This should be considered along with my prior piece on Israel. You will understand this much better once you have a clear understanding of who and what Israel is. In our modern age, post 1948, when the modern nation of Israel was founded, we conflate the Jews (Judah) with Israel even though in the Bible they are two different kingdoms, Judah and Israel. The word Jews (יְּהוּדִים) first appears in the Bible in 2 Kings 16:6 translated there frequently as “men of Judah,” not “the Jews.” Judah is just one of the twelve sons of Jacob/Israel. Israel proper would be all twelve tribes. Unfortunately, after the northern kingdom of Israel went into exile, which continues to this day, the kingdom of Judah became the only visible part of Israel. The kingdom of Judah includes not only Judah but also Benjamin and Levi. The term Jew eventually was used to mean anyone of the kingdom of Judah, meaning all three of those tribes. We know Benjamin was still there as the apostle Sha’ul (Paul) tells us in Philippians 3:5 that he is “circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin; a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee.” The priests, kohen (כֹּהֵן) in Hebrew, are still with us as you can find many people with the surname Cohen (C instead of K in English) today.
The Israelites are the covenant people. The covenant entered into at Mt. Sinai said that if the Israelites would keep Yehovah God’s commandments, His Torah, that He would be their God, and they would be His people. In both Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, we read that there would be blessings for keeping the covenant, following His Torah, and that there would be curses for failure to do so. The point of the curses was always to bring about repentance, to turn the people back to Yehovah God’s ways, bring them back into covenant. Unfortunately, if the curses fail to bring repentance, ultimately, they will be removed from their land and scattered to the nations. This happened to both the northern kingdom of Israel, as well as to the southern kingdom of Judah, the Jews. The Jews were regathered to the land after the Babylonian captivity only to be tossed out again by the Romans circa 135 C.E. Why were they tossed out again? Curses for breaking the covenant. In 1948, they, Judah, the Jews, were regathered, or should I say began the process of being regathered, to the land. This regathering continues as more than half of them are still outside of the promised land. As for Israel, they are still scattered and for the most part they don’t even know who they are anymore; this is incredible given that there are probably over 2 billion of them (read the Israel and America pieces for details)!
Yehovah God did not create a religion at Mt. Sinai, he entered into a covenant, a relationship, with his chosen people, Israel. This was a marriage covenant, that is the relationship. Yehovah God Himself tells the story through the prophet Ezekiel saying, “Then I passed by and saw you, and you were indeed old enough for love. So I spread My cloak over you and covered your nakedness. I pledged Myself to you, entered into a covenant with you, and you became Mine, declares the Lord GOD. Then I bathed you with water, rinsed off your blood, and anointed you with oil. I clothed you in embroidered cloth and gave you sandals of fine leather. I wrapped you in fine linen and covered you with silk. I adorned you with jewelry, and I put bracelets on your wrists and a chain around your neck. I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown upon your head. So you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was made of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became very beautiful and rose to be queen. Your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was perfect in the splendor I bestowed on you, declares the Lord GOD.”
DTR, define the relationship. Yehovah God did exactly that at Mt. Sinai. He shouted down his commandments and was interrupted after he got through the first ten. Moses received the rest because the people were afraid they would die if they heard any more of the voice of God (Exodus 20). Moses heard the rest directly from Yehovah God and conveyed them to the people and their response was, “All the words that the LORD has spoken, we will do.” They said, “I do!” (Exodus 24:3). The rest of the Torah fleshes out the details of what is expected in this relationship. There was no negotiation, Yehovah defined the relationship; this wasn’t of man but of God. In Deuteronomy 12:32 Yehovah God says, “See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.” This is where we get into trouble. We decide we know best how to worship God. We create our own religious system, author our own rules and ignore the ones that were given that we don’t particularly like; we add to and take away from it, which we were commanded not to do.
If you were to ask the Jews, they would tell you that they keep the Torah. Does the evidence show that Yehovah God thinks that is true? Back to the blessings and curses of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, the Jews were thrown out of their land twice. That is the penalty for not keeping the covenant. Each time, He sent His prophets to call the people back, but they continually ignored the calling and continued in their own ways, adding to and taking away. Go and read Ezekiel 16:15-63. No, really, click the link and go read it; I’ll wait. This is right after what was quoted above about the marriage. The details of the breaking of their marriage vows are spelled out and the results of their disobedience are made clear. But, after their chastisement, Yehovah God will remember the covenant and restore them.
