Love – Godly Love

This topic takes a look at love, primarily godly love, according to Bible verses about love.

1Jn.4:16 “God is love.”  Although God is love, God is greater than love.  His character exudes love.  And He has put within the human spirit of man, made in God’s image & likeness, the capacity to love.

One reason we’re on earth is…to learn how to love!  The Christian life consists of learning the principles of love and then practicing love.  The ultimate goal is for us to live forever together with God, in love.

There are at least five types of love indicated in the Bible Greek – philáutia, stórge, éros, philéo, agápe.

Philautia (Strongs g5367 phíl-autos) is the love of self.  The term occurs only in 2Ti.3:2.  Philautia can be good or bad.  It is inward; concerned with one’s own health (cf. Da.1:8-16), happiness, avoidance of pain, self-preservation, self-esteem, etc.  Some or most aspects of self-love come naturally to us.

Storge (stór-yee) is family love.  It develops between parents & children, siblings, extending to grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc.  It’s a familiar love with commitment which can increase over the years.  The Greek term doesn’t occur in scripture.  A form of storge is seen in Ro.12:10 in regards to the at-large family of sons and daughters of God. “Be devoted [g5387 philóstorgos] to one another in brotherly love [g5360 philadelphía].”  (Philadelphia is called the ‘City of Brotherly Love’.)   Family love is evident in the Bible accounts of Abraham & Isaac (Ge.22:2), Jacob & his sons (Ge.49:1, 50:14), Job & his children (Jb.1:4-5), Mary & Martha & Lazarus (Jn.11:1-ff), Jáirus & his daughter (Lk.8:41-ff), etc.  Family love grows via attachment and dependency, by living together and relatives visiting.

Eros (áir-os g2064.2 in the Old Testament (OT) Septúagint/LXX Pr.7:18, 30:16) is a sensual or sexual desire/lust, physical attraction or ‘chemistry’, romantic or passionate love.  Testosterone and estrogen (created by God) causes desire.  The next two verses contain a form (g2037.1) of eros.  Pr.4:6 LXX figuratively, “Love her [wisdom], and she will guard you”.  Est.2:17 LXX “The king loved Esther, and she found grace and favor beyond all others.”  Desire is seen in Pr.5:18-19. “Rejoice in the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; be ravished always with her love.”  Eros relates to self-satisfaction or self-gratification, though both partners can be gratified.

Phileo (phil-éh-o g5368) is the love in (deep) friendship.  This verb occurs 25 times in the New Testament (NT) and 27 times in the OT LXX.  The noun phílos (fée-los g5384) occurs 65 times in the LXX, and 28 times in the NT where it is translated “friend”.  Phileo is more general, present in various relationships.  It includes respect, shared goodwill, lovingkindness, fondness or affection – towards one dear, beloved, cherished, or a thing.  Ge.27:4-5 LXX Isaac loved (g5368) venison.  Father God phileo loves in Jn.5:20 & Jn.16:27.  Ge.37:4 LXX Jacob loved Joseph.  Phileo can be a powerful emotional attachment or bond.  Ge.29:11 LXX “Jacob kissed [g5368] Rachel.”  Phileo is part of being ‘in love’.  Rachel Pace writes, “Love, value, care, respect, and trust are the fundamentals around which emotional attraction is built.”  Phileo connects one with a ‘soul-mate’, and may lead to family/storge.  Phileo combined with eros can be exhilarating!  (Note: There is a degree of overlap between the types of love.)

Agape (ah-gáh-pay g26) is the Greek noun for universal love, empathy for all people.  In the NT, it is seen as godly love, transcendant, outgoing, unconditional.  It’s the highest form of love in the Bible!  Early Christianity viewed agape as the spiritual love God has for humanity, and the love man has for God.  Agape occurs 115 times in the NT and 15 times in the OT LXX.  A Greek verb meaning ‘to love’ is agapáo (ah-ga-páh-o g25).  It occurs 140 times in the NT and nearly 200 times in the LXX.  In OT times, agapao could resemble phileo.  Jesus loves with agapao in Jn.19:26, 21:7, 20, and with phileo in Jn.20:2; with agapao in He.12:6, and with phileo in Re.3:19.  The Creator too expresses various types of love!  After Peter denied Jesus 3 times (Lk.22:34, 54-62)…Peter phileo loves Jesus, he didn’t yet agapao love Jesus (Jn.21:15-16).  (But Peter as an old man agapao loved Jesus; ref 1Pe.1:8.)  Also, the adjective agapetós g27, translated as “beloved”, occurs 60 times in the NT and 15 times in the LXX.

{Sidelight: Agapao in the NT usually indicates a godly love.  His own benevolent, unselfish agape that can be present without reciprocity (Ro.5:8).  But agapao doesn’t always indicate godly love.  Sinners can agapao sinners who agapao them (Lk.6:32).  Also people can agapao darkness (Jn.3:19), the praise of men (Jn.12:43), and unrighteousness (2Pe.2:15)!  Those verses aren’t indicative of a divine love.}

Greek Bible scholar Dr. Spiros Zódiates: “Agapao is used of God’s love toward man and vice versa, but phileo is never used of the love of men toward [Father] God. Agape isn’t found in classical Greek, only in revealed religion.”  Only through godly love can man truly love God.  Such love originated with God.

Again, 1Jn.4:8, 16 “God is love [g26].”  How may we express benevolent godly love?  1Jn.5:2-3 “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.”  Godly love (g26 in v.3) includes as a priority the keeping of His commandments!  Our obedience reflects love.

What are His commandments?  We may say, they are God’s instructions, His guidelines for right living.  To begin, 1Jn.3:23 “This is His [God’s] commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He [Jesus] commanded us.”  It is crucial to believe in and honor Father God’s Son Jesus, who died for our sins!  1Jn.2:23 “Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father.”  And Jesus the Son said in Jn.14:15, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments”.

As we’ll see, Jesus’ commandments reflect love to God, love to our neighbor, and love to ourselves.  It’s natural to love ourselves, our own flesh.  Who is my ‘neighbor’?  In the broad sense, my neighbor is…other humans.  Jesus’ commandments tell us how to love God, other people, and ourselves.

According to John, Peter, Paul…the pre-incarnate Christ, the primordial word of God (Jn.1:1-3, 14), was the God of ancient Israel.  He was the Lord God, the Shepherd of Israel who dwelt above the cherubim in the Most Holy Place of God’s tabernacle & temple (Ps.80:1, Jn.10:14).  see the topic “Jesus Was The Old Testament God”.  Christ gave His commandments, His instructions, His principles to Moses/Israel.

Let’s now identify Jesus’ commandments of love.  There are two main commandments.  In Mk.12:28-31 a Jewish scribe asked Jesus, “What commandment is the foremost of all?”  Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. The second is this, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

Jesus’ many commandments are summarized into these two broad categories.  They represent enduring moral principles for mankind, and are seen in the OT.  De.6:5-7 LXX “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength.”  Le.19:18 “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (We can’t love others if we don’t love ourself!)  Love (g25) God and your fellow man.

Christ’s Ten Commandments, the Decalogue or Testimony, describe how to love God and love others.

Ex.20:1-11 the first four commandments pertain to loving God.  Christ said in v.6, “Those who love Me and keep My commandments.”  Man is not to have any god beside the true God, is not to make any idols or images depicting God, is not to use God’s name for a wrong purpose.  Observing the fourth commandment, “Remember the sabbath [h7676 Hebrew] day to keep it holy”, honors God and signifies that our God is the Creator.  Ge.2:1-3 God ceased/rested (shabáth h7673 on the 7^th day of Creation.

De.5:12-15 allowing people under our charge to rest also shows love to others.  Jesus said in Mk.2:27-28, “The sabbath was made for man…the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath.”  Jesus is Lord, of the 7^th day sabbath too.  He was the Creator who ordained the sabbath.  He made it for the benefit of mankind.  Resting on the sabbath encompasses love for ourselves too.  Our body has a circaseptan rhythm which requires rest approximately every 7 days to keep our immune system strong.  Sabbath rest even shows love to work animals.  The Lord’s creatures that work for man in agriculture and other uses need rest too.  (see the series “Sabbath 7^th Day”, and the topic “Ten Commandments in Genesis & Job”.)

Ex.20:12-17 commandments #5 through #10 describe how to love others. “Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not covet.”  Adultery is engaging in sexual relations with another man’s wife.  Analogous to not bearing false witness in court is Col.3:9, “Lie not one to another”.  Wrong coveting is desiring something we cannot rightfully have some day.  Christ’s Decalogue reflects enduring principles of love.

But godly love involves more than the Decalogue.  Ge.14:18-20 Abram tithed or gave a tenth to the priest-king Melchisedek, representative of church & state.  Our tithes or giving to church ministries contribute to their efforts of sharing/spreading the good news of God’s love and His Kingdom.  Paying just taxes to our government provides funds for societal benefits & entitlements for our neighbor and ourself.

Also, we show love to others by giving from our means to the poor & needy (Ja.2:15-16, 1Jn.3:17).

Paul wrote a strong admonition in 2Th.3:10-15. “If anyone does not work, neither let him eat”.  We are to work an honest job so we have money to help support the Lord’s commission of spreading the gospel.  And earning money buys food for our own family table…loving ourselves.

Ge.1:26-28 God created man in His own image and likeness.  God said, “Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it”.  Humanity has the God-given mandate/command to raise families, to produce offspring through the generations as caretakers to manage the earth and its resources God created.

Le.20:13 same-sex marriage violates God’s mandate for mankind to reproduce.  (It is understood that some couples are unable to have children.)  John R. Diggs MD The Health Risks of Gay Sex “Common sexual practices among gay men lead to numerous STDs, some of which are virtually unknown in the heterosexual population. Lesbians are also at higher risks for STDs.”  Disease isn’t love.

Le.18:23 beastiality, sexual relations with another kind, is vile.  Christ told Moses/Israel, “It is a perversion”.  Horrific Risks of Sex With Animals “The likelihood of disease transmission from an animal to a human is high.”  This demeaning practice harms; it doesn’t show love.

Ps.139:14 “I will give thanks to Thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”  The psalmist David loved himself and understood it was the Lord who’d designed our remarkable human body.

John wrote in 3Jn.1:2, “I pray in all respects that you may prosper and be in health”.  We want to have good health.  We love ourselves (phílautos g5367).  Again, God’s instructions tell us how to rightly love ourselves.

De.14:2-21 our refraining from eating unclean creatures which are parasitic or carcinogenic reflects love to self.  Also, by refraining from feeding unclean creatures to others we show love to our neighbor.  Ge.7:2 even the antediluvian patriarch Noah (who wasn’t Jewish) understood the difference between clean and unclean!  (see the topic “Unclean versus Clean Food”.)

Abstaining from blood pertains to loving our self.  God told Noah in Ge.9:4, “You shall not eat flesh with its life [or soul], its blood”.  The life/soul is in the blood.  Blood is the carrier of both life and disease.  Le.17:10-16 “No person among you may eat blood, nor may the alien who sojourns among you eat blood.”  Nor are we to eat an animal that dies of itself, is suffocated or “strangled” (Ac.15:29), or roadkill.  Improperly bled carcasses attract harmful organisms.  (see “Acts 15 – Four Prohibitions”.)

Le.3:17 “You shall not eat any fat or any blood.”  We avoid eating animal fat, which can contain toxins.

Le.18:19 “You shall not approach a woman to have relations during her menstrual period.”  Blood is present.  We should abstain from menstrual sex.  It puts women at risk for disease.  Dr. (Ms) De Souza Dangers of Sex During Menstruation “Irritation and an introduction to infection are major risks. Any wound or bleeding is a gateway to infection.”  (see “Doctrinal Disunity Impacts Evangelism”.)

All the above are Christ’s commandments…they reflect love to God, to other people, and to ourselves.  In a broad sense…Ro.13:10 “Love is the fulfillment of the law”.

God gives believers His Holy Spirit (HS).  The HS enables us to love God, other people, and ourself in the right way.  It’s a spiritual love.  Ga.5:22 “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace [etc.].”  Godly love is present now in us through the indwelling HS (1Co.3:16).  Ro.5:5 “The love of God has been poured forth into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”  The love of the Spirit should flow from us.  Christians are to be reflectors of God’s divine love.  Jesus said in Jn.13:35, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples [adherents], if you have love for one another”.

1 Corinthians 13 is known as the ‘Love Chapter’.  In it, Paul lists some facets or reflections of love (agape g26)…loving attitudes, mindset, words, and proper restraint & self-control.  1Co.13:4-8 “Love is patient, love is kind, it isn’t envious; love doesn’t boast and isn’t proud; love isn’t rude, it isn’t self-centered, isn’t quick-tempered to anger, doesn’t keep an account of wrongs suffered; love takes no pleasure in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love never gives up; and its faith, hope and endurance never fail. Love never ends.”  Godly love is eternal.  Benson Commentary 1Co.13:8 “It [love] accompanies us to, prepares us for, and adorns us in eternity…of heaven.”  Love is forever.

