Jewish roots - authentic identity in the midst of broken branches

One of the main deliberations in the Messianic Jewish movement today is, “What is true Jewish identity, and what is authentic Messianic Jewish identity?” Some Gentiles who are interested in things Jewish ask a similar question: “What are the Jewish roots of our faith, and how can Gentile believers embrace those Jewish aspects which are kosher/acceptable in God’s sight?”

Paul prophesies that a day is coming when the majority of the Jewish people (the natural branches) will be re-grafted in with great power and fruitfulness into their own Jewish olive tree of faith: “How much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?” (Romans 11:24). He also speaks of Gentile believers in Yeshua as wild olive branches “grafted in among the (Jewish believing) branches and have become partakers with them of the rich root of the olive tree” (Romans 11:22). The Greek here literally says ‘partakers with them in the root of the fatness’ or ‘partakers in the rich sap’ which comes from the root of the tree).

Déjà vu all over again

Not so long ago – only 2,850 years back – the Jewish people found themselves in a spiritual pickle. The God of Jacob had promised, “For YHVH will not abandon His people on account of His great name, because YHVH has been pleased to make you a people for Himself” (1 Samuel 12:22: see also Psalm 94:14). But ten tribes rose up in rebellion against the House of David:  “When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, ‘What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse! To your tents, O Israel! Now look after your own house, David!’ So Israel departed to their tents … So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day” (1 Kings 12:16, 19).

This rebellion significantly influenced Jewish spiritual and physical history. Fateful decisions were made.

The northern Ten Tribes still worshiped YHVH, but Israel had become physically and spiritually sick, and in rebellion against Jacob’s God.

Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth, for YHVH speaks. Sons I have reared and brought up, but they have revolted against Me. An ox knows its owner, and a donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know! My people do not understand! Alas, sinful nation! People weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned YHVH. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away from Him. Where will you be stricken again as you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. From the sole of the foot even to the head there is nothing sound in it – only bruises, welts and raw wounds, not pressed out or bandaged, nor softened with oil (Isaiah 1:2-6).

Eventually the southern two tribes of Judah also rebelled. Davidic kings, Levitical priests and the common people all joined in forsaking YHVH: “Now the word of YHVH came to me saying, Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says YHVH, I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, the love of your betrothals, your following after Me in the wilderness through a land not sown … For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters – to hew for themselves cisterns – broken cisterns – that can hold no water’” (Jeremiah 2:2-3, 13).

What an incredible scenario! The people whom God chose, and the royal dynasty that YHVH had chosen – all turned against Him. Even so, God remained faithful and still remains faithful to His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob: “Thus says YHVH, If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out below, then I will also cast off all the offspring of Israel for all that they have done, declares YHVH” (Jeremiah 31:37).

A precious remnant remains

The God of Jacob will never abandon His people, even when the sins of the majority of the people are grievous: “Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in covenant faithfulness” (Micah 7:18).

Paul echoes this prophetic promise: “In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice” (Romans 11:5).

Ministering to a people beset by apostasy

Israel had moved into full blown rebellion and apostasy. As a result, the Hebrew prophets faced challenging problems as they attempted to minister to Jacob’s children.

How to minister to a rebellious and apostate nation? This tension comes out most clearly in the story of three Jews – Elisha, Jehoshaphat and Jehoram:

Elisha would have refused to honor the King of Israel’s request for a royal audience. He consented to show up and minister only because of the presence of a descendant of the House of David at the meeting. Some thoughts here:

A decisive rejection

When Messiah Yeshua the Son of David presented Himself to Israel, the Zenith of prophetic revelation came face to face with His Jewish nation. Though many Jewish people did happily receive Yeshua, the majority of Jacob’s leaders did not. As the Psalmist prophesied, “the Stone which the builders rejected has become the Chief Cornerstone” (Psalm 118:22) Peter added that Yeshua “is the Stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the Chief Cornerstone” (Acts 4:11).

This rejection of Messiah brought a measure of darkness and suffering to my people. Through it all, though YHVH has not rejected us as a people, we have experienced increased woe. We have also experienced an extended national Exile – both spiritually and physically – because of our leaders’ rejection of Messiah.

