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From: Eddie Chumney
To:     heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject: Who Sits in Moses Seat?

This article will be in two parts. It will discuss the issue of 'Who Sits in Moses Seat?' (Matthew 23:1-3). The first perspective is from Dell Griffin. Dell is currently in the land of Israel seeking to make contacts with Orthodox Jewish rabbi's about the return of the house of Joseph to the land of Israel. Dell Griffin in not-Jewish and believes in the reunification of both houses of Israel in the end of days (Ezekiel 37:15-28). His view is that Moses seat = the halachic rulings of Rabbinic Judaism.

The counter to this article is by Rabbi Moshe Koniuchowsky. Rabbi Koniuchowsky is a Jewish believer in Messiah and is the General-Secretary of the Messinaic Israel Alliance. His teaching on 'Who sits in Moses seat?' was given at the recent MIA 2000 conference over Labor Day weekend in Orlando, Florida. Rabbi Moshe Koniuchowsky also believes in the reunification of both houses of Israel in the end of days (Ezekiel 37:15-28).

Therefore, this two part article is a point-counterpoint of  'Who sits in Moses seat?'.  SHOULD non-Jews who are embracing their Hebraic roots in Messiah abide in ALL cases with the rulings of present day Orthodox Rabbinic Judaism regarding the Torah? SHOULD non-Jews who are embracing their Hebraic roots in Messiah abide in ALL cases with the present day rulings of the Torah by Orthodox Rabbinic Judaism when they put the ORAL law ABOVE the WRITTEN law and deny Yeshua/Jesus as being the LIVING TORAH manifested in the flesh and sent to the earth to make the FINAL RULINGS on disputed Torah observance? OR is the BIBLE and the WRITTEN TORAH and the words and teachings of the LIVING TORAH (Yeshua/Jesus) our Messiah FINAL authority in how we are to live our lives while embracing our Hebraic heritage in Messiah?

Eddie Chumney
Hebraic Heritage Ministries Int'l

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                   View of Dell Griffin    
     MOSES SEAT = ORTHODOX RABBIBIC JUDAISM


From: Dell Griffin

Shalom,

... Dozens of people have attempted to visit the recognized site of Rachel's tomb over the past week. Most, (myself included) have been turned away, but something really strange transpired yesterday.  A busload of women from Hebron, got off of their bus at the Beit Sahur checkpoint about 500 yards from the tomb.  They proceeded with their children in baby carriages and in their arms toward the tomb.  The IDF did NOT stop them.  After several hours inside they decided they wanted to remain there to insure that the tomb would be open for the yartzeit (commemmoration of Rachel's death) tomorrow (Thursday).  But the IDF then removed them.

This is being called a miracle here and the government announced tonight that the tomb of Rachel will be opened from 9 a.m. to noon tomorrow for the yartzeit.  (Unfortunately, I will have to be at the police station those same hours).

I feel very good about my interrogation tomorrow and want to thank all of you who are remembering me in your prayers.

Also, regarding the issue of halachah which is being interpreted by one halachic authority to deny Josephites an identity other than "Jewish" and essentially states they must convert into the Jewish faith and lay down this identity, I have been beseiged with emails today.

I will have more to say later, but let me make one point clear as to why I feel it is necessary to respect the halachah of Judah not just on this, but on all rulings:

The New Testament which many of you still read, says the Pharisees sit in the seat of Moshe and Y'shua is quoting as telling his followers to "do as they say," (not to do as they did because at that time, there apparently were a lot of hypocrites among the Pharisees). Today, the Pharisees are the rabbinim (and I consider myself a Pharisee of sorts).

In Hashem's dealings with me, on matters of authority, I have learned the HARD WAY that when you resist ANY authority placed over you, that this is rebellion.  And rebellion is a form of judgment of the authority.  Because you have judged the authority over you, you prevent Hashem's judgment (decision) from entering into the scenario.  This is true of husbands and wives, bosses and employees and anything else and I believe is the major reason for so much dispute and division.