Godly love is pure, altruistic, wanting the best for others, self-giving, self-sacrificing.  Mk.10:45 “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”  Jn.15:13 “Greater love has no man than this, that a person lay down his life for his friends.”  Jesus’ sacrificial death redeems us from the consequences of sin.  Jn.3:16 “For God so loved [agapao g25] the world, that He gave His only begotten Son.”  ref 1Pe.1:18-19.  God willingly gave up Jesus to death, to die for our sins.

Divine love has a moral core.  It is dutiful, active, and obedient.  Yet godly love isn’t without right emotion.  Although godly love is compassionate, it can be ‘tough love’ too (cf. Lk.12:49, Jn.8:7).

God’s divine love is perfect.  It can be present with and enhance all types of love…agape, philautia, storge, phileo, and eros.  (God is responsible for placing sex hormones and right desire in mankind!)

The Lord has given us the capacity to love in its various forms, and to share love.  Col.3:14 “Above all, put on love [g26], which binds all things together in perfect unity.”  Godly love is as a garment which binds us in harmonious moral perfection.  Ep.3:17-19 “That you, being rooted and grounded in love [g26], may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and height and depth, and to know the love [g26] of Christ.”

Christ’s character, morality and principles of love are the same yesterday, today, and forever (He.13:8).  2Jn.1:6 “This is love, that we walk according to His commandments.”  As we’ve seen…God’s commandments convey how to properly love God, other people, and ourselves, through the Holy Spirit.

Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (1)

The “Ark of the Testimony” (seen in Ex.25:16, Jsh.4:16, e.g.) was the most important object in God’s portable tabernacle which Moses/Israelites constructed.  The Hebrew term for “ark” is aróne, Strongs h727; “testimony” is aydúth h5715.  The Ark was also known as the “Ark of the Covenant” (h1285, Nu.10:33, e.g.), the “Ark of the Lord” (h3068, Jsh.3:13), and the “Ark of God” (h430, 1Sm.3:3).

Christ was the God and good Shepherd of ancient Israel.  His glory dwelt above the Ark, upon the mercy seat between the cherubim (cf. Ex.25:22, Ps.80:1, Jn.10:11.  see the topic “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.)  The Ark represented the Lord’s Presence and Name!  2Sm.6:2 “The ark of God which is called by the Name, the very name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned above the cherubim.”

This two-part topic traces the journeys of the Ark of the Testimony/Covenant through the history of ancient Israel.  Part 1 covers the time from its construction in the aftermath of Israel’s exodus from Egypt…until the capture of the Ark by the enemy Philistines circa (c) 1100 BC.

Using Rev. Martin Anstey’s The Romance of Bible Chronology, v.2, Israel’s exodus from Egypt occurred c 1612 BC and the sacred tabernacle tent & sanctuary was erected c 1611 BC.

Ex.19:1 “In the third month after the sons of Israel went out from Egypt, they came to the wilderness of Sinai.”  While Moses was up on Mt Sinai for 40 days (Ex.24:18), the Lord gave him instructions for the tabernacle (mishkán h4908), its furnishings, and the Ark.  (also see “God Tabernacles With Humans”.)

Ex.25:1, 10-21 “The Lord spoke to Moses, ‘They [Israelites] shall construct an ark of acacia wood. Overlay it with pure gold. You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, and two cherubim of gold at the two ends of the mercy seat, their wings spread upward. You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and in the ark you shall put the testimony which I shall give you.”

The dimensions of the Ark were about 45 in. wide, 27 in. deep, 27 in. high.  It was a gilded rectangular chest.  The Ark had rings on the sides through which two long poles were inserted to carry it from site to site.  (The Lord said the descendants of Levi’s son Koháth were to carry it, Nu.4:4-6 & 7:9).

Continuing with Ex.25:22, “There I will meet with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony”.  The Lord Christ would seat Himself atop the mercy seat, from where He would command Moses and Israel’s high priests of His principles & ways.

It was called the “Ark of the Testimony” because God’s own testimony of moral principles against sin, written on tablets, was placed inside.  Gill Exposition Ex.25:16 “This was put into the ark…which may signify the law was in the heart of Christ.”  The law reflected the character of Christ, ‘seated’ above.

Ex.31:18 “When He [the Lord] finished speaking with him [Moses], He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, inscribed with the finger of God.”  These principles were the Ten Words (h1697 dabarim), called the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue.

Moses recounted in De.10:4 LXX NETS, “He wrote on the tablets the Ten Words (g3056 lógos, Greek), which the Lord spoke to you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire [Ex.20:1-18], and the Lord gave them to me”.  Also cf. De.4:13 LXX, where the Greek term for “words” is g4487 rhéma.  The Decalogue was both logos and rhema.  In addition…a jar of manna (Ex.16:32-34), Aaron’s rod (Nu.17:10), and later God’s book of the law (De.31:26, 2Ch.34:14-15) were placed in or by the Ark.

The Ark with the mercy seat resided in the Holy of Holies room of the tabernacle (Ex.26:34).  Aaron the high priest was authorized to enter that compartment only once each year, on the Day of Atonement.  There he would sprinkle blood on the mercy seat of the Ark, to atone for Israel’s sins (Le.16:2, 14-17).  The Ark with the mercy seat signified God’s judgment and mercy.

Ex.30:26 initially Moses was to mix holy anointing oil and “anoint the tabernacle and the ark of the testimony”.  Ex.40:17-21 the Ark was brought into the completed tabernacle at Sinai 11 ½ months out of Egypt.  v.34-35 the Holy Spirit glory cloud filled the tabernacle on the occasion!  v.36-38 “In all their journeys, whenever the cloud was taken up, the sons of Israel would set out.”  They weren’t to leave a site until the Shekínah glory lifted; Nu.9:21-22 “Whether it was after two days, a month, or a year.”

For much of ancient Israel’s BC history (subsequent to Egypt), the Ark and the tabernacle were together at the same site/location.  But they weren’t together during all that period of time, as we’ll see.

Nu.10:11-13, 33 in the 2^nd month of the 2^nd year, they departed Sinai with the ark for a 3-days’ journey to the Parán Wilderness.  Nu.11:3, 34-35 their first stops after Sinai were Taberáh/Kibróth-hattaváh and Hazeróth.  De.1:1-3, 19 it was an 11-day march by way of Mt Seir from Horéb/Sinai to the Kadésh-barnéa spring/oasis in Paran (Ge.14:6-7 spring of judgment, Nu.12:16, 13:3, 26, 32:8).  De.1:46 “They remained in Kadesh many days.”  Nu.14:33-34 they won’t enter the Promised Land until the 40^th year!

Nu.20:1-2, 13-14, 27:14, 33:36 in the 40^th year, they camped at Meribáh Kadésh (not an oasis!) in the Wilderness of Zin.  Nu.33 lists in order their 40–45 encampments made during the 40-year journey to the promised Land of Canáan.  Moses died just before they entered-in (De.34:5).

Jsh.3:3-ff after 40 years, priests with the Ark went before Israel as they finally crossed the Jordan River, c 1572 BC.  Jsh.4:19 “The people came up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgál on the eastern edge of Jericho.”  The Ark is at Gilgal in the Promised Land.  Jsh.6:1-20 in their conquest of Jericho, Israelite warriors marched behind the Ark, circling Jericho for 7 days.  Jsh.14:6 Joshua’s HQ location is Gilgal.

Then Jsh.18:1, “The sons of Israel assembled at Shilóh and set up the tent of meeting there.”  God’s tent of meeting/tabernacle and Ark were moved from Gilgal to Shiloh.  Centuries later the Lord recounted in Je.7:12, “…My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My Name dwell at the first”.  Christ ‘dwelled’ atop the Ark at Shiloh.  Jsh.22:9 Israel had “gathered together at Shiloh.”  (Jsh.24:1, 25 the LXX and Arabic versions have “Shiloh”.)  Joshua’s HQ became Shiloh; it means ‘place of rest’.

Jg.2:6-9 Joshua died c 1547 BC.  (see “Chronology – the Exodus to Samuel”.)  Jg.2:1 LXX “The angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal…to Bethél, to the house of Israel.”  Jg.2:5 Israel sacrificed there (Bethel/‘Bochím’, where they ‘wept’).  The Divine Captain of God’s host had earlier appeared to Joshua while Israel was camped at Gilgal (Jsh.5:10-15), prior to Shiloh.  Shortly before Joshua’s death, the Ark and tabernacle where sacrifices were made were moved from Shiloh to nearby Bethel (the Luz of Ge.28:19, Jg.1:23).  Cambridge Bible Jg.2:1 “A transference of the sanctuary [to Bethel] (Jdg 2:5b).”

{Sidelight: Jg.17–21 these ending chapters of Judges are a flashback to side events which occurred earlier in the book, but weren’t inserted then (to not interrupt the timeflow).  Henry Commentary Jg.17:1 “What is related in…the rest of the chapters to the end of this book, was done soon after the death of Joshua.”  Pulpit Commentary “Two detached histories [Jg.17–21], which fill up the rest of the book, are long prior to Samson [Jg.13–16].”  In Jg.20:28, Aaron’s grandson Phineás the high priest is still alive (cf. Nu.25:7)!  Gill Exposition Jg.17:1 and Barnes Notes connect Jg.17:1 & Jg.18:1-2 “Dan” to Jg.1:34 “Dan”.  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 5:2-3 places Jg.17–21 before Othniél’s early judgeship of Jg.3.  Jg.3:8-11 the warrior Othniel judged Israel 40 years, c 1524 BC – 1484 BC.  Caleb’s nephew Othniel acceded a few years after the time of the “elders who outlived Joshua” (Jg.2:7), c 1547 – 1532 BC.}

Jg.18:31 echoes the tabernacle had been at Shiloh earlier.  Jg.20:18 LXX “They went to Bethel and inquired of God.”  Not long after Joshua’s death, the Ark was at Bethel.  Pulpit Commentary Jg.20:18 “At this time the ark of God, with the tabernacle, was at Bethel, only 7–8 miles from Shiloh.”

Jg.20:27 “The sons of Israel inquired of the Lord, for the ark of the covenant of God was there [Bethel] in those days.”  Ellicott Commentary Jg.20:27 “At Bethel.”  Again, Bethel was near to Shiloh.  Jg.21:19 an annual pilgrim feast was held at Shiloh, “on the north side of Bethel”.  Situated in the tribal territory of Ephráim, Shiloh-Bethel became the Ark & tabernacle location (after Gilgal).  350 years elapse….

Jg.16:30-31 Samson the warrior-judge died, c 1142 BC.  Eli and Samuel then conclude the long period of the judges.  1Sm.1:1-3 Elkanáh (Samuel’s father) annually went to Shiloh to sacrifice to the Lord.

The Ark is again at Shiloh.  Ellicott Commentary 1Sm.1:3 “Shiloh was the religious center of Israel during the whole period of the judges. On rare occasions the sacred tent, and the holy furniture, seems to have been temporarily moved to such places as Mizpáh and Bethel, but its regular home was Shiloh.”  1Sm.3:3, 21 the Ark is at Shiloh, where the Lord revealed Himself to young Samuel.

In the latter years of Eli the high priest & judge, Israel had become very backslidden.  1Sm.4:1-5 the Ark is carried into the battle of Ebenézer against the Philistines, c 1102 BC.  v.17-18 the heathen Philistines sack Shiloh, and capture the Ark.  Eli dies when he hears the news.  v.22 “The glory is departed from Israel, for the ark of God is taken.”

The Ark would never return to Moses’ tabernacle!

Cambridge Bible 1Sm.1:3 “It [Shiloh] ceased to be the national sanctuary. Samuel sacrificed at Mizpeh, at Ramáh, at Gilgal, never, so far as we read, at Shiloh.”  Barnes Notes Ps.78:60 “The place of worship was finally and forever removed from the tribe of Ephraim, within whose limits Shiloh was.”

The Ark had resided in the Holy of Holies innermost room (Ex.26:34) of Moses’ tabernacle for 500 years!  From c 1611 BC – 1102 BC (except when it was in transport or taken into battle.  cf. Nu.10:35 “Rise up, O Lord! And let Thy enemies be scattered.”)

The Ark now will reside elsewhere, apart from God’s tabernacle, for 110 years (til c 991 BC).  During these 110 years, the Holy of Holies compartment of Moses’ tabernacle was entirely empty!

