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Brit Hadashah

Torah portion

Haftarah portion

Brit Hadashah        Acts 24 : 1  - 25 : 27

Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua

Paul was held for 5 days in the Roman Praetorium in Ceasarea awaiting the arrival of his accusers from Jerusalem. Ananias, the High Priest, with elders of the Sanhedrin, who brought with them Tertullus, a man gifted in public speaking to present their case before Felix, the Roman Governor. The exchange of testimony before Felix is interesting, but it has to be viewed through the lens of God’s direction. He had determined that Paul would appear before the authorities in Rome. So the events which took place in Caesarea are just a prelude to the ‘main event” so to speak.

However, there is much for us to learn about the faith of the Apostle Paul from this encounter, especially when correctly viewed from a “Hebraic” mindset rather than the ‘traditional’ Gentile one. Firstly, Tertullus makes his statement, which is a faithful repeat of charges made in Jerusalem. Paul is described by them as a “ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes” (not to be confused with ‘Nazarites’). It was the “Nazarenes” (equally properly called “Messianic Jews”), who were the irritant to these ‘orthodox’ accusers. Paul does not dispute their description of him, but he flatly denies the charge of incitement of the crowd in any location.

Paul then, referring to these “Messianic Jews” as a sect of Judaism known as “The Way”, readily confesses to being one of them. Then he elaborates on the doctrinal belief of this sect. Like them, he declared, “I worship the God of my fathers, believing ALL things which are written in the Law (Torah) and the Prophets”. I cannot find any place in Scripture where Paul ever amended this statement of the relevance of this doctrine in regard to his personal faith. It is the misunderstanding of this which has caused error to be taught about him by some Christian leaders in modern days, particularly in relation to many of the statements contained in his pastoral teaching letters. His burden in those letters was to assert and confirm that there was no compulsion on Gentiles to convert to Judaism in order to become a member of their community of faith. (as the orthodox Judaizers were proclaiming). However, it is noteworthy that invariably, the Gentiles joined the Jewish believers in worship. And that usually as part of the “ekklesia” which met in Synagogues. Compare that to today.  Selah.

Felix, who had a Jewish wife, understood the doctrines of “the Way”, so having heard the accusations against Paul, and his response, decided to defer his judgement. He had hoped, and even expected, Paul to offer him a bribe to let him go. Instead Paul preached to him about ‘the fruit of the spirit’ and the judgment to come! Felix continued to hold Paul in a kind of open captivity in Caesarea for another two years until his time in office came to a close. He was superseded by Porcius Festus, who shortly after his arrival in Caesarea took a trip to Jerusalem. There he was confronted by the members of the Sanhedrin about “Paul’s case”. They connived to have Paul brought back to Jerusalem, planning to assassinate him on the journey back from Caesarea. Festus would have none of it, and ten days later went back to Caesarea.

Another trial, more false accusations, another defence by Paul who again affirmed his position that “Neither against the law (Torah) of the Jews, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar, have I offended in anything at all.” He also claimed his Roman citizenship rights to be judged before a Roman court. Thus it was that Festus, being satisfied of Paul’s innocence of the charges laid against him by the Jews, decided that Paul would be sent to Rome to be judged by Caesar Augustus. But still, Festus had no charges against Paul which warranted such a course of action!

Then Festus received Royal visitors. King Agrippa and his wife Bernice. This Agrippa was a great grand-son of Herod the Great. He was ‘puppet’ king of that region but was held in esteem by the Roman governors. So it was that Festus acquainted him with “Paul’s case”.  Agrippa was intrigued by Festus’ explanation and decided that he would like to hear Paul for himself. (Now this is a further fulfilment of the prophetic announcement which God made to Ananias in Acts 9:15 wherein God said Paul would testify of Himself “before Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel”). This Royal audience also gave Festus something to write to Augustus about to warrant his decision to send Paul to Rome.

The two main lessons illustrated in this portion of Scripture, for me, are that God is faithful to every prophetic pronouncement He makes, and He has His own way of arranging the outcome. Also, the clear evidence from Paul’s own testimony (as distinct from what others teach about him) is that he remained a faithful, Torah observant Jew, right up to this time when he was about to depart for Rome.    