So it is in my heart to submit to the halachic rulings of the rabbinim re: Joes being required to convert to the Jewish faith and thereby losing their Jewishness, (even though I believe this is not right) and thereby allow Hashem to change the hearts of the Jewish rabbinical leaders who would ask this of Joes.  What is heart-breaking and discouraging to me is that I believe that this attitude is evidence that the enmity and vexation between Joes and Jews persists and ONLY Hashem can deal with this.

The bottom line to me is being careful that the Return of Joes follow accepted halachah and Orthodoxy. Any Joe who hopes to return outside of this framework is not evidencing the heart of submission to his Jewish brother, which I can only compare to the loving wife, who knows her husband may be wrong, but loves him so much that she is loyal to him and willing to submit to his decision.

The questions in my mind now are NOT whether to submit to the authority of the halachah but to examine this particular halachic ruling specifically and try to humbly suggest that it 1) identified
all of Israel as "Jewish" long after the oral tradition was given at Mount Sinai by Moshe and therefore does not have the "authority" of Torah sh'bal Pey (Oral Tradition of Moshe) and 2) MAY (I just don't know) have been formulated after the "split" of the Kingdom into two houses and possibly reflect the enmity and vexation of Judah toward Joseph.

A second question is whether and to what extent "progressive revelation" enters into the picture of halachic authority.  There is one school of thought that the book on halachah is CLOSED and cannot be changed. But halachic interpretation is another thing and it may be possible that with a different set of current events, environmental factors and trends that an halachic ruling can be interpreted differently and perhaps more accurately. To be specific, as I have quoted many times in my seminars, if the Malbim (who lived in the 18th Century) interpreted Isaiah 26:1-2 as relating to Ephraim's return to Hashem and Torah observance and recognition as a "separate" nation, can halachah pertaining to this Return be re-interpreted?

It is a question (in my mind) which only the highest authorities on halachah can judge. But it is clear in my mind that the authority on matters of halachah -- once they are decided -- rests solely with the rabbinim.  To rebel at that authority is WRONG and PROBLEMATIC for the Return of the House of Joseph and symptomatic of a heart that is not yet fully turned toward your brother, Judah ...

Shalom Shalom & Hashem's love & blessings,
ben Yosef

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            View of Rabbi Moshe Joseph Koniuchowsky

 MOSES SEAT = WRITTEN TORAH and THE TEACHINGS OF MESSIAH
 
                           (Part 1 of 2)


From: Rabbi Moshe Joseph Koniuchowsky (ravmoshe@bellsouth.net)
To:heb_roots_chr@hebroots.org
Subject:  MOSES SEAT AND MESSIANIC ISRAEL PART ONE


MOSES SEAT AND MESSIANIC ISRAEL

BY RABBI MOSHE JOSEPH KONIUCHOWSKY
GIVEN LIVE AT AMI 2000
ORLANDO, FLORIDA

(Part 1 of 2)


INTRODUCTION

****The complete Hebrew Matthew text appeared in the body of a 14th century Jewish polemical treatise entitled: Even Bohan. The author Shem Tov Ben Isaac Ben Shaprut completed his work in 1385 and revised it several times. He used 9 different Hebrew manuscripts of the preserved Gospel of Matthew to compile his translation. He was not a believer and includes the Hebrew Matthew in his treatises defending Judaism against Christianity in the disputations he was involved in. Shem Tov's Matthew is available from Mercer University Press in Macon
Georgia ISBN 0-86554-470-0 and is also available from Century Publishers in California.

SAFE WAY TO RELATE

Turn with me please if you would to Matityahu (Matthew 23). In order for our renewed two house nation that the Father is raising up in these last days to be healthy, single minded and pressing forward to the mark of the high calling of Yahweh in Messiah Yahshua, it is absolutely necessary for us to rightly relate to and define the much discussed Seat of Moses.

The only safe way to approach this misunderstood subject is to first go to the source. Who is the source of all truth? Messiah Yahshua and the Hebrew Scriptures. I believe that much of the Brit Chadashah was written in the Hebrew. However specifically I know beyond belief, that the book of Matthew was written in Hebrew. We will be sharing today from the Hebrew version. Moses Seat can be one of the most misunderstood topics in the messianic movement. What is most misunderstood is how you and I should rightly relate to the Seat of Moses.

