Dear Refiner's Fire...

Dear Refiners Fire Guys,

I enjoy your responses and debates. I wanted to add some information to the discussion on the Oral Law and Yeshua "breaking" it. First, in Yeshua's day, much of what we now know as Oral Law wasn't yet formulated. You have to remember that Hillel and Shammai, two of the pairs in early Jewish teaching were just before the birth of Yeshua. Most of what we have in the Talmud-Mishna and Gemara wasn't compiled till 500 c.e. Much of what we see there is an example of how the Jews of that day are attempting to become righteous without a Messiah, since they could not believe very freely in Yeshua as their Messiah after 90 ce council at Yavneh.

We still see this today in the Hasid movement. I don't see Yeshua breaking any oral laws that were hard and fast in His day, especially in the "Hasid" movement which Yeshua was a part of - not to be confused with the Hasid movement of today. The whole oral tradition movement was still in a state of flux.

With over 23 different sects of Judaism in Yeshua's day there was plenty of argument over what was and what wasn't to be observed as "Oral Law". The Hasids were always believers that the observance of tradition took a back seat to the saving of life, since the Law was created for man, not man for the Law, and that since man was in effect the reflection of G-d here on this earth that all diligence should be observed in the assisting of man to be whole, even if it meant healing on the Sabboth, which some other groups considered work.

This whole subject of "Law" becomes a confusing subject for most people because of the different meanings of the word Law, most of which had to be determined by context. Thank you for the opportunity to add to your discussion.

Roy Blizzard III

Our Response....

You're absolutely right - thanks!

Yeshua couldn't have broken any "oral law" because (1) the "oral law" was made by man as man was trying to understand the things of God, and (2) its written form wasn't even around during Yeshua's time!

This whole thing, in our opinion, is a moot point because the Bible tells us Moshe wrote down all the words of ADONAI, which doesn't leave room for an "oral law":

Exodus 24:3-7: "Moshe came and told the people everything Adonai had said, including all the rulings. The people answered with one voice: 'We will obey every word Adonai has spoken.' Moshe wrote down all the words of Adonai... Then he took the book of the covenant and read it aloud, so that the people could hear; and they responded, 'Everything that Adonai has spoken, we will do and obey.'"

An Orthodox scholar and rabbi, Pinchas Lapide, described Yeshua as a traditional, observant Jew. He wrote, "Jesus never and nowhere broke the law of Moses, nor did he in any way provoke its infringement - it is entirely false to say that he did...In this respect you must believe me, for I know my Talmud...this Jesus was as faithful to the law as I would hope to be. But I suspect that Jesus was more faithful to the law than I am - and I am an Orthodox Jew."