The Previous Section: The Law is Not Difficult to Keep
Moses commanded Israel that they were not add to the rules that were written. But in the years to follow, the southern tribes would add to the written Torah in oral form (the Talmud), which is the oral tradition of Judaism. These ‘add-on’ commands of men taught as Commands of God are repeatedly spoken against:
2 You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. 3 Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor.
Deuteronomy 4:2 ESV
32 Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.
Deuteronomy 12:32 ESV
But through additions, the old covenant had been corrupted beyond recognition by man through Talmudic additions. In Mark 7, we see this explicitly mentioned by Christ. The Talmud orders members to wash hands a certain way according to oral tradition of the elders, yet this is not in the written Torah. The preface to Jesus’ teaching against the Pharisees in Mark 7 is that there were many such oral traditions not written in scripture. In speaking of those who keep oral law as though it were a command of God, Jesus quotes Isaiah 29:13 in saying that their heart is far from God by holding to such things. He states that they left the commands of God given in the Mosaic Law and added doctrines of men. Christians often think this passage is speaking against Mosaic Law, but that is not the case. The passage speaks against the Talmud, and to drive the point home, Jesus quotes the Torah principle of Honoring Father and Mother, and contrasts it with the Talmudic principle that if one does not wish to care for their parents, they can give the parents estate over to the Synagogue as a gift (corban), and the Synagogue will take care of their parents for them in return. This prevents the honor gained from a sense of personal responsibility, and the scripture cannot be fulfilled as intended. Jesus states that they have many such traditions as this which twist scripture in such a way that it loses meaning. We read now Mark 7:
Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
Mark 7:1-12 ESV
Christ’s teachings against the Pharisees was not against their holding of Mosaic Law, but rather, their holding to oral Talmudic tradition and misinterpretation of Mosaic Law. Man’s Law, embodied by the ‘circumcision party’, or those teaching Talmudic traditions of Men, IS NOT God’s Law. Modern Christianity has thrown out God’s Law in addition to the Talmud, and believe they are a law unto themselves. In contrast, Judaism tries to keep God’s Law, but pollutes it with man made traditions. We are not to add or subtract from God’s Law, and it seems modern Christianity subtracted from it, while Judaism added to it.
God’s law is opposed to man’s law, and we see this in Paul’s writings as well. He states in 1 Corinthians 9, that he is not speaking on human authority, but God’s authority in the Torah. He rhetorically asks if he is speaking on man’s authority or from God’s Law:
“Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop.”
1 Corinthians 9:8-10 ESV
Scripture was held in the highest esteem by Paul. It was God-breathed. Revered scripture was not the Talmud, which was human tradition. Again, Paul says that the Law and the Prophets were FROM God. So when a verse speaks of the traditions of men, it is NOT speaking of Mosaic Law. And when scripture negatively references the Law, it is often speaking of what was considered the ‘whole law’ within Judaism – the written and oral law.
We see Paul expand on this idea in Galatians. Paul is telling the Galatians his journeys, and how he came to teach the gospel, being a former Pharisee. He mentions that he was zealous for the ‘tradition of his fathers’, or as Jesus notes in Mark 7 above, the ‘traditions of men’. Recall Mark 7, “7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. [they taught the doctrine of man as though it was doctrine from God]’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” (Mark 7:7-8 ESV). Again, these traditions are referring to the Talmud, the oral tradition (now written down), which established the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles, within which we find teachings far removed from God’s Torah.
11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. 13 For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. 14 And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.
Galatians 1:11-14 ESV
The traditions of Paul’s fathers were those in Judaism (oral and written law). But Paul separates scripture (written Torah) from the traditions of his fathers. He believes the law and prophets (written Torah) to be God breathed (the NT scriptures had yet to be written). With that understanding, read 2 Tim 3:14-17:
“But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
2 Timothy 3:14-17 ESV
Paul also states that those who accept both oral and written tradition are then obligated to keep BOTH. They will be judged by BOTH. He is not saying that circumcision itself is bad, but is speaking against those within the circumcision party who keep the oral tradition. In Galatians 5, when Paul speaks of the whole law, he is including BOTH oral AND written law. Both the Talmud and the Torah must be kept for those accepting traditional Judaism. Circumcision itself was not bad, for Paul circumcised Timothy after the Jerusalem Council (Acts 16:2-4), but in those days, circumcision also meant that someone had converted to the tenets of Judaism. They were then within the ‘circumcision party’ and by being so, Christ was no advantage to them for they justified themselves through their works. Again, if they wanted to be justified by works, Paul states that they are obligated to keep the whole law, both written and oral.
“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.”