Our Messianic Jewish brothers in their attempts to become the fourth legitimately recognized branch of Judaism have compromised themselves, seeking the approval of those they perceive as sitting in the Seat of Moses. I am going to be sharing some things with you that I believe will totally clear things up regarding one confusing verse in Matthew 23. Lets start with verse one of Matthew 23. 'Then Yahshua spoke to the crowds and to His taught ones and said: "the Scribes (sopherim) and Pharisees (Prushim) sit in the Seat of Moses." That is an established fact. A case can be argued whether they are legal or illegal occupants to that seat but that is not my topic today. A very strong case can be made that the Prushim and the Sopherim were illegal occupants of the Seat of Moses, who were not legitimate sons of Aaron [in many cases] but were rather political appointees or hacks of the Roman rulers. A strong case can be made that the Father did not seat those who seated themselves in that seat, in Messiah Yahshua's time. However that's not the issue today.

DEALING WITH REALITY!

King Yahshua said the fact remains that they sat in Moses Seat and now that must be dealt with. We as the people of Messianic Israel also have to deal with it. For if we do not deal with it and relate to that concept correctly as a movement, as the nation of Israel is being restored as Judah and Ephraim are returning, we are bound to fall into a trap, that threatens the unity of this movement. It threatens the effectiveness of this movement and it threatens the destiny of this movement. This maybe one of the most important topics you'll hear at this or any conference.

More specifically the fact that we have to deal with it is found in verse 3. The Scribes and Pharisees sat in Moses Seat in the days of Yahshua. In Matthew 23 verse 3, our traditional translations read: "therefore whatever they say to you guard, guard and do. But do not do according to their works, for they say and do not." How many of you have ever really read through the entire 23rd chapter of Matthew? Let me share something. As we read verses 1-39 everything fits into a beautiful discourse as a contextual masterpiece of King Yahshua's diatribe and exposure of the hypocritical leaven of the Pharisees. Verses 1-39 of Matthew 23 fit perfectly as they paint a mosaic. That mosaic is that the Pharisees talk Moses (Torah) but don't walk Moses (Torah). Their leaven is their hypocrisy.

So if verses 1 through 39 of Matthew 23 fit so perfectly with an exposure of that leaven, the question is how do we deal with or account for a textual abortion, so to speak, in verse 3? Why would Yahshua spend 39 verses exposing, telling, warning and declaring to us all, kinds of evil and darkness found in the teachings of the Pharisees and then slip in verse number 3 of Matthew 23? Would King Yahshua contradict Himself and tell us that despite their sin follow them any way? Do their deeds anyway! Listen to them anyway! Why would Yahshua knowing their evil lives go and command His disciples to not worry about those things and follow their ways of death anyway? It's like saying Uncle Charlie is a pedeophile. Uncle Charlie molests children. Uncle Charlie cannot be trusted with your children. Nevertheless when you need a babysitter and need to go out of town, drop your children off at Uncle Charlie's house.

TRUE HEBREW MEANING

In our traditional translations verse 3 of Matthew 23 does not make sense in the context of the chapter. That is because we have gotten our erroneous translations of verse 3 from the Greek text. However according to Eusebious, an early father of the faith: "The Hebrew Matthew was preserved at the library at Cessaria Philippi". It has been preserved and handed down to us today and it appears in Matthew's Shem Tov. Matthew's Shem Tov is the preservation of the Hebrew Matthew originally housed in Cesaria Phillipi according to Eusebios.

Let's take a close look at verse 3 in the traditional translations, the only troubling verse in the midst of a sea of plain texts. The fact remains that the Scribes and Pharisees sat in the Seat of Moses. Deal with it! Verse 3 in the traditional translations states that: "whatever they say to you, guard and do." Is Yahshua not talking to His disciples and does it not appear that Messiah Yahshua is telling them and us through them, that whatever they tell you to do you must do? Is not that what verse 3 of Matthew 23 appears to be teaching? It appears to be saying that. Yahshua appears to be encouraging His disciples for all generations to submit to the dictates of the Seat of Moses. However in the clearly understood context of verses 1-39, that is a textual impossibility. Not only is that a textual impossibility, other scriptures such as Mark 7 forbid the submission of born again New Covenant Israelites, to a seat that is full of leaven and evil
hypocrisy.

