‘Living’ truth the Hebraic Mindset

1. ‘Living’ truth the Hebraic Mindset

2. “The aim of Hebrew religion was Da’athElohim (the Knowledge of God); • The aim of Greek thought was Gnothiseauton (Know thyself). 

3. "The distinction …arises from the difference between doing and knowing. • The Hebrew is concerned with practice, the Greek with knowledge. • Right conduct is the ultimate concern of the Hebrew, - right thinking that of the Greek.

4. The Hebrew thus extols the moral virtues as the substance and meaning of life; the Greek subordinates them to the intellectual virtues…the contrast is between practice and theory, between the moral man and the theoretical or intellectual man.“ • Prof William Barrett

5. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel: • "The Greeks learned in order to comprehend. • The Hebrews learned in order to revere. • The modern man learns in order to use"

6. We want • a religion of utility • techniques we can apply situationally to get into, or out of, some situation. • techniques for understanding, systematizing and structuring the "prophetic timetable" so that we can know "what’s going to happen next, • Some want to know so they can have something to market to other Christians who want to know! • 1 Tim 6:5 … people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain.

7. We seek "Christian" techniques for • inner healing, • outer healing, • exorcism, • financial prosperity, or • for receiving spiritual power. • This way of thinking is alien to the Hebrew mind. • Question 1: • So what should being a ‘Christian’ be about? Hint: (Matthew 22:36-38; John 13:34-35).

8. The whole Bible, the New Testament as well as the Old Testament, is based on the Hebrew attitude and approach… “ • Prof. Norman H. Snaith  “Distinctive Ideas of the Old Testament

9. For years all the disciples of Yeshua were Jewish. The New Testament was entirely written by Jews (Luke being, in all likelihood, a Jewish proselyte). The very concept of a Messiah is nothing but Jewish. Finally, Yeshua himself was Jewish - was then and apparently is still, since nowhere does Scripture say or suggest that he has ceased to be a Jew. It was Jews who brought the Gospel to Gentiles. Sha'ul (Paul) , the chief emissary to the Gentiles was an observant Jew all his life. Indeed the main issue in the early Church was whether without undergoing complete conversion to Judaism a Gentile could be a Christian at all. The Messiah's atonement is rooted in the Jewish sacrificial system; the Lord's Supper is rooted in the Jewish Passover traditions; baptism is a Jewish practice; and indeed the entire New Testament is built on the Hebrew Bible, with its prophecies and its promise of a New Covenant, so that the New testament without the Old is as impossible as the second floor of a house without the first. Thus although the Gospel message is for Jew and Gentile equally, the context of Messianic faith is Jewish (or Hebriac).
- Paraphrased from David Stern’s ‘The Restoration of the Jewishness of the Gospel

12. Experience Truth • Jesus/Yeshua was no theologian in the Western sense. • The Hebrew prophets and their followers did not simply think truth they experienced truth.

13. Everything is theological! • “It is forbidden to a man to enjoy anything of this world without a benediction, and if anyone enjoys anything of this world without a benediction, he commits sacrilege” • Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 35a • The Rabbi’s consider that to not enjoy every legitimate pleasure is in essence to be an ingrate before the Master of the Universe! (compare with 1 Cor 10:31)

14. A Contradiction? • Ceremonialism and ritualism alone do not meet God’s requirement for a good life. Amos 5: 21 I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.

15. Psalm 51 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,  And renew a steadfast spirit within me.  11 Do not cast me away from Your presence,  And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.  12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.  13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,  And sinners shall be converted to You.  14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.  15 O Lord, open my lips, And my mouth shall show forth Your praise.  16 For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.  17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, A broken and a contrite heart—          These, O God, You will not despise.  18 Do good in Your good pleasure to Zion;  Build the walls of Jerusalem.  19 Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,  With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;  Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar

16. Truth is to be experienced, deed matters more than creed. • The biblical writers often use vocabulary which is highly colorful, dynamic, and action-centered. • They tell the story of a people on the move, a people who approached living with boldness, drive, and expectation…Israel followed a ‘God-on-the-move,’ and they were ‘his movable treasure’ (Ex. 19:5) • The Hebrews: an energetic, robust, and, at times, even turbulent people.

17. ‘Faith’ in the church today: • In today's common view influenced by Greek dualism, faith is a mystical, non-rational thing, not related to reason. • It is the act of believing something, of holding to a set of propositions, despite evidence that may contradict it. How "hard" we believe something becomes a measure of the strength of our faith. • According to this view, questioning one's beliefs is seen as doubting, and is strongly discouraged. • The act of believing something becomes morally virtuous, and to risk rejecting one or more propositions is seen as risking one's faith. • The intellectual or mystical knowledge of God becomes the focus of our salvation. • Faith, therefore, is seen to be in opposition to reason.

