Shabbat shalom everyone,
In just over six weeks’ time, we will be observing the Festival of First Fruits, also known as ‘the Festival of Weeks’. In Rabbinic Judaism, it is celebrated as the Giving of the Torah. However, Torah itself says that this took place on the third day (Ex 19:11, 15) of the third New Moon (Ex 19:1) after leaving Egypt – i.e., the third day of the Fourth-Month. For an explanation of this, see our page on Shavu‛ot.
The theme of Shavu‛ot is instead the Covenant. How do we know this? When the Torah text was being edited into its final form in the 6th century BCE, the editor (presumably, at the behest of the sages of the Great Assembly), arranged the Torah in such a way that it should be read in a three-year cycle in the Synagogue. In addition, the text was also arranged so that the portions to be read out on the Sabbath nearest to each pilgrim-festival would be relevant to its themes. If you look at the themes of the 3 portions for Shavu‛ot (Gen 12:1-13:18, Ex 24:1-18, and Num 17:1-18:24), all three readings have a connection with the Covenant. If you read the Torah in only one year (as the Rabbanite Jewish community does), you will miss this connection.
This is why we Talmidis continue to read Torah in 3-year cycles, following on from ancient custom in the Holy Land. Observing Torah and Israelite customs in the way they were originally designed and intended, enables you to understand the underlying meaning of everything we were given to do by God, because everything is in its proper context. And because it is obvious that the meaning of Shavu‛ot is meant to be about the Covenant, that is what we will be looking at for the festival.
It is also possible that the name of the festival in biblical Hebrew was not Shavu’ot (‘Weeks’) but Shevu’ot (‘Oaths’, i.e. the oaths sworn as part of God’s covenants with Humanity and Israel). In Hebrew, these two words are written identically (שבועות), since no vowels are written in Hebrew, and in biblical Hebrew, in speech they sound almost the same. It is possible that the original name of Hag Shevu’ot (‘Festival of Oaths’) was lost, and the name morphed into Hag Shavu’ot (‘Festival of Weeks’) in everyday speech.
There are seven sabbaths in the lead-up to Shavu‛ot, and on each of those seven Sabbaths – each week, from today, we examine each of the 7 parts of the Covenant.
The very First Religion of Humanity: The Way of Righteousness
There are a number of ideas and beliefs that were known during the period of the Israelite religion, which were either forgotten or ignored after the return of the Jewish people from the Babylonian Exile, when the Israelite Religion transitioned to become Judaism (‘the religion of the Judahites’). One of those forgotten beliefs was that it is the fire of God’s Glory that purifies and cleanses us of sin (Isa 43:25, Zech 13:9, Mal 4:1-2), not blood – and most certainly not the death of a god-man.
Relevant to this article today, is another belief that was forgotten. Most people think that there are only 6 parts to the Covenant, and that the first one is the one with Adam. However, a careful reading of the books of the Hebrew Prophets will reveal another part of the Covenant – the very first one, the one that was written on our very souls. The very first system of values that God gave us was Tsédeq – ‘Righteousness’ (or Justice / Uprightness – see Prov 8:20, 12:28, 16:31; cf Isa 40:14; cf also Book of Jubilees 7:20-28). This was the religion of heaven that God first imprinted on our human souls, before our souls came to earth to be incarnated as human beings.
This is the natural religion that Abraham followed: “For I have made Myself known to him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the Way of Yahveh by observing righteousness and justice….” (Gen 18:19a). Later, when Yahveh revealed Torah at Mt Horeb 3,468 years ago, it then transitioned into being the Israelite Religion.
In the Israelite Religion, it was believed that the natural religion of the human soul was Tsédeq – ‘the Way of Righteousness’ – hence, the religion that God taught to Abraham. The Essene Book of Jubilees seems to have been aware of this concept. At 7:20–28 in that book, Noah also teaches his sons ‘the Way of Righteousness’, and then goes on to list several laws that are not part of the Rabbinic list of Noachide laws.
According to the theology of Rabbinic Judaism, the laws incumbent on the whole human race are the laws that were given to Noah (hence how Rabbanites call non-Jews who follow an ethical system of Yahwist spirituality, ‘Noahides’). However, there is a covenant before that, which preceded the Noachic covenant, and by which all six other covenants have to be understood. This is the covenant that links all the other covenants together, and is the rule by which all the subsequent covenants are to be interpreted.