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Brit Hadashah

Torah portion

Haftarah portion

Brit Hadashah        Acts 22 : 1  - 23 : 35

Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua

Paul had been falsely accused of taking a Gentile into the Temple courts. For that, he was beaten by the mob, then rescued and arrested (as was prophesied by Agabus in Acts 13) by the Roman militia. As he was being led away he asked that he be allowed to address the crowd. Permission granted. Thus began a series of trials and defences to which Paul was subjected. So fulfilling the prophecy the Lord spoke in Acts 9:15,16 when He sent Ananias to minister to Paul on the road to Damascus.

The mob were silent as Paul began to address them in Hebrew. He briefly outlined his background as a rabbinic student under Gamaliel, stressing his strict orthodox Jewish upbringing and practice, even to the point of severe persecution of the followers of Yeshua (just as they were themselves). He told them the story of his encounter with Yeshua on that Damascus Road and as he did, he provided information about the above mentioned Ananias which is most enlightening. Paul said “Ananias, a devout man according to the Torah, having a good testimony with all the Jews who dwelt there.”  That was the description of the lifestyle of a devout believer in Yeshua. Ananias was a man zealous for the Torah. A man having a good testimony with ALL the Jews living there. It was the hallmark of their life of faith. This is certainly not the description of one who considered Torah obsolete, which is what many of us have been taught to be a characteristic of those Jewish believers today, is it?

Now Paul was doing pretty well with his audience until he declared that God had called him to go to preach the word to the Gentiles. The crowd turned on him immediately, so for his own safety the Roman militia again bound him, intending to interrogate him whilst giving him a good beating at the same time. “I am an uncondemned Roman citizen” Paul said. Then under direct questioning he confirmed it again in Acts 22 verses 27,28. (It is thought that citizens of Tarsus, the Capital city of the Roman province of Cilicia, were granted special status by the Romans). So Paul’s Roman citizen claim did two things. It saved him from a severe beating, and it put him into another round of questioning in front of the governing Jewish Sanhedrin, with the Roman authorities as observers to the proceedings.

“I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day” Paul started. “Smack him in the mouth” ordered the High Priest. Wow!!  A bitter exchange followed, for which Paul graciously apologised when he discovered that it was indeed the High Priest with whom he was having the stoush. But Paul had made his point! In the same way that Yeshua had charged the ruling Jewish authorities of being all show and no substance (whitewashed walls) so Paul too had accused them. But knowing that there were both Sadducees and Pharisees on the Council Paul then provoked division between them knowing that they held opposite views about the resurrection of the dead, and that he himself was a born a Pharisee (albeit now converted to Messianic Judaism). The dissention in the Council became heated! The Pharisees found no fault in Paul and wanted him released. The Sadducees wanted him executed. So much so that a group of over forty of them bound themselves in an oath to not eat anything until they had put an end to Paul’s life, (they might have starved to death) and then set about plotting how to arrange it.

But God had more work for Paul to do. And that work was in Rome!! The Lord spoke to Paul whilst he was incarcerated in the Roman barracks. “Be of good cheer Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at Rome.” What an amazing assignment! But in that assignment, Paul had the assurance then that he would not be put to death at the hands of the Jews. Furthermore, God confirmed again the prophetic announcement He had made to Ananias about Paul in Acts 9:15. That Paul would “bear My name before Gentiles, kings and the children of Israel”. The Romans were rulers in Israel, but the seat of their power was in Rome.

Paul’s nephew became aware of the Jews assasination plot and told the commander of the Roman militia, who promptly arranged for Paul to be taken, under substantial armed escort, to Caesarea, to be judged by Felix the Roman Governor. But when Felix discovered that Paul, even though he was a Roman citizen was born in Tarsus of Cilicia, he decided that he would not hear the case until Paul’s Jewish accusers were also present. So Paul was held in custody within the Governor’s residence in Caesarea for the next several days.

And so it was, that God continued to work out His purposes in His chosen ‘vessels’, just as He does today.   