The danger faced especially in the House of Ephraim (in their desire to be more Jewish, which Ephraim has not been called to be) in their call to return to the nation of Israel and reject the pagan practices of both Judah and Ephraim, is that sometimes Ephraim acts like a silly dove, according to Hosea 7:11. When Ephraimites get around a Jewish believer, often they become overtaken with presence, envy and sometimes a reverence of Jewishness that borders on worship of that Jewishness. Then Ephraim starts fluttering in many silly ways including doctrinally. Is it not interesting that in most branches of Christianity today, you will find the symbol of the dove? Hosea states that Ephraim can get like a silly dove, when they see Judah's deep family roots. They get silly in the sense that they forget they are not to worship man or his nationality or position. They like Judah are called to keep our eyes on the author and finisher of the faith.

How can Yahshua spend 39 blessed verses of scripture telling us to avoid the hypocrisy emanating from the Seat of Moses (keseh Moshe) and then turn around and give us a PS: Listen to them anyway! Now if that's really what He is saying, I don't want to follow Yahshua. Why would Messiah spend all that time warning us, putting us on guard, getting our attention, protecting us from the error of the Scribes and Pharisees and then leave us with a huge contradictory PS: nevertheless you can or should still drop your kids off at Uncle Charlie's. Don't let the fact that Uncle Charlie is a pedophile bother you. Do you get my point?

So in the original preserved Hebrew in Matthew's Shem Tov, in verse 3 reads entirely differently brothers and sisters. In Matthew 23:3 in the original Hebrew, here is what it says. As you will see it makes a world of difference. The Hebrew reads as follows: "Lamor, al kiseh Moshe yoshveh haprushim vehachochmim. Vatah, kol asher yomer lachem shomru veassu. Ovtachnutahem umaashem al tasu. Sh hem omrim vehem anam osim. I apologize for the tongues but we are all Israelites we will one day all be speaking Hebrew. Now as I said earlier, in all the normative and accepted translations based on the Greek, it appears that Yahshua our King is saying whatever they say to do you must do and don't ask any questions since they have Moses Seat, symbolic of Moses power and authority! Even if they teach you how to hate Yahshua, or curse Yahshua in the shimoneh esreah, the liturgical prayer in the Jewish prayer book containing a curse on the minim or traitors (messianic believers). The way early persecutors would expose believers is by forcing them to pray the shimoneh esreah and thus pronounce a curse on themselves. Would Yahshua if He really is the Son of Yahweh, teach you and I to submit to an authority that will demand that you and I spit and curse our Savior and crucify afresh the Son of Yahweh by putting underfoot the blood of the everlasting covenant? No, no, no, no! Something is amiss in our understanding of these verses.

KOL ASHER YOMER!

Here is the English translation directly from the Matthew's Hebrew Shem Tov. "lamor. Al kiseh Moshe, meaning on the Seat of Moses, yoshvei haprushim vehacochmin, sit the Pharisees and the Sages. Veatah, kol asher yomer lachem and now, ALL THAT IS SAID TO YOU, do. Guard and do. But their ordinances and deeds do not do. Because they say [Moses] and do not [do Moses]. So the contrast in the Hebrew is as follows: Because they sit in Moses Seat, now all which "yomer" meaning, that which has been said by an individual in the past, you must continue to do! In Torah when Yahweh would speak the Torah He often would say ko amar Yahweh. Or va-yomer Yahweh el Mosheh. It is what is being said by an individual to another or to others. If Yahshua the King of Israel was telling His disciples to follow the Pharisees who would in turn teach you how to curse, hate, blaspheme and deny your Messiah, Yahshua would have used the plural form of yomer, which is omrim. If Yahshua was telling us to blindly follow Moses Seat in total blind obedience then the Hebrew would then read: kol shehem omrim not kol asher yomer! The term "kol ahser yomer" speaks of an individual's commands or an individual's declarations to others!!

