WBS.222
FUNDAMENTALS OF DISCIPLESHIP
OLD TESTAMENT SURVEY - 2
Romans 9:4 ...Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and
the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of
Elohim, and the promises;
The Apostle Paul identified the Hebrews as the
people unto whom IAUE entrusted with the writing of His Word.
Romans 3:1 What advantage then hath the Jew? or
what profit is there of circumcision?
2 Much every way:
chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
This responsibility is revered among the
Hebrews. It is an honor with which they
have kept faith for millennia. It is also how they KNOW that the writings of
non-Jews may summarily be dismissed without discussion or scrutiny as NOT being
the words of Elohim. If IAUE is going to
speak, such that His words should be written down and remembered, it is going
to be recorded by a Hebrew.
Since the Hebrews wrote the Scriptures, what do THEY
call what we refer to as the "Old Testament?" To the Hebrew, our Old Testament IS the Scripture and the ONLY Scripture. They
do not recognize the New Testament as the “oracles of Elohim.”
The Hebrews divide the Scriptures, what
we call the Old Testament, into three groupings.
- The Torah - the five books of Moshe (Moses),
also called the
Humash, or the Pentateuch, or the Law.
- The
Nevi'im
- the prophets. These are
subdivided into the "former" prophets and the "latter"
prophets.
- The Kethuvim - the writings. These include the remainder of the books; the books of wisdom, and some of the books of history.
From these groupings, the Torah, the Nebi'im, and the Kethubim, is derived the Hebrews’ term for the
Scripures: the TANAK.
The arrangements of the books of the
Tanak is quite different from the Old Testament as we know it. Some of the
books are also combined under a single title, rather than divided into separate
books (i.e., our I Samuel and II Samuel are combined and
called: Shemu'el. I Kings and II Kings are combined in Melakim, etc.). This makes for a total of 24 books in
the Tanak, compared to our 39 books of the Old Testament (which we group into "the law," "history books,"
"wisdom books," "major prophets" and "minor
prophets").
The dating of the various books of the
Tanak and the events contained within them is surrounded with controversy; not
because of man's inability to believe that the events are factual; but rather
due to internal dating mechanisms that frustrate accurate dating of specific
events. For example, if the Scripture says that a king reigned for three years
that does not mean he sat upon the throne for three 12-month periods of time.
No, it means he served two years and any part of the third year...even if only
for one month. Compound that by the tenures of 40 kings and you can begin
to see why accurate dating becomes difficult. "Secular"
historical events running concurrently with biblical events assist in the
dating process.
As a result of these dating
problems, there may be some dates provided during our study that conflict with
dates that you may find in the notes of your Bible, or in other reference
materials you may use for study. Please regard any such inconsistencies
as "suggested" dates. I have not found any two reference books
that contain identical dating of all events; so there are differences of opinions
even among historians and archeologists.
To the Jew, the Tanak IS the Scripture of Elohim. It is offensive to the Jew to
suggest that the Scriptures that were given through them, protected by them,
meticulously copied by them and revered by them throughout the centuries is now
equal to, or superseded by some body of writings that have not been equally
secured and protected by them could be on par with the Tanak. It is
important to understand that what we, as disciples of Yahushua, have
traditionally regarded as the "New" Testament (thus, making the
Hebrews’ Scriptures the "old" testament), are entirely founded upon
the Tanak; and their very validation and legitimacy as "holy writ" is
absolutely dependent upon the Tanak. One thing is certain. The disciple of
Yahushua will never truly understand the New Testament Scriptures without
knowing the Tanak. This is why we are attempting to bring the "original"
Scriptures within our working grasp.
In our first lesson, we observed that the Scriptures,
as we know them, are divided into two sections which we call the "Old
Testament" and the "New Testament." This could, in fact, be represented as the
"First Half" and the "Second Half" of the Abrahamic
Covenant.
Genesis
15:5 And he (IAUE) brought
him (Abram) forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell
the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6 And he
believed in IAUE; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
IAUE was pointing out the constellations to
Abram, which all of the ancients understood preached the good news of the
savior of mankind.
Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of Elohim; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.
2 Day unto day uttereth
speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge.
3 There is no speech nor
language, where their voice is not heard.
Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of IAUE shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him
in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they
have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they
preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
16 But they have not all
obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, IAUE, who hath believed our report?
17 So then faith cometh by
hearing, and hearing by the word of Elohim.
18 But I say, Have they
not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words
unto the ends of the world.
IAUE knew that Abram could “number” the
constellations (meaning, he could read their message in proper order); and he
could “name them” (meaning he knew the names of the key stars in each
constellation and what they represented in the message). IAUE pointed out the star “zerah” (which means: the seed) and said that Zerah
would come from his bloodline. Zerah was the star that represented the Messiah.
Genesis 22:18 And in
thy seed shall all the nations of
the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
IAUE promised to bless Abram (whose name was
changed to Abraham – the father of many nations); but he also specifically
blessed Abram with the promise of Messiah; and Abram believed IAUE and it was
accounted unto him for righteousness (see also Romans 4:1-3).
Galatians 3:16
Now to Abraham and his
seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many;
but as of one, And to thy seed, which
is Messiah.
When
the seed came that had been promised to Abraham, the Zerah cut a NEW covenant
in his blood.
Luke 22:20
Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is
the new testament
(covenant)
in my blood, which is shed for you.
Yes,
the “New Testament” writings do refer to a “new” covenant.
Hebrews 8:8
For finding fault with them, he
saith, Behold, the days come, saith IAUE, when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Hebrews 8:13 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 12:24 And to Yahushua the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
Hebrews 12:24
And to Yahushua the mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
The
Hebrews never understood this portion of the Abrahamic covenant. In fact, with their understanding that the
gentiles were unclean dogs having no covenant with IAUE Elohim, it was
reprehensible to even consider that IAUE would bless them much less make them a
beneficiary of His covenant. They were
expectant of a Messiah who would come and set up a world-kingdom and they would
rule with him over all the gentile nations of the world. This was quite a different mindset from what
IAUE had actually planned.
You
may recall from prior lessons in this blog that the church of Yahushua birthed
on the day of Pentecost was an exclusively Jewish expression for about 25
years. Finally, due to persecution, many Jews fled Jerusalem, and Phillip went
to Samaria and preached to the “mongrel” Jews (the Samaritans were the mixed-race Jews
who were the descendants of the nation of Israel defeated by the Assyrians in
722 BC, and forced to marry outside of their race and nationality.) Later, Peter was
commanded by IAUE to go to the household of Cornelius, a gentile; and after
that, IAUE raised up Paul to go to the gentiles throughout the Mediterranean nations.
Both Peter’s going to the house of Cornelius and Paul’s ministry to the
Gentiles immediately were scrutinized with distrust by the leaders of the
church in Jerusalem.
Even
the first century disciples of Yahushua, even though born again and made new creatures
in him; and even though filled with the Holy Spirit of IAUE, they still had
difficulty understanding that ALL mankind descended from Adam; and as such they
ALL were the object of IAUE’s love. The
Hebrews were simply set apart in order to procure a protected bloodline through
which IAUE could bring the savior into the world to redeem any and all who
would have the like faith of Abraham trusting in the Zerah.
Next
week we will being to examine the Torah.
Kingdom
heart: a heart that offers no resistance to the
performance of the will of IAUE.
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