January 14, 2010

  • New Covenant ?

     

    Jeremiah 31:31.  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
     32.  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
     33.  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
     34.  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
     35.  Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name:
     36.  If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
     
    What is this "new covenant" that is mentioned in Jeremiah if it is "Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt"?
     
    Jeremiah states that "this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." If one looks at the actual Hebrew text, "My Law" is towraatiy, My Torah.
     
    Jeremiah 31:33  Kiy zo't habriyt 'asher 'ekrot 'et- beeyt Yisraa'eel'achareey hayaamiym haaheem, n'um- Yahweh, naatatiy 'et-towraatiy bqirbaam w`al- libaam 'ektabenaah whaayiytiy laahemlee-'Elohiym wheemaah yihyuw- liy l`aam.
    How is this new covenant different from the original? Originally it states we are to write these laws on our own heart and teach them to our children.
     
    Deut 11:18.  Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.
     19.  And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
     20.  And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:
     
    Looking at the text,one can see this coming new covenant is God writing the Torah laws on our heart where it will be as instinct to know them rather than learning and no longer need to teach them to our children.
     
    The term "new covenant" is used only once in Jewish text and Jeremiah is it.It's precepts are direct and simple in meaning, that the Torah law will be written on our hearts.No mention of blood sacrifice of a man and , to be perfectly blunt, no mention of a ritual representation of drinking blood and eating human flesh.
     
    When one examines the Greek text of the Christian book, the term new covenant is used six times It is only used in the book of Matthew and in Hebrews by Paul, if he is the author .
     
    The book of Matthew has Jesus saying Matthew 26: 28.  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.This the translation from the KJV, which translates the Greek word here as testament instead of covenant, as Paul does in his books. You can find the Greek word in Strong's and it is the same here as in Hebrews. G1242  The same goes for the parallel stories in Mark and Luke.
     
    This raises the question on whether this is added text, whether the authors copied the idea from Paul's books since those were written first, or Jesus wasn't familiar with the text of Jeremiah.
     
    The Christian book misquotes Jeremiah in where the original text says in verse 32:....which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: the Greek text changes the wording to Hebrews 8:9..... because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
     
    Whether the author of Hebrews was unfamiliar with the Hebrew text or changed the wording to give the impression that God has now,somehow, discarded Israel for the new believers is something the reader will have to discern. Christianity does regard their text as divine.
     
    The Hebrew word in Jeremiah's verse says "ba'altee," which means a "husband." It in no way can be translated as "to disregard."  To be a "husband" is the precise opposite of "disregarding" someone.
    One may try to point out the reference of divorce in Jeremiah in an attempt to show that the radical change in what the new covenant is valid in claiming God did indeed "divorce" Israel..When you ask about the "divorce in Jeremiah," I am sure that you are referring to the parable in the opening verse of the third chapter of Jeremiah, where the prophet uses a harsh allegory to illustrate God's displeasure with His wayward nation.  For the readers of our website who are unfamiliar with this subject, I will briefly explain your series of questions.

    Using a jarring metaphor, Jeremiah compares Israel's spiritual disloyalty to an adulterous woman who has been put away by her husband whom she betrayed.  The prophet then asks a biting question, "After she leaves him and marries another man, may he return to her again?" (Jeremiah 3:1) The unspoken answer is that he cannot.  Deuteronomy 24:1-4 states that the original husband may never come back to his twice-divorced wife.

    Therefore is how can Israel ever return to its rightful place as God's priestly nation?  The prophet seems to indicate that she (Israel) has married another, namely, the gods of the heathen nations, and she is therefore unable to return as God's "firstborn son" (Exodus 4:22).  How can Israel ever hope to restore herself with the Almighty when the Law of Moses seems to indicate that she cannot?  How can the nation of Israel look to the commandments of the Torah for her salvation when, according to Jeremiah's metaphor, it is those very commandments that prevent her from returning? 
     
    If you have had difficulty understanding Jeremiah 3:1, it is that you made two mistakes while reading the parable of Israel as the divorced wife.  The first error is to interpret a parable in a hyper-literal fashion.  I find it puzzling that Christians, who should be quite familiar with the use of parables, have such difficulty understanding how Jeremiah is using the parable of the "divorced wife."  The second mistake is reