Most Christians believe that the Judaism of the Old Testament is the same as the Judaism being practiced today. I beg to differ and will be showing you the difference in this blog post.
According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the Jews were faced with challenges to their faith which they never faced before when in the 6th Century BC, King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah and led them (JEWS) to
distant Babylon.
Ever since the time of Solomon, Israeli religious practices; sacrifices, and rituals, centered around the magnificent temple in Jerusalem. While exiled in Babylon and far from the temple, the question now became how could one be a true Jew in a very foreign and hostile environment, far away from their Holy Temple. This vacuum birthed a certain class of lay priests called scribes to interpret the law in this new Babylonian setting.
Scribes were experts in the law of Moses; and could draft legal documents (contracts for marriage, divorce, loans, inheritance, mortgages, the sale of land, and the like). When there were prophets in Israel, scribes served primarily as teachers and copyists. However, when there was limited access to the prophets, such as some periods of time when the Jews were in exile, scribes - who were experts in the law of Moses - took on important duties and filled powerful roles. So, when the Jews were in Babylonian exile, scribes worked to help keep their people's faith alive and to retain their national identity.
In time, a new group of people sprung up from these scribes. They are what the New Testament calls the Pharisees; noted for strict observance of rites and ceremonies of the written law and for insistence on the validity of their own oral traditions concerning the law.
The Pharisees said there were really two inspired
revelations to the Jews. there was the
written law of Moses received atop Sinai but there was also the oral tradition
acquired by seventy elders who came to the base of the mountain but were
forbidden to proceed farther.
The Pharisees said that these seventy elders or Sanhedrin received a much more extensive and profound revelation than Moses. A revelation that was never written down yet took precedence over the written law. Pharisaism shaped the character of Judaism and the life and thoughts of the Jews for all of the future.
When Jesus came on
the scene his reaction was to bitterly denounce this counterfeit tradition.
Christ said the Pharisees by their tradition had made the law of God of no
effect.
Jesus Christ considered the
Pharisees the most dangerous leadership Israel ever had.
Around 135 A.D., all Jews were expelled from Palestine. The
Pharisees led most Palestinian Jews in a mass migration back to Babylon who joined the other Jews, already in Babylon since the time of Nebuchadnezzar
600 years earlier.
For hundreds of years, Judaism flourished in Babylon under the leadership of the Pharisees. Great academies of the rabbis were established and thousands of new laws were formulated there.
While in Babylon, the Pharisees codified their oral traditions into the Babylonian Talmud; the written form of that oral tradition; a work which has aptly been called a monument to human folly, and Jesus so bitterly rebuked
Jesus described the Pharisees as hypocrites, children of hell, blind guides, and whited sepulchers full of dead men's bones. he even described the Pharisees as
children of their father, the devil, a murderer from the beginning.
To understand the basis for Christ's unflattering descriptions of the Pharisees, an extensive passage in the Talmud describes the right of the Pharisee to kill anyone just as long as he did so indirectly.
The Talmud tells us that if one bound his neighbor, and he died of
starvation, he is not liable to execution. In such an indirect manner, the
Pharisees/Jews also killed Christ. By manipulating the Romans to actually wield the
spear and sword, the Pharisees claimed as their descendants do today, that
since the Romans were the direct cause of the death of Christ, it was the Romans,
not the Jews who were guilty.
Jesus Christ also called
the Pharisees adulterers. The Talmud provides
generous loopholes for adultery. It says the penalty for adultery does not
include sex with a minor, the wife of a minor, or the wife of a heathen.
The Talmud also
encourages the seduction of unwed adolescent girls called designated bondmaids. But it's important how such rapes are performed. With the designated bond made
one is guilty only in the case of natural connection, but not in the case of
perverse connection.
The Pharisees
reasoned that rape in a perverted manner is outside the jurisdiction of the law; normal rape, however, was punishable.
One should note that in Babylon, sexual
perversion of every kind had been a way of life for millenniums. The Pharisees
were deeply influenced by such practices and found a way to infuse them into their way of life.
In addition to
adulterers, Christ in the story of the good Samaritan, portrayed the Pharisees
as racial bigots, too self-righteous to respond to the suffering of one who was
not a Jew.
It is true because of
the wickedness of the Canaanites, which included sodomy and infant sacrifice,
Israel had been commanded by God to be harsh in her treatment of the
inhabitants of the land. God made it clear that the Canaanites were not simply
to be avoided, but destroyed.