Matthew 23:3 literally means all which he has said to you... Who is the he? Moses! Whatever Moses says or is saying in the present tense yomer, KEEP! Or the word yomer in the ongoing present tense can even mean what Yahweh said and is continuing to say because HE is eternal and unchanging! Either way whether referring to Moses or Yahweh through Moses, it is an individual's declaration in the ongoing present, not a group declaration, which then would entail the usage of the collective plural present verb omrim.

CONTRASTS

The Hebrew Shem Tov in Matthew 23:3 contrasts what he (Moses) said, versus what the Pharisees and Sages say. They are NOT SAYING THE SAME THING. THIS VERSE IS A VERSE OF GREAT CONTRAST, not an admonition to follow blasphemy and evil pernicious errors. King Yahshua is making it clear that Moses and rabbinical Judaism both claim to be saying the same thing but in no way, shape or form, are they doing and teaching the same things.

Therefore the Hebrew rendering of Matthew 23:3: "veatah kol asher YOMER lachem shomru veasu; uvtachnotahem umaasehem al tasu shhemem omrim vhem anah osim, is a warning of the fact that their collective deeds do not match the individual sayings of Moses. When referring to the collective anti-Torah deeds of the Pharisees and Sages, Yahshua uses the plural in the words uvtachnotahem uma-asehem, (ending in the hem plural suffix) their ordinances and their deeds. Had Messiah truly wanted us to be the blind following the blind, He would have told us to follow kol shehem OMRIM using the plural form of yomer, just like He did when referring to their collective manmade ordinances and deeds, where Yahshua does use the collective present plural.

Matthew 23:3 then is a call to Torah and a call to distance ourselves from the corruption of Moses Seat for all of King Yahshua's disciples! Only in this Hebraic understanding can verse 3 of Matthew 23 take its rightful logical place in a chapter full of sharp contrasts between Moses's Torah and the ordinances and behaviors of the Pharisees. If Matthew 23:1-39 are verses designed to contrast right from wrong, good from evil, Torah from Oral Torah, then by definition of syntax so must verse 3! When verse 3 is understood as the table setter to the rest of the chapter, then we have perfectly fitting textual syntax. Then verses 4-39 of Matthew 23, become the details of Yahshua's initial verse 3 proclamation to avoid their sayings ("omrim") and choose Moses's sayings that were "yomer"ed. King Yahshua illuminates the reason that He has requested for His talmidim to refuse and reject the leadership of the Seat of Moses, in light of their rejection of the pure sayings of Moses the lawgiver.

DANGERS

The danger for the Messianic Israel movement is that if we are not careful, we will fall into the same errors of our Messianic Jewish brothers. They are trying to gain, acquire and procure the acceptance of traditional rabbinic Judaism, despite denials to the contrary, to somehow get their anti-Yahshua structure to give Messianic Judaism a seal of approval. For some strange reason there remains this insatiable desire in Messianic Judaism to come to what they wrongly perceive is the righteousness of the Seat of Moses and to somehow procure their acceptance in order for traditional Judaism to finally recognize Messianic Judaism as a legitimate Jewish expression.

Why dos this still occur? Because they have made the error that Messianic Israel must avoid. What is that error? First that whatever Orthodox Judaism says is to be followed must be followed, even when scripturally wrong, since they are our covering and our authority. This error causes messianics to obey this perception, even at the expense of truth, often forcing believers to compromise scripture, to somehow show themselves humble by attempting to follow an authority that in many ways clearly contradicts both covenants! Matthew's Shem Tov shows that the opposite is true. Messiah Yahshua has rejected Moses Seat as the authoritative overseers of His Messianic Israelite disciples. We must not follow them if we are to follow Yahshua and
Torah!