Part of our national rebellion expressed itself in Jeroboam’s day in the way we developed unauthorized and inauthentic religious traditions. In the same way, after Israel’s religious leaders rejected Messiah Yeshua, the non-Levitical Pharisaic leaders developed many unauthorized and inauthentic religious traditions. Some of these new Jewish traditions leave no room for Yeshua, and they sidestep the biblical need for Messiah’s atonement.

We Messianic Jews often find ourselves stepping onto this creaking bridge of Jewish tradition. Truth is, certain beams in that spiritual structure cannot bear the weight of Messiah’s glory. Nevertheless, the pull of these traditions often remains very strong in the souls of some Messianic Jews. 

Searching for our roots

In the 20th century modern African-Americans have searched for their roots in the writings of Franz Fanon, Stokely Carmichael, Eldridge Cleaver and Alex Haley’s Roots TV program. Italian Americans cast a longing eye toward their past roots in Hollywood epics like The Godfather. Jewish people in America look to Fiddler on the Roof and Schindler’s List for a glimpse of Eastern European roots. The American melting pot may slowly be dissolving ethnic and cultural backgrounds, but some of these ethnic streams are very much trying to keep ‘roots memories’ alive.

I agree that the Black Panthers and the Cosa Nostra may not be the best role models available. And for many North American Jews, the wider Jewish community no longer sees its identity as defined by Orthodox Judaism. Our forefathers in Poland, Ukraine and Russia were not happy with the strong religious control they faced, a very real part of shtetl life. Their emigration to the New World included a deliberate choosing of American civil rights and democratic and secular ways. It is we, their grandchildren, who sometimes look back longingly and unrealistically to an Orthodox Judaism lifestyle, hoping that a dream-like sojourn in Tevye’s world will confer true and authentic Jewish identity upon us.   

Today significant streams in the Messianic Jewish community advocate that there is only one authentic Jewish lifestyle, and that it is rooted in the Mosaic covenant. They believe that an authentic Jewish life looks a lot like Orthodox Judaism. These folks add that non-Jews don’t need to follow the Mosaic Law – unless of course these non-Jews want to be part of Messianic congregations …

Continuity and discontinuity

Jeremiah 31:31-34 prophesies that YHVH is bringing forth a New Covenant, “not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt – My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares YHVH.”

The New Covenant described by Jeremiah is not like the Mosaic Covenant. The New Covenant is not a renewed Mosaic Covenant, but a truly New Covenant.

As Messianic Jews struggle with the ramifications of this passage (and with others, like Galatians 3:19-25) we will hammer out our own authentic identity. Then we will be able to offer true hope and light to Israel and to the world. Only then will we successfully proclaim Messiah Yeshua’s atonement and the gift of the Holy Spirit to our people, many who are experiencing brokenness in many ways.

How should we then pray?

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey

Donations can be sent to:

FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES

BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA

Donations can also be made on-line (by PayPal or credit card) through: www.davidstent.org

We wish you a kosher Pentecost!

Today is the Day of Pentecost (Greek for ‘fiftieth’). The original Hebrew name is Shavuot (‘weeks’), referring to the waiting period between Passover and Pentecost – seven weeks of seven days each, culminating in the holiday on the fiftieth day (Leviticus 23:15-21). 
 
My Polish Jewish grandfather used to say, “A goat may have a beard, but that doesn’t make him a rabbi!” In the same way, some Jewish traditions may have beautiful beards, but that does not make every last one of these traditions biblical or authentic. Shavuot is a good illustration of this proverb. Let’s look at this together.
 
A harvest by any other name
 
The first biblical harvest of the New Year (Passover time, according to Exodus 12:1-2) is barley (see Exodus 9:31; Ruth 1:22). The Book of Ruth takes place closer to Passover time, during the barley harvest.
 
The next crop comes soon after, and it is wheat (Exodus 34:22; Deuteronomy 16:9-12). Shavuot celebrates the wheat harvest, as these above passages explain. Fifty days separate these two harvests.
 
This Festival of Shavuot is also called the Feast of the Reaping in Exodus 23:16, where it says to celebrate “the reaping of the first fruits of your labors which you have sown in the field” (also see Numbers 28:2).
 
Shavuot is an agricultural festival in the Bible. It could well be that the declaration of thanksgiving in Deuteronomy 16:1-11 was proclaimed by each and every Jewish farmer on Shavuot when he brought his first fruits offering to the House of YHVH in Jerusalem.
 