1Sm.5:1-7 the Philistines took the captured Ark of God from Ebenezer to their city of Ashdód, to the temple of their pagan god Dagón.  But the idol of Dagon was then found fallen down before the Ark…and broken!  The Lord afflicted the Ashdodites with tumors and mice (LXX).  v.8-9 so the Philistines took the Ark to their city of Gath.  But the Lord afflicted them there with tumors.  v.10-12 so they took the Ark to Ekrón.  The hand of God was heavy upon them in Ekron; many men died or were smitten with tumors.  At that point the Philistines didn’t know what to do with the Ark, they cried out to heaven!

This topic is continued and concluded in “Ark of the Testimony – Journeys (2)”.

 

 

 

Tent/Tabernacle of David (2)

This is the continuation and conclusion to “Tent/Tabernacle of David (1)”.  Part 1 should be read first.

The ark of God was the most important object in God’s tabernacle which Moses erected.  Christ, the God and good Shepherd of Israel, ‘dwelt’ above the ark between the cherubim (cf. Ex.25:22, Ps.80:1, Jn.10:11).  The ark resided in the Holy of Holies innermost room (Ex.26:34) of Moses’ tabernacle for 500 years.  From approximately 1611 BC – 1102 BC (except when it was taken into battle or in transport).

The Philistines captured the ark from Shilóh (1Sm.4:17), c 1102 BC.  Later, after King David subdued the Philistines, he wanted God’s ark brought up to Jerusalem (c 1030 BC).  1Ch.15:1 “In the city of David [on Mt Zion] he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.”  That Hebrew term for “tent” is óhel, Strongs h168.  The Greek Septúagint/LXX term is skené g4633.

The tent enclosure David pitched in Jerusalem provided a home for the ark of God for nearly 40 years.  Until his son Solomon completed the temple (c 991 BC), and the ark was moved into it (1Ki.7:51–8:1).

King David brought only the ark into the tent.  The ark still contained God’s law of the Decalogue or Ten Commandments (even during Solomon’s reign, 2Ch.5:1-2, 10).  But absent from Moses’ Holy of Holies (then at Gibeón) was Aaron’s rod that budded, signifying priestly Aaronide authority in the Levitical order of ancient Israel.  Absent was the memorial jar of manna from their wilderness journeys.  (Perhaps Aaron’s rod and the jar of manna were lost when the Philistines captured the ark, c 1102 BC?)

In Part 1, we identified 8 or 9 possible reasons why David set up the “tent of David” at his palace.

It was in David’s heart to eventually build a permanent structure in Jerusalem for the ark (1Ch.17:1-ff).  However, the Lord said King Solomon would build the Jerusalem temple (on Mt Moriah, 2Ch.3:1).

Yet it was God’s will for David to first pitch a tent for the ark on Mt Zion!  see “Tent/Tabernacle of David (1)”.  (also see the topics about “Zion in the Bible” and “Ark of the Testimony – Journeys”.)

The physical tent David pitched disappeared from history after 991 BC.  Approximately 240 years after Solomon moved the ark from David’s tent into the finished temple of Solomon (c 991 BC, and stored Moses’ tabernacle from Gibeon, 2Ch.5:5)…the Lord gave Amos a remarkable prophecy:

Am.9:11-12 LXX “In that day I [the Lord] will raise up the tent [skene g4633] of David that is fallen, and will rebuild it.”  (Here the Hebrew term is sukkáh h5521, ‘booth’.  A booth was a temporary dwelling, not intended for reuse in other locations.)  The kingdom of Israel had divided; the northern sector became corrupt, and God would soon scatter it (v.8-10).  Yet the Lord said the day would come when He will again raise-up a “tent of David” (or “tabernacle of David”), which David’s physical tent foreshadowed as a type!  The tent David pitched for the ark…the Lord related it to the future.

Soon after Amos wrote, Isaiah also prophesied about the tent of David in Is.16:5 LXX.  “A throne will be established in mercy. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent [skene g4633] of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.”  (The Hebrew Masoretic Text here has ohel h168 for “tent”.)

This verse too applied to the future…to Christ and His church!  Benson Commentary Is.16:5 “He [Isaiah] was carried forward to a contemplation of the kingdom of Christ.”  JFB Commentary Is.16:5 “Language so divinely framed as to apply to ‘the latter days’ under King Messiah.”  Gill Exposition “This was typical of the church of God, where Christ sits and reigns as King, see Amos 9:11.”

The New Testament (NT) reflects the realization of the Old Testament (OT) prototype “tent of David”.

At the Jerusalem council, around 49 AD, in Ac.15:12-17 the apostle James quoted Amos’ prophecy of God. “After these things I [God] will return, and I will rebuild the tent [skene g4633] of David, which is fallen…That the rest of men may seek the Lord, all the Gentiles [g1484 nations] who are called by My name.”  James understood the tent of David also prefigured gentiles coming to the Lord!

The ancient tent of David, called the tabernacle of David in many English translations…prefigured the growing NT church, consisting of Israelites & Jews with gentiles grafted-in (ref Ro.11:11-17, 25-27).  Let’s see in what ways the tent/tabernacle of David typed the church:

The ark of God resided in the tent at David’s sanctuary on Zion for 40 years (though he died c 1002 BC).  The only item in the ark then was God’s eternal law (later seen in heavenly Mt Zion, Re.11:19 & 14:1)!  God’s laws are figuratively written on the hearts of New Covenant Israelites (He.8:8-12) and gentiles.

After David brought the ark to Mt Zion, he composed many Psalms at the tent and instituted courses for praise & worship before it.  (In the Pentateuch we don’t read of that worship style at Moses’ tabernacle.)

Asáph and other Levites ministered and gave thanks before the ark with song and musical instruments, 1Ch.16:4-7, 37-38.  Ellicott Commentary 1Ch.16:4 “These Levites were to minister before the Ark in the sacred tent of Mt Zion.”  1Ch.16:6 “Beniaiah and Jahaziel the priests blew trumpets continually before the ark.”  Ps.50 was written by Asaph as he ministered praise & thanks at David’s tent (Ps.50:2).

Following are three Psalms (with Bible commentary notes) which tie to David and the tent on Mt Zion: David wrote in Ps.15:1, “O Lord, who may abide in Thy tent? Who shall dwell in Thy holy hill?”  Cambridge Bible Ps.15:1 “The tent’, which David pitched for the Ark on Mt Zion.”  Barnes Notes Ps.15:1 “Zion, regarded as the dwelling place of God.”  Benson Commentary “The psalmist alludes to the hill of Zion.”  Ps.24:3 “Who may ascend to the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place?”  Pulpit Commentary Ps.24:3 “At this time, the Mt Zion.”  Barnes Notes Ps.24:3 “Mount Zion; called the hill of the Lord, because it was the place designated for His worship, or the place of His abode.”  David also wrote in Ps.27:6, “I will offer in His tent sacrifices of shouts of joy”.  (Not animal sacrifices there.)  Cambridge Bible Ps.27:6 “The tent which David pitched for the Ark on Mt Zion must be meant.”

David himself actually sat before the ark!  1Ch.17:16 “David the king went and sat before the Lord.”  David enjoyed God’s Presence at the sacred tent on Zion.  (cf. Ps.21:6 “Thy countenance”.)  David could commune with Christ above the cherubim atop the ark (1Ch.13:6), as Moses had (Ex.25:22)!

But at Moses’ tabernacle, only the high priest was permitted to enter the Holy of Holies chamber where the ark/Christ had sat.  No one else!  And he only on the annual Day of Atonement, ref Le.16:2, 29, 34.

Dr. Ralph Wilson David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem “David is the great architect of worship before the Lord in Jerusalem.”  Worship there was unlike that at Moses’ tabernacle.  Ps.69:30-35 David wrote, “I will praise the Name of God with song, and magnify Him with thanksgiving…God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah.”  v.31 David’s praise to God in Zion was more pleasing than animal sacrifices.

I find no verses that say recurring animal sacrifices were done on Mt Zion!  (Regular animal offerings were done at Moses’ tabernacle in Gibeon.)  Recurring sacrifices at David’s tent were…praise & thanksgiving.  And praise & giving of thanks was typical of the NT church…no animal sacrifices.

David’s enclosure for the ark was a makeshift stationary tent, open and with an altar out front (1Ki.3:15 LXX).  There was no veil.  No items from Moses’ tabernacle used for ceremonial rituals were on Zion.

wildolive.co.uk The Tabernacle of David “David, who was obviously in the will of God, erected a tent in which people worshiped joyfully without being separated from the Ark by the Veil [cf. Ex.26:30-36]. Remember that the Veil in the Temple was torn in two when Yeshua [Jesus] died on the cross [Mt.27:51].”  The tent of David foreshadowed Christ and His church…there’s no veil of separation.

WicWiki Tabernacle of David “David’s tabernacle represented the grace of God and a way open into the very Holiest of All (see Heb.6:19, 8:1-2). As David’s tabernacle contained the Ark in open access, so the church, through Christ, has open access to the presence of God.”  The writer of the book of Hebrews said, He.10:19 “We have confidence to enter the Holy Place by the blood of Jesus”.

The Davidic style of worship was later done by Jewish returnees from captivity in Ezra & Nehemiah.  Ne.12:24 LXX “The heads of the Levites…were to sing hymns of praise, according to the commandment of David the man of God, course by course.”  Gill Exposition Ne.12:24 “They performed by turns…as David under divine direction ordered, see 1Ch.23:5.”  also ref Ezr.2:65, 3:10-11; Ne.12:27, 36, 45-47.

Davidic worship and Psalms was the forerunner of praise in the NT church.  R. Wilson op. cit. “The Psalms are designed to help us experience praise, to enter into it ourselves.”  The apostle Paul exhorted the church to worship God with song.  Col.3:16 “Teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thanksgiving in your hearts to God.”  Ep.5:19 “Singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.”  Praise music is an integral part of Christian worship.

2Sm.6:14 as King David was bringing the ark to Zion, he “danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was wearing a linen ephód.”  Although David was king, royalty, he wore the linen ephod of ordinary priests…even though he wasn’t a descendant of the Aaronide priestly line.  (Samuel had worn one as a boy, 1Sm.2:18.  cf. 1Ch.15:27; 1Sm.22:18.)  David was a type of Christ, who is the “son of David” (Mt.1:1, Lk.18:38).  David wrote Ps.110.  Some think Ps.110:4 “order of Melchisedek” refers to David too, as both king and a type of priest.  (Peter also called David a prophet, Ac.2:29-30).

tlchrist.info/tabernacle_david “David did an amazing thing in his time. The housing of the ark of God in the Tabernacle of David was an event of unusual importance, for it was celebrated by ‘all Israel’ with demonstrations of the most impressive character: ‘With shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets and with cymbals’, while King David himself danced before the ark with all his might in the exuberance of his joy. It constituted a decided break with the Levitical ordinances given through Moses. The Old Testament way of reaching God was through the means of animal sacrifices. There were no [recurring] animal sacrifices there [David’s tent]. Chiefly, it is to be observed that this sojourn of the ark on Mt Zion is the foundation of the many references in the Psalms and the Prophets to Zion, as the dwelling place of Jehovah, and is what gives to the terms ‘Zion’ and ‘Mount Zion’ their high spiritual meaning. Never thereafter was Mount Moriah, where Solomon’s magnificent temple stood, referred to as Jehovah’s dwelling place, but always Mount Zion.”

Much later, animal sacrifices were done at the 1^st century temple of Herod.  Judaizers wanted to bring circumcised gentile proselytes into Herod’s temple.  But it was the tent of David, which had no regular animal sacrifices, that actually foreshadowed the gentiles coming in to the worship of the true God.

As Amos prophesied and James confirmed, God would rebuild the tabernacle/tent of David.  God isn’t rebuilding the obsolete temples of Solomon, Zerubbabél/Ezra (built 520-516 BC), or Herod!

Solomon’s temple (the 1^st temple) took 7 years to build on nearby Mt Moriah (using 30,000 workmen).  The 2^nd temple was Zerubbabel’s (also known as Ezra’s temple).  Herod’s structure was a 3^rd temple.

Herod’s Temple Is Really the Third Temple “Herod [the Great] decided that Zerubbabel’s Temple was too insignificant. So he presented a plan to the people to take down Zerubbabel’s temple and erect a newer, bigger and better one in its place. John 2:20 indicates that construction/renovation of this temple still wasn’t completed 46 years after it was begun.”  Josephus Antiquities of the Jews 15:11:1-3, wrote that the foundation of Zerubbabel’s temple (the 2^nd) was completely destroyed.  Herod’s sanctuary was finished in 1 1/2 years (without halting temple services), the courts in 8 years.  But it wasn’t finally all completed until 64 AD!  18,000 workmen were used!  This was much more than a renovation.  The Four Fold Gospel Jn.2:20 “Herod tore down the 2^nd temple and rebuilt it with a 3^rd structure in that site.”  It took 80 years to complete!  (All that remains today is a 1,600 foot section of the Western Wall, a retaining wall Herod built to expand the temple mount.)   William Whiston footnote to Antiq.15:11:1, “The fancy of the modern Jews, in calling this temple, which was really the 3^rd of their temples, the 2^nd temple, followed so long by later Christians, seems to be without any solid foundation”.

