When we read the Gospels, we see that Yeshua mentioned 2 of the 10 Commandments during his sermon on the Mount, but throughout the Gospels he didn’t really talk a lot about the Torah.
Have you ever wondered why the Son of God didn’t teach people about the Torah, yet Shaul talked about the Torah a lot?
If you prefer to watch a video, click on this link: Watch the video.
I believe the answer is simply this: Yeshua was talking to Jews, and Shaul was talking to Gentiles.
The Jews knew the Torah, but what they didn’t know was the deeper, spiritual meaning of the Torah because all the Pharisees ever taught was the P’shat, the “plain language” of the Torah.
Yeshua taught what is called the Remes, the deeper, spiritual meaning. This was in order to fulfill part of his calling as the Messiah, which was to bring to fruition God’s New Covenant, the one he made through the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31), namely to write his Torah on our hearts.
The part of the Bible called the New Covenant (or New Testament, if you prefer) has no covenants in it, at all. In truth, God doesn’t speak in it to the people, except for the one time he spoke to the apostles that accompanied Yeshua onto the mountain when Moses and Elijah appeared (Matthew 17). At that time, all God said was something to the effect of “This is my son, listen to him.”
The real new covenant God made was fulfilled by Yeshua when he taught us the true meaning of God’s laws, and that didn’t involve him quoting from the Torah, but teaching what the Torah meant in a new way. Why do you think it is often said of him that no one has ever taught the way he did? Why did the people say he taught as if he had authority? It was because he taught us the “heart” of the Torah, and since he was talking to Jews, he didn’t need to explain where these laws came from because they already knew.
Now, when Shaul (Paul) wrote his letters, he did have to mention the Torah and explain about it because he was talking, for the most part, to Gentiles who did not know the Torah.
In Acts 15, when Ya’akov (James) suggested the 4 initial rules for these new believers to follow (I say initial because they weren’t the only rules, just what they should start with), he stated that they will be learning the Torah as they continue to attend Shabbat services, indicating (clearly!) that these neophyte believers in Yeshua were converting to a Torah-obedient lifestyle.
So, I don’t have any real mind-blowing revelation for you today, just a basic teaching in case anyone ever asks, “If Yeshua was the Messiah, why didn’t he teach about the Torah?”. Actually, what you will most likely hear is that Yeshua taught the Torah was not necessary, and that is why he didn’t mention it that much.
He didn’t mention where his teaching came from because he didn’t need to: he was talking to Jews, and they already knew the Torah. What they didn’t know was what Yeshua taught them, so that the Torah would be written on their hearts and not just on parchment.
That’s it for today, so l’hitraot and Baruch HaShem!
