It never ceases to amaze me that the Christians call everything Talmudic opinion,yet claim their book is "inspired by God". This is a piece I put together about ten years ago on the rabbinic concepts in the Greek text and just added a bit before posting. While some of the Jewish concepts shown post date the Talmudic era, but reflect earlier ideas, it shows that their "inspired" book is hardly inspired and is repetition of previous thoughts.
One of the greatest outcries of Christians is the ever so popular,"That's rabbinic!",yet the concepts of the Greek text are rabbinic in nature. Taken from the teachings of the sages and the Oral Torah (Talmud),the actual meanings were lost after the Jewish influence disappeared from the church.What started out as simply another sect of Judaism turned away from its basic ideals into a totally non-Judaic creation of adding Roman and Greco influences.Here are quotations from the Greek text and their Jewish counterparts in sources commonly unknown to the average adherent to the Christian faith.
Let's take the L-rd's Prayer in Matt 6,which is phrase by phrase a compilation of Hebrew thought in the Tanakh (Hebrew text),prayers,and Mishnah (Oral Torah)
NO VAIN REPETITIONS. Ecc 5;2,"....for G-d is in heaven and thou art on earth;therefore let your words be few."
OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN. Isaiah 63:16,"Doubtless Thou art our Father,...Thou,O L-rd,art our Father,...."
HALLOWED BE THY NAME. Kaddish prayer,"Exalted and hallowed be G-d's great name in this world...."
THY KINGDOM COME,THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH AS IN HEAVEN. Kaddish prayer,"May His will be fulfilled and His sovereignty revealed speedily in our days. Also see Dan 2:44,"the G-d of heaven (shall) set up a kingdom,which shall never be destroyed....."
GIVE US OUR DAILY BREAD Proverbs 30:8,"...feed me with food convenient for me(Original Hebrew "with my allotted bread')
AND FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS,AS WE FORGIVE OUR DEBTORS. Exodus 22:25,"If thou lend money to any of my people that is poor by thee,thou shall not be to him as a usurer(Hebrew original is creditor)..."Also see Jer 31;34,"...for I will forgive their iniquity..."
AND LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION,BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL.Oral Law Berakot 60b,"..bring me not into sin,or iniquity,or into temptation...and deliver me from evil."
FOR THINE IS THE KINGDOM,AND THE POWER,AND THE GLORY,FOREVER.
1 Chron 29;11,"Thine,O L-rd,is the greatness,and the power and the glory,and the victory,and the majesty;..thine is the kingdom Psalm:145:11: They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;
The Beatitude format is found in the Secrets of Enoch,a Pharisaic apocryphal work of the first century BCE.We see the following ideas of blessedness .Blessed is he who---blesses all the L-rd's work---keeps the Fathers foundations---raises the fallen--implants peace and love---speaks humbly---enters only good houses---brings gifts with faith before the L-rd's face for forgiveness of sin and it is said the just who escape the great judgement are blessed.
Now let's look at the sermon on the mount and its parallels to the Beatitudes:
BLESSED ARE THE POOR. Psalm 34:18,"The L-rd saveth such as be of a contrite spirit."
BLESSED ARE THEY THAT MOURN. Isaiah 61;2,"...to comfort all that mourn."
BLESSED ARE THE MEEK. Psalm 37:11,"but the meek shall inherit the earth."
BLESSED ARE THEY THAT HUNGER FOR RIGHTIOUSNESS. Deut 16;20,"That which is altogether just shall you follow that you shall live
BLESSED ARE THE MERCIFUL. Shabbat 15lb,"He who has mercy on his fellow creatures obtains mercy for himself."
BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART. Psalm 24:3-4,"Who shall asend into the hill of the L-rd?..He that has clean hands and a pure heart."
BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS Psalm 34:14"...do good;seek peace,and pursue it."
BLESSED ARE THEY...PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTIOUSNESS' SAKE Isaiah 51:7-8,"Harken unto Me,ye that know rightiousness,the people in whose heart is MY law;fear ye not the reproach of men,neither be afraid of thier revilings...My salvation shall be from generation to generation.
These two are the main sermons that the Nazarene supposedly gave and reflect the Judaic concepts and teachings he learned, not made up.
Other examples:
Mt:7:3: And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Baba Bathra 15b,"If he (the reprover) say to him,Take the mote from thine eyes,the other replies Take the beam from thine eyes
Mt:5:28: But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
Masekheth Kallah,"He who deliberately looks at a (married)woman is as though he had a connection with her."
Mt:6:20: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
Baba Bathra11a,"My fathers have laid up a treasure for this world;I have laid up a treasure for the world to come."
Jn:14:11: Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me:
Or ha'Emeth:Who is the true believer in G-d?The man who believes that the Shekinah is within him always and guards him;That he is in the creator and the Creator is in him.
Mt:6:14: For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
Tractate Megillah"Those who forgive people who sin against them --
their sins will be forgiven."
The majority of the Nazarenes quotes were directly from the teachings of the rabbis and scholars of Judaism.Just by reading his purported statements and knowing the sources;you can see the book borrowed heavily from what Christians call, with contempt, rabbinic Judaism.
This opens up some speculation. Was he someone that simply went about parroting the teachings of Hillel and others, did the writers of the book spike it with these teachings to bolster the appearance of him being a sagely teacher, or did those writers use a composite of the teachings of those previous sages to create him as the protagonist of their story?
Beside the Christian book and some archaeological findings such as the "Jesus Tomb" being worked by Professor James Tabor and that is, strictly speaking, hypothesis and conjecture, I'd say it's a coin toss.
Comments (18)
"It never ceases to amaze me that the Christians call everything Talmudic opinion"
Not all of us do that.
@TheGreatBout - You are absolutely right. Some do recognise that some is the oral law on how to do the written and some is the discussion on diferent concepts.I stand corrected and should have said the majority of Christians instead of what appears as a blanket statement.
I don't look at Rabbinic Judaism with contempt. Of course Jesus used Jewish scripture. He was educated in it and it was the Word of God.
@t_sheffield - Thanks for looking,but did you read it? Almost everything he supposedly said was from prior rabbinic sources,but since the Oral Law is scripture, there you go.
Just because it was said before doesn't mean it's not true. I think that there are many time when I say good things that someone else has already said.
Also, most scholars don't think that Jesus literally sat down on a mountain and said all of these things (Sermon on the Mount). They were probably just a compilation of the teachings of Jesus over time. They could've been said before...especially if they were Jewish. Also, considering that Matthew was the Gospel to the Jews....it makes sense that recognizable Jewish teaching would be included in it.
@t_sheffield - The point made in the post is that he was teaching pre-existing rabbinic concepts, not something he made up. Much like any other teacher, explaining concepts he learned from his own. Your point brings up the last paragraph of my article.
"This opens up some speculation. Was he someone that simply went about parroting the teachings of Hillel and others, did the writers of the book spike it with these teachings to bolster the appearance of him being a sagely teacher, or did those writers use a composite of the teachings of those previous sages to create him as the protagonist of their story?
Beside the Christian book and some archaeological findings such as the "Jesus Tomb" being worked by Professor James Tabor and that is, strictly speaking, hypothesis and conjecture, I'd say it's a coin toss."
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