The teachings of the Prophet Yeshua is the lens through which Talmidis understand Torah
It needs to be stated, right at the very start, that it is fundamental to the Talmidi Israelite faith, that we tend towards the compassionate interpretation of any commandment. This comes from being a Follower of the Prophet Yeshua’s teachings. Those who tend towards a ruthless, heartless or unjust interpretation of scripture, leading to a lack of compassion for their fellow human beings, have no logical justification to call themselves Yeshua’s Followers.
It therefore beggars belief, when I hear of people who supposedly ‘believe in Jesus’, and then proudly say that we should not help others, that we should not lend a hand to those who are struggling, that ‘the poor, the widowed and the fatherless’ are effectively abandoned to their own devices, that spiritual violence or hatred are OK if they further the faith, and so on. I can therefore fully understand why these ‘certain people’ denigrate Torah, and proudly say that it is completely irrelevant to their lives – because if they actually did bother to read the true Message of Torah, they would see how their views, outlook and behaviour fall far, far below God’s standard expected of them.
I often wonder if that is the reason why the Torah is often translated in obscure, stilted and enigmatic English – so that people in their faith-community will not be tempted to use Torah as their ethical standard, because it is always presented as something utterly incomprehensible.
The Death Sentences (supposedly) in Torah
Obviously, for the wider Jewish society, the teachings of Yeshua are irrelevant. Yet still, given the existence of some harsh and violent commandments in Torah, why is Jewish society not a violent one? After all, there are other religions which have virtually identical harsh commandments, and they lead to societies which regularly execute people, and impose severe restrictions on the practise of other religions. After all, we never invaded other people’s countries, we never forced anyone to become Jewish as a means of spreading the Jewish faith, and in the countries we ended up in, we never imposed economic or legal restrictions on anyone practising their own religion.
Over the last few months, I have been preparing my translation of the Torah for publication. The last stage was reading right through the entire Torah. When you read right through anything, in one go, you get to see the bigger picture – the overall message which a book or any written work is trying to convey.
When you read some translations of the Torah, some of the commandments sound pretty harsh, and such stilted and enigmatic translations portray the God of the Hebrews as an angry, wrathful and vengeful God – I guess, in order to prove that their deity is a far more compassionate and loving God. However, more often than not, such an impression is directly due to the translation itself, not from the context of the original Hebrew.
There is one apparent command, whenever God is talking about the sacred furnishings of the Tabernacle, when God says that people should not lay eyes on them, ‘lest they die’. There are other instances when God says that if a lay-person encroaches upon the Tabernacle, ‘they are doomed to die’. Most people interpret these instances as God ordaining the death penalty for such transgressions (which they are not). These instances of apparent wrath and punishment, are actually due to a misunderstanding of how the ancient Israelites understood the enormous power of God. As Talmidis, it is vital to our faith that we comprehend the power of the fire of God’s Glory. Touching the sacred objects, or encroaching upon the Tabernacle, were not punishments, but warnings of the incredible power of God’s Glory.
The Actual Death Penalty, and why it was rarely carried out
There are of course, other instances for which the death penalty is genuinely given: sacrificing your children to Molekh, encouraging Israelites to worship other gods, necromancy, adultery, murder, and so on.
However, it may surprise people to learn that the death penalty for religious offences was rarely carried out – it was rarely carried out even for adultery and murder. In spite of the explicit laws prescribing death, whipping, or chopping off hands, Jewish society just did not become a society that saw these things as the normal or acceptable thing to do. Jewish society did not become a society which was enamoured of capital punishment. Why was that?
One reason is because in Ex 23:7b, it says, ‘you shall not execute the guiltless or the innocent’. In cases where there was even the most microscopic doubt that someone was guilty – that there was even the slightest inkling that the accused person might actually be innocent – then it was better not to execute such a person, in case one day, evidence turns up that exonerates them; you cannot free a dead person from prison. Innocent blood will have been shed, and innocent blood pollutes the sacredness of the Holy Land (cf Num 35:33).
However, the main reason for the discomfort of most Jews with the harsher commandments, is that the entire corpus of Torah, coupled with the words of the Prophets, indicate to us that all people are first and foremost, human beings, and deserve to be treated with the dignity they deserve, as children of God.
For example, it was normal in ancient times, in most cultures, for women to be taken as spoils of war. The way that God deals with a difficult, unpleasant, ingrained social custom is to first make it difficult to do, and thereby evolve a society which naturally turns away from such practices.
For example, Dt 21:12-13 explains that, when a soldier took a captured woman, she was to be allowed to mourn her parents according to the customs of her native religion – in other words, he was not to force his own religion or customs on her. She was to be allowed to shave her head, cut her nails, and not be forced to live as a slave. After a whole month of this, the captor would normally come to see his captive as a human being, and more often than not, would then release her, having taken pity on her.
