“We have heard it said” – A Sinaite’s Apologetics -1

Jews for Judaism Webinar Shavuot – Revelations about the Revelation at Sinai

[First posted in 2012  in answer to Christian colleagues;  not a surprise,  we’re still explaining ourselves in exactly the same way today in year 2017.  Unfortunately, religionists just don’t get it!—Admin1]

———————————–

We have heard it said:

• “What do these Sinaites think? That God did not add any more revelation after Sinai?”
• “Is not Torah ‘instruction’, ‘teaching’, so that even Adam and Eve were already given Torah?”

———————

Sinaites refer to the TORAH (Five Books attributed to Moses) as the complete, codified, “official” revelation of YHWH on Sinai.  More on this later.

Granted, instructions and specific commands were given to biblical figures prior to Sinai, but such were not encoded or made official, so to speak, as laws to be observed by all mankind from then on.

First, flashback to Eden, instructions to the first couple.

Specific instruction such as that given to Adam and Eve was intended to test that gift of free will they might not even have been conscious of at that time. If everything in Eden was perfect, who could possibly want more than that ideal life?  Name the animals, tend the garden, eat only seed-bearing fruit, interact with this invisible Presence Who speaks to us. That should be simple enough and easy to do. What a life!

But the problem is, Adam and Eve knew no other kind of life, they probably hadn’t even realized that they had it so good! You know that saying “the grass is greener on the other side?”  In fact, food tastes better at our neighbor’s dinner table even if it isn’t so, it’s just different from what we’re used to.  It is part of human nature to be curious, and think “what else am I missing?” Until we fall or lose what we had, we don’t appreciate.  

So Adam and Eve are given so many do’s and only one don’t, with an ‘or else’! Strangely, this early on in the unfolding biblical story, there was no mention of blessing for obedience, understandably, for what else could they possibly need or want in Eden? Presumably, they had already dealt with all the “do’s’!  The command was specific regarding not eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  We know how that story ended, so the simple lesson to be learned in hindsight is obey whatever God commands, no ifs and buts! If the Creator says so, DO SO!

Second, did the second generation learn from the first disobedience?

If the first couple shared their loss of Eden [and why] to firstborn Cain to teach him that hard-learned lesson, Cain failed to get it.

• To begin with, he couldn’t  relate to the tree that got his parents in trouble; he was born and raised out of Eden where life is difficult.  
• Secondly, he had to deal with his own personal circumstances—back-breaking toil to get something growing to offer his parents’ God. 
• Thirdly, that same God who expelled his parents out of their original home was now showing favoritism, not appreciating the fruit of Cain’s toil from the soil as He was with the offering of Abel.
• Fourthly, he’s now struggling with resentment, even anger toward this younger brother who obviously outshone him.
• The warning God gave Cain would be a general teaching not only to Cain but to mankind, about uncontrolled sinful tendencies that could and should be curbed if only we would. 

What are we to learn from “instructions” given to Noah?

With Noah, the instructions got even more detailed and specific — height, width, depth, materials, design of the ark; load on it a pair of unclean animals, 7 pairs of clean animals, 8 members of Noah’s family.

The lesson? Same as before, obedience and please pay attention to details.

Do instructions to Abraham apply to us?

Abraham’s instructions from God was given in installments, so his obedience kept being tested.  Then comes the highlight of the testing of his faith, the sacrifice of Isaac.  The lesson? We should know our God better! God hates human sacrifice but He obviously loves the wholehearted strong-minded willingness of a man who would obey Him regardless of the cost.

So now we get to Sinai and the “official” codified Torah that is given there.  

Here’s an example that might help understand our perspective:  a new city has just been built.  People from surrounding areas flock there.  It’s chaotic because everyone just does his thing, having come from different backgrounds.  So the builder or leader issues regulating guidelines on how people should live and behave that would ensure peace, harmony, respect of one another, contentment for all even if there is no real equality. Laws are then drawn up, enacted, enforced.  Violation of the law has consequences, from fines, to jail time.  Ignorance of the law might be allowed at first offense, but not the second time around. Those laws are given first to one sector to learn to apply so that others who are living in disorder would take notice and also want it for themselves.  If the model sector succeeded, others would follow suit.

Basically, that is Torah.  

We consider Torah as the whole package

intended for all mankind,

specially when condensed to the universal 10,

and further to the 2.  

In the listing of 613 commandments found in the Torah, some are applicable under certain conditions—-

• when Israel is in the Land;
• to specific people –Aaron as High Priest, or Levites in charge of the Tabernacle/Temple.
• Commandments on health [Leviticus diet] and on sanitation [quarantine, hygiene] are obviously beneficial to all mankind.
• Social and economic laws would be ideal if countries would apply them:  freeing slaves, not charging interest, cancelling debts, allowing the underprivileged to gather food from the edges of one’s field; being kind to the stranger/alien/foreigner,
• cities of refuge for unintentional murder, and so on.  

The world would not be in the big mess it’s in if YHWH’s Torah were universally applied. Much of Torah is universal law for all humankind, not just for Israel!  

What a travesty of Torah and the Tanach that a totally different dispensation was propagated in what claimed to be a continuation of it and even founded on it . So, followers of the New Testament are now under “grace” and not “law”?   Law-giving from the gracious Law-Giver has always been about  Divine GRACE!

The Creator God of this universe could keep man guessing about His Will and let them keep making all their mistakes; instead, He was gracious enough to spell out in detail everything that pleases Him and everything that He hates.  How much clearer can He be? It’s all in His Torah.

If anyone has only the first five books of Moses as their Bible, that is sufficient to live by.  The Neviim [Prophets] and the Ketuvim [Writings] elaborate on what was initially given in the Torah, with warnings to the people chosen to model it to the rest of the world, representing all humanity.  Prophecies about their destiny and the other nations are given as part of those warnings.

Was it complete?  Let’s just hear and heed what Adonai Elohim YHWH, the God of TORAH said in the last book:

[AST]  Deuteronomy 4:1-2 

You shall not add to the word that I command you,

nor shall you subtract from it,

to observe the commandments of HaShem, your God,

that I command you.

We Sinaites finally heard  . . . and now heed;   granted selectively, and specifically what is intended for Gentiles of the nations.

 In behalf of Sinai 6000 Core Community,