We see that Yahweh has preserved for us the original meaning in the Hebrew Shem Tov. When following this understanding, confusion does not reign and neither does a divided loyalty. We are to follow the Holy One and Him alone who teaches and does Moses, unlike those who sat in judgment of Him the night of His betrayal. The guardians of Moses had stopped doing Moses, long before King Messiah Yahshua was born! He spent 39 verses of Matthew 23 including verse 3 to give the talmidim detailed reasons why He Himself and all who are His followers must not blindly follow their teachings. With the Hebrew Shem Tov the entire chapter flows into a final declaration in the final verse (39). Matthew 23:39 replaces the hypocrisy of Moses Seat with a proclamation of the purity and right ruling of the Blessed One who has come in the name of Yahweh to rightly interpret Torah (Isaiah 11:1-5).

We as Messianic Israelites must not blindly obey the past rulings of the Seat of Moses. Here are a few of the reasons that what Moses said and what those in Moses Seat said are two separate doctrines. Lets look at the following verses designed to portray contrast, not blind obedience. Let's start in verse 4. "For they bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders." 5."They do their works to be seen by men." Did Moses do that? No he escaped men and went on the mountain for 40 days and nights to get away and not be seen by the ekklesia of Israel. They on the other hand do their works to be seen. To truly practice Torah means for one to enter his or her closet and perform and supplicate in secret, as Abba Yahweh rewards you openly. Verse 6: "They (the Pharisees) love the best place in the feasts and in the synagogues." Moses did not go to synagogue. They did. There is that contrast again. Do Moshe but do not do what they do. Verse 7; "they love the greetings to be called rabbi, rabbi." Moshe did not want the greetings. He did not seek to be called rabbi. He was the Torah giver. See the contrast. Moses was a rabbi even though did not seek to be one but those in the Seat of Moses were seeking the titles of rabbi from each other without divine sanction.

Achieving this correct understanding is serious business. If we fall into the same misunderstanding as Messianic Judaism based on the readily available Greek texts, we will be needing and seeking the approval of traditional Judaism. Please, please chirps Messianic Judaism, tell us we are really Jewish-Israelites please tell us that, even though we believe in the J-MAN from Nazareth! Please accept us as legitimate Jewish-Israelites! I don't believe this is Yahshua's desire for us. If He tells us to follow and obey those who teach us to hate Him and deny Yahshua, those whom He Himself calls blind guides, when He is the light of the world, then something is greatly being distorted. Why would the Light of the world that has come to light every man's path, call His chosen people of Renewed Covenant Israel to leave the Light and follow the blind guides? Yahshua said that he who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life (John 8:12). Messianic Judaism says yea but... PS: just go there (Moses Seat) for a little darkness. We must give the Seat of Moses respect say others. No you don't. You as a disciple of Yahshua have to respect what the seat ONCE STOOD FOR, but not necessarily the representatives or the teachings and behaviors of that seat, when their blind teachings clearly contradict the teachings about the Light brought forth by both Moses and Yahshua Himself!

That Seat of Moses brought forth and added things that Moses and Yahshua never said and so we must not hear and obey them. The Hebrew makes it abundantly clear. We are to receive our directions from Yahshua and Torah only and not from any subjection or approval seeking from traditional Judaism. To run to the throne of traditional rabbinic Judaism that does not have the same King as we do (scripture tells us that to deny the Son is to deny the Father, even if one claims belief in the Father alone) and does not love King Yahshua the way you and I do, is an act of sellout and treason. We do not need their approval. The scriptures tell us in Ephesians 1:4 that you and I are "holy and blameless in His love." Further scripture tells us in Colossians 2:10
that ("we are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.") We are accepted in the beloved. Our names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world. So why do you and I need the approval of those who talk Moses but don't walk Moses? If they had walked and not just talked Moses, they would not have condemned the Son of Yahweh. Does traditional Judaism talk Moses and talk Torah? Sure they do! Yahshua said they talk but do not walk Moses. Messianic Judaism sad to say may be headed for a day of
destruction, unless they soon realize that their approval comes from the King of Israel and not from 777 Eastern Parkway!

                      (End Part 1 of 2)

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