Three times a year all Jewish men needed to come up to Jerusalem and appear before YHVH’s presence with offerings (Exodus 23:14-17; 34:23; Deuteronomy 16:16). It was one of the shalosh regalim (sholesh regolim in Yiddish), one of the three pilgrim feats.
 

  • That is all that Moses said about Shavuot – no more and no less. Shavuot is not linked to any other Biblical occurrence or date in the Hebrew Scriptures. 

Jumping Jubilee!
 
Over one hundred years before the birth of Yeshua, Jewish scribes translated the Bible from Hebrew into Greek. Their translation, known as the Septuagint (meaning ‘the seventy’ scribes who traditionally did the work) uses the word Pentēkostē in Leviticus 25:10, referring to ‘the fiftieth’ – in this case the 50th year of Jubilee. In Yeshua’s day Hebrew-speaking Jews would call the Feast ‘Shavuot’ while Greek-speaking Jews would call the same Feast Pentēkostē (or Pentecost in modern English).

A Jewish get-together
 
When I studied Second Temple Jewish History at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, my professor Dr. Menahem Stern (the top world scholar of that discipline) pointed out how Acts 2:9-11 was an excellent description of the extent of the Jewish Diaspora in those days – the countries to which Israel had been exiled and still remained in Exile:
 
Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs – we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God” (Acts 2:5-11)
 
Shavuot meant that Jews from all over the world were coming up to Jerusalem to honor YHVH’s commandment. Though a few proselytes (Gentile converts to Judaism) also came up, it was Jews from Arabia to Asia, from Egypt to Elam who all got together for a national Thanksgiving Day celebration in Jerusalem. This happened every year – a Jewish people celebrating a Jewish feast in a Jewish city.
 

  • Again, nothing in Acts 2 points to anything other than a biblical and agricultural feast of thanksgiving – exactly as Moses wrote.

The message of Messianic Pentecost
 
Shimon (better known today as Simon Peter) is filled with the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, as are his spiritual comrades. Tongues looking like flame were dancing on their heads, and they all began to speak in unlearned languages – the languages of the countries of their Exile (Acts 2:6-8). The good news of Messiah Yeshua and His resurrection were being proclaimed in the very heart of Jerusalem.
 
Peter said that these amazing manifestations were a reflection of Joel’s Last Days prophecies. Earthquakes, world-shaking signs and the outpouring of the Ruach Hakodesh would characterize these Days. In the same way, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 was a down payment, a promise that all these events will one day come to pass, and that all the Jewish people will be filled with the Spirit of YHVH.
 
Eight years later, the Good News of Messiah Yeshua was still only being preached to Jewish people. But three breakthrough events occurred in Acts 8-10: Philip was led by the Spirit to share the Message with an Ethiopian eunuch; Saul was miraculously brought into the Kingdom; and Peter was brought up to Caesarea to share his Jewish message with the family of the Roman centurion of the Italian Cohort. That whole Roman family repented, came into the kingdom, and spoke in tongues  – but as Gentiles and not as converts to Judaism.
 
Rabbinic counter-response part one
 
This business of allowing Gentiles to have access to Jewish blessings and to have equal fellowship with the God of Israel alongside of Jews – this was shocking to the majority of Pharisees as well as to the other streams of Judaism. Most Jewish religious leaders feared that this new upstart Messianic movement, by allowing Gentiles in, would overwhelm rabbinic Judaism’s role as watchman on the Mosaic walls.
 
Whereas Messianic Jews such as Paul declared that Gentile followers of Yeshua could now be fellow heirs of the same Messianic body and fellow-citizens with the Jewish saints (Ephesian 2:19-3:6), the rabbis countered that the hero of Shavuot is actually a heroine. Ruth was now elevated as the poster child of Gentile conversion to rabbinic Judaism. Her Passover barley harvest story was morphed into a Shavuot wheat harvest narrative. Though the rabbis came on the scene over 1,000 years AFTER Ruth, they now tweaked the story of Ruth. Some even said that three rabbis actually were witnesses officiating at Ruth’s (fictional) conversion to rabbinic Judaism on the threshing floor.
 

  • Just to re-emphasize this point, there is not historical or biblical evidence that the events of Ruth took place at Shavuot.

