Yesterday I concluded that Ruth asking Boaz to marry her on the grounds he was her Kinsman Redeemer was a request based on tradition and NOT God’s Word.
Well, this leads us to the question of was there anything wrong with the Hebrews creating such a new tradition?
The answer is NO.
And let me share a perfect example why.
The Bible has ONLY seven Biblical feasts that have been ordained by God.
They are:
PESACH (Passover)
MATZAH (Unleavened Bread)
BIKKURIM (First Fruits)
SHAVUOT (Pentecost)
ROSH HOSHANAH (Feast of Trumpets)
YOM KIPPUR (Day of Atonement)
SUKKOT (Feast of Tabernacles)
However, there are two other festivals NOT ORDAINED BY GOD that are also celebrated by God’s people.
They are HANUKKAH and PURIM.
Now just because these are manmade celebrations doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with observing them.
The problem is when we try to elevate man-made traditions to the level of God’s truly ordained holy days.
That’s when we run into the trouble.
Now one may think well then, doesn’t that make celebrating Christmas and Easter okay?
I’m not gonna be dogmatic about this but there’s a huge difference when we compare HANUKKAH and PURIM to Christmas and Easter.
Hanukkah and Purim are based on historical events commemorating how God miraculously intervened on behalf of his people.
Christmas and Easter on the other hand are based on pure paganism and heathen deities.
HUGE DIFFERENCE, don’t you think?
Ever wonder why a Jew views Christianity as pure idolatry?
Well this is one of the reasons homies.
And keep in mind that even Yeshua, Israel’s Messiah also celebrated Hanukkah.
Here’s the Scripture reference:
“At that time the Feast of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem; it was winter, and Yeshua was walking in the temple area, in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then surrounded Him and began saying to Him, ‘How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”'”-John 10:22-24
As one who proclaimed himself “the light of the world”, it makes sense Yeshua would celebrate what’s also known as the Festival of Lights.
So for Israel to develop a tradition to care for widows and see to it that the family line of a childless deceased man continued even if it was outside the God-ordained solution of Levirate Marriage is I think totally fine.
It’s not a sin.
But, and this is a big “but”…
Just because it’s not a sin does NOT make it a HOLY thing!
Are you feeling me homies?
Hanukkah and Purim are in no way on the same level as the seven God-ordained Biblical Feasts.
Just like the New Testament is in no way nor ever will be on the same level as the Hebrew Bible and especially the Torah.
Rather consider the tradition that a Kinsman Redeemer should perform Levirate Marriage for a childless widow to be an act of loving kindness or CHESED in Hebrew.
I would say it harmonizes with what Yeshua pointed out was the most important commandment next to the SHEMA: “Love your neighbor as yourself”.
Here’s another thing you should know.
You could scour the Scriptural landscape with a microscope and nowhere will you find the term GO’EL being used for a brother-in-law performing Levirate Marriage.
A brother-in-law was NEVER EVER labeled as a GO’EL or Kinsman Redeemer anywhere in the Scriptures…EVER!
A GO’EL and Levirate Marriage were two entirely SEPARATE things.
The only reason they became associated with each other is because of tradition, NOT Scripture (as I just explained).
So again, Ruth’s marriage appeal to Boaz was NOT based on the God-ordained Levirate Marriage commandment…
Instead it was based on the manmade tradition that the GO’EL or family redeemer should step in and marry her because she was a childless widow…
And this in spite of the fact she was quite a distant relative of Boaz.
I know I’ve beaten this horse to death but I think it’s important.
Because modern popular interpretations have made the mistake of saying there was hope of Levirate Marriage going on here and there isn’t…
Just like modern popular interpretations say Ruth did something of an unacceptable sexual nature when she lifted Boaz’s blanket to uncover his legs when the truth is she did nothing objectionable whatsoever.
And one final point…
This also puts to death the fallacious Christian teaching that says there’s a connection between Yeshua seeing the church as his bride and the fact he’s our Kinsman Redeemer.
As should now be plainly clear, no such connection exists.
The marriage ceremony between Yeshua and the church has NOTHING to do with either a God-ordained Levirate Marriage based on the Torah…
Nor does it have anything to do with a GO’EL based marriage based on human tradition.
Yeshua ain’t our brother in law…
Nor are we childless widows…
Over and out.
Good points, as always. Good study, too.
I think it is also good that you showed the difference between the Passover, which is only from evening to midnight, and Hag haMatzot, the Festival of Unleavened Bread because even most Jews I have known don’t realize they are different.
What do you think of including an 8th Holy Day, which would be the Shabbat?
I also agree, 1000%, that just because God doesn’t decree a holiday (A Holy Day is from God; a holiday is man-made) or a tradition, that it is automatically a bad thing. Yeshua never denounced all man-made traditions, just those which were given precedence over God’s commandments, and the same goes for holidays.
I go as far as to include those biggies from the Christian side, the winter and spring gotta-go-to-church ones (within Judaism our gotta-go-to-shul ones are in the fall) because even though they are rebranded pagan holidays, they now do not have anything to do with what they used to.
Look, if we humans, sinners that we were and sinners that we still are- even after coming to Messiah- can be forgiven of our origins, why can’t a holiday that used to be sinful but now honors God and his Messiah also be forgiven of their past?
Didn’t Yeshua tell us, in Matthew 6:14, that if we do not forgive on earth, we will not be forgiven in heaven? Has anyone ever thought that might apply to a holiday, as well as a person?
If you ask me, anything that is designed NOW to honor God and/or his Messiah, Yeshua, is not a bad thing. God sees the heart and knows why we do what we do, and if he could reject his decreed sacrifices as an abomination to him (Isaiah 66:3; 1 Samuel 15:22) because they were not heartfelt, then why not accept a holiday that he didn’t decree, but was created to honor Messiah and people celebrate with nothing but God and the Messiah on their hearts and minds?
Thanks for sharing. I didn’t include the Shabbat because I wanted to restrict this discussion to the feasts. Great points!