Observing this natural religion of the human soul, means that you put ethical values and just principles before ritual; it means that you do not commit violence in God’s Name – because to do so is the ultimate abomination against God; it means that you treat every human being – regardless of their religion – with equity and fairness, and that you do not impose restrictions on other peoples, simply because they do not belong to your religion. It also means that the values of the Way of Righteousness come before what is written in any scripture – this Way was meant to be how we are to interpret Scripture. We interpret scripture through God’s Way of Righteousness, not the other way round. Tsédeq is not written in any book; it is the law which comes directly from the Word of Yahveh (Davar YHVH) in heaven, and is written on the conscience of the human soul.
The Righteousness that Yahwists are meant to strive for when observing Torah
Imagine if you can, the highest good, the noblest values, the greatest goals, and the purest spiritual outlook. If you can do that, you can imagine the religion of heaven – the very first religion that we were all created with. This is the religion we all followed in heaven, before we ever came to earth; it is the religion we have most of us forgotten, the values of goodness and peace we can only weakly defend in the face of aggressive religious fundamentalism.
If anyone thinks ‘doing Torah’ is nothing to do with ethics or human conscience, they should think long and hard about Dt 6:18. In this verse, we are commanded to ‘do whatever Yahveh regards as upright and good’ (literally, ‘You shall do the upright and the good in the eyes of YHVH’). The Hebrew word for ‘upright’, yāshār, refers to ethical righteousness and moral rectitude, not just to written commandments. In case we are tempted to do only what it says in Torah, and no more (i.e. in order to dodge the task of being a decent person of good conscience), then we are also commanded to do everything that God considers to be good and ethically right, regardless of whether it has been explicitly commanded in Torah or not. Only a cold and pitiless heart without any form of conscience, will then protest, ‘But how can we possibly know what’s right and ethically good, unless it’s been written down?’
There has been some criticism of Talmidaism online over the years, in that we apparently project back onto Yeshua` the values of the Gentile West – for example, reason, humaneness and tolerance. I would guess that such people have never read the Book of Proverbs or Ecclesiastes, or understood the universality in the latter parts of the Book of Isaiah. This perception mostly comes from a lack of understanding of what Talmidaism actually is – or even what the Israelite faith hoped for since the beginning. As Talmidis, we realise that Yeshua` had a limited mission – to call people back to God’s ways, so that as many as possible could be saved from the tribulation about to hit the land of Israel.
You see, Talmidaism is much more than Yeshua`, Jacob the Pious and his early community in Jerusalem; Talmidaism is the sum of the best of Yahwist Israelite values, stretching all the way back to Abraham. That set of values presents a God who is against superstition, who instils within us a discernment and love for wisdom, justice and understanding, and who teaches us to be fair and just towards our neighbours (regardless of their religion or lack of religion). Much of this is to bring out from within us what God has already placed there – a reasoning, rational, humane and understanding heart, that places importance on individual responsibility, and enables us to draw on our inner courage and strength to get through the difficulties of life. Anyone who thinks Torah has nothing to do with reason or social justice, does not understand what Torah is for!
The Universal Covenant with the whole of Humanity
In Hebrew, there is a term, ברית עולם brīt `‛olām. It literally means, ‘eternal covenant’. Every time this phrase is used, it refers to the Covenant with Israel – except for one particular occasion. That one place occurs in Isaiah 24:5. There, the prophet describes how the earth will be ravaged and laid waste. This will not be for breaking the laws of Torah, but because “. . . the earth is defiled by her inhabitants, because they have transgressed [humane] laws, they have violated [moral] principles, and broken the universal covenant (brīt ‛olām).” This covenant is referring to a covenant that covers the whole of humanity.
Now, there are some who say that this covenant is the one with Noah, or even the one with Adam (which is the one about God giving every green thing to us as food, in return for acting as careful stewards over creation). However, neither of these covenants apply, because there are some things for which the Hebrew prophets criticise other nations, that would not be covered by either one of these two covenants. For example, Amos (Am 2:1) criticises the people of Moab for burning the bones of the much-respected, deceased King of Edom of that time, and for this, God would mete out God’s divine justice against them. But this act of outrage is not covered under either the Adamic or Noachide laws or covenants.
