“There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moshe put there at Horev, when Adonai made the covenant with the people of Isra’el at the time of their leaving the land of Egypt.” – 1 Kings 8:9
Alrighty, verse 9 declares something controversial as all hell.
But it ain’t really controversial for Jews.
It’s controversial for the gentile Christian church, and not in a good way.
Verse 9 tells us that the only items inside the Ark were the stone tablets from Mount Sinai.
However, most gentile scholars of the Christian ilk dispute that statement and say it’s an error because of this statement in the Book of Hebrews.
“Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.“-Hebrews 9:3-4
So the New Testament Book of Hebrews states that in addition to the stone tablets…
There was a pot of manna…
And Aaron’s budding staff.
That’s why the Christians have always insisted (wrongly, I might add) that the manna and the staff were always inside the Ark.
However, Jews have NEVER believed that.
Why?
Because it ain’t in the Torah homies!
In the Book of Exodus, it says…
“So Moses said to Aaron, ‘Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.’ As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law, so that it might be preserved.”-Exodus 16:33
Here we’re being told that the pot of manna was set before the Ark, not inside it.
Next, check out this excerpt from the Book of Numbers:
“Adonai said to Moshe, ‘Return Aharon’s staff to its place in front of the testimony. It is to be kept there as a sign to the rebels, so that they will stop grumbling against me and thus not die.'”-Numbers 17:25
So again, right here, we’re told plainly that Aaron’s staff was set before the Ark.
Ya feeling me here?
That’s one reason why the Book of Hebrews was never universally accepted by the early believers.
Heck, even some of the early church fathers questioned whether it belonged in the New Testament at all!
And throughout all of church history, vigorous debate took place over whether it should even be included in the canon.
This leads to today’s takeaway that points to a mistake the Christians have been making for like freakin’ forever, man.
The mistake is this:
Stop treating the New Testament like God-breathed Holy Scripture!
It ain’t.
It ain’t even close to being Holy Scripture.
Even the early gentile church didn’t consider it to be Holy Scripture.
The bottom line is this.
When the Torah butts heads with the New Testament, the Torah holds the winning vote, period.
To reverse that order would be to blaspheme the very holy words of God.
Ya feel me?
Done.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Don’t think that I have come to
abolish the Torah or the Prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to complete.
Yes indeed! I tell you that until
heaven and earth pass away,
not so much as a yud or a stroke
will pass from the Torah—
not until everything that
must happen has happened.”
-Matthew 5:17-18
Again, you and I are on the same page, even the same line of writing on that page!
I have been saying for years that the only scripture in the New Covenant writings is the scripture they quote from the Tanakh.
In 2 Timothy, the scripture being talked about is NOT the Gospels or anything written in the New Covenant- the only scripture at that time was the Tanakh, and that fact has never changed.
Throughout the Torah we read that God told Moses to tell the children of Israel what they should do. The Torah isn’t really Mosaic Law, it is directly from God.
There is no where in the entire New Covenant where God tells anyone to do anything, except for those two times where he tells the few disciples with Yeshua that he is his son, who he loves, and to listen to him.
No new commandments, no repeal of the existing commandments, nothing that is different from what already existed.
I have heard people argue that Yeshua never enforced obedience to the Torah so Gentiles don’t have to obey it, but they ignore the fact that Yeshua was here only for the Jews, and they didn’t need to be taught about the Torah (as the ex-pagan Gentiles had to be) because they knew it. Yeshua taught us the deeper, spiritual meaning of the Torah, that’s all.
Christianity is a man-made religion, with no God-commanded tenets or rules or Holy Days or ceremonies. And what Shaul (Paul) wrote was not God-breathed scripture, but managerial directives to congregations of believing Gentiles being unduly influenced by believing Jews to make complete conversion to Judaism and Torah observance. Paul wanted to take them slowly, a step at a time, because he knew that too much, too soon would scare off too many (good seed being choked- remember that drash?)
And the Elders in Jerusalem agreed, writing a letter that only required 4 INITIAL rules to follow, expecting that these neophyte Gentile believers would eventually learn the Torah (Acts 15:21).
So (whew!- I need to catch my breath), there is nothing “new” in the New Covenant, no new commandments about worshipping God or treating each other, no new Sabbath day, no new celebrations for birth or resurrection of Messiah, NOTHING CHANGED! (Matthew 5:17)
How many time, Rich, have we heard people use that verse to justify that Yeshua did away with the law when he stated, clearly, that he didn’t come to change anything?
But things did change- not by Yeshua, and not by God, but by men who just didn’t want to be Torah observant.
I hate to tell people this (well, not really- I love to tell it to them!), but Paul does not out-rank God.
Yup! Love ya man! We’re on the same page. Remember what Yeshua said about the lawless.
“Depart from me for I never knew you.”