That was then, what about now? They are back in the land, at least some of them. Did they learn the lessons that the diasporas were to teach and now follow the Torah? Do not add to or take away from the commandments of God. Find the following in your Bible: the kippah that a Jewish man wears, the netilat yadayim (a ritual of hand washing and blessing before eating bread), not tearing toilet paper on Shabbat, the Shabbat elevator, the Eruv (rules covering carrying things on Shabbat). The list could go on and on, but I’ll stop there. I’ll wait here while you search your Bible for these. Did you find them? Not one of these is in the Torah!! These are all “additions to.” So, do they keep Torah? Not according to the Torah itself; these, and many more, blatantly violate Deuteronomy 12:32. What happens for continually violating the Torah? Curses, Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28! More on this in my piece on October 7th.
Why do they do this? Well, the rabbis, modern day Pharisees, create rules, Takkanot, that they say are based upon Torah. They created a religion out of a relationship. Takkanot are manmade directives that enjoy the force of law. These Takkanot are all part of what was called the oral Torah, oral law. This oral Torah was eventually written down and is known as the Talmud. The Talmud is what most Jews actually follow, man made rules, religion. They will read the Torah but then interpret it through the Talmud. If you follow man made rules you are not following Yehovah God’s rules, His instructions, His Torah. This Takkanot is why if I go into a McDonald’s in Israel I can’t find one sandwich with cheese on it. Why is that? In Exodus 34 we read, “You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.” The rabbis interpret this to mean, “do not eat meat and dairy together.” This is Takkanot, a manmade rule, the rabbi’s interpretation. How do we know that that is not a valid interpretation? Genesis 18:8 says, “He then brought some curds and milk and the calf that had been prepared, and set these before them. While they ate, he stood near them under a tree.” Abraham served Yehovah God Himself “milk and the calf,” dairy and meat, together, and He ate it! And I still cannot get cheese on a Big Mac in Israel!
Why are the Jews not Christians? Why do they not accept Jesus as their Messiah? What many Christians do not understand is that Yeshua (Jesus)’s first coming was not as a king but as “the prophet.” Deuteronomy 18:15-20 says, “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him. This is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!’ Then the LORD said to me, ‘They have spoken well. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. And I will hold accountable anyone who does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name. But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.’” Yeshua is that prophet. In John 1:19-21 we read how the Jews were looking for “the prophet.” The Jews expected the prophet to be soon arriving as Daniel’s 70 weeks should have been drawing to a close at that time. They thought that John the Baptist might be him because of what he was doing and preaching, but he told them that he was not.
In Malachi 3:6-7 we read, “‘I the LORD do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.” The LORD (Yehovah) does NOT change. This is critical. This is in the Christian Bible as well as the Jewish Bible. And just so we are clear, in the New Testament, Hebrews 13:8 we see, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” And, John 1 confirms that the Word, Jesus Christ, Yeshua Messiah, is God, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” God. Does. Not. Change.
Consider a Christian trying to evangelize a Jew, put yourself in the shoes of the Jew. The Jew knows that the Messiah is coming. He knows the prophet is coming. The Jew has an expectation but doesn’t know who fulfills the expectation. Deuteronomy 18 tells us that a false prophet is to be put to death. Someone that preaches, prophesies, something contradictory to what is in the Torah is a false prophet because Yehovah, the LORD, does not change. Who is this Jesus that the Christian is trying to convince the Jew is the Messiah? A Jesus that changes the Sabbath to Sunday (God does not change). A Jesus that ignores the commanded feasts, Leviticus 23, and makes up his own (Christmas, Easter)? A Jesus that condones eating pork, shellfish, etc. in violation of Leviticus 11? The Christian is preaching a Jesus that creates Takkanot, adding to and taking away from the commandments of God. If this is the case, the Jews were right to execute Jesus since Deuteronomy says, “that prophet must be put to death.” Does the Yeshua (Jesus) presented in the Gospel of Matthew speak against Torah? Consider Matthew 5:17-19, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill [make complete] them. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished [everything has NOT been accomplished]. Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” This says that the Jesus preached above to the Jew would be called least in the kingdom of heaven. Really? Most all of those things contradictory to Torah are taken from misunderstanding Sha’ul (Paul)’s letters. Kepha, Peter, warns us about that in 2 Peter 3:16-17, “He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. Therefore, dear friends, since you have been forewarned, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position.” Sha’ul cannot contradict Yeshua!! Kepha is warning us to be on guard against that.
I pray this helps you understand who the Jews are. They have some things right and some things wrong, as we all do. Just as the Jews still haven’t learned the lessons about not creating manmade religion, the Christians haven’t learned either. Christians create their own Takkanot which we will discuss in a future piece.
New here? Consider reading the introduction here.