 23:3), but then later say that their teachings are wrong? \u00a0Surely, if this was the case, then Jesus\u00a0would be telling\u00a0us to follow error!
\nJesus also rebukes the Scribes and the Pharisees for creating rules\u00a0that allow people to directly disobey YHVH’s law:<\/p>\nAnd He said to them, Do you do well to set aside the commandment of God so that you may keep your tradition? For Moses said, “Honor your father and your mother;” Ex. 20:12; Deut. 5:16<\/span> and, “The one speaking evil of father or mother, let him expire by death.” Ex. 21:17<\/span> But you say, If a man says to his father or mother, Corban, (which is, A gift!) whatever you may profit by me. And you no longer allow him to do anything for his<\/span> father or mother, making the Word of God of no effect by your tradition which you delivered. And many such like things you do.
\n(Mark 7:9-13 [LITV])<\/p><\/blockquote>\nIt is important to note here that the Scribes and Pharisees in the these teachings highlighted have disobeyed YHVH in two distinct ways. YHVH, expressly commanded that nothing be added to nor taken away from His Law\u00a0(Deut. 4:2, 12:32). \u00a0By\u00a0creating the oral teachings, the Talmud,\u00a0and\u00a0requiring people to follow them, the Pharisees have done both these things.\u00a0If Jesus really said that we should follow the teachings of the Scribes and the Pharisees, he would be commanding us to follow those that have disobeyed YHVH, and by so doing disobeying YHVH himself. \u00a0This he never did, or he could not be our sinless saviour.
\nWe can see, therefore, that the idea that Jesus is telling us to follow the Talmud, the teachings of the Pharisees, could not be further from the truth. \u00a0What then was Jesus saying in Matthew 23:3? \u00a0How can we properly interpret his words? \u00a0By linking Matthew 23:3 with the immediate context provided by the preceding verse we can better interpret what Jesus was saying in a way that does not contradict the rest of the chapter, and Jesus’ general attitude towards the Pharisees and their oral teachings:<\/p>\n…The scribes and the Pharisees sat down on Moses’ seat. Then, all things whatever they tell you to keep, keep and do. But do not do according to their works, for they say, and do not do.
\n(Matthew 23:2-3 [LITV – revised])<\/p><\/blockquote>\nNote carefully that the phrase, “Then all things, whatever…” has had the punctuation\u00a0changed. \u00a0This changes the emphasis of the verse (Matthew 23:3) without requiring any words to be changed. \u00a0This change is valid, as the original Greek text did not have any punctuation; the punctuation\u00a0has been added by translators. \u00a0The phrase, “sat on Moses’ seat” means that the scribes and Pharisees take Moses’ teachings, as their authority. \u00a0The emphasis change introduced by moving the comma allows\u00a0the following interpretation of this passage: When the scribes and Pharisees teach Moses’ law, follow it, but do not follow their teachings because they depart from Moses’ law.<\/i> \u00a0<\/i>Simply by re-positioning a comma Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:3\u00a0are reconciled\u00a0with the rest of Matthew 23 and the rest of Jesus’ teachings regarding the Scribes and Pharisees. \u00a0Jesus never followed the Talmud\u00a0and he expressly told us that neither should we.
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\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I feel that I should start this post by addressing\u00a0worries concerning the integrity\u00a0of the Bible, because it may seem to be called into question here. \u00a0I believe that, in its original form, the Bible which is YHVH’s communication to us is infallible and without contradiction. \u00a0However, we do not have the Holy Scriptures in their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-201","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scriptural-misconceptions","category-son-of-god"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shema.ddns.net\/scripturethoughts\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shema.ddns.net\/scripturethoughts\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shema.ddns.net\/scripturethoughts\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shema.ddns.net\/scripturethoughts\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shema.ddns.net\/scripturethoughts\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shema.ddns.net\/scripturethoughts\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shema.ddns.net\/scripturethoughts\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shema.ddns.net\/scripturethoughts\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shema.ddns.net\/scripturethoughts\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}