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Brit Hadashah Reflections   48

Torah portion           Deuteronomy 33 : 1 – 34 : 12

Haftarah portion     Joshua  1 : 1 – 18

Brit Hadashah        Acts 19 : 1  - 21 : 40

Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua

What an interesting and challenging encounter Paul experienced when he got to Ephesus, once an important sea port. Today, some kilometres from the present-day coastline, it is one of the best preserved and restored of all the Biblical sites in Turkey and it is possible to walk the streets and imagine things about which we read in the Scriptures.

Paul found about twelve ‘disciples’ there who had established a Synagogue. But these men were ‘disciples’ of John the Baptizer, and had probably left Israel before Yeshua began His earthly ministry. In any event they were unfamiliar with the Holy Spirit. Paul laid hands on them and they “spoke with tongues and prophesied”. The Scripture is clear on this point. (Many churches today teach that the “tongues” of Acts 2 were foreign languages. And certainly foreigners understood the message in their own tongue. But here there is no suggestion of other languages here is there? Just “tongues”.  Selah) Paul remained with them, teaching in their Synagogue for a further three months. But some of these men became ‘hardened’ and spoke evil of the “ekklesia”. So Paul withdrew from meeting with them and arranged for his small “ekklesia” to meet separately in another place. He continued to teach there for another two years and God worked many “unusual miracles” amongst them during this time. Even healing people and casting out demons using aprons and handkerchiefs which had been touched by Paul.

Then came the counterfeits! There are always ‘counterfeits’ aren’t there? But God exposed the counterfeit and brought great blessing to the “ekklesia" and “the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed”. In fact, so mightily that the peddlers of artefacts relating to the many breasted goddess Artemis (also called Diana) saw significant threat to their business. A lesson for us here. There will ALWAYS be conflict between idolatry and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Count on it. Eventually, Paul wanted to preach in that temple, but after much dispute as the idolaters tried to have Paul and the other disciples charged with offenses against their ‘godess’, the city clerk intervened and restored some order. So Paul moved on again. Chapter 20 gives the account of various places visited before Paul, after celebrating Passover in Philippi met up with the others in Troas, where they stayed another seven days.

A “Hebraic” understanding of the well-known, but often misunderstood, events in Troas is worth explaining. Our Bible tells us “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread”. This was NOT a Sunday morning communion service as is often supposed. To ‘break bread’ was to share a meal together. This was the first meal after Shabbat, eaten after sundown (the beginning of the first day of the week) on Saturday evening. It was then, and still is, known by Jews as Havdalah (a Hebrew word meaning ‘separation’). It is a time of fellowship when in those days people met together to share a meal and  to rekindle their lamps (hence the presence of many lamps in the room) and to celebrate the end of the “holy” (Shabbat) and the commencement of the “secular” (the regular days). On this occasion Paul spoke for a long time (until midnight) and one of them, Eutychus, fell asleep. Please note again in verse 11 the reference to ‘breaking bread’ being a phrase denoting eating food.

Eventually, Paul made his way back to Jerusalem, but not before again encountering the prophet Agabus, whom Paul had first met at Antioch at the beginning of his ministry. Agabus warned Paul that he would be taken captive at the hands of Gentiles if he returned to Jerusalem. But Paul went anyway.

I commend everyone reading this ‘reflection’ to spend time reading Acts Chapter 21 carefully. You will find out more about Paul, and early Jewish believers than you imagine. Paul presented himself to the Jerusalem Council, headed by James, who told Paul that many ‘miriads’ (means tens of thousands) of Jews had come to faith in Yeshua and that “they are ALL zealous for the Torah”. BUT that they had been misinformed that Paul was teaching the Gentiles to “forsake Moses”. Then James told Paul that in order to correct this misinformation he should demonstrate “that you yourself ALSO walk orderly and keep the Torah”. Which he did.

But that did not end Paul’s woes because then he was accused of taking a Gentile in to a part of the Temple which was exclusively for Jews. That earned him another beating, but he was arrested by the Roman soldiers which saved him from the beating, but also fulfilled the prophecy of Agabus referred to above.