It is true that there are laws on slavery in the Hebrew Bible, but they too were designed to gradually cause Jewish society to see all peoples as human beings worthy of dignity, and so by the 1st century CE, most Jews viewed slavery with disgust – as an undesirable pagan practice. The just treatment of slaves did not start with Yeshua, but rather with the Jewish society in which he had been raised
Here’s another thought: If certain other religions claim that they accept our Hebrew prophets as their prophets, then why don’t they actually take note of the fine detail of what God actually said through them? Surely, accepting someone as a prophet, means that you have to heed what they say, because what they have said is from the very God they supposedly worship. Or has the definition of a prophet changed in their religion? Or have all those ethics and principles been abrogated?
God is testing us
The true, hidden secret behind the existence of the more uncomfortable commandments is very revealing of the nature and purpose of God, and God’s greater plan.
The Bible regularly speaks of God testing us. This is often to force a person’s true self to come out. When God tests a good person, it is to bring the best of their character out, to see if they will be faithful, and remain true to God’s ways.
However, sometimes God will deliberately test a wicked person, so that other human beings can see the true, corrupt and depraved nature of what is in the storehouse of their heart:
Their heart is devious above all else;
it is perverse –
who can understand it?
I, Yahveh, test the mind
and search the heart,
to recompense everyone according to their ways,
according to the fruit of their doings. (Jeremiah 17:9-11)
It is in this spirit that the Israelite religion came to view the harsher commandments of Torah – the very ones that a good, decent person would be uncomfortable with. A good person will centre their faith on the righteous, upright and noble commandments of Torah, and on Yahveh’s higher principles. However, a wicked person – a sociopath or psychopath, for example – will focus their faith on the harsher, crueller commandments.
“Know Yahveh!”
So that is why it is important for a follower of Yahveh to learn to get to know Yahveh as a living Entity, not just as a theoretical concept, merely gleaned from scripture. How are you to know which are the good commandments of Yahveh, and be able to separate those from the ones that are there as a test for a wicked person, if you don’t know the true nature of Yahveh?
It is a Yahwist Israelite principle that we should get to know Yahveh (cf 1Sam 3:7, Hosea 6:3, Jer 31:34) and seek Yahveh (Dt 4:29, 1Chron 16:11, 22:19, 2Chron 14:4, 15:12, Ps 77:2 etc), because Yahveh is a knowable God. It is only by knowing Yahveh, that you come to distinguish which commandments that a decent person should focus on, and which commandments are there to test the hearts of the wicked.
God uses the harsher commandments to test the hearts of the wicked
There are some harsh and cruel commandments in Torah, but the ancient Israelites were uncomfortable with following them – such as those about taking slaves, the total destruction of enemies, executing those who deliberately break the Sabbath etc. Many of these commandments were never actually followed, because as the centuries passed, the ancient Israelites were commanded to know Yahveh, and by knowing Yahveh, they knew that these cruel commandments were not a true reflection of the kind of society that God wanted Israel to become. In fact, it was considered a pious ideal to free slaves and captives (eg Jer 34:10, Isa 61:1, Dt 15:13), and to show mercy.
That is why the psalmist said,
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts.
See if there is any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalm 139:23-24)
Yahveh is testing those who do not have a decent heart within them, so that the rest of us can see what truly lies within the hearts of wicked people:
The crucible is for silver, and the furnace for gold,
but Yahveh tests the heart.
An evildoer listens to wicked lips,
and a liar gives heed to a mischievous tongue. (Proverbs 17:3-4)
I have made you a tester and a refiner among my people
so that you may know and test their ways.
They are all stubbornly rebellious,
going about with slanders;
they are bronze and iron;
all of them act corruptly. (Jeremiah 6:27-28)
They all deceive their neighbours,
and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongues to speak lies;
they commit iniquity and are too weary to repent.
Oppression upon oppression, deceit upon deceit!
They refuse to know me, says Yahveh.
Therefore thus says Yahveh of hosts:
I will now refine and test them. (Jeremiah 9:5-7a)
If you insist on following the literal, word-for-word commandments of Scripture – especially if they are harsh commandments – without seeking the compassion, righteousness or loving mercy of Yahveh, then you will never know Yahveh, and you will never find Yahveh. Scripture itself has become your god and your master instead, and you are nothing more than an idolater. Paradise will not be your ultimate destination, only the oblivion of the soul.
It is Yahveh who steers us towards being a non-violent society
Yahveh is a living God, who can be sought and found. Yahveh is a God who can be experienced and known. Yahveh is not just ‘up there’, Yahveh is right beside you, enveloping you and embracing you. Your faith, as a Talmidi, is strengthened and justified by your contact and knowledge of Yahveh, your Saviour and your Redeemer, who has given you a just cause to follow, and a righteous Way to live.
People who point out the violence of the Bible and say, “See, what nonsense religion is! How unjust and inhuman religion is!’ should then try and examine why Jewish society is not a violent one – why we don’t chop people’s hands or heads off, why we don’t execute adulterers or homosexuals, why we don’t stone to death those who work on the Sabbath, and why we don’t keep slaves, or take prisoners of war as war booty.
There is only one answer needed, and that is …. Yahveh. We are to be holy to Yahveh, and Yahveh alone; that demands a certain outlook and mindset towards interpreting scripture, and that is the mindset that I exhort you, my fellow Talmidis, to take on board.