There’s one key difference between the sermons that Moses and Yeshua delivered and Joshua’s sermon on the mount.
What might that be?
The sermons of Moses and Yeshua contained many new and revolutionary ideas and teachings.
However, Joshua’s final address to the people of Israel did not.
His speech was essentially a reminder to follow Moses and everything he taught, not turning to the left nor to the right.
Joshua never added or subtracted one word from what Moses commanded and never claimed he did actually.
Yeshua often said…
…”You have heard that it was said…but I say to you…”.
You’re not gonna find such sentence patterns in neither Moses nor Joshua’s speeches.
Joshua was simply encouraging Israel to wholeheartedly follow the Lord’s commands as delivered through Moses.
This bears repeating.
We mustn’t overlook the fact that the Law of Moses is a KEY pillar in God’s plan of salvation for mankind.
Joshua was telling Israel and this is a paraphrase…
“Just because you gained a new leader after Moses passed away AND…
…just because you will gain a new leader once I pass away, God’s laws and commands will NEVER pass away.”
“Do you hear me homies?”
Again, this is a paraphrase.
No doubt, this is a teaching that needs to be revived within the modern gentile Church today.
The Church will on one hand affirm that the Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Yet, on the other hand, they hold to a doctrine that says God somehow changed His laws and commands that He said were eternal.
I wonder what the Messiah said.
Well, let’s read what he said.
Here it is:
“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
We can see that even in the midst of a revolutionary spiritual transformation, Yeshua made it a point to pause midway through his sermon on the mount and make it clear that the Law of Moses was the foundation of everything he was teaching.
And yet we have changed the Sabbath Day to the first day of the week.
As always, well said and on point.
I have one comment to add, or maybe I should say correction, and that is to the Bible quote from Matthew, which uses the word “complete” instead of “fulfill”. The proper word for Matthew 5:17 is “fulfill” because in those days, when someone said they will “fulfill the law”, it had nothing to do with performance, but interpretation.
To “fulfill the law” in Yeshua’s day meant to interpret it correctly, which is demonstrated in his Sermon on the Mount, where he did (as you point out) use the term, “…you have heard it said (so-and-so), but I tell you…”: this was not teaching a new law, it was teaching a new way to see the existing law. Yeshua taught the Remes, the spiritual understanding and meaning of the laws.
The Pharisees taught the P’shat, the literal meaning, which was nothing more than a performance-based salvation; just do these things and you will be saved.
Yeshua taught that doing wasn’t enough- we had to want to do, we had to “be” the law, not just do it.
The use of the word “complete” in Matthew 5:17 is a Christian interpretation that is used to justified the traditional Christian teaching that Yeshua did away with the law because he “completed” it (debunking that lie is for another time.)
That Yeshua meant the spiritual meaning of the law is verified by the fact that in the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31) we are told the law wil be written on our hearts. In other words, we will live and breath God’s laws, which comes only when we understand the spiritual meaning as well as the literal way to perform them.
This is awesome thanks brother
Glad you liked it. Thanks for reading. Be blessed and SHALOM!