Galatians 5:1-4, 11 ESV
God’s law, as opposed to Talmudic Judaism, was not hard to keep. Christ states that the Law is easy, devoid of heavy burdens hard to bear. The heavy burdens are the additional commandments of men within the Talmud. The Bible states that Mosaic Law is easy to keep, a blessing, and a light burden for our souls (Deut 30:11-14, Ps 119, Jer 6:16). In Matthew 11, after Jesus rebukes the cities where He had performed great miracles for not repenting for their ways, He condemns them to a fate worse than Sodom and Gomorrah and thanks God for the elect that He chooses. In speaking against Judaism, Christ wants all who believe in Him, who are burdened with Talmudic traditions of men, to come to Him and follow God’s Law, which are the ancient paths, and in so doing, find rest for their souls. In this, He quotes Jeremiah 6:16, “Thus says the Lord: “Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ (Jeremiah 6:16 ESV). We are to learn to live the law as Christ did:
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
To argue that Christ came to abolish God’s Mosaic Law, and that he referenced the Law and the Prophets in order to abolish them, seems a weak position. There are certain things that are new about the new covenant, but abolishing Mosaic Law is not one of them. Christ would not quote OT prophets who are referencing the importance of the Law, as evidence that we should abandon the Law. That argument makes no sense.
If one does not understand what is contained in the Talmud (oral law), they cannot appreciate what Christ and the Apostles were up against in their day. A reading of the Talmud as it concerns the treatment of foreigners (gentiles), will demonstrate how far off base it is from God’s Torah, why it is detrimental to God’s Israel, and why it is not compatible with Christianity or the teachings of Christ and His Apostles:
Quotes about Talmud: Talmud/Gentiles in the Talmud – Wikiquote
- Rabbi Yoḥanan says: A gentile who engages in Torah study is liable to receive the death penalty; as it is stated: “Moses commanded us a law [torah], an inheritance of the congregation of Jacob” (Deuteronomy 33:4), indicating that it is an inheritance for us, and not for them.
- The Gemara explains: According to the one who says that the verse is referring to the Torah as an inheritance, this prohibition is included in the prohibition of robbery, as a gentile who studies Torah robs the Jewish people of it. According to the one who says that the verse is referring to the Torah as betrothed, as the spelling of the Hebrew word for betrothed [me’orasa], is similar to that of the word for inheritance [morasha], the punishment of a gentile who studies Torah is like that of one who engages in intercourse with a betrothed young woman, which is execution by stoning.
- With regard to bloodshed, if a gentile murders another gentile, or a gentile murders a Jew, he is liable. If a Jew murders a gentile, he is exempt.
- With regard to robbery, the term permitted is relevant, as it is permitted for a Jew to rob a gentile.
- It is necessary only to teach the halakha of one who withholds the wages of a hired laborer; for a gentile to do so to another gentile and for a gentile to do so to a Jew is prohibited, but for a Jew to do so to a gentile is permitted.
- From where is it derived that it is permitted to retain the lost item of a gentile? It is derived from a verse, as it is stated with regard to the mitzva of returning a lost item: “With every lost thing of your brother’s” (Deuteronomy 22:3), indicating that it is only to your brother that you return a lost item, but you do not return a lost item to a gentile.
- Shmuel says that it is permitted to financially benefit from a business error of a gentile, i.e., it need not be returned. The Gemara notes that this is like that incident where Shmuel purchased a golden bowl [lakna] from a gentile in exchange [bemar] for the price of an iron bowl, which was four dinars, and Shmuel included one additional dinar in the payment so that the gentile would not realize his mistake.
- Rav Kahana purchased one hundred and twenty barrels from a gentile for the price of one hundred barrels, and he included one additional dinar in the payment. Rav Kahana said to him: Take note that I am relying upon you to check that the transaction has been carried out properly.
- Ravina and a gentile purchased a palm tree together in order to chop it up and split the wood between them. Ravina said to his attendant: Hurry and precede the gentile so that you can bring my share of the wood from the trunk of the tree, which is thicker than the upper part of the tree, as the gentile knows only the number of logs that he is due to receive and will not realize that you are taking thicker pieces.
- Rav Ashi was traveling on the road and he saw a branch of a grapevine in an orchard, and there were clusters of grapes hanging on it. He said to his attendant: Go see to whom these clusters belong. If they are owned by a gentile, bring some to me, but if they are owned by a Jew, do not bring me any. A certain gentile who was sitting in the orchard overheard Rav Ashi’s instructions. The gentile said to him: Is it permitted to steal the property of a gentile? Rav Ashi said to him: A gentile takes money for his grapes, and I intended to pay for them, but a Jew does not take money for his grapes and I did not want to take them without paying for them.
- In the case of a Jew and a gentile who approach the court for judgment in a legal dispute, if you can vindicate the Jew under Jewish law, vindicate him, and say to the gentile: This is our law. If he can be vindicated under gentile law, vindicate him, and say to the gentile: This is your law. And if it is not possible to vindicate him under either system of law, one approaches the case circuitously, seeking a justification to vindicate the Jew.