The Universal Covenant is the Covenant of Conscience-led, Moral Laws
The Universal Covenant is in fact the natural moral law that exists between Yahveh and the whole of humanity. It is not written on any scroll or parchment, nor are its terms recorded in any book anywhere. The only place it is written, is on the human heart – the human conscience. The Universal Covenant is what gives all human beings the natural sense of moral outrage whenever any human being does something wrong. Even though an act might not be outlawed by any biblical commandment or proclamation, we inherently know that a word or deed is wrong.
For the ancient Israelites, the unwritten laws of hospitality (i.e. the duties incumbent on both host and guest), which appear nowhere in Torah, were part of this Universal Covenant too; the unwritten duty to be kind to animals was also part of this Covenant, as is also the principle of mutual responsibility (that both sides of an ethical or moral transaction have responsibilities, in order for human society to function in a healthy way). Another good example of this covenant’s unwritten laws, is how all decent people would also consider the psychological and physical abuse of children to be wrong, but this is not covered by the written Torah either. All these things are considered so basic, that they are classed as being part of the Universal Covenant – natural laws that already existed before Torah was written.
Take also the question of, ‘What law or covenant were the people of the earth judged under before the Great Flood, before the Noachide laws?’ Humanity is charged with having brought creation to ruin (hišḥit), for having become corrupt (nišḥat), and for physical and moral violence (ḥamas). Only the charge of ‘bringing creation to ruin’ would have been against the Adamic Covenant in place at the time; the other two charges would not. They would have been against Tsédeq, however.
Gen 6:11-13 therefore reads like an indictment in a court of law. However, without the Universal Covenant – without that set of unwritten laws – no righteous judgment could be made by a just God against humanity. Without the Universal Covenant, in God’s court of law, humanity could otherwise legitimately have said, ‘But you gave us no law or code to live by, so how could we be accused of actually breaking any laws?’
The Universal Covenant is written on our hearts
The prophet Yeshua` taught us that ‘the Kingdom of God is within you.” (S.Yesh 20:3, 21:3; cf Lk 17:20-21). The prophet Jeremiah (Jer 31:33) also spoke about God writing God’s laws on our hearts, and Deuteronomy tells us that God’s Word is written on our hearts (Dt 30:14). If we ignore the natural religion of heaven that God has placed within us, we ignore a really important part of what God requires of us as religious people. Neglecting the holiness of the way of the heart and mind, thus leaving human souls to descend into religious violence, hatefulness, and injustice; it profanes the Sanctity of Yahveh just as much as neglecting the spiritual reverence due to God does, within the context of ritual observance and tradition.
In the Israelite religion, as I said previously, the natural religion of the human soul is Tsédeq – Righteousness. The laws that govern natural human religion have been written on the human conscience, not on any parchment or scrolls; these are the laws that Noah followed and taught to his sons, the laws by which God judged him blameless (Gen 6:9) – after all, he didn’t have a bible or Torah to refer to (and neither did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob etc). Just let that sink in: they had no revered scripture or holy book to refer to when going about the business of following Yahveh.
All Human Beings are meant to use the Unwritten Laws of the Universal Covenant to interpret what a decent, good and peaceful religion should be like
So, even though other nations do not have Torah, they do have God’s heavenly law of Tsédeq, which, from the day we gained sentience, was written on the human heart, giving us the knowledge to be able to tell the difference between good and evil. Knowing as we do, that no additions to God’s Covenant can override what is previously given, it is important to be stated here that even the written Torah cannot override Tsédeq – the written Torah cannot override what God has written on the human heart. If it does appear to do so, then we must be interpreting Torah incorrectly (and if anyone says that Torah can overrule Tsédeq, what they are effectively saying is that Torah is not righteous or just)!
