Epistle BeHar
Epistle BeHar
John 7:1-24
Joh 7:1 After these things, Yeshua was walking in the Galil, for he wouldn’t walk in Yehudah, because the Judeans sought to kill him.
As we have mentined before, saying “the Jews” is painting with way too broad a brush. We know from Josephus and other secular sources that the High Priest, the hereditary Cohen HaGadol, had long since been replaced by political appointees, and that the entire Sanhedrin was “stacked” with people favorable toward both Hellenism and who would pose no threat to Rome with any silly ideas of self-determination or independence. The true hereditary families of the High Priesthood and Levites had withdrawn or were forced out. The political appointees that governed Judea on behalf of Rome were not in any way the legitimate government of Israel. Of those teachers and sects that remained above-ground, so to speak, there were various sects and sub-sects who rarely agreed on anything and spent their time vying for power and control of seats in the Sanhedrin, rather like our political parties today.
John, continued:
Joh 7:2 Now the Jewish festival, the Feast of Sukkot, was at hand.
As a reminder to us that John is a Gnostic text, written in the 2nd century CE, we see that he refers to the festival as a “Jewish” festival, when all throughout the Tanakh they are called “the Feasts of YHWH.”
John, continued:
Joh 7:3 His brothers therefore said to him, “Depart from here, and go into Yehudah, that your talmidim also may see your works which you do.
Joh 7:4 For no one does anything in secret, and himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, reveal yourself to the world.”
Joh 7:5 For even his brothers didn’t believe in him.
Referring here to Yeshua’s earthly kin – the other sons of his mother Mary, who was certainly not a “perpetual virgin.”
John, continued:
Joh 7:6 Yeshua therefore said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.
Joh 7:7 The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil.
This contradicts Yeshua’s words to us in the synoptic gospels:
Mat 10:22 You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end will be saved.
John, continued:
Joh 7:8 You go up to the feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, because my time is not yet fulfilled.”
Joh 7:9 Having said these things to them, he stayed in the Galil.
Joh 7:10 But when his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly, but as it were in secret.
Joh 7:11 The Jews therefore sought him at the feast, and said, “Where is he?”
Joh 7:12 There was much murmuring among the multitudes concerning him. Some said, “He is a good man.” Others said, “Not so, but he leads the multitude astray.”
Joh 7:13 Yet no one spoke openly of him for fear of the Jews.
The way this is usually translated (as shown here above) is an incredibly inane statement – everyone in this narrative is a Jew. Yeshua was a Jew, the apostles were all Jews, his numerous other followers were Jews, and most of the crowds were Jews. What they feared was the politically appointed leaders who brooked no competition or challenge to their authority, “Judeans,” not “Jews.” The real John was also obviously a Jew, also.
John, continued:
Joh 7:14 But when it was now the midst of the feast, Yeshua went up into the temple and taught.
Joh 7:15 The Judeans therefore marveled, saying, “How does this man know letters, having never been educated?“
“Letters” would be gemara, which is still studied to this day by the Rabbinate, a system English speakers would call a “numerology.” Each boy in the 1st century, starting at age 5, learned the written Torah – that had been the case since the Babylonian captivity. They learned it until they became bar mitzvah at age 13. (Many girls also learned, until they became bat mitzvah at age 12.) Wealthy families would then send one or more of their sons to study Mishna and Gemara under a teacher, such as the schools of Hillel and Shammai, and teachers such as Gamliel. Shaul studied under Gamliel, whom the Talmud confirms to be a real person who really lived at that time. Other boys were apprenticed in trades, of course. It is commonly presumed Yeshua learned carpentry from his earthly father, Yosef. Shaul was a tentmaker or a maker of tzitziyot, depending on whose translations you favor. Shimon Keifa and others were fishermen, etc. When the Pharisees complained Yeshua “hadn’t been educated” they meant He hadn’t been indoctrinated in one of their schools and “learned” Mishna and Gemara, not that he hadn’t learned the written Torah along with every other male child in Israel. Obviously He knew the written Torah perfectly well, and often stumped them with it!
John, continued:
Joh 7:16 Yeshua therefore answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.
Joh 7:17 If anyone desires to do his will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is from Elohim, or if I am speaking from myself.
In other words, every teaching of His is easily verified in the written Torah and Tanakh. Their stuff was and still is made up of takanot and ma’asim – traditions and precedents of the oral law that they make up out of the thin blue air, and teach in the “name” of old Rabbis no one knows now, to make it sound as if their teachings are long-held and legitimate. Nothing could be further from the truth.
John, continued:
Joh 7:18 He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
The Pharisess, especially, are guilty of “re-writing” the Torah to suit themselves. They aggrandize themselves at the expense of others and at the expense of the truth.
John, continued:
Joh 7:19 Didn’t Moshe give you the Torah, and yet none of you keeps the Torah? Why do you seek to kill me?”
The Torah says (rather, Yeshua as YHWH Incarnate said):
Deu 4:1 Now, Yisra’el, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which YHWH, the Elohim of your fathers, gives you. Deu 4:2 You shall not add to the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish from it, that you may keep the mitzvot of YHWH your Elohim which I command you.
The Mishna and Gemara and later the Talmud clearly violates this commandment.
John, continued:
Joh 7:20 The multitude answered, “You have a demon! Who seeks to kill you?”
Joh 7:21 Yeshua answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel because of it.
Joh 7:22 Moshe has given you circumcision (not that it is of Moshe, but of the fathers), and on the Shabbat you circumcise a boy.
Joh 7:23 If a boy receives circumcision on the Shabbat, that the Torah of Moshe may not be broken, are you angry with me, because I made a man every bit whole on the Shabbat?
Joh 7:24 Don’t judge according to appearance, but judge righteous judgment.”
As we have seen before, there is no commandment whatsoever not to heal on Shabbat. Their holier-than-thou additions to the Torah, their oral law, forbids healing on Shabbat. They judge other people, even to this day, by their own standards and not by Elohim’s – though they will tell you with a straight face they are teaching Elohim’s will. So many generations have been brainwashed by the oral law that they really do believe that. But righteous judgement means judging by Elohim’s standards, not by ours. Our standards may be more strict or more lenient, either way – but the traditions and precedents of the Rabbis are not the real Torah. The “oral law” is a fake substitute for the real Torah, the “commandments of men.”
Isa 29:13 Adonai said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a mitzvah of men which has been taught; Isa 29:14 therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will be hidden.”
It can’t happen soon enough!
Next: Kollel BeHar.
Loading...