a very good book

[steve]

i highly recomend this book to all "Bereans"

THE HEBREW YESHUA
VS THE
GREEK JESUS
(New light on the Seat of Moses from Shem-Tov's Hebrew Mathew)

by Nehemia Gordon

 

[CecilW]

Likewise. Couldn't put it down! Only 2-3 hours to read. Well worth it.

 

[ylop]

so any chance of an executive summary?

 

[CecilW]

so any chance of an executive summary?

I'll take a quick shot at it. Correct me if need be, Steve.

The author is a Jewish scholar of Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, etc. Did a lot of work on the dead sea scrolls. Isn't a Christian, but not hostile.

Apparently, it has been thought for a long, long time that Matthew was originally written in Hebrew, rather than either Greek or Aramaic. In recent years, an ancient copy apparently came to light.

The author was talking with a Christian friend who was troubled by Matt 23:2-3, "The scribes and pharisees sit in Moses' seat: All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not do." This seemed so contradictory, since Jesus had talked so much elsewhere about avoiding the leaven of the pharisees and their traditions, dissed them to their faces, said "You have heard it said ... but I say unto you ...", etc.

The author went into the Hebrew original, and found a subtle but important difference. The first "they", referring to the scribes and pharisees, was in the Hebrew, "he", referring to "Moses". (I guess as he explored, he found lots of linguistic evidence supporting the Hebrew Original theory, as well as some other poor translations in the Greek, but this book deals with this one.)

In other words, the scribes and pharisees claim their authority as coming from their connection to Moses. So we should do what Moses said in Torah. Stick with the plain meaning of the original writing.

In other words, once again, Jesus was standing up for the written word, and stripping away the traditions and the right of current religious leaders to change things.

This whole theme is fleshed out quite a bit with information about what the religious leaders believed and taught, and how they felt free to decide which parts of Torah to alter or disregard, and how Jesus seems to have been an early precursor to a Jewish sect/denomination that arose years later and revolted against all that, insisting instead on simply taking God's Word as written.

It's a fairly short book, only about 90 pages including appendixes, but intensely informational AND written in an interesting, narrative style.

Application/Implications (my personal perspective): There are arguments among Christians and even among us as to what precisely was nailed to the cross, and changed in the new covenant. Some think that the core of it is that we no longer have to obey "the Law", others that the core of the new covenant is that God, promising to dwell WITHIN us and us IN Him (the Mystery of Godliness), promised to write it on our hearts so that we would obey it more fully and from our changed nature. To me, what Jesus truly said and meant speaks to this issue in principle, though we Christians and BF members will undoubtedly continue to argue over details.

 

[ylop]

Thanks Cecil, sounds like a good read. Regards, ylop