Subject: Torah Before Sinai
Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 00:22:28 +0000
From: heb_roots_chr@mail.geocities.com
Reply-To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
To: "Hebraic Heritage Newsgroup"<heb_roots_chr@geocities.com>
To: heb_roots_chr@geocities.com
From: Jose J. Bernal
Subject: Torah Before Sinai
Dear Mishpachah (family):
Shalom.
Torah came on the basis of the Levitical Priesthood (Heb. 7:11).
Was a tutor to lead us to the Messiah, but those who have made
T'Shuvah and have received Y'Shua, are no longer in need of the tutor
to lead them to Him whom they have already met and received (Gal.
3:24,25). The Torah was given at Mt. Sinai, 430 years after Avraham
(Gal. 3:17). Rabbinical Judaism teaches that the Torah was
preexistant. Baruch Ha Shem, that although Rab Sha'ul was himself a
Rabbinical student; a Pharisee no less, the Ruach HaKodesh,
illumined his thinking, and he recorded precisely the time-frame
when Torah was given to Israel relative to the Abrahamic covenant, and
what effect or significance this Mosaic Covenant of Torah had, if any,
on the covenant of promise; the Abrahamic Covenant which was not based
on Torah, a covenant of 613 commandments. I would strongly suggest
that everyone read Galatians chapter three. Here Rab Sha'ul makes a
destinction between the Abrahamic Covenant on which Ha Shem drew
our Father Avraham out and promised to make him a great nation, and
the Mosaic Covenant upon which the Torah was based.
Shalom alecheim.
JB
>From Eddie:
**************
Jose,
You are interpreting Galations 3 from erroneous Christian
dispensational theology which has been taught to you and you believe
to be truth. I have been going to Christian churches since I was five
years old so I am VERY VERY familiar how you are interpreting this
text because I was taught the SAME THING. However, dispensational
theology is not Biblical. Dispensational theology says that there was
an age before Jesus came and died on the tree/cross called the "Age
of Law". After the death of Jesus came the "Age of Grace". The "Age
of Law" is seen as being the "Old Testament". The "Age of Grace" is
seen as being the "New Testament".
However, GRACE and LAW has ALWAYS EXISTED (another topic).
God is a God is law/Torah and a God of Grace. But, let us examine
some of your (and most of Christianity) misunderstandings when
reading Galations 3 because of the influence of Dispensational
theology and reading the text through the eyes of dispensational
theology.
The second misunderstanding comes from the fact that
Christians DO NOT KNOW the meaning of the word TORAH/LAW.
First, let us examine your misunderstanding of the text which you
quote. You say:
>
>Torah came on the basis of the Levitical Priesthood (Heb. 7:11).
>Was a tutor to lead us to the Messiah, but those who have made
>T'Shuvah and have received Y'Shua, are no longer in need of the tutor
>to lead them to Him whom they have already met and received (Gal.
>3:24,25). The Torah was given at Mt. Sinai, 430 years after Avraham
>(Gal. 3:17). Rabbinical Judaism teaches that the Torah was
>preexistant.
>
On this issue, the Rabbi's are right. The TORAH preexisted
BEFORE the creation of Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden.
You quote (Hebrew 7:11) and (Galations 3:17) to say that the
Torah was given at Mount Sinai (Galations 3:17) and the Torah came
on the basis of the Levitical Priesthood (Hebrews 7:11). This is
incorrect. In Genesis 26:5, it says that ABRAHAM KEPT THE TORAH of
God as it is written:
"Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my
commandments, my statutes and my TORAH (8451 in the Strong's
Concordance which is the word TORAH)
IF the Torah was FIRST given at Mount Sinai then how could Abraham
keep it as it says in Genesis 26:5?
Secondly, the Torah is symbolically represented in the Garden of Eden
as the TREE OF LIFE. In Proverbs 3:1, 17-18 it is written:
"My son, forget not my TORAH but let mine heart KEEP MY
COMMANDMENTS ... Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all
her paths are peace. She is a TREE OF LIFE to them that lay hold
upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her"
Yet, somebody would say, NO, Proverbs 3:18 is talking about WISDOM
for in Proverbs 3:13 it is written:
"Happy is the man that findeth WISDOM, and the man that getteth
UNDERSTANDING"
However, the SUBJECT of Proverbs 3 is keeping the TORAH of God
as it tells us in verse #1.
To a Hebraic mind, WISDOM and UNDERSTANDING is KEEPING
THE TORAH.
