BearTrax Fellowship
The Hebrew Roots of our Faith
If we were to pick up a book today written by English author and poet Chaucer in the 14th century, we would have a hard time reading it, or, understanding many of the "idioms" used in his culture. Languages and culture change over time. To understand the book from a 21st century American culture would be impossible. To gain a complete grasp and understanding of this book, one would need to study the language, culture and customs of Chaucer's era.
The Bible is no different. It's sixty-six books were written centuries ago in a language and amidst a culture totally foreign to most Americans. Just as it would be necessary to study 14th century English literature to understand Chaucer's book, it is necessary to study the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek languages, plus the culture and customs of Egypt, Judah, Israel, Assyria and numerous other countries to gain a thorough understanding of the books of the Bible. That is impossible for most people.
We have hundreds of different translations of the scriptures from Greek and Hebrew to English. No matter how gifted the translators are, something always gets lost going from one language to another. Culture influences our language. Although we get a "word picture" when we read these scripture translations, it is impossible to gain an adequate understanding of the culture. Every language has its idioms; unless we understand these idioms, we fail to understand much of the text, even though it is in our own language. The Bible is filled with Hebrew and Greek idioms. Therefore it is necessary for us to study and understand the culture and customs of the times in which the scriptures were written.
Idioms are words that can't be taken literally and don't always stick out like a sore thumb. This is because we have grown up using idioms to color our speech and express ourselves. Comments like "a bull in a china shop" and "when the cows come home," fill the English language. One web site says that an idiom is "a manner of speaking that is natural to native speakers of a certain language." Idioms add lively ideas to our speech. These phrases have been adapted into our language over the years, to the point where, they have become part of normal speech. They are word pictures that describe situations vividly. Yet, idioms can also be very confusing.
If we really thought about it we suppose most people who grew up in the church (like we did) would realize that Yahshua (Jesus) was Jewish as were all of His disciples. It's just that we never really THINK about it and when we do take the time to think it through, many times we are shocked to realize that Yahshua and His disciples kept the weekly Jewish Sabbath and they kept Yahweh's feasts outlined in Leviticus 23. In fact, references to these events are throughout the gospels and the other New Testament writings, but because they are not called "the feast of tabernacles" or "the feast of unleavened bread" but just "the feast," we don't see them for what they are UNTIL we begin to research these feasts and then they jump off the pages of the New Testament.
Why is this important? Well, can you really understand the culture and what was happening on the pages of your Bible without understanding the events around which Yahshua did and said certain things? Can you really understand the events on the pages of your Bible without understanding the times and seasons which many times were a catalyst of events and even a fulfillment of them? After having spent several years doing just that, we can tell you that the answer is a resounding, "No!" If you read long enough on our articles, you'll see what we're talking about.
Yahshua and the disciple's entire reference point and worldview were determined by their Jewish heritage. Much of their life's events were dictated by the Word of Yahweh (God's name) and determined the cycles of the Hebrew calendar. This was the reality of their time. OUR American Christian mentality and worldview had absolutely NO bearing on who they were, what they did and what they wrote in what is now our Bible. We can't tell you the shock this was when we realized it!
So, Yahshua lived in a manner that was based upon His Hebrew "roots." Is it possible that our walk is supposed to resemble something like this, too? We submit to you that the answer to that question is "Yes." There is plenty of Biblical basis for this answer, at which we will look, but let's begin with just one eye-opening Scripture:
"the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk "in the same manner as He walked." I John 2:6
If we aren't to do this, to walk as He did, to look like Him in our daily lives, then why were we told to do so? Just how important to Yahweh are His feasts, the weekly Sabbath and the whole "Hebraic-ness" of believing in the Messiah? We submit to you they are very important, in fact, they are eternal; Yahweh said so.
"These are the appointed times of Yahweh, holy convocations (Hebrew: mikrah = rehearsals) which you shall proclaim at the times appointed for them" (Lev. 23:4)
"It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places." (Lev. 23:14, 21, 31, 41)
Like the kids say, "What part of forever did you not understand?" Perpetual is never ending. "Throughout your generations" is never ending. Just when does a holy rehearsal that is to last perpetually end? It doesn't! As we will see later, we were grafted into a Hebraic vine, and what applied to them applies to us. More importantly, go read Leviticus 23 and you can see that Yahweh (also YHWH, God's name) calls the feasts listed in that chapter are HIS feasts, nowhere are they spoken of as those of the "Jewish people."