18. Further ‘recent’ evidence • How have the Qumran Scrolls and archaeological of recent times overturned conventional wisdom? • The discovery that Hebrew was the primary spoken and written medium of the majority of the Jews in Israel during the time of Jesus • and that Jesus therefore did most if not all of his teaching in Hebrew (not Greek or Aramaic).

19. Archaeologists unearthed part of a first-century limestone sarcophagus cover with the Hebrew inscription “son of the High Priest” (benhaCohenhaGadol). • Jewish teachers of first-century from both Galilee and Judea ordinarily passed on their teachings in Hebrew. For example, parables were preserved in Hebrew. • ShmuelSafrai writes, “The parable was one of the most common tools of rabbinic instruction from the second century B.C.E. until the close of the Amoraic period at the end of the fifth century C.E…. All of the parables are in Hebrew. Amoraic literature often contains stories in Aramaic, and a parable may be woven into the story; however the parable itself is always in Hebrew, There are instances of popular sayings in Aramaic, but every single parable is in Hebrew. (AS are those of Yeshua) • Hebrew also was typically chosen for written accounts of Jewish religious significance, as evidenced by post-biblical writings such as Ben Sira, and 1 Maccabees (according to consensus).

20. The Jewish historian Josephus describes an incident that took place during the siege of Jerusalem (War 5:269-272). • Josephus relates that watchmen were posted on the towers of the city walls to warn residents of incoming stones fired from Roman ballistae. • Whenever a stone was on its way, the spotters would shout “in their native tongue, ‘The son is coming!’” (War 5:272). • The meaning the watchmen communicated to the people was: Ha-even ba’ah (the stone is coming). • However, because of the urgency of the situation, these words were clipped, being abbreviated to benba (son comes). (This well-known Hebrew wordplay is attested in the New Testament: “God is able from these avanim [stones] to raise up banim [sons] to Abraham” (Luke 3:8) • The wordplay (and pun) that Josephus preserves is unambiguously Hebrew. This wordplay does not work in Aramaic.

21. Hebraisms - often abstract thoughts/immaterial conceptions conveyed through material or physical terminology: — look is to lift up the eyes (Gen. 22:4) — be angry is to burn in one’s nostrils (Ex. 4:14) — disclose something or reveal something is to unstop one’s ears (Ruth 4:4) — have no compassion is hard heartedness (1 Sam. 6:6) — stubborn is stiff-necked (2 Chr. 30:8; Acts 7:51) — get ready or brace yourself is gird up your loins (Jer. 1:17) — to be determined to go is set one’s face to go (Jer. 42:15, 17; Lk. 9:51)

22. A very important Hebraism - Agency • In Hebrew thought, the “first cause” is not always distinguished from “intermediate” or “secondary” causes. • The principal is not always clearly distinguished from the agent, the one commissioned to carry out an act on behalf of another. • Sometimes the agent, standing for the principal, is treated as if he or she were the principal him or herself, though this is not literally so. • Principal and agent remain two distinct persons but they act in complete harmony. • The agent acts and speaks for his principal.

23. Jesus healing the centurion’s servant • Matthew speaks of a conversation between the centurion himself and Jesus (Mt. 8:5-13). • Luke tells us that the centurion did not in fact come personally. He sent some “Jewish elders” and then some “friends” to Jesus with his requests (Luke 7:1-10).

24. Jesus questioned - who might sit next to him in his Kingdom? • Mark gives us the impression that James and John themselves personally asked whether they might sit next to Jesus in places of royal authority (Mk. 10:35-40). • Matthew tells us that in fact it was the mother of Zebedee’s children who actually made the request to Jesus (Mt. 20:20-23)

25. The burning bush: • The LORD God spoke out of the burning bush (Deut 4:12) • Acts 7:30; 38 • Stephen clarifies that it was an angel who spoke with the voice of Yahweh. • Acts 12:7 vs 12:17 – Peter in prison - v17 ‘God’ (not the angel) had led him act of the prison. Question 2: If this Hebraism had been well understood, what very significant doctrine may not have been developed?

26. Flusser argues that: • the original accounts of Jesus' life were composed in Hebrew (as one might conclude anyway from early church history); • the Greek gospels which have come down to us represent a third or fourth stage in the written transmission of accounts of the life of Jesus; • Luke was the first gospel written, not Mark;

27. "Concepts were expressed in self-contained units or blocks of thought. • These blocks did not necessarily fit together in any obviously rational or harmonious pattern, particularly when one block represented the human perspective on truth and the other represented the divine. • The Hebrews, however, sense no violation of their freedom as they accomplish God's purposes. • Marvin Wilson ‘Our Father Abraham’

28. The last shall be first and the first shall be last: Matt 19:27-30 Then Peter said in reply, See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have? Jesus said to them, Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

29. God makes us act and yet we choose our actions: • Ex 8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the LORD had said. vs Ex 7:3 But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,

30. God is the maker of evil; He is wrathful and yet He is the maker of good; He is merciful: Isaiah 45.7 I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all these things. vsHabakuk 3:2 O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. Question 3: One of the biggest questions of all: Why does God permit/make evil?