Biblical Archaeology Review Mar/Apr 2002: Herod’s Roman Temple “Actually, it was an entirely new structure, but it is still known in Jewish tradition and in the scholarly literature as the Second Temple.”

judaism.stackexchange “Herod removed Ezra’s Temple, stone by stone, right down to the ground, and then removed the foundations and built an entirely new Temple of his own….Herod didn’t rebuild a temple. He in fact completely reformed the temple mount.”  Herod’s new temple was the 3^rd temple.

The temples of Herod, Zerubbabel/Ezra, Solomon were built on Mt Moriah (2Ch.3:1).  The Hebrew term “Moriah” (h4179) occurs only twice in the entire OT!  (In 2Ch.3:1 and Ge.22:2; also in Je.26:18 the “mountain of the house” of the Lord refers to Mt Moriah.)  And “Moriah” never occurs in the NT.

Whereas the Hebrew term “Zion” (h6726 tsee-yóne) occurs 153 times in the OT!  (80 of those occurrences are in Psalms and Isaiah.)  The Greek LXX and NT term for Zion is Sion (g4622 see-ówn).  It occurs 7 times in the NT (Mt.21:5; Jn.12:15; Ro.9:33, 11:26; He.12:22; 1Pe.2:6; Re.14:1).

Comparing…based on the total Bible occurrences of “Zion” and “Moriah”, the tent/tabernacle of David pitched on Mt Zion has more enduring relevance than the 3 obsolete temples erected on Mt Moriah!

tlchrist.info/tabernacle_david “When God speaks by His prophets concerning things to come in the Kingdom of Christ, He never says, ‘I will build again the Temple of Solomon which I destroyed’, but ‘I will build again the Tabernacle of David which is fallen down’.”

Kevin Conner The Temple of Solomon, p. 206 “In 70 AD God allowed the whole Temple system to be totally destroyed, never to be restored again either in this age or any age to come.”

Religious Jews may attempt to build another temple like Solomon’s or Herod’s on Mt Moriah.  But God isn’t doing that.  The Lord God is building the tabernacle of David!  Not that it will be a literal tent erected by God.  Rather, James said the tent of David represents salvation for all races of men!

{Sidelight: The New Jerusalem temple vision of Ezekiel 40–48 has puzzled Bible readers.  It’s been described as a mix of idealism and allegory, having a figurative spiritual (non-literal) interpretation.  The Lord Christ, very God, sacrificed Himself in the 1^st century AD (not a literal Ezk.45:17, 22!).  There is nothing in the NT to indicate that the Lord will literally reinstitute inferior animal sin offerings as atonement for Himself or others in the future.  And there were no regular animal sacrifices at the tabernacle of David (that God is rebuilding).  Michael Battle What About Ezekiel’s Temple? “Those things which Ezekiel saw [includes animal sacrifices] were based solely on the pattern given to Moses, and was only a figure or foreshadowing of something much greater. With His own blood He [Christ] entered once for all into the holy place of the greater and more perfect tabernacle (in the heavens) [He.9:11-12], and has obtained eternal redemption for us!”}

In his book The Tabernacle of David, p.231, Kevin Conner lists other theological truths represented by the tabernacle of David.  The throne of David pointed to the throne of Christ (the “son of David”).  Earthly Mt Zion & Jerusalem pointed to the heavenly Mt Zion & Jerusalem above (Re.14:1, Ga.4:26).  David was king and a type of priest; Christ is king and priest in the order of Melchisedek (Ge.14:18, Ps.110:4).  After David did animal sacrifices once at the tent (2Sm.6:17), the cessation of any further animal sacrifices there by him pointed to Christ’s one-time sacrifice and the 70 AD end of sacrifices at Herod’s (obsolete) temple.  Instead, sacrifices of praise became the order of worship at David’s tent, as is done in the NT church; He.13:15 “Let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise.”

The transfer of the ark (containing the 10 Commandments, so-called) from Moses’ tabernacle at Gibeon to David’s tent at Zion represented the transfer of the Lord’s righteous moral law from the Old Covenant to the minds & hearts of New Covenant Christians (He.8:10).

The tent of David types both…the Davidic kingdom culminating in Jesus with the Kingdom of God, and the Davidic style of worship.  The church with Gentiles enters into both.  James confirmed in Ac.15:14 that God was “taking from among the gentiles a people for His name”.  Gentiles weren’t to come in to the worship of God under the Old Covenant ritualistic system of the Levitical order.  Christians are now God’s priesthood in the order of Melchisedek.  Jesus is High Priest (He.4:14, 7:17).  Levitical Aaronide priests are obsolete.  The tent of David foreshadowed the at-large community of Christian believers.

As the Lord is gradually rebuilding the tabernacle of David, the Lord is gradually building His church.  Jesus said in Mt.16:18, “I will build My church”.  And the gates of Hades, the realm of the dead, will not prevail against God’s church!  Glory to God!

Added in the Old Covenant (1)

Paul wrote in Ga.3:19, “Why the Law [of Moses]? It was added because of transgressions”.  What prior law(s) was transgressed that led to God adding the law of Moses?  And what all did the Lord then add (for Moses/Israel) to His more ancient prior laws after those were transgressed?

The majority of Bible students think the New Testament (NT) apostle Paul meant the Lord’s Old Covenant for ancient Israel was added.  Others think Paul mostly had in mind the detailed sacrificial system which was added.  In this topic, we’ll explore the issue.

Paul said transgression, sin, law-breaking…doesn’t exist without law.  Ro.4:15 “Where there is no law, there is no transgression [Strongs g3847, Greek].”  And Ro.5:13 “For until the Law [of Moses], sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law.”  Ro.3:20 “Through law comes the knowledge of sin.”  So there must have been some form of law already in existence for there to be sin or transgression (of that law), according to Paul.

Since the Bible mentions sin several times in Genesis (Ge.4:7, 13:13, 18:20, 20:9, 31:36, 39:9, 42:22, 50:17), prior to the Law of Moses…Divine Law must have existed and been revealed to humanity prior to Moses, for sin to have been present!  1Jn.3:4 “Sin is the transgression of the law [lawlessness].”

Sin occurred in the Garden of Eden (Ge.3)…long before sin was described in God’s theocratic laws for Moses & ancient Israel and identified elsewhere.  1Jn.3:8 “The devil sins from the beginning.”  Divine Law, which the serpent violated (Ge.3:3-4) and Cain violated (Ge.4:7-11)…existed from the beginning!

Ge.26:5 the Lord said, “Abraham obeyed [h8085 shemá, Hebrew] Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws”.  Abraham did all that…prior to the Law of Moses!  He was very obedient to God.  Also Wisdom of Sírach 44:20 “Abraham kept the law of the Most High.”  God Most High had laws in Abraham’s day (centuries before Moses).  Abraham had much faith/belief, to obey God!

There were (eternal) laws of God in existence during the period from Adam to Moses.  Those laws were kept by early righteous gentiles such as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Job, etc.  1Enoch 99:2 “Woe unto them who pervert the words of uprightness, and transgress the eternal law.”  1Eno.106:13-14 “Some of the angels of heaven commit sin and transgress the law.” (cf. 1Jn.3:4)  An eternal law existed before the Law of Moses, according to 1Enoch.  Abraham was aware of God’s earlier moral laws, and he obeyed.

The topic “Abraham Obeyed Which Commandments?” references some of those more ancient (eternal) laws.  They won’t be listed here.  James Bruckner Implied Law in the Abraham Narrative, p.208 “Law is presented, in the first canonical book of scripture [Genesis], as part of the created order.”  There are scriptures that show principles of all the Ten Commandments reflected in Genesis, long before Moses.

Paul also indicated that a moral sense of God and of sin has always existed in man’s consciousness.  Ro.1:19-21 “That which is known of God is evident within them. For since the creation of the world, even though they knew God, they [most] did not honor Him as God.”  Early humans knew of God.

God’s moral principles/laws seen in Genesis, and given to ancient Israel…weren’t new in Moses’ day!

Evangelical Old Testament scholar Walter Kaiser wrote in God’s Promise Plan and His Gracious Law: “So endemic is the moral law to the whole of the Mosaic law that evidences for its abiding nature can be found in the fact that even before it was given on Sinai it was held to be normative and binding on all who aspired to living by faith. In fact every one of the Ten Commandments is already implicitly found in the Genesis record even before their publication on Sinai. Moses did not invent the moral law; God did, and He had already been holding men and women responsible for heeding it millennia before he finally wrote it on tablets of stone.”  Yes, real ‘living by faith’ includes living by God’s moral law.

Then in the Old Covenant, God included His preexisting moral commandments, statutes, laws (which Abraham obeyed)…and added to them.  Added new in the Old Covenant Law of Moses were: pilgrim feasts (Ex.12:1-13:7, Ex.23:14-18); the daily morning & evening sacrifice (Ex.29:38-43); sin & guilt offerings (Le.4–6); the tabernacle/temple sequence of offerings, rituals, ceremonies (Nu.28–29); etc.

Conspicuously absent in Genesis are the (later) three pilgrim feasts and the Levitical ritualistic aspects with the detailed sacrificial system.  In Genesis, there’s no tabernacle/temple, and no Passover before the Lord later ‘passed over’ Israelite homes (Ex.12:13).  see “Feasts of the Lord  and the Jews”.

Ga.3:18-19 “If the inheritance is based on law [g3551 nómos], it is no longer based on a promise, but God granted it to Abraham based on a promise. Why the Law [of Moses] then? It was added because of transgressions [g3847 parábasis].”  (7 NT occurrences: Ro.2:23, 4:15, 5:14, 1Ti.2:14, He.2:2, 9:15.)

Meyer’s NT Commentary Ga.3:19 “It [Law of Moses] was, after the covenant of promise was already in existence, superadded to the latter.”  Cambridge Bible Ga.3:19 “It was added’, yet so as not to interfere with the promise.”

Expositor’s Greek Testament Ga.3:19 “But there could obviously be no transgressions until the law existed. The prohibitions of the Ten Commandments….these sins prevailed before the law.”  Yes, laws of the Ten Commandments, and several other laws, existed for Abraham and gentiles in Genesis.  There could be no transgressions, if there’s no existing laws to transgress (according to Paul, Ro.4:15).

God’s moral principles/laws existed, for gentiles, prior to the Old Covenant.  The Lord carried-over those principles/laws into the Old Covenant as codified for Israel and for aliens among them. The prior laws remained applicable to gentiles.  (see “Genesis Principles Predate Moses”.)

Moses wrote in De.11:1, “You shall love the Lord your God and keep His charge, His statutes, ordinances, and His commandments”.  Notice the similarity of that verse to what all Abraham had obeyed earlier in Ge.26:5 (without an Old Covenant Law of Moses).

Barnes Notes Ga.3:19 “The Law [of Moses] was given [by the Lord] to show the true nature of transgressions, or to show what sin was.”  Benson Commentary Ga.3:19 “To restrain the Israelites from transgressions.”  Restrain them from transgressions of God’s prior enduring moral laws.

Also, the Old Covenant law contained judgments and case law to govern an orderly society.

Paul wrote in Ro.4:13, “The promise [g1860 epangeleéah] to Abraham or to his seed that he would be heir of the world [g2889 kósmos] wasn’t through law, but through the righteousness [g1343 dikaiosúnay] of faith”.  Vincent Word Studies Ro.4:13 “Paul here takes the Jewish conception of the universal dominion of the Messianic theocracy prefigured by the inheritance of Canáan, divests it of its Judaistic element, and raises it to a christological truth.”  Gill Exposition Ro.4:13 “Not through the law of circumcision, or on their obedience to that, for this promise was made before that was enjoined; see Genesis 12:2; nor through the law of Moses, which was not yet given.”  God made the promise to Abrám back when there were no pilgrim feasts (no Passover), Levitical rituals, sin offerings, etc.

God’s promise to Abraham wasn’t made through the Law of Moses or the Old Covenant.  The gentile Abraham didn’t have that.  But Abraham knew God’s moral principles/laws which predated “the promise”.  However, the focus of this topic isn’t “the promise” to Abraham…but what was added later, according to Paul in Ga.3:19.  Yet the promise was made to the Abraham who…“obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws”, Ge.26:5!  He knew God’s righteous precepts…and they were later incorporated into the Old Covenant, which God codified for Moses/Israel.