But, by the time of the New Testament, this method of preserving God's kingdom by separation and the
sword had become obsolete. God no longer made a racial difference between men (the present Israeli-Palestine conflict comes to mind).
but the pharisees were unfazed by god's new agenda. the
talmud was finally written down nearly five centuries after Christ. yet it's critical even homicidal attitudes
toward gentiles might have been lifted out of the book of Joshua. however the
quickest way to grasp the talmudic view of gentiles is not directly from the
talmud but from the jewish encyclopedias.
if we quote an
isolated opinion from the Talmud, a rabbi may quickly object saying but that is
not the overall opinion of the Talmud, that is not the definitive view.
what the jewish
encyclopedia provides, us is a definitive overview of perhaps hundreds of
rabbinic statements on any subject. giving us accurate summaries of what the
talmud generally teaches.
in its article on
gentiles, the jewish encyclopedia begins to define what makes a jew so
different from a gentile. according to the rabbis, only israelites are men.
gentiles they class not as men, but as barbarians.
since gentiles are
not men in the fullest sense, so the gentile is not a neighbor of a jew. Further,
since gentile laws were too crude to admit of reciprocity, meaning too crude to
be taken seriously, the gentile was forever beneath the jew.
gentiles were
outlawed by god from the beginning, and thus had no property rights. the
almighty offered the torah to the gentile nations also, but since they refused
to accept it, he withdrew his shining legal protection from them, and
transferred their property rights to Israel, who observed his law.
since the talmud
outlawed the child or issue of a gentile as that of a beast, a gentile had as
little legal rights in a jewish court as did an animal.
the talmud states
that if a gentile sue an Israelite, the verdict is for the defendant the Israelite.
Conversely, if the israelite is the plaintiff he obtains full damages.
because the talmud
conspires against gentiles, if a jew was ever caught telling a gentile what the
talmud really says, such a person deserves death.
so vile was the
nature of a gentile, that the great simeon ben yohai said the best among the
gentiles deserves to be killed; the best of snakes ought to have its head
crushed.
jews however are exalted beings in the talmud worthy of
praise. christ described the pharisee who blessed himself saying, i thank thee
lord that i am not this other man; an imminent talmudic rabbi says the same;
blessed be thou who has not made me a gentile.
there is a special
antagonism between the talmud and jesus. the talmud attacks him everywhere it
can; even his mother. mary the talmud says, was a whore who mated with
carpenters. she who was the descendant of princes and governors played the
harlot with carpenters. it naturally followed that the scribes declared christ
to be a bastard. in its article on jesus, the jewish encyclopedia says that
jewish writings defame Christ. it is the tendency of all these sources to
belittle the person of jesus by ascribing to him, illegitimate birth, magic,
and a shameful death.
jesus according to
this article, was considered one of the three worst enemies of judaism who came
to an ignoble end. the talmud says, they subjected him to four deaths; stoning,
burning, decapitation, and strangling.
the talmud also says
he is now in hell, punished with boiling hot excrement. what is christ's advice
as he speaks to us out of hell? the jewish encyclopedia quotes jesus as telling
us above all to bless the jews. he says, “further their well-being do nothing
to their detriment; whoever touches them touches even the apple of his eye”.
christians as
followers of the false prophet jesus, also deserved death. the jewish
encyclopedia again recaps the talmud's position; a gentile observing the
sabbath deserves death. it says the talmud's hatred was probably directed
against the christian jews. these judeo-christians, evasively called men minute
or minim were considered by the rabbis to be the most dangerous form of
heretics of ancient times.
the new testament
gospels were writings which the rabbis considered more dangerous to the unity
of Judaism, than those of the pagans. a talmudic rabbi, said the writings of
christians deserve to be burned; for paganism is less dangerous than minute or Christianity.
the jewish
encyclopedia in its article on men continues to illustrate the talmudic hatred
of Christianity. Again, we must remember minim usually indicates the
judeo-christians. it was forbidden to partake of meat, bread, or wine with the Christian.
scrolls of the law, teflon and mezuzah, written by a christian were burned. an animal slaughtered by a christian was forbidden food. the relatives of the christian were not permitted to observe the laws of mourning after his death, but were required to assume festive garments and rejoice. the testimony of a christian was not admitted in evidence in jewish; courts and an israelite who found anything belonging to one who was a christian was forbidden to return it to him.
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