In Deuteronomy 4:1, 5-6 it is written:
"Now therefore hearken (SHEMA / hear / obey) O Israel (Deut 6:4-5,
Mark 12:28-30), unto the statutes and unto the judgments which I
teach you, for to do them, that ye may live and go in and possess the
land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you ... Behold I have
taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded
me, that you should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.
KEEP therefore and DO them, for this is your WISDOM and your
UNDERSTANDING in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these
statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a WISE and
UNDERSTANDING people"
Therefore, WISDOM and UNDERSTANDING = KEEPING TORAH.
Speaking about possessing the promised land, God told Joshua in
Joshua 1:8 as it is written:
"This book of the TORAH shall not depart out of they mouth but thou
shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest OBSERVE to DO
all that is WRITTEN therein: for then thou shalt make thy way
PROSPEROUS and then thou shalt have good success"
In Psalm 19:7 it says:
"The TORAH of the Lord ... making WISE the simple"
So, Proverbs 3:1, 13, 17-18 should be read:
"My son, forget not my TORAH, but let thine heart keep my
commandments ... happy is the man that findeth wisdom (that keep the
Torah) and the man that gets understanding (by keeping the Torah) ...
her ways are ways of pleasantness (the wisdom and understanding
gained by keeping the Torah) and all her paths are peace. She (the
TORAH is feminine ... AH in Hebrew is a feminine ending) is a TREE OF
LIFE to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that
retaineth her"
By comparing Revelation 22:2 and Psalm 1:1-3, we can also see that
the TORAH is called the TREE OF LIFE. In Revelation 22:1-2, it is
written:
"And he showed me a pure river of life ... in the midst of the street
of it, and on either side of the river was the TREE OF LIFE, which
bare twelve manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month: and
the leaves of the TREE were for the HEALING OF THE NATIONS"
The nations will be HEALED from war during the Messianic Age when
the TORAH is taught by Yeshua/Jesus from Jerusalem (Isaiah 2:2-4).
In Psalm 1:1-3, it is written:
"Blessed is the man ... (who) his delight is in the TORAH of the Lord
and in his TORAH does he meditate day and night (Joshua 1:8). And he
shall be like a TREE planted by the RIVERS OF WATER that bringeth
forth his FRUIT in his SEASON and his LEAF also shall not wither and
whatsoever he doeth shall prosper"
Revelation 21:1-2 = Psalm 1:1-3.
The TREE OF LIFE is the TORAH. The TORAH was in the Garden of Eden
being symbolized by the TREE OF LIFE. God wanted Adam and Even to
EAT (do and obey God's TORAH) so that they would live. Disobedience
to keeping the TORAH / TREE OF LIFE was the EATING (disobeying of
God's Torah) of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil (man
following his own ways).
Therefore, the TORAH was NOT first given at Mount Sinai. But, it WAS
given to the descendants of Abraham who became a NATION of people
unto God when God entered into a marriage contract (Jeremiah 2:1-3)
with the descendents of Abraham at Mount Sinai.
In Genesis 12:3, God made a PROMISE that all the families of the
earth would be blessed through Abraham. This is what is spoken in
(Galations 3:8). In Genesis 15:8, Abraham asked HOW he would inherit
this promise. God answered by making a covenant with Abraham (Genesis
15:18). When this happened a DEEP SLEEP came upon
Abraham (Genesis 15:12) and a BURNING LAMP passed between the
pieces used in making the covenant (Genesis 15:17). In Galations
3:16, it tells us that the "burning lamp that passed between the
pieces" was Yeshua/Jesus himself as it says in Galations 3:16:
"Now to Abraham and his SEED were the PROMISES made ... and to
thy seed which is Christ"
This covenant was a PROMISE based upon FAITH in believing that
PROMISE. So, that SAME PROMISE which was passed to the
descendents of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob and to children
of Jacob was given at Mount Sinai. The FULLNESS of the fulfillment of
the PROMISE that God made with Abraham had blessings for
obedience and curses for disobedience (Deut 28 and Lev 26). But,
disobedience DOES NOT annul the original PROMISE that God made to
Abraham (Galations 3:17).
So what purpose served the marriage that God entered into with the
descendants of Abraham at Mount Sinai (Jeremiah 2:1-3) of which the
Ketubah (marriage contract) was the obedience to the Torah?
(Galations 3:19). God made provision for the people when they
disobeyed and didn't believe the PROMISE that God made with
Abraham. He did this through the Levitical priesthood, animal
sacrifices to ATONE (cover/hide) their sins for NOT obeying the
Torah.