{Sidelight: Moses too had known God’s preexistent righteous precepts.  After Israel exited Egypt, Moses’s father-in-law Jethró came to Moses/Israel in the wilderness in Ex.18:5.  Moses said to Jethro, Ex.18:16, “I judge between a man and his neighbor, and make known the statutes of God and His laws”.  Moses made known God’s preexistent laws/principles and justice…prior to the Old Covenant (Ex.24), and even prior to God speaking the Ten Commandments (Ex.20)!}

Early gentiles like Abraham didn’t have the detailed sacrificial system.  It was added for Israel…added after Israel rebelled against the Lord in unbelief as they left Egypt.

Je.7:22 “I didn’t speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.  Gill Exposition Je.7:22 “These are not in the decalogue or ten commands…but are an appendage or addition to it; and though they are of early institution and use, yet they never were appointed for the sake of themselves.”  JFB Commentary Je.7:22 “The ten commandments having been delivered first.”  (see “Ten Commandments in Genesis & Job”.)  Cambridge Bible Je.7:22 “In general it may be said that obedience to the moral law always ranked first.”  Ellicott Commentary Je.7:22 “The ritual in connection with sacrifice was prescribed partly as a concession to the feeling which showed itself, in its evil form, in the worship of the golden calf.”

Again, the (eternal) laws which Abraham and other righteous gentiles in Genesis obeyed, and the Decalogue spoken by the Lord (Ex.20)…were absorbed into the Old Covenant Law for Israel.  It was ratified in Ex.24:1-8, and repeated/amplified in Deuteronomy as Israel was finally entering the Land.

Je.7:23 “But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey [hearken to, h8085] My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people.”  Barnes Notes Je.7:23 “Sacrifice is never the final cause of the [old] covenant, but always obedience.”  God wants obedience first, not recurring sacrifices.

But Matthew Poole Commentary Je.7:22 “They [sacrifices] have been of Divine institution ever since Adam, Ge.4:3-4. God doth not condemn them, or deny them, save only comparatively in respect of obedience, not so much these as obeying His [moral] commands.”

The Lord didn’t institute the detailed sacrificial system for Israel until after they faithlessly rebelled against Him.  Yet there was animal sacrifice before Moses/ancient Israel, and before Abraham.

Claude Mariottini Why Did God Ask For Animal Sacrifice? “As early as the 4^th millennium BC, animal sacrifices were offered in Egypt at the temples at Abýdos, Thebes, and On….Babylon had centers of worship at Éridu, Níppur, Érech, Ur, and other places that can be dated from the 4^th and the 3^rd millenniums BC. Babylonian records give evidence of an elaborate system of worship and sacrifices at these temples. One document says that the animals offered in sacrifice by King Gúdea included oxen, sheep, goats, lambs, and birds. As for animal sacrifice in the Bible, the biblical record is very clear that animal sacrifice goes back to the earliest days of biblical history. For instance, the garments of skins for Adam and Eve (Ge.3:21) were made from animals slain in sacrifice.”

Sacrifice was ordained by God, and it’s probable He told Adam how to do it.  After Adam & Eve sinned, God required the first sacrifice, providing them with clothing (Ge.3:21).  It’s unlikely Cain & Abel invented sacrifice on their own (Ge.4:3-5).  The practice was passed down to others.

Animal sacrifice to (pagan) deities was customary in much of the ancient world.  Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, (Job) offered sacrifices to the Lord long before ancient Israel left Egypt.  see “Sacrifices and Burnt Offerings”.  Yet no verse in Genesis commanded anyone to do recurring animal sacrifices.

Later, in Ex.3:18, 5:3, 8:27, 10:24-26, Moses was to ask permission from Pharaoh for Israel to have a sacrificial 3-day feast in the wilderness (his request was denied).  Animal sacrifice wasn’t new to those Egyptians.

Ex.12:1–13:7 God ordained the Passover for Israel and the accompanying days of unleavened bread as they were leaving Egypt.  Ex.12:51 the Lord brought them out of Egypt.

What prompted the Lord to command the detailed sacrificial system to ancient Israel?  Why did God add recurring animal sacrifices to His prior moral precepts which He brought into the Old Covenant?

Those questions are addressed as this topic is concluded in “Added in the Old Covenant (2)”.

Sabbath 7th Day (3)

The weekly sábbath was addressed in “Sabbath 7^th Day”, Parts (1) and (2).  This Part 3 concludes (1) and (2).  Part 1 contains the primary verses; so it should be read first.  Also, the change from Saturday to Sunday observance is outlined in “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”.  That topic includes early church background and meeting custom.  In regards to the change, statements by Roman Catholic Church (RCC) theologians were quoted in Parts (1) and (2).  Following are statements by non-RCC:

Anglican Isaac Williams Plain Sermons on the Catechism, vol.1, p.334-6 “Where are we told in the Scriptures that we are to keep the 1^st day at all? We are commanded to keep the 7^th; but we are nowhere commanded to keep the 1^st day. The reason why we keep the 1^st day of the week holy instead of the 7^th is for the same reason that we observe many other things, not because the Bible, but because the church has enjoined it.”  It’s a church tradition which comes down from 2^nd century Rome and the RCC.

Lutheran August Neander The History of the Christian Religion and Church, p. 186 “The festival of Sunday, was always only a human ordinance, and it was far from the intentions of the apostles to establish a Divine command in this respect, far from them, and from the early apostolic Church, to transfer the laws of the Sabbath to Sunday.”  Jesus’ apostles didn’t try to change the sabbath.

“Sabbath” is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities.  The customary practice of setting aside Sunday as the day of Christian worship is tradition.  But the New Testament (NT) never says Sunday is the church or gentile sabbath, in the manner that Saturday is sabbath holy time.

1Clement was written from Rome to Corinth in the latter 1^st century.  It doesn’t mention Sunday church meetings.  Sunday observance first appears in 2^nd century writings.  And over the centuries, most Christians have continued observing and worshiping on the 1^st day, Sunday.  Men and the RCC have tried to do away with the Lord’s 7^th day sabbath rest!

This hoax exchanged a 1-hour church service Sunday morning for a 24-hour day of cessation and devotion to God.  In Parts 1 & 2 we referenced verses and commentaries which show the 7^th day sabbath was made holy by God at Creation in Ge.2:1-3.  Man is unable to alter God’s holy time!

RCC Archbishop James Gibbons admitted in The Catholic Mirror, 1893 “The Catholic Church ….by virtue of her divine mission, changed the day from Saturday to Sunday.”  Many in the RCC so admit.

Peter Heylyn The History of the Sabbath, 1613 “Ambrose, the celebrated bishop of Milan, said that when he was in Milan he observed Saturday, but when in Rome observed Sunday. This gave rise to the proverb ‘When you are in Rome, do as Rome does.”  Ambrose lived in the latter 300s AD.

Anglican priest & scholar Joseph Bingham Antiquities of the Christian Church “The ancient Christians were very careful in the observation of Saturday, or the 7^th day. It is plain that all the Oriental churches, and the greatest part of the world, observed the Sabbath as a festival. Epíphanius says the same.” (v.2, b.20, ch.3, sec 1, 66)  “Athanásius…says: They met on the Sabbath, not because they were infected with Judaism, but to worship Jesus, the Lord of the sabbath.” (b.13, ch.9, sec 3)  The sabbath and its observance predates Judaism.

Over the centuries, others besides Rome have tried to enforce Sunday observance (e.g. the Puritans).  Continuing from Part 2, there are NT passages which some use to negate God’s 7^th day sabbath.  Re.1:10 John wrote, “I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day”.  Some think John had in mind Sunday.  But in his gospel (Jn.20:1, 19), John refers to Sunday as the “first (day) of the week” (sábbaton Strongs g4521, Greek), not the “Lord’s day”.  Whereas Mk.2:28 shows that the sabbath is the Lord’s day!  Christ ceased on the 7^th day of Creation.  He’s the Lord of the sabbath, and He told ancient Israel about it.  In Is.58:13-14, Christ the Lord of hosts calls the sabbath “My holy day”.  Matthew Henry Commentary Is.58:14 “Even in Old Testament times the sabbath was called the Lord’s day, and is fitly called so still; for a further reason, it is the Lord Christ’s day, Re 1:10. If we thus remember the sabbath day to keep it holy, we shall have the comfort and profit of it.”

The first clear references to Sunday as the Lord’s Day aren’t until the mid-to-latter 2^nd century (Gospel of Peter, Dionýsius, 2Clement).  It became a tradition of men.

Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, v.4, p.2259-60 “Sunday was adopted by early Christians as a day of worship…It was called the ‘Lord’s Day’…no regulations for its observance are laid down in the New Testament, nor indeed, is its observance even enjoined.”  Christ didn’t change His sabbath.

Ga.4:8-10 Paul wrote, “In time past you were slaves to those who are no gods. Why do you return to the weak and worthless elements to which you desire to be enslaved? You observe days, months, times and years.”  Benson Commentary Ga.4:8 “No gods.’ This is a description of idols worshiped by the heathen.”  Those gods aren’t the true God who made the sabbath day holy.  e.g. astral veneration of Saturn isn’t holy.  Surely the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments which Christ gave to Moses/Israel, aren’t the “weak and worthless elements” to which Paul refers.  Ex.20 God’s Decalogue prohibitions against murder & theft, with His commands to keep the sabbath & honor one’s father/mother…obviously aren’t weak and worthless!  Paul himself wouldn’t knowingly violate any of the Decalogue.  (Paul wrote in Ro.7:12, “The commandment is holy, just and good”.)  Ac.16:12-14 Paul & Luke worshiped on God’s sabbath day in European Phílippi.  Cambridge Bible Ga.4:10 “There is clearly no exemption here from the obligation of the observance of ‘the 7^th day’. The law of the Sabbath…is as old as the Creation.”

Presbyterian T.C. Blake, D.D. Theology Condensed, p.474-475 “The Sabbath is a part of the decalogue – the Ten Commandments. This alone forever settles the question as to the perpetuity of the institution…Until, therefore, it can be shown that the whole moral law has been repealed, the Sabbath will stand…The teaching of Christ confirms the perpetuity of the Sabbath.”  De.5:12-14 allowing those under our charge (and our work animals) to rest on the sabbath is a moral principle of loving our neighbor!  To say we ‘rest in Christ’ (work animals?) is a good spiritual principle, but doesn’t abate physical fatigue.

The same sense regarding the Decalogue can be applied to the controversial Col.2:16-23.  A syncretistic form of religion with Jewish & pagan Gnosticism existed at Colóssae.  Paul in this passage merges: whether to eat/drink/fast, feasts, new moons, the sabbath, asceticism, worship of angels, man-made religion, commandments of men.  v.16-17 “Let no one judge you in eating and drinking, or in part of a feast or a new moon or the sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come; but the body of Christ.”

Besides God’s Day of Atonement, Jews ordained their own fast days (Zec.8:19); some fasted twice-a-week (Lk.18:12).  Dietary customs of neo-Pythagoréans were there.  God’s feasts, authorized to be kept only at the temple (no uncircumcised men), were Passover, Pentecost, Booths.  Jews ordained Hánukkah & Purím feasts.  Rosh Hashánah fell on a new moon.  New moons were traditional holidays for women.

But God sanctified the 7^th day sabbath at Creation!  False teachers, Pharisees, etc. were acting as judges of how to keep various occasions.  Ellicott Commentary Col.2:16 “Let no man judge you’, that is, impose his own laws upon you.”  Rather, the Body of Christ is the judge, not the “commandments of men” (v.22-23).  Christ authored His Ten Commandments, including the sabbath.  And it’s the longest of the Ten!

For Paul to disregard any part of the Decalogue would’ve been viewed as hypocrisy.  The sabbath is in God’s Top Ten!  Some do’s & don’ts of sabbathkeeping promoted by Judaism in Colossae were false.  Yet true sabbath rest is a divine blessing for the Body of Christ.  (I’m not 7^th Day Adventist/SDA.)

Peter’s “shadow” remained visible in the sunlight for healing; it didn’t disappear (Ac.5:15-16)!  Adam Clarke Commentary Co.2:16 “There is no intimation here that the Sabbath was done away, or that its moral use was superseded, by the introduction of Christianity. ‘Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy’, is a command of perpetual obligation, and can never be superseded but by the final termination of time.”  JFB Commentary Col.2:16 “The weekly sabbath rests on a more permanent foundation, having been instituted in Paradise to commemorate the completion of Creation in six days.”  Fast days, pilgrim feasts, new moon observances, Israel’s sanctuary…were later additions.  The sabbath remains.

He.4:9 “There remains therefore a sabbath rest [g4520 sabbatismós, only NT occurrence] for the people of God.”  A sabbatism.  He.4:4 this cessation is associated with the 7^th day of Creation (Ge.2:1-3), which is the great prototype referred to in Ex.20:8-11. “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.”  The book of Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians.  They were sabbathkeepers.  Joshua, David, Jesus, too were sabbathkeepers.  Its writer isn’t defending the 7^th day sabbath; sabbath observance is a given among those Israelites.  And 7^th day observance now foreshadows our future rest in glory.

