divine – Messianic Moment

The Bible is known by many as “The Word of God.” That implies that it is exactly what God has said; but, in fact, that is not what most of it is made up of. And the problem with this is that people who don’t study or read the Bible themselves don’t know the difference between the divine dictations and the divinely inspired writings.

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Inspiration is an intangible thing that is filtered through the individual’s experience, culture, language, and understanding. Divine inspiration is when someone receives a message from God, but being an inspiration means when they write it down or repeat it they are not going to be quoting God exactly.

For instance, the Ten Commandments written on the two tablets given to Moses (which he copied into the Torah) were written with the finger of God (Ex. 31:18), so they are divine dictations. From God directly to us: no interpretation, no personal bias, no filtering, and not even a typo or two. Divinely dictated, meaning presented to us, directly from God exactly as he said it.

On the other hand, when we read the letters written by Shaul, most of the time he is speaking to Gentiles who do not know the divine dictations that occur in the Torah, so he more often than not interprets what God has said. His meaning and words are divinely inspired, but they are not directly from God. He has rebranded God’s words in a way that will make sense to pagans just learning about God.

And he tells us this is what he is doing. In 1st Corinthians 9:20-22, he says that he will be whatever he needs to be in order to win people over to Messiah. Essentially, he is saying that he will teach and say whatever he needs to in whichever way his audience will understand, in order to win over souls to Messiah. In other words, he knows what God ‘s dictated words are but he is rephrasing them so that his audience can understand and relate to it.

So the question is: which is more important? Divine dictation or divine inspiration?

My answer is: obviously it is more important to know what God, himself, says than what someone thinks God meant. Divine inspiration is certainly going to be important, but it will be, by definition, in the person’s own words and stated in a way that is influenced by that person’s experience, language, culture, and understanding of the Bible, in general.

What is most important of all is that the one listening knows the difference between what God said and what someone says God said.

The Bible is composed mostly of divinely inspired writing. The New Covenant has very little that is a direct quote of God’s own words. Because Yeshua is the Messiah, he taught from divine knowledge. However, much of what he quoted from the Tanakh came from the divinely inspired writings.

God’s direct instructions to all people are found in the Torah. I believe that when Moses wrote “The Lord says…” that what he wrote was directly dictated by God. Anything and everything else Moses wrote, as well as most of what is in the Prophets and other books, is divinely inspired.

So, nu? What’s the point? The point is, as I say so very, very often, you need to read the Bible every day and ask God for his divine understanding so that you know which is which.

The many different religions that have come into existence have created man-made doctrines but pass them off as divinely dictated commandments. And those who do not read the Bible are blind, being led by the blind, and we all know where they end up.

Divine dictation is not something anyone can afford to ignore or reinterpret, whereas divinely inspired writing can be rephrased and taught using different terms and cultural identifiers so that it can be understood by people with varied backgrounds. In just the same way that Shaul taught his Messianic congregations.

When we know the difference between what God said and what people say God meant we will not be easily fooled by the Enemy of God when he tries to turn us from the path of righteousness.

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Until next time, L’hitraot and Baruch Hashem!

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There are many times within the Bible, from Genesis through to Revelation, that we are told we are not to add to or take away from the commandments we are given. The most specific commands I could find regarding this can be found in Deuteronomy 4:2; 12:32; 13:1; and in Revelation 22:18-19.

Too often I have noticed that people use these admonitions as a means of denying the validity of both Jewish and Christian traditions, rites and holidays that are not specifically commanded in the Torah. They believe the words “do not add to or take away from” as universally encompassing any and all words, ceremonies, activities or regulations outside exactly what is written in the Torah.

This is a form of legalistic interpretation, and although their heart is in the right place, their understanding is incorrect.

When Moses warned against adding to or taking away from the instructions God gave us he meant not to change only those things which he just instructed us to do. Rabbi Rashi gave an example by saying that we are told to use 4 species for the Lulav, so we shouldn’t use 5 or 3. The idea is that we are not to make arbitrary changes to the laws; that, however, does not mean we cannot make new additions to the Mosaic laws, as conditions require. Obviously, with the advent of new technology and moving from an agrarian economy to a service economy, the Mosaic Laws, taken in a stoic and unbending literal meaning, in many cases cannot be applied.