Righteousness and Wisdom – both of which are from God – are the two guide-stones by which we apply and interpret Torah; for just as priests entered the Temple of Solomon between 2 pillars (Yachin and Boaz) representing these two principles, so also humankind should practice their diverse religions, approaching God between the twin pillars of Righteousness and Wisdom. If any religious person, in any religion, applies written religious law without any wisdom or righteousness, we effectively turn our faces against God, and set ourselves up for judgment. If we use our religion for violence or hate, then there will be an accounting demanded of our actions by Yahveh.
The terms and conditions of the Universal Covenant
The terms of the Universal Covenant are simple: the positive instructions are, ‘Act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God’ (Mic 6:8). The punishment for violating this is also simple: ‘As you have done, so will God do to you’ (Obad 1:15; cf Jer 51:56, Isa 35:4, Dt 32:35). This principle is called, ‘just retribution’ (gemulāh) or ‘just deserts’ (gemulot – the Israelite version of what Far Eastern religions call, ‘karma’).
This Universal Covenant is the covenant that the people of Nineveh broke, and necessitated Jonah being sent to call them to repent (otherwise, tell me by what religious law were they being judged under – they certainly weren’t condemned for breaking the Torah of Moses)! The Book of Jonah was written with the assumption that the reader would know about the Universal Covenant. The Ninevites were therefore judged under this Covenant – the same covenant under which the Philistines were condemned by Amos, because of the cruelty they had shown to other nations (i.e. not just Israel); this is the covenant under which all the prophets condemned other nations for their unjust actions, regardless of which people their cruelty was directed against.
The laws of the Universal covenant can never be revoked
The Universal Covenant applies to all humanity, even the Jewish people. It preceded the Torah given at Sinai, and the covenant cut there. Since no covenant can be revoked or cancelled, this covenant of natural moral law applies even to the Jewish people – something that fundamentalist Jews who ignore the good that is unwritten, tend to forget. As I previously mentioned, the implication of this is that no Torah law should be applied in such a way that it causes a deep sense of moral outrage in the human soul. I personally believe that the Universal Covenant was meant to be the ultimate moderating influence against all subsequent covenants and laws. In other words, I believe that God never expected any human being to apply their religion – any religion – in such a way that it violates their God-given conscience.
Sometimes fundamentalist, extremist Jews will do something wrong that provokes our natural sense of moral outrage – the covenant that Yahveh has written on the human heart. These fundamentalists will say to us, ‘We have done nothing wrong – show me where it says I cannot do this!’ And there will be occasions where their actions are not explicitly forbidden by Torah, and indeed, they have not broken the Sinai Covenant. But they have broken God’s natural principles of Tsédeq – the religion of heaven, as well as the Universal Covenant, and God will demand an accounting for what they have done; ‘as they have done, so God will do to them‘. Any violent society, one which uses violence as a way of enforcing their religion, will have violence brought down on them by God – whether it is from within their own society, or having constant troubles with other peoples or religions.
The first, humane and natural laws of the Universal Covenant have not been written down or codified by sages, nor have they been subject to the rulings of rabbis – no religious teacher can ever rule against Tsédeq. Any human being can appeal directly to God for justice under it, Jew and Gentile alike, and any man or woman who has been wronged, can raise their voice to God and call for justice against their adversaries, saying, ‘May YHVH judge between you and me!’ (cf Gen 16:5)
Conclusion
To conclude this article on Tsédeq and the Universal Covenant, it needs to be said that Tsédeq is not a way of avoiding following the written Torah. Allegiance to Tsédeq ensures that we, as Talmidis, as Followers of the Way of Yahveh, apply all the written Torah with wisdom, justice, compassion, mercy, and above all, with God’s Love. Acknowledging the rôle of the Universal Covenant in our lives as Talmidis, means that we hold ourselves to the highest spiritual standard that our Heavenly Father has ever set us – the very first, humane laws that Yahveh our God created us to follow, the natural laws of the human heart and conscience.
Religious fundamentalists will hate the Universal Covenant, because it is the only religious writ that they cannot corrupt and deliberately misrepresent for their own ends. When a religious person does something that fires the human sense of outrage, and they answer you and say, ‘Point out to me where it is written in scripture that what I have done is wrong,’ you can legitimately say to them, ‘Read my heart – the eternal words that God has written there – and they say that what you have done is wrong!’
Shabbat blessings, your brother in peace
Shmuliq