- It is prohibited to raise a gentile from a pit even in exchange for payment, because one can say an excuse to him, such as: My son is standing on the roof and I must go use this ladder to help him down from the roof. Alternatively, he can say to him: A time has been appointed for me to appear in the courthouse [bei davar] and I must attend to this matter. Since the Jew can provide a legitimate excuse for refusing to aid the gentile, there is no need to extract him from the pit.
- If there was a ledge in the pit, a Jew scrapes it off so that the one in the pit cannot ascend from it, as the Jew employs a pretext and says that he is removing the ledge so that animals do not descend upon the one in the pit while he is trapped in the pit.
- If there was a stone at the mouth of the well that one had fallen into, a Jew covers it and says that he is covering the opening in order to pass his animals over it. Ravina said: One can learn from here that if there was a ladder in the pit, a Jew removes it and says: I require the ladder to lower my son from the roof.
- On the three days before the festivals of gentiles the following actions are prohibited, as they would bring joy to the gentile, who would subsequently give thanks to his object of idol worship on his festival: It is prohibited to engage in business with them; to lend items to them or to borrow items from them; to lend money to them or to borrow money from them; and to repay debts owed to them or to collect repayment of debts from them. Rabbi Yehuda says: One may collect repayment of debts from them because this causes the gentile distress.
- The Merciful One dispossesses the male gentile of his offspring, as it is written with regard to Egyptians: “Whose flesh is the flesh of donkeys, and whose semen is the semen of horses” (Ezekiel 23:20), i.e., the offspring of a male gentile is considered no more related to him than the offspring of donkeys and horses.
- Kill the best of the gentiles in time of war; crush the brain of the best of serpents. The most worthy of women indulges in witchcraft. Happy is he who does the will of the Omnipresent.
- Soferim 15:10
- Variant: “Kill the best of the heathens in time of war.” Some sources substitute the term בנים (benim, “boys”) for the term גויים (goyim, “gentiles”), which is then translated as “heathens” rather than “gentiles”. The original text uses the term goyim, which is a derogatory term for gentiles.
- As it is written: “And you My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, are people [adam]” (Ezekiel 34:31), from which it is derived that you, the Jewish people, are called adam, but gentiles are not called adam.
- Keritot 6b:20
- Variant: “‘And you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, are man’ (Ezekiel 34:31), which teaches that you, i.e., the Jewish people, are called ‘man’, but gentiles are not called ‘man’.”
- Beyond its use as the name of the first man, adam (Hebrew: אָדָם) is also used as a pronoun, individually as “a human” and in a collective sense as “mankind”.
And if there is any doubt that oral tradition (Talmud) played a prominent role in New Testament scripture, read Acts 10 and the verse’s association with Peter’s sheet vision.
25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” 27 And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. 28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean.
Acts 10:25-28 ESV
Is it unlawful in Old Testament scripture for Jews to associate with or visit anyone of another nation? No, such commands are not present in OT scripture, so Peter is including oral tradition as law in addition to God’s Torah just as Paul did in Galatians 5. That was the whole law, both oral and written, and Jews were obligated to keep both. But it is man’s oral law that lies dead in Christ, not God’s written law, which Christ kept. The Talmud is the dividing wall of hostility that stands between the two houses of Israel.
“For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,”
Ephesians 2:14-15 ESV
As we’ll read below, it is this dividing wall that Paul condemns Peter for in Galatians 2:11-14. Paul observes Peter and others eating with gentiles, which is not a violation of the written Torah, but is a violation of the Talmudic Oral Torah. Again, this is the dividing wall that must be torn down, not the Mosaic Law. Paul calls Peter a hypocrite, and accuses him of living like hypocritical gentiles. He asks him how he can ask gentiles to avoid hypocrisy when he himself is committing it. If Peter is supposed to cut ties with oral tradition and break down the dividing wall, yet separates himself from gentiles in the company of the circumcision party, he is a hypocrite and living like hypocritical gentiles. In such a circumstance, how can he then convince gentiles to keep the law?
“But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Galatians 2:11-14 ESV
Man has sought to corrupt God’s Word with additional teachings and commandments of men. God hates this act, and man’s supposed wisdom will perish (and as we’ll see, man has quite literally turned the world upside down).
“And the Lord said: “Because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, therefore, behold, I will again do wonderful things with this people, with wonder upon wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.” Ah, you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel, whose deeds are in the dark, and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, that the thing made should say of its maker, “He did not make me”; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?”
Isaiah 29:13-16 ESV
Remember, God’s people are fundamentally spiritual. Israel is a spiritual people.
“For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.”
Romans 2:28-29 ESV
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