Rabbinic counter-response part two
 
The rabbis Paul used to fellowship with before his Damascus Road roller coaster experience had an even more serious objection to apostolic Messianic teaching. Though Paul did live a Mosaic life (see Acts 28:17) as did all Messianic Jews at that time (see Acts 2:20-25), Paul taught that one of the main purposes of the Mosaic covenant teachings (Torah in Hebrew means ‘teaching’) was to lead the Jewish people to Messiah Yeshua. Paul adds that when the Jewish people come to Messiah Yeshua they are no longer under the guardianship of the Mosaic covenant. Paul uses the Greek term paidagogos, which referred to a bodyguard who would take the child from his home through the raunchy Greek streets, protecting him and bringing him safely to the Greek school. Paul calls the Mosaic covenant a paidagogos (often translated ‘a tutor’):
 
Why the Torah then? It was added because of transgressions, having been ordained through angels by the agency of a mediator, until the Seed would come to whom the promise had been made . . . But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the Torah, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore, the Torah has become our tutor to lead us to Messiah, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor (Galatians 3:19, 23-25).
 
The Rabbis understood that Paul was interpreting the Hebrew of Jeremiah 31:31-34 as meaning that the new covenant was “not like” the Mosaic covenant. Their counter-reaction was multifaceted. It involved closing down open discussion of Jeremiah 31, while insisting that Jeremiah must have only meant ‘a renewed covenant.’ But this rabbinic decision involved violating the clear meaning of Jeremiah 31:32, “not like the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the Land of Egypt.” Jeremiah clearly prophesied that the New Covenant was a Jewish covenant and that it was not like the Mosaic covenant. That’s why Jeremiah called it a ‘New Covenant.’
 
So the rabbis, like Mary Poppins, reached into their magic carpet bag and drew out a new date on the Jewish calendar – they proclaimed that Shavuot actually occurred on the same day that the Mosaic Covenant was given. From now on, Shavuot would become a holiday celebrating Mosaic Torah. The Giving of the Law would be championed, and the New Covenant Messianic movement would be undercut.
 

  • Without any scriptural warrant, authority or proof, the Rabbis tweaked the emphasis of Shavuot from thankful celebration of the wheat harvest to a Mosaic birthday party. It is as if they said, “Let’s make sure to leave out the New Covenant, leave out Messiah Yeshua, and let’s make sure that there are no Gentiles sneaking in the back door into a Jewish kingdom!”

Living in the Day of Small Things
 
The prophet warned his people not to despise the day of small things (Zechariah 4:10). In the Messianic movement in our day, we should also be aware that sometimes some of our theological formulations are more tentative and less accurate that we might think.
 
Most Messianic leaders and teachers have been taught by their leaders and teachers that the rabbinic perspectives on Shavuot and the rabbinic perspectives on the Mosaic covenant are kosher. I have dear Messianic friends and leaders who deny that the New Covenant is actually a New Covenant. Instead, they teach that it is simply a new and improved Mosaic Covenant.
 
I have dear Messianic friends who believe, as the rabbis teach, that Shavuot is when the Mosaic covenant was given and that Ruth is the poster child for friendly Gentiles, who should convert to rabbinic Judaism.
 
It is my conviction that these dear friends err (see Matthew 22:29) not knowing what the Scriptures say (or don’t say, in this case!). They are perhaps unaware of both Jewish and rabbinic history – and unaware of the early clashes between Messianic apostolic teaching and that of the rabbis on these points.
 
How should we then pray?
 

  • Pray for an increased understanding to come to the Messianic Jewish movement about the authentic biblical meaning of Shavuot
  • Pray for revelation to come to many hungry Jewish hearts about Messiah Yeshua and His New Covenantal gift of the Holy Spirit and salvation
  • Pray for followers of Jesus worldwide to receive and embrace these biblical and foundational truths, and not to get hung up on some inaccurate rabbinic traditions
  • Pray for the raising up of Ezekiel’s prophetic Jewish army throughout the earth

Your prayers and support hold up our arms and are the very practical enablement of God to us in the work He has called us to do.

In Messiah Yeshua,

Avner Boskey
 
Donations can be sent to:
 
FINAL FRONTIER MINISTRIES 
BOX 121971 NASHVILLE TN 37212-1971 USA
 
Donations can also be made on-line (by PayPal or credit card) through: www.davidstent.org

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