[First posted in 2012. This is actually the expanded version of the original Commentary in the post Exodus/Shemoth 16 – “for today is a Sabbath for YHVH”, reflecting the Sinaite’s perspective . Admin1.]
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If the “New” Testament [NT] is merely a continuation, a fulfillment of the “Old” Testament [OT], then how did the NT church veer so far away from the original which is claimed as its foundation, so much so the ‘old’ was appended to their ‘new’ because . . . well, presumably, without an “old” there could not be a “new”?
Of course, there could be a “new” all on its own, since ‘newness’ suggests not only —
- that there might have been an ‘old’
- but that there is an entirely ‘new’ that did not exist before.
And if you really analyze the “New” Testament, if you remove the references to the “old”, it could actually stand by itself because its whole belief system is different from its claimed foundations. It proposes—
a new way of salvation,
a new savior,
a new configuration of God,
a new (or different) sabbath day of the week,
and so many more ‘news’!
In fact the ‘good news’ or ‘gospel’ is about a new way to approach God—
- which does away with the old,
- which requires —-
—no more obeying commandments (the Torah) because believers are under “grace” and not “law”;
—simply place your faith and trust in new reconfigured God
—the more prominent Person being a God-man supported by 2 other occasionally remembered and addressed Deities;
—and the “new” religion born in the 4th century actually was . . . a new religion.
So why even make claims NT is a continuation of an OT?
Such a veering away is explained and justified on the basis of Jeremiah 31:31, that a “new covenant” would replace the old and original covenant with Israel. But what is this “new covenant” about and with whom is it being renewed?
If one simply goes by the plain text of the NT Prooftext located in the OT Jeremiah 31:31, where is it written that a new covenant will be made with whom?
- a ‘new nation’ or
- ‘a new people’ or
- a ‘new religion’
- or a ‘new church’
- or a ‘new belief system’?
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
and with the people of Judah.
The plain text is clear, the new covenant is between YHWH (who instigated the “old” covenant with Israel and the ‘mixed multitude’ on Sinai), and with whom is it being renewed?
- with the House of Israel
- and the House of Judah
Oh, pardon an oversight, the original wording does not say “renewed” which is the Messianic interpretation.
In sum, if one reads Jeremiah 31:31 without the “Christian baggage” (reinterpretation on the basis of NT scripture), those oft-unnoticed words don’t just disappear from sight; mental blindness resulting from ‘brainwashing’ sometimes leads to visual blindness.
A mind taught and trained to read specific verses a certain way, in sync with dogmatic belief, will keep reading it the same way and no other way.
When the NT claims that christians are —
“not under the Law but under grace”,
the rationale is that the Law was given to Moses and Israel, all that is passé, obsolete.
The NT goes so far as calling that “Law” the “Mosaic Law,” as though Moses was the “Law-Maker” or the “Law-Giver” when in fact he was simply the recipient of the TORAH of YHWH and the transmittor of it to the Israelites, a mediator, if you will.
And yet, with such casual and careless use or misuse of words, or possibly intentional misapplication of terms, unthinking readers of the bible (if they even seriously read and study and understand the Old Testament) swallow the line:
‘Old’ for Jew,
‘New’ for Christian.
And so with the replacements, everything falls in place, according to New Testament re-orientation and re-interpretation (misinterpretation, actually) of its claimed “foundation”, the Hebrew scriptures known as the TNK (Tanach, Tanakh) .
“Replacement theology” is a phrase not commonly known among non-Bible reading Christians who merely follow the dictates of their Church and trust their religious leaders (priests and pastors).
We Sinaites as former Christians were among the ignorant who never heard of “replacement theology” which remained unquestioned, perhaps because it was not widely known, or because no one within Christianity questioned and challenged it.
Not until the Messianic movement arising from within Christianity were bible students, such as we Sinaites, made aware of the many shifts that Christianity made from the original teachings of TORAH.
Such as what?
The Sabbath is one of those shifts. Bible students read as early as Genesis that the Creator Himself rested on the 7th day, when the creation of the world and man was completed on day 6. Sabbath is a testimonial, a memorial to the Creator God, as vs. 25 says,
“for today is a Sabbath to YHWH.”
To add to the fact that Sabbath precedes the giving of the TORAH on Sinai, the national God of Israel who disclosed His Name as YHWH, teaches the Israelites a valuable Sabbath lesson in this chapter, linking it this time to His gracious provision of manna to feed the multitudes in the wilderness.
“God told Moses that food would fall from the sky
but also that this food would be the basis
of a test of faith for the Children of Israel”
“I will rain bread from heaven for you,” . . . .
Ah, Divine Providence!
What people have ever experienced such grace from a loving God?
[Note: This is an unfinished article . . . but posted for now. . . since it has enough to “chew on” for the time being, till the author determines if it is complete as is.]
NSB@S6K