If you doubt this, think about this: do you think that a Jew who comes to belief in Messiah is supposed to become a gentile? Or would they become a Jew who has come full circle by accepting faith in the promised Messiah? The gentiles were blessed to be included but historically, even that happened long after the offer was extended to the Jewish people. We'll look at all of this in a few minutes.
What about the Sabbath? How important is it to Yahweh? Let's just see what YHWH said about His Sabbath in His Word.
"This is that which Yahweh hath said, tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto Yahweh, for today is a Sabbath unto Yahweh: today you shall not find it (manna) in the field. Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. See, for that Yahweh hath given you the Sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day bread of two days; abide ye everyman in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day." (Lev. 16:23, 25, 26, 29)
"Remember THE Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of Yahweh your God." (Exodus 20:8-10)
So, the SEVENTH day is the Sabbath Yahweh proclaimed in His Word. We still have a seventh day of the week, don't we? And it isn't Sunday! All we have to do to see if we are reading this correctly is to check with the Jewish people who have handed down their traditions since they left Egypt with Moses, and they still celebrate the Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday because YHWH measures days from evening to evening.
"And there was evening and there was morning, one day"
"And there was evening and there was morning a third day".
"And there was evening and there was morning a fourth day".
"And there was evening and there was morning a fifth day".
"And there was evening and there was morning the sixth day"
"And by the seventh day God completed His work which He had done; and He rested the seventh day from all His work which He had done. "Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31, 2:2-3)
If it's okay for us to change the day that Yahweh blessed and sanctified (set apart) where does it tell us so in the Bible? If the Bible tells us Yahweh's will, where did He give us permission to change what HE told us He'd set up and set apart? All you have to do is get a Strong's concordance and read all the Sabbath Scriptures to see if you can find ONE giving you permission to change this day. While you are reading them, you can also see how YHWH said He feels about keeping His Sabbath.
Well, that's OLD Testament!, you say. Yes, it is. But let me ask you this: when did YHWH say that the Old Testament was obsolete? If it is no longer important to Him, don't you think an event of the magnitude of changing YHWH's "set apart" day created by HIM would have been proclaimed so that everyone would know it was okay to change it?
Yahshua talked about keeping the commandments but we'd like to remind you that when Yahshua was walking this earth and teaching, there was no written "New" Testament!! The writings of the disciples turned apostles didn't happen until long after Yahshua's resurrection and ascension to heaven! Therefore the ONLY commandments Yahshua could possibly be talking about are those found in the OLD Testament!
He even said:
"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets (the "Old" Testament); I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. (Greek: ginomai = to cause to be) For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and so teaches others, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:17-19)
So, based on this, how strongly do you think Yahshua the Messiah feels about the "Old Testament," HIS "Living Word" which HE gave?? (John 1:1-3) And, when he referred to the law, what law was he talking about? The only law the Jewish people followed was the TORAH, given to all mankind at Mt. Sinai.
So why is all of this important to understand? Because Yahweh is preparing His Bride for the wedding day. When Yahshua left this earth, He left a Bride that was Jewish in nature and practice. In fact, the engrafting of the first group of gentiles documented in Acts 10 through Cornelius' household didn't happen until somewhere between 48 and 50 A.D.! At least FIFTEEN years after Messiah ascended to heaven!! Those first formative years, the body of those called out (ekklesia) was largely made up of those who had grown up following the practices outlined in the Old Testament; the JEWS! Like the Messiah and his disciples/apostles, they lived life as Jews; they followed in the footsteps of a JEWISH Messiah, not an American Gentile Christian one.
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This is also important to understand because the ekklesia has yet to fulfill its instructions from Yeshua through the apostle Paul:
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to every one who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)
Even Paul, not one of the original twelve disciples but hand chosen by Yahweh nonetheless, was Jewish and clearly stated this.
"I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin" (Romans 11:1)
So, what's the big deal about all of this? The big deal is returning to the way YHWH set it up in the first place. Before men decided to change what He said, before our traditions, the things that make us comfortable caused us to rationalize away what YHWH clearly put on the page. We have a choice: do we believe what men have told us, do we stick with our traditions and what is comfortable, or will we be courageous enough to read what YHWH said and simply DO IT HIS way?
You see, we believe that YHWH has a purpose that He intends to bring about with our obedience, that our obedience to His word is crucial to His plan. Information on His name being Yahweh (YHWH) and not Jehovah or simply God has started to pop up everywhere, even in Christian circles. Information on His feasts and interest in them is growing. Why? Because Yahweh has a vested interest in us knowing this information; He has a plan and this information is apparently crucial to it.