JFB Commentary He.4:9 “It is Jesus, the antitype of Joshua, who leads us into the heavenly rest. This verse indirectly establishes the obligation of the Sabbath still; for the type continues until the antitype supersedes it….the typical earthly Sabbath must continue till then. The Jews call the future rest ‘the day which is all Sabbath.”  Ellicott Commentary He.4:9 “The Míshnah speaks of Psalms 92 as a ‘Psalm for the time to come, for the day which is all Sabbath, the rest belonging to the life eternal.”

In Ga.6:16, Paul referred to the “Israel of God”.  Most commentaries say Paul’s “Israel of God” meant all Christians, both Jewish and gentiles grafted-in…the church.  (Whereas the 1Co.10:18 “Israel after the flesh” meant disbelieving Jews.)  The early church kept the sabbath before Rome & men intervened.

Anglican clergyman Jeremy Taylor, The Whole Works of Jeremy Taylor, vol.IX, p.456 “The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews…therefore the Christians for a long time together, did keep their conventions on the Sabbath, in which some portion of the Law were read: and this continued till the time of the Laodicean council.”  At Laodicea in 363 AD the church outlawed resting on the sabbath!

Mt.24:20 “Pray your flight be not in winter, nor on the sabbath.”  Jesus indicated the sabbath day would still exist…His holy time wouldn’t have somehow become obsolete!  Barnes Notes Mt.24:20 “Jesus teaches his disciples to pray that their flight might not be on the Sabbath, because, if they should not go farther than a Sabbath-day’s journey, they would not be beyond danger.” (ref Ex.16:29, Ac.1:12, Is.58:13 relating to excessive/tiresome travel on the sabbath.)  JFB Commentary Is.58:13 “The Sabbath, even under the new dispensation, was to be obligatory.”  Bengel’s Gnomen Mt.24:20 “Because it is peculiarly miserable on that day, which is given to joy, to break off the rites of worship and flee.”

Shabáwth (h7676, Hebrew) implies a rest.  Besides the sabbath being time holy to God, the rest is needed for our physical bodies.  We’re refreshed.  The relatively new scientific field of chronobiology has found there is a circaséptan (Latin sept = 7) rhythm in the bodies of humans & animals.  Every 7–8 days our body clock, so to speak, resets or renews.  This is separate from cultural evolution or religion.  It’s not some new age bio-rhythm quackery.  Rather it’s an innate system we’re not conscious of which God hid in our cell structure.  Seven is God’s number, and is the ‘beat of life’ inherent in His creation!

Wikipedia: Circaseptan “A circaseptan rhythm is a cycle consisting of 7 days in which many biological processes of life are resolved.”  Jeremy Campbell Winston Churchill’s Afternoon Nap, 1988, p.75 “Circaseptan, or about weekly, rhythms are one of the major surprises turned up by modern chronobiology. Fifteen years ago few scientists would have expected that seven-day biological cycles would prove to be so widespread and so long established in the world. They are of very ancient origin.”

Erhard Haus Chronobiology in the Endocrine System. Adv Drug Deliv Rev. 2007; 59(9-10):985-1014 “A seven-day cycle was found in the blood pressure fluctuations in the acid content in the blood, in erýthrocytes, in a heartbeat, the oral temperature, the temperature of the female breast, chemical and urine volume, rate of two important neurotransmitters – norepinéphrine and epinéphrine – and the increase and decrease of various body chemicals, such as coping stress hormone, cortisol.”

They say that approximately every 7 days our heart rate slows slightly (then resumes normalcy), and our immune system resets.  If our immune system is violated or becomes too stressed, sickness and even death can result.  Our Creator knew man needs His rest…animals too. (cf. chabad.org The Biological Shabbat Clock.)  De.5:14 “The 7^th day…that your ox and donkey and sojourner may rest.”  Work animals belonging to non–Jews need rest too…sabbath rest isn’t just for Jews!  SDA videos tell of bees in South America and beavers that are inactive on the sabbath…then resume normal activity on Sunday!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyYHG6jsTNY.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49T5unQEIbY.

The sabbath rest helps us be more aware of our dependence upon God for our spiritual and physical needs.  We can relax for a day and be refreshed, spiritually and physically.

From 1793-1805 AD, the First French Republic tried to replace the 7-day week with a secular week having rest every 10^th day.  The attempt was a total failure!  Then from 1929-1940, Stalin’s Communist Russia set up a rotating 5-day continuous work-week…80% of the people worked while 20% rested.  It too failed!  The work cycles in those undertakings violated the body clock God set within man.

Resting every 7 days is necessary for our innate body rhythm.  Jesus said in Mk.2:27, “The sabbath was made for man”.  Needless to say, Christ knew what He was doing when He made the 7^th day holy at Creation.  The ‘clock of seven’ within our body is ticking unyieldingly…we can’t escape it in this life.

God said in Is.55:3, “I will make an everlasting covenant with you”.  Isaiah was prophesying of the new covenant!  Is.56:1-7 “Thus says the Lord, ‘Blessed is the man…who keeps from profaning the sabbath. To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant…I will give them an everlasting name. Also the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord…to be His servants, who keep from profaning the sabbath.”  The eunuchs & foreigners (even past hostile nekár h5236) who keep from profaning the sabbath will be blessed of the Lord!  JFB Commentary Is.56:2 “A proof that the Sabbath, in the spirit of its obligation, was to be binding under the Gospel.”  Gill Exposition Is.56:4 “The covenant of grace, the everlasting covenant.”  Matthew Henry Commentary Is.56:6 “The Gentiles shall be one body with the Jews, that, as Christ says, Jn.10:16, there may be one fold and one Shepherd.”  Observing the Lord’s sabbath in the everlasting/new covenant!

Count Zínzendorf (1700-1760), leader of the Morávian church (Czechoslovakia/America), in 1738 wrote of himself. “I have during my lifetime not eaten of the foods which were formerly forbidden them; I have employed the Sabbath for rest many years already, and Sunday for the proclamation of the gospel – that I have done without design, in simplicity of heart.”  (Budingsche Sammlung, 1742, sec.8, p.224.)

A study book of the United Lutheran Church, The Sunday Problem (1923), p.36 “We have seen how gradually the impression of the Jewish sabbath faded from the mind of the Christian Church, and how completely the newer thought underlying the observance of the first day took possession of the church. We have seen that the Christians of the first three centuries never confused one with the other, but for a time celebrated both.” (see “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”.)

We may worship the Lord every day.  But only the 7th day is the holy time God ordained for man.  His divine rest every 7^th day foreshadows our rest with Him for all eternity!  Shabbát shalóm!

Sabbath 7th Day (1)

There’s been much controversy in the church about whether or not Christians should observe the 7^th day sábbath of scripture, or the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) & Protestant tradition of Sunday, or no specific day.  RCC Archbishop James Gibbons wrote in The Faith of Our Fathers, 1876, p.89, “You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify.”  A surprising admission!?  Let’s see what the scriptures say about the 7^th day.

The 7^th day sabbath has its beginnings at Creation.  The Holy Spirit and Christ, the Spirit and the Word, are the Creators (being the divine agents of Father God).  ref Job.33:4, Ps.104:30, 33:6, Jn.1:3, Col.1:16.  They are God, the God-kind, the “Us” of Ge.1:26. “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”  God declared as “good” each of the first six days of Creation: Ge.1:4, 8 (LXX), 10, 12, 18, 21, 25.  Then Ge.1:31, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.”  Creation ends.

When Creation was finished, Christ ceased (shabáth Strongs h7673, verb).  Ge.2:1-4 “By the 7^th day God finished His work which He had done, and He ceased on the 7^th day. Then God blessed the 7^th day and sanctified it, because in it He ceased from all His work which He had created and made.”  Although the first six days were all good, only the 7^th Day did Christ bless and sanctify or make holy!  This is the great prototype of the weekly 7^th day sabbath; a temporary cessation/rest dedicated to God.

The 7^th day sabbath is a sign which identifies God as the Creator of everything.  No other day of the week so reflects God as Creator.  By ceasing or resting on the 7^th day, the sabbathkeeper witnesses that his God is the Creator God.  We may choose to rest or worship God on other days too.  But as Lord of the 7^th day sabbath, at creation Christ ordained the 7^th day as holy or sanctified/set apart, and no other day of the week.  And throughout the Bible, Christ nowhere rescinded His 7^th day as holy time!

“Sabbath” is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities.  JFB Commentary Ge.2:3 “The institution of the Sabbath is as old as creation.”  Benson Commentary Ge.2:3 “God blessed the seventh day’. He conferred on it peculiar honor, and annexed to it special privileges above those granted to any other day; ‘and sanctified it’. That is, separated it from common use, and dedicated it to his own sacred service, that it should be accounted holy, and spent in his worship, and in other religious and holy duties. It appears evidently by this, that the observation of the sabbath was not first enjoined when the law [Mosaic] was given, but it was an ordinance of God from the creation of the world.”  The 7^th day sabbath long antedated Moses/Israel and giving the Decalogue.

An eternal law of God existed in the heavens.  In 2Pe.2:4, Peter wrote of the “angels who sinned”.  (cf. Jb.4:18)  Where no law is, there is no transgression or sin (Ro.4:15).  So a law existed which angels violated.  1Eno.99:2 spoke of those who transgress the “eternal law”.  (Jude 1:14 refers to 1Enoch.)  1Eno.106:13-14 “Some angels sin and transgress the law.”  Law & order exists in the heavenly realm.

The Book of Jubilees is dated 150 BC.  Jub.2:30 “We [the angels of the presence and sanctification] kept Sabbath in the heavens before it was made known to any flesh to keep Sabbath on earth.”  That indicates the sabbath day was observed in the heavenlies prior to Eden?  Pulpit Commentary Ge.2:3 “We conclude that a 7^th day sabbath must have been prescribed to man in Eden. Here was the 7^th day sanctified, or instituted in the interests of holiness, proclaimed to be a holy day.”

After the Flood, in Ge.8:8-12 Noah sent out a dove from the ark at 7-day intervals.  Barnes Notes Ge.8:10 “This points to the sacredness associated with the number arising from the hallowed character of the 7th day.”  Matthew Henry Commentary Ge.8:12 “Having kept the sabbath with his little church, he expected special blessings from Heaven.”  JFB Commentary “Seven days – a strong presumptive proof that Noah observed the Sabbath during his residence in the ark.”  Pulpit Commentary “The frequent repetition of the number seven clearly points to the hebdómadal division of the week, and the institution of Sabbatic rest.”  Ge.8:9 initially the dove Noah sent out could find no place of rest, so she returned to the ark for rest.  Noah didn’t send out the dove arbitrarily; he inquired of the Holy Spirit.  (Noah wasn’t Jewish.  Ge.7:1-2 God also gave the gentile Noah knowledge of clean & unclean animals, long before Moses.)

The Hebrew term for “seven” (sheba/shibah h7651) occurs 370 times in the Old Testament (OT).  It is “as the sacred full one; seven times”.  Seven signifies completeness or divine perfection.  For example: the seven days of Creation; the 7^th day sabbath; Re.1:4 the sevenfold Spirit (or seven spirits) at God’s throne; Zec.4:1-2 the golden lampstand has seven lamps & seven pipes; Job.42:8 friends of the patriarch Job were to offer seven bulls & seven rams to the Lord; etc.  Seven is God’s number, so to speak.

God said in Ge.26:5, “Abraham obeyed Me and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, My laws”. (cf. De.11:1)  The patriarch Abraham, a gentile/non-Jew, obeyed God’s (eternal) law centuries before there was a codified Mosaic law!  (see the topic “Abraham Obeyed Which Commandments?”.)  Henry Commentary Ge.2:1 “Sabbaths are as ancient as the world; and I see no reason to doubt that the Sabbath…was religiously observed by the people of God throughout the patriarchal age.”  Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, Joseph H. Hertz, Authorized Daily Prayer Book, p.579 “Abraham, Isaac, Jacob. The Patriarchs are often represented as having observed the Sabbath.”  Abraham was very obedient.  The Lord even visited him in Ge.18!  Ge.18:17 Christ didn’t hide what He was doing from Abraham.  It’s unlikely that Christ left Abraham in ignorance of His holy time that had come and gone every 7^th day since Creation!  Ellicott Commentary Ex.16:23: “Much can be said in favor of the primeval institution of the Sabbath, and of its having been known to the family of Abraham.”