Was this means of making provision for the people when they didn't
believe the PROMISE of God against (prevents) the PROMISE that God
made with Abraham from being fulfilled? (Galations 3:21)
No, because we ALL disobey the TORAH of God and the PROMISE is
still to those who BELIEVE the PROMISE that God made to Abraham
(Galations 3:22).
But before FAITH CAME (Galations 3:23) ... when does FAITH COME?
Romans 10:17:
"So faith comes by HEARING (SHEMA / OBEY / DOING ... SHEMA (HEAR) O
Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord ...) and HEARING (SHEMA) by the
word / TORAH of God"
In Deuteronomy 30:10-14 it is written:
"If you shall hearken (HEAR / SHEMA ... 8085) unto the voice of the
Lord thy God, to KEEP his COMMANDMENTS and his STATUTES which
are written in this book of the TORAH and if you turn unto the Lord thy
God with ALL YOUR HEART and with ALL YOUR SOUL. For this
commandment which I command you this day, it is not hidden from thee,
neither is
it far off .. but the WORD is very nigh unto thee, in your mouth, an
in your heart that you may do it"
In Romans 10:8, it quotes Deuteronomy 30:14 and calls this the WORD
OF FAITH as it is written:
"But what saith it? Thy word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in
thy heart, that is, the word of FAITH which we preach"
So, when does faith come? (Galations 3:23) It comes when we hear
and obey the Torah of God (Romans 10:17, Deut 30:10-14 and
Romans 10:8).
But, before faith came (we obeyed the Torah), we were kept under the
law (of sin and death for disobeying the Torah) (Galations 3:23).
So, the Torah of God (by obeying it for it is our wisdom and
understanding) is our teacher (TORAH means INSTRUCTION) to bring
us to Messiah so that we are justified by faith (Galations 3:24).
But after faith is come (by hearing and obeying and doing the Torah),
we are no longer under a schoolmaster (for we become skillful in
living by and understanding how to live by the commandments of God
which makes us prosperous in our way so that we can teach
others ... Hebrew 5:12-14) and no longer need to be schooled
ourselves in how to obey and keep the commandments / Torah of God.
This same principle applies to both Jew and non-Jew (Galations 3:28)
for we are all (both Jew and non-Jew who accept Yeshua/Jesus as
Messiah) are the children of Abraham (Galations 3:29) and inherit
what God promised Abraham.
Another misunderstanding comes when we define "law" / Torah as being
"what was given at Mount Sinai" or the first five books of the Bible
and from Genesis to Revelation is the "Word of God". To a Hebraic
mind, TORAH and WORD OF GOD are SYNONYMOUS TERMS.
TORAH means INSTRUCTION. The WORD OF GOD is our
INSTRUCTION. So, TORAH is EVERTHING from Genesis to
Revelation.
Let us see TWO examples that the terms "Word of God" and "Torah" are
synonymous terms.
In Isaiah 2:3 it is written"
" ... for out of Zion shall go forth the TORAH and the WORD OF THE
LORD from Jerusalem"
The TORAH = THE WORD OF THE LORD. Both are going forth from
Jerusalem / Zion.
The SUBJECT of Psalm 199 is the TORAH. In one verse, David will talk
about keeping the TORAH and the next verse he will talking about
keeping the WORD OF GOD.
For example, in Psalm 119:17 it is written:
"Deal boutifully with thy servant, that I may live and keep thy WORD"
In Psalm 119:18 it is written:
"Open thou mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy
TORAH"
In Psalm 119:97, it is written:
"O how I love thy TORAH! it is my meditation all the day"
In Psalm 119:105 it is written:
"Thy WORD is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path"
So, TORAH = WORD OF GOD.
Yeshua/Jesus is the LIVING TORAH / WORD. In John 1:14 it is written:
"And the WORD was made FLESH and dwelt among us ..."
John 1:1-2 could be read:
"In the beginning was the TORAH / WORD OF GOD / JESUS and the TORAH /
WORD OF GOD / JESUS was with GOD, and the TORAH / WORD OF
GOD / JESUS was GOD. The same TORAH / WORD OF GOD / JESUS was in
the beginning with God.
So, did the Torah preexist? Did God's Word preexist? God's Word is
what he speaks. What God speaks is His Torah. What God spoke took
upon human flesh and dwelt among us. Yeshua/Jesus was the living,
walking Torah. He was, is and always will be. The Word of God / Torah
was is and always will be.
In Revelation 22:14 it is written:
"Blessed are they that do his commandments (keep the Torah / Word of
God) that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in
through the gates of the city"
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