Shabbat Shalom

RS

Brit Hadashah Reflections   47

Torah portion             Deuteronomy 32 : 1 - 52

Haftarah portion     Hosea  14 : 2 – 10,  Micah 7 : 18 – 20

                                          Joel 2 : 15 - 27

Brit Hadashah          Acts 16 : 1  - 18 : 28

Hebraic understanding of the Gospel of Yeshua

Paul and Barnabas had a disagreement about taking John Mark with them on, what turned out to be, Paul’s second missionary journey. So, Paul chose Silas as his companion and Barnabas took John Mark with him. Paul’s intent was to re-visit the places in Galatia where he and Barnabas had brought many to faith in Yeshua, in order to encourage them, and to continue teaching there. Passing through Derbe, they arrived in Lystra, where they met Timothy, a young man who was brought up as a Gentile even though his mother was Jewish. Now here is a revelation for those who do not have a “Hebraic” understanding of Paul. Read verse 3 carefully. “Paul took him (Timothy) and circumcised him”. IF Paul had been ‘converted’ from Judaism (as we are often taught) why on earth would he circumcise Timothy?   Selah. (ponder)

Well, of course, the answer is that Paul intended to have Timothy accompany him into the Synagogues and to partake in the teaching. No Gentile would be allowed to do that. (some time later, Paul actually left Timothy behind in Ephesus to pastor the “ekklesia” there) However, as we read about the detail of Paul’s teaching on this trip we find that his main goal, apart from bringing new people to faith in Yeshua, was to emphasize the teaching of the “letter to the Gentiles” which had been written by the Jerusalem Council. We are told that there was a daily increase in their numbers as they taught the people, both from the Scriptures and by making known the contents of the letter from the Jerusalem Council. What a blessing!

For reasons which we do not know, the Holy Spirit forbade Paul and Silas to teach in some of the places along their journey. Eventually, Paul, Silas, Timothy and possibly Luke came to Phillipi, a Roman city in Macedonia, north eastern Greece. It is likely that there were no Jews there, and certainly no Synagogue. Paul stayed there many days and established an “ekklesia” there of some ladies who met for prayer on the Sabbath Day near a river. Here we are introduced to Lydia, a seller of ‘purple’, and to a slave girl who had a ‘spirit of divination’, from which her masters made a lot of money! Paul cast the “spirit” out of the girl, and for his trouble received a severe beating and was put into prison. The Lord miraculously saved them from custody, caused the jailer and his household to come to faith in Yeshua, arranged a pardon and apology from the magistrates, and shared fellowship and hospitality at the home of Lydia. Then they moved on again.

Next stop was Thessalonica, where there was a Synagogue of the Jews. For three Sabbaths Paul reasoned with them about Yeshua from the Scriptures (we must not forget that the only Scriptures then were the Hebrew Scriptures of course) Some Jews and many Greeks joined the “ekklesia” in Thessalonica. Other Jews remained unconvinced, and out of jealousy stirred up a mob against them and eventually the “ekklesia” arranged for Paul and Silas to leave by night to go to Berea, a town about 70 Km away, still in Northern Greece. Of the Bereans, the Bible tells us that “they were more fair-minded than the Thessalonians because they searched the Scriptures daily” to check what Paul was teaching!!

That is possibly the best lesson to be gained from this ‘reflection’. To be a “Berean”. They were cautious, they were sceptical, they were suspicious, and they were FAIR. They actually searched the scriptures to verify for themselves what they were being told. (It is a lesson I learned some years ago. I put everything I had been taught in Sunday School and Church on the ‘metaphorical’ shelf. Then I took off that shelf those things which I personally verified from the Scriptures. There are still many things on that shelf!). I recommend it to you.

Paul left Berea alone. Silas and Timothy remained there until Paul sent for them. Athens first, with Paul’s famous sermon on Mars Hill. “to the unkown God”. Then Corinth, where he met up with Aquila and Priscilla who had recently been expelled from Rome by the Emperor Claudius .It was here in Corinth, having preached in the Synagogue for several weeks and gained many more adherents to the “ekklesia”, that Paul grew weary of the continuous opposition of the orthodox Jews. The last straw came when they blasphemed against Yeshua. Paul retorted “Your blood be on your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles”.

Paul remained there for another 18 months before moving on to Ephesus. The travelogue is exciting as Paul consistently preached salvation through the Sonship of Yeshua. Be a Berean, check it out.                

Shabbat Shalom

RS