31. Yeshua is the Lamb of God and also the Lion of Judah: John 1:29 29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! vs Rev 5:5 And one of the elders said to me, Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals.

32. The end of unbelievers (Hell) is described as ‘utter darkness’ and a ‘lake of fire’. Jude 11-13 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion.These are blemishes on your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, looking after themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted;wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. Rev 19:20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur.

33. God determines who is ‘saved’ and who isn’t and yet we can choose him John 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. Deut 30:19-20 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them. Jn 6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

34. You can find your life but in doing so you will lose it! • Mat 10:39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

35. And in that time there will be neither hunger nor war, neither jealousy nor competition, but goodness will spread over everything.  And all the delights will be as common as dust. And the whole world will have no other occupation but only to know the Lord. And therefore Israel will be great sages, and knowers of secret things, and they will attain a knowledge of their Creator as far as the power of man allows, as it is written, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters covers the sea (Isa. 11:9) (Maimonides, YadhaHazaqa, Shoftim, HilkhotM’lakhim 11-12)

36. When you are weak you are strong! • 2 Cor 12:10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

37. If you lift yourself up you will be lowered but if you lower yourself you will be lifted up! • Luke 14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.

38. The Messiah is the Prince of Peace and yet he comes with a sword. Matt 5:9: Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called …. Prince of Peace. Matt 10:34 - 36 “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.

39. Preaching of cross is foolishness … 1 Cor 1:18-19, 26-29 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

40. Dealing with fools? • Prov. 26:4 Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself.  • Prov. 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes. 

41. Not always easy: • Rom 14:22 … Blessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. • (see CEB Cranfield ‘Romans’ p352)

42. Conclusion: • Hellenism/Greek mindset  ‘Know yourself’ rather than ‘know God’ • In contrast to the Greek view that the highest human experience was knowledge, to a Hebrew scholar like the Apostle Paul, moral beauty and righteousness was the highest human experience. • In today's common view influenced by Greek dualism, faith is a mystical, non-rational thing, not related to reason.

43. Faith is a posture of the heart toward God. • The heart of the believer will seek knowledge of God at some level. Knowledge is not irrelevant. • But it will be an outworking of the heart of faith rather than a prerequisite for it.

44. Circumcising a male child on the 8th dayvs not ‘working’ on the Sabbath • Considered an act of ‘healing’ • Jn 7:23 • Oral Torah – normally circumcision took precedence • If unwell though and child now well and it is the Sabbath then ‘no customary work’ takes precedence • Yeshua though healed the ‘whole man’ • Look at the mindset involved – not about rules but loving HaShem and His instructions

45. Dualism • Greek dualism has also led to the loss of community, to the exaltation of the individual. • Human beings were created to be social. • Our true and most complete meaning is derived from and experienced through our relationships with God and with other human beings (Mark 12:28-34).

46. Mishnah saying: “He who destroys a single life is considered as if he has destroyed the whole world, and he who saves a single life is considered as having saved the whole world” (Sanhredrin 4:5).

47. The Body of Messiah We see Paul calling us to the Jewish sense of corporate identity in his famous ‘Body of Messiah’ dissertation (1 Cor 12). Our challenge is to recognize the great error of church history in disconnecting from its Jewish foundations. The times we live in now involve much uncertainty, pessimism, rootlessness, dishonesty and great change. We need not be rootless – As Paul tells us in Romans 9-11, the ‘root that supports us’ is the godly living faith of Israel. This is our foundation, it is to know the God of history, Israel’s history. Hebrews 11 tells us a beautiful summary of the people of Israel and their trust in God.

48. Our challenge … • True faith is faith in action, • Faith that is evidenced by obedience to God. • Fulfilling the two greatest commandments • Fulfilling the Ten Commandments

49. Thank you. Shalom! • May you all embrace life, enjoy the blessings that the Almighty has bestowed upon you and constantly thank Him for all that comes your way because regardless of your comprehension of it, God can and will use it all for your benefit if you love Him. • Use the talents that He has given you to glorify and honour Him and so draw others to Him as they see joy in your life in good times and bad.

50. Principles of Jewish Prayer: 1. In Jewish prayer there is no trace of magic, incantation or vain repetition. 2. an outpouring of the soul. 3. congregational and community orientated. 4. focuses on the Kingdom of God. 5. God is acknowledged as Personal. 6. God is acknowledged as Powerful 7. reminds us of great truths about God 8. references many Biblical texts and allusions. 9. a daily duty. 10. is a disciplined activity. 11. is a focused devotion. 12. spoken in Hebrew.