God promised Abraham, Ge.22:16, “By Myself I have sworn,’ declares the Lord. ‘Indeed I will greatly bless you and multiply your seed.”  The term for “sworn/oath” is shabá h7650, occurring 180 times in the OT.  It means “to swear, to seven oneself or bind oneself by seven things.”  It’s the root of the term for seven h7651.  When God (or anyone) made a solemn oath, He ‘sevened Himself’.  (He.6:13 “When God made His promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself.”)  Is.45:23 “I have sworn [h7650] by Myself, the word has gone forth from My mouth. That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear [h7650] allegiance.”  The Lord and all humanity ‘seven themselves or bind themselves by seven things’.  It’s total.  Another example is Ps.89:49. “Thy lovingkindness O Lord, which You did swear [h7650] to David in Thy faithfulness.”  We can see the concept of seven and to seven oneself by an oath goes beyond which day we should attend church.

Christ the Lord is the God/Rock of ancient Israel (cf. De.32:4, 18 & 1Co.10:4; Is.6:1-5 & Jn.12:41-44).  Unlike the earlier patriarchs, the Israelites became slaves in Egypt (e.g. Ex.6:5-7, De.5:15); not resting on the 7^th day.  According to the supposed Book of Jasher (ref Josh.10:13, 2Sm.1:18), the Pharaoh of Moses’ youth did decree sabbath rest for the Israelites.  Jash.70:47 “Thus says the king, ‘For six days you shall do all your work and labor, but on the 7^th day you shall rest…as the king and Moses the son of Bathia have commanded.”  But the Pharaoh/king of 60 years later said to Moses regarding the Israelites, Ex.5:5, 9 “You would have them cease [shabath h7673] from their labors….Let the labor be heavier”.  So any sabbath rest allowed the Israelites was rescinded, no longer observed there by that generation.

Christ freed them and showed them clearly which day was the 7^th, His sabbath.  In Ex.16 the Israelites are no longer slaves, and Christ provides them manna in the wilderness based on His 7^th day cessation.  Ex.16:22-30 “This is what the Lord meant, tomorrow is a holy sabbath [shabáwth h7676] to the Lord.”  The Hebrew noun shabawth appears over 100 times in the OT; Ex.16:23 is the first time.  It’s from the root verb shabath h7673 to cease, seen in Ge.2:2 at Creation.  “That’s what the Lord meant” back in Ge.2:2 (which Moses also wrote), though as slaves the Israelites were denied (sabbath) rest.  Ex.16:4, 28 the 7^th day sabbath had been a law of God!  God gave them daily manna Sunday–Thursday and a double portion on Friday, so they wouldn’t need to gather any manna on the 7^th day Saturday.  Ex.16:30 so the people ceased [h7673] gathering food on the 7^th day.  This went on week after week for 40 years.  A total of 12,000 miracle feedings proved to them conclusively which day was the 7^th!  And it wasn’t any one day out of seven!  Christ was specific.

Adam Clarke Commentary Ex.16:23 “There is nothing either in the text or context that seems to intimate that the Sabbath was now first given to the Israelites.”  Ellicott Commentary “During the Egyptian oppression the continued observance would have been impossible.”  Catholic Encyclopedia XIII “The Sabbath is first met within connexion [sic] with the fall of the manna; but it there appears to be an institution already well-known to the Israelites.”  Benson Commentary “Here is a plain intimation of the observing a 7^th day sabbath, not only before the giving of the law upon mount Sinai, but before the bringing of Israel out of Egypt, and therefore from the beginning.”  Significantly, Ex.16 predates the giving of the Law.

Christ gave to Israel the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments so-called.  Ex.20:8-11 “Remember the sabbath [h7676] day to keep it holy. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, and rested [h5117 núwach] on the 7^th day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”  The 7^th day is God’s holy time, unlike any other day ordained by men.  Poole Commentary Ge.2:3 “If we compare this place with Ex.20:8-11 we shall find that Moses there speaks of God’s blessing and sanctifying of the sabbath, not as an action then first done, but as that which God had done formerly at the creation of the world.”  The sabbath wasn’t created in 1500 BC at Mt. Sinai; ancient Israel was to “remember” it.  The 7^th day sabbath was codified in the law of Ex.20:8-11, but had existed previously, as commentaries indicate.  Poole Commentary Ex.20:8 “The word ‘remember’ here is very emphatical; it reminds us of a formal delivery of the substance of this command, Ge.2:3.”  The 7^th day sabbath is a creation ordinance.  The 7^th day was the first thing God made holy!  (I’m not 7^th Day Adventist.)

The 7^th day sabbath is Saturday, both traditionally and presently.  Over 100 languages use a form of the word sabbath for Saturday!  e.g: in Arabic Saturday is Shabet, in Bulgarian Sabota, Croatian Subota, Czech Sobota, Indonesian Sabtu, Italian Sabato, Polish Sobota, Portuguese Sabado, Romanian Sambata, Russian Subbota, Serbian Subota, Spanish Sabado (literally, “the sabbath”), Greek Savvato.  And the modern Greek word for Friday is Paraskevi, meaning literally “to prepare”.  The Bible preparation day preceded the sabbath rest (Ex.16:23).  cf. Mk.15:42 “It was the preparation day, that is, the day before the sabbath.”  In the Bible koiné Greek, the term for “preparation” was paraskeué g3904…which is their word for Friday in today’s Greek!  Circa 200 AD the Roman historian “Dio Cassio speaks of the Jews having dedicated to their God the day called the day of Saturn”, heathen reckoning.  So it is clear…when Jesus walked the earth the sabbath day was Saturday!  (see the topic “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”, for man’s steps in the transition from Saturday to the traditional Sunday.)

Jesus never sinned.  Therefore, He kept the 7^th day sabbath (cf. Lk.4:16).  Christ said in Ex.31:16-17, “Celebrate the sabbath as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, on the 7^th day He ceased [h7673] and was refreshed.”  Christ was refreshed.  For man, the 7^th day is a time of refreshing from the physical/mental demands and concerns of the workweek…perpetually week after week.  The 7^th day is sanctified time devoted to God.

Christ’s new covenant is with Israel.  Je.31:31 “Behold’, says the Lord, ‘I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and Judah.”  Gentiles may share in it, according to Paul (Ro.11:13-19).

Josephus Against Apion 2:40 “There is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the barbarians, nor any nation whatsoever, where our custom of resting on the 7^th day has not come!”  Philo On The Creation (89) “The 7^th…that day is a festival of all the earth; a day which alone it is the right to call the day of festival for all people, and the birthday of the world.”  The 7^th day rest time is universal from Ge.2:3!  Theóphilus bishop of Antioch, 175 AD To Autólycus 2:12 “The 7^th day, which all men acknowledge.”

Jesus said in Mk.2:27-28, “The sabbath [sábbaton g4521, Greek] was made for man, and not man for the sabbath”.  Man was made on the 6^th day, prior to the sabbath being instituted for man on the 7^th.  Christ Himself as God & Creator made the sabbath day (and He was refreshed), and thereby He is Lord of it.  v.28 “Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath.”  The Son of Man also has dominion over what pertains to man.  Jesus said the sabbath was made for man/ánthropos/humanity.  (Though Christ was refreshed, God doesn’t grow weary, Is.40:28.)  Jesus didn’t say the sabbath was made just for Israel or the Jews!  Jonathan Edwards Sermon XIII “It is unreasonable to suppose that He hallowed it only with respect to the Jews, a nation which rose up above 2,000 years after [creation].”  After Adam the human was created on the 6^th day, he rested (with Christ) on the 7^th.  It wouldn’t make sense to think that Christ made the 7^th day sabbath for man, but then delayed thousands of years before He gave/revealed it to man!  Family New Testament Notes Mk.2:27 “As the Sabbath was made for the whole human race, they have a right to its rest & privileges.”  The sabbath day is a universal blessing.

By the 1^st century, the Jews had devised a traditional code which had 39 categories (plus itemization) of prohibitions for the sabbath day; as if man was made for the sabbath!  These were a man-made burden.  But Jesus said the sabbath was made for man, not vice versa!  Matthew Henry Commentary Mk.2:28 “The sabbath is a sacred and Divine institution; a privilege and benefit, not a task and drudgery.”

Again, the sabbath is a holy day/period of cessation from certain activities.  It’s not a ‘work’.  Le.23:3 it’s a holy assembly.  It’s not for legal striving or burdensome do’s & don’ts.  However, a level of faith is necessary to believe and know that Christ will provide our daily bread/manna/needs on the 7^th day, while we rest from work.

After Israel didn’t gather any manna on the 7th day for 40 years, the younger generation knew without a doubt which day of the week is God’s sabbath!  So in De.5 when the Decalogue was repeated, there’s no admonition to “remember” it (unlike Ex.20:8 earlier).  De.5:12-15 “Keep the sabbath day. Six days shall you labor. But the 7^th day is the sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work, you or your son or daughter or your male or female servant or your ox or donkey or your sojourner; so that your male and female servant may rest as well as you.”  They’re to recollect they’d been slaves.

De.5:12-15 is quite revealing.  Mankind is expected to work, caring for his own and for the earth (Ge.2:15).  Also this passage shows that the sabbath is a moral command, not just ceremonial!  Male & female servants, our employees, temporary sojourners…they need rest too.  There’s an equality in sabbath rest.  Allowing others to rest relates to loving our neighbor as yourself.  Work animals need rest.  It’s not just oxen & donkeys belonging to Jews that need rest!  All peoples’ work animals need rest…all-inclusive.  And work animals don’t just ‘rest in Christ’ either.  The sabbath is an enduring moral principle, to allow those under our charge to have rest.  Christ the Creator knew His creatures require rest.  It’s a physical need.

The Decalogue of Ex.20 & De.5 contains ten points of obedience; the 7^th day sabbath is one.  Others are: the command to honor our father & mother, and prohibitions against idolatry, murder, theft, etc.  Christ’s 7th day cessation is seen at Creation, before other points.  It’s strange to hear people claim the sabbath day ended at Jesus’ cross, but the other points are still in effect.  No one says the cross freed us to dishonor our parents, or commit murder or theft, for example.  Yet the church says we’re ‘free’ to work on the 7^th day.  Why this inconsistency?  Who gave man the prerogative to change God’s holy time (as if that’s even possible)…was it Paul, Christian gentiles, the RCC, some other man?

Again, see the topic “Sabbath Day Became Sunday in Rome”.  I’ll close for now with The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, v.1, Sermon 25. “The moral law contained in the ten commandments, and enforced by the prophets, He [Christ] did not take away. It was not the design of His coming to revoke any part of this. This is a law which never can be broken. Every part of this law must remain in force upon all mankind, and in all ages.”  The 7^th day sabbath is part of it.

We’ll explore the sabbath issue further in “Sabbath 7^th Day (2)”.

Jesus Obeyed God’s Written Laws

In the Old Testament (OT), the Hebrew term which is usually translated “law” in our Bibles is toráh (Strongs h8451).  It occurs 220 times.  Torah is instructive teaching with a wide range of meaning.  The BC Jewish translators of the OT into Greek (now become the Septúagint/LXX) translated torah as nómos (g3551), which means ‘law’.  Nomos occurs 240 times in the LXX, and 200 times in the New Testament (NT) where it usually refers to a body of law or the first five books (Péntateuch) of the OT.

God’s OT written word includes: laws, the Lord’s Testimony (edúth h5715) Decalogue on Mt Sinai, commandments (mitzváh h4687), judgments/legal decisions (mishpát h4941), ceremonial statutes or ordinances & civil decrees (choq h2706 & chuqqáh h2708).  Ne.9:13 the Lord God “Came down on Mt Sinai and spoke to them from heaven; and gave them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments”.  In De.4:8, “this whole law” includes all the above. However, by NT times most of God’s precepts were generally called commandments (entoláy g1785, Greek).

According to Jewish rabbinic tradition, there are 613 laws or commandments in the Pentateuch.  Of these, 248 are positive ‘do’s’ and 365 are negative ‘don’ts’.  Rámbam (1138-1204 AD) listed 613.  That number is disputed.  Wikipedia: 613 Commandments “Some rabbis declared…that it was not logically possible to come up with a systematic count. A number of authorities denied that it was normative.”

Theologians have divided God’s laws into three broad categories: moral, civil or judicial, ceremonial.  There’s some overlap.  Did Jesus disobey any of the Lord’s written injunctions, His requirements?

God’s foundational moral code was the Testimony of Ex.20 & De.5, the ‘10 Commandments’ so-called.  Actually, the expression ‘10 Commandments/10 Mitzvót’ (h4687) never occurs in the Hebrew Masoretic text!  The Decalogue was the ‘10 Words’ (dabár h1697) or ’10 Sayings’.  ref De.4:13.

From the Decalogue the Lord gave to Israel…Jesus affirmed in Mt.19:18-19 that you shouldn’t commit murder or adultery, you shouldn’t steal or bear false witness; and honor your father & mother.