Let us consider that we do not change anything in the Torah at all- literally, not one word is to be added or taken away. If that is the case, then the only way we can be sure we obey that command is to read the Torah in the original Hebrew it was written in. For example, if we are not to add to the words in the book, then English cannot be used to translate the Bible because we would have to add many, many words.

Here’s an example: in Hebrew, the possessive is usually the noun with the ending having a “-nu” added. “Adonai” means “Lord” but when we write “Adonainu” it means “our Lord” The Hebrew is a single word but the English translation requires the use of two words, which is a violation of the command not to add anything to the words in the book. Imagine how many uses of the possessive we find in the Bible, and how many words will have to be added just to interpret the Hebrew correctly. Not to mention that the Torah has been translated into scores of different languages, each of them having their own need to add or remove certain words to make the translation fit.

Can you see how ridiculous it becomes if we insist on an absolutely literal interpretation of that command?

The Torah is a book of instruction- it is the ultimate User’s Manual for worshiping God and treating each other. Torah doesn’t mean “law”, it means “instruction” and the instructions we are given are to be performed as God said to. That means we are to do what God said to do the way God said to do it, but it does NOT mean we cannot adjust to a changing world. R. Maimonides has said that the sages (Sanhedrin) are allowed to temporarily suspend some requirements or allow that which is forbidden under extreme circumstances. These are not to be permanent changes, but under extreme conditions and only to allow what needs to be done only while there is a need for it.

And under no circumstance can additional requirements be considered as Divine instructions- that is what it really boils down to when Moses said do not add to or take away from what God gave us: the instructions in the Torah are not to be changed, deleted, altered or modified in any way. However, what new “fences around the law” are required (aka, Talmudic instruction) are acceptable so long as they are not presented as Divine instruction.

This is where Judaism has violated the Torah- the Talmud is studied and revered as scripture by some of the more Orthodox sects of Judaism, and that is what Moses said we should not do. There is nothing wrong with traditional forms of worship if they do not nullify or over-rule God’s commands, AND if they are recognized as man-made and not presented as Divinely ordered.

Here is an example: the Divine order in Torah is that we are not to boil a calf in its mother’s milk; the fence around that law (given in the Talmud) is that we are not to even mix meat and dairy. I, myself, will never boil a calf in its mother’s milk but I will go to Steak and Shake and order a cheeseburger, fries and a milkshake (Oy! Now I’m hungry.) I am not violating God’s commandment, and the truth is even if I never mix meat and dairy, I am not violating God’s commandment, and I am not sinning- I am simply doing a little more than the minimum to ensure I do not violate the Divine order. That is really what the Talmudic/Rabbinic traditions are designed to do- they are to help us perform God’s commandments properly and not accidentally violate them (hence the term “fences around the law”, i.e. a way to prevent us from accidentally trespassing the law.)

So, here is how I look at “traditional” rites and holidays: do they change what God has said? Is celebrating Hanukkah (not specified in Lev. 23) a violation of God’s commandments? In my opinion, it isn’t because God couldn’t include it when he gave the Moedim to Moses simply because it hadn’t occurred yet. Is thanking God for a miraculous military victory which saved Judaism wrong? How could it be? How can anything that is a loving and worshipful celebration of the Lord and what he has done for us ever be wrong?

On the other hand, is failing to honor the Sabbath OK? Certainly not! Or if we decided we wanted to celebrate Sukkot for only 5 days, would that be OK? Certainly not! But what if I want to have a party and read the Magillah of Hadassah on Purim, is that OK? It certainly is!

God gave us the Torah so we can know how he wants us to live. It is not all-encompassing, it does not cover everything we will run into as the world changes, and it is not absolutely the exact words God gave to Moses. There is no way we can know that. So, nu? What is it? It is a collection of instructions that are the minimum we should do to obey God. Anything outside of the Torah that is required by our religious leadership is not a sin as long as that requirement is in accordance with God’s instructions; they must not nullify, overrule or change them, and they must not be presented as a Divine instruction.

What we are given in the Talmud and Constantinian Christian dogma is man-made instruction. It is not Divine, it is not absolutely required, and if it goes against what God said (such as changing the day we celebrate the Sabbath) it is a sin.

So, celebrate the Lord, give thanks in every way you can and don’t restrict your thankfulness to only what is in the Torah.

Tag: divine

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What Does Do Not Add or Take Away Really Mean?