Jesus honored His heavenly Father.  Jn.8:29 “I do always those things which please Him.”  Lk.2:49-51 Jesus said He must be about His heavenly Father’s house/affairs/business.  Yet Jesus continued to be in subjection to Mary & Joseph, His earthly parents.  Jn.19:26-27 while hanging on the cross, Jesus entrusted the care of Mary to His cousin the apostle John.

Jesus didn’t commit murder or adultery.  Jesus didn’t steal.  Lk.19:30-35 Jesus needed a colt.  Without objecting, the colt’s owners let two of Jesus’ disciples take the colt.  It wasn’t a criminal act.

Jesus didn’t lie.  Jn.7:8-10 although Jesus delayed leaving for the Feast right then with them, He did go to it.  Gill Exposition Jn.7:10 “The Ethiopic version reads, ‘He went up that day’; which is very likely, Jn.7:14 though He didn’t go to the temple to teach till the middle of the feast.”  He is the truth, Jn.14:6.

Neither did Jesus wrongly covet/desire.  Ex.20:17 “You shall not covet.”  Jn.6:15 Jesus even withdrew from the multitude who wanted to make Him a temporal King Messiah then.

It doesn’t appear that Jesus disobeyed any of God’s Testimony, the 10 Words, the 10 Commandments!

Some may think that Jesus neglected to perform all the applicable ceremonial or sacrificial aspects of God’s written word given to Moses/Israel.  Most Christians aren’t knowledgeable about details of ancient Israel’s ritualistic practices, though we do see references & glimpses of them in the NT.

Jesus Christ wasn’t remiss in ceremonial aspects of the Mosaic Law.  Christ Himself, as the Word of God (Jn.1:1, 14) and Rock of Israel (De.32:18 & 1Co.10:4), had sanctioned it for Israel!  (see the topic “Jesus Was the Old Testament God”.)  There’s no scriptural evidence which indicates that Jesus sinned or violated this aspect of His written Law or torah.

What is sin?  Scriptural ‘definitions’ of sin:  Ro.14:23 “Whatever is not of faith is sin [hamartía g266].”  Ja.4:17 “The person who knows the right thing to do, and does it not, to him it is sin.”  1Jn.5:17 “All unrighteousness is sin.”  And 1Jn.3:4, “Sin is the transgression of the Law [or lawlessness].”  That’s four NT descriptions of sin.  Also Pr.24:9 “The thought of foolishness is sin [chattáh h2403].”

Did Jesus the Christ commit any sins?  The Jewish NT writers said Jesus didn’t sin in any manner!  The apostle Peter wrote in 1Pe.2:22, “Christ did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth”.  John wrote in 1Jn.3:5, “In Him is no sin”.  He.4:15 “Jesus was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”  That’s the assertion coming down to us from three Jewish Christian writers!  Jesus didn’t transgress the Lord’s written Law/torah.

And well Jesus should have obeyed written torah.  Mary/Miriám, the young woman who bore Him, was a Jewess from the Israelite tribe of Judah.  He.7:14 “It is evident that our Lord [Jesus] sprang from Judah.”  In Jn.4:22, Jesus Himself indicated He was a Jew. “We worship that which we know, for salvation is of the Jews.”  God’s written laws were for Israelites, including the Jewish Mary and Jesus.

Jesus/Yeshúa must obey the laws for male non-Levites, that is.  Laws which applied only to females, or to the service of Levites and priests, didn’t apply to Jesus.  Jesus wasn’t a priest from the tribe of Levi.

Let’s examine the gospel narratives in some detail, and in so doing compare Jesus’ words & actions with other laws of God which were given to Moses/Israel.  The following is from the scriptural record:

Beginning with the family of the infant Jesus before His human birth, His Uncle Zacharias and Aunt Elizabeth were blameless (Lk.1:5-6).  Mary was favored by God, and she believed the amazing words of the angel Gabriel spoken to her about her Son (Lk.1:30-38)!  Her husband Joseph, Jesus’ Jewish legal father, was a just man (Mt.1:18-19).  These relatives weren’t habitual breakers of written torah.

After Jesus was born, Joseph & Mary had Him physically circumcised on the 8^th day (Lk.2:21).  This was in obedience to the command given to Moses in Le.12:3 for Israelite male newborns. “On the 8^th day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised.”

Lk.2:22 after the male birth, Mary was away from the temple during her required days of purification, in obedience to Le.12:4.  Then appearing at the temple, in Lk.2:23-24 they offered a required sacrifice to obey Le.12:8. “She shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons.”  Jesus the firstborn son was presented to the Lord (Lk.2:22) in accordance with Ex.13:2. “Sanctify to Me every firstborn among the sons of Israel.”  Written torah was closely adhered to by them.

Then during Jesus’ childhood, Lk.2:41-42 “His parents used to go to Jerusalem every year for the Passover”.  This in obedience to De.16:5-6. “You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your towns; but at the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name.”  Later as an adult, Jesus’ disciples made preparation in Mk.14:12 to eat the sacrificial Passover with Him as commanded. “When the Passover was being sacrificed.”  In Jerusalem, not in Galilee.  Another ceremonial observance was reflected in Jn.7:2, 10-14 where Jesus was attending the Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkót at Jerusalem.  In obedience to De.16:16, “All your males shall appear” at the one singular place of the Lord’s choice.

Some Bible readers regard God’s dietary laws as a mixture of moral and ceremonial directives.  It’s not loving one’s neighbor to feed them unclean parasitic or carcinogenic creatures.  (see the topic “Unclean versus Clean Food”.)  Jesus said in His parable of Mt.13:47-48 that they gathered-in the good fish but cast away the bad fish.  Pulpit Commentary Mt.13:48 “This included the legally unclean.”  Obeying the Lord’s guidelines of Le.11:9-10 which defined clean & unclean, “All [sea creatures] that have fins and scales you may eat”.

In Mt.17:24-27, Jesus paid the poll/temple tax for Peter (and Himself).  Ex.30:13-14 had required this tax.  And in Mt.23:23, Jesus told Jewish Pharisees they should pay tithes stipulated by written torah, even on their garden crops…tithes holy to God (Le.27:30).

What about sacrifices?  Some OT sacrifices were voluntary options, others were commanded.  In Mk.7:11-13, Jesus reprimanded scribes & Pharisees for their having chosen to do voluntary sacrifice (korbán, Hebrew, e.g. Le.1:2) to God, instead of responsibly honoring their aging parents (Ex.20:12).  Individual burnt offerings were voluntary (Le.1).  Many grain offerings were voluntary (Le.2).  Many peace offerings were voluntary (Le.3).  Three types of peace offerings are identified in Le.7:11-ff; thank, votive, freewill.  (also see “Passover and Peace Offerings”.)

As to whether or not Jesus brought such individual offerings…is a non-issue.  Because…those offerings were voluntary, not commanded.  (That is, unless some incidental matter such as a Nazarite vow was involved, of which there’s no NT account of Jesus ever taking such a vow.)

The individual sacrifices of Le.4-6 for sin & guilt weren’t voluntary or optional in the sense other types were.  These were offered by the offending Israelite for atonement and forgiveness, e.g. Le.6:1-7!  (see “Day of Atonement”.)  Although sin & guilt offerings were expiatory for forgiveness, they too were a personal non-issue for the person who hadn’t sinned.  And the NT writers said Jesus never sinned.

In Nu.15:37-39, the Lord commanded Israelite men to wear fringe or tassels (g2899 LXX) on their garment hem.  (ref De.22:12, Zec.8:23.)  This was to help them remember His commandments/mitzvot.  Mt.23:5 scribes & Pharisees pridefully lengthened their tassels (g2899), perhaps to show their supposed ‘rank’.  In Mt.9:20-22, a woman diseased with an issue of blood touched the tassels (g2899) on Jesus’ garment.  Jesus didn’t disobey this ceremonial tassels requirement.  And He healed the woman.  (cf. Lk.8:44, Mt.14:36, Mk.6:56.)

If Jesus had close physical contact with someone He healed from an issue of blood, then perhaps He became ritually unclean…until He washed at evening (Le.15:25-27).  But such ritual uncleanness wasn’t sin.  Becoming ritually unclean could even be mandatory!  A man must properly attend to his father’s dead body, for example.  Even priests did so (Le.21:1-3).  A corpse is unclean (Nu.19:11).  Attending to a close relative’s corpse reflects compassion and honor for the deceased…which isn’t sin.

In Mk.1:40-44, Jesus healed a leper and told the healed leper to “Go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded”.  This was to obey that which God had instructed Moses in Le.13:1-2, 17. “If the infection has turned white, then the priest shall pronounce him clean”.

Leprosy was infectious and lepers were to be quarantined (ref Le.13:44-46, 5:3).  The priest was a type of ‘health inspector’.  However, I know of no written torah which clearly forbad touching a leper.  Again, it wasn’t always a violation to touch an unclean person.  Doing so could just make you unclean until you went through the proper ceremonial procedure and the required time elapsed.

In the OT, only two individuals are named who were healed of leprosy…Miriam the Israelitess (Nu.12:10-15) and the gentile Naamán, general of the opposing Syrian army (2Ki.5:1-14).  But not one Israelite man!  (Moses’ brief ordeal was a sign, Ex.4:5-7.)  Bible historians say 1^st century Jews therefore came to believe that only the Messiah could heal an Israelite man from leprosy.  Jesus did so!

Also 1^st century Jews believed only the Messiah could heal a man blind from birth.  In Jn.9:1-7 there was a man blind from birth.  Jesus’ disciples thought the man was born blind because he’d sinned in a prior life, or else his parents had sinned.  But Jesus said this blindness was so the works of God would be displayed in him.  Perhaps the man had blind faith…the Son of God healed him!  Praise God!

But it is understood that Jesus didn’t observe all the Jews’ oral law traditions.  And in Mk.7:7-9, Jesus castigated scribes & Pharisees for favoring the traditions of men above the written commands of God!

Returning to the account of the man born blind…out of love and compassion, Jesus gave him sight, applying clay & spittle.  But after questioning the man who now could see, Pharisees said in Jn.9:13-16, “This man [Jesus] is not from God, because He doesn’t keep the Sabbath”.  Because Jesus had “made” clay on the sabbath (v.6, 14), those Pharisees viewed His act as a breach of rabbinic sabbath laws.  T. Hieros Sabbat 14.4 “It is forbidden to put fasting spittle even on the eyelid on a sabbath day.”

Historians say the Jews had 39 categories of burdensome man-made sabbath laws (with even further detail)!  But those were merely the commandments of men.  Jesus’ action didn’t violate the written law of God.  And even the famous 1^st century rabbinic schools of Hillél and Shammái differed over points of traditional observance.  (Ti.1:14 Paul too warned about Jewish “commandments of men”.)

Jesus healed a man with a withered hand in the synagogue on the Sabbath.  Jesus asked those who would accuse Him in Mk.3:1-5, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?’ But they kept silent.”  They failed to give Jesus a good answer.  Matthew Henry Commentary Jn.9:16 “On the sabbath…works of necessity and mercy are allowed.”

Jesus customarily went to synagogue on the sabbath day.  Le.23:3 “On the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, a holy convocation.”  Jesus obeyed God’s Decalogue sabbath command.  And of Jesus’ commitment in Lk.4:16, “As was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read”.  Jesus regularly attended synagogue on the 7^th day sabbath.

It’s not that all traditional observances are wrong.  Most every culture has some good traditions.  In Jn.10:22-23 e.g., Jesus is seen in Jerusalem at the temple during the man-made festival of Hánukkah.  This “Feast of Dedication” or ‘Festival of Lights’ was ordained by the Jews in the 160s BC to commemorate the re-dedication of the temple.  Hanukkah is a tradition which doesn’t contradict God’s written word.  So Jesus the “Light of the World” (Jn.8:12) was at the ‘Festival of Lights’.

To conclude…I find nothing in the Bible that clearly indicates Jesus ever sinned by violating God’s written word or torah/Law.  And Jesus Himself said in Jn.15:10, “I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love”.

Previously I quoted Jewish NT writers who said Jesus never sinned.  Also Paul wrote in 2Co.5:21 that God…“Made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us”.  Jesus knew no sin.  So Christ became that which He did not know…sin!  He became a sin offering.  Jesus became sin and the offering for sin…both.  For our sake.  In the OT type, the substitute animal sacrifice was regarded as sin-bearing.

OT sacrifices have ended (He.10:5).  They, and ceremonial rituals of the Mosaic law, are unnecessary for Christians!  Without a physical temple, it’s no longer possible to perform most rituals correctly.

The Bible indicates Jesus didn’t break any of God’s written laws!  Jesus affirmed them.  Jesus didn’t disobey God’s written torah or Father God.  The fact that Jesus never sinned is crucial to our salvation!  If Jesus had transgressed God’s law and sinned, we’d have no Savior.  But we have a legitimate Savior!  The sinless Christ died for the sins of the Israelites, and for the sins of all mankind.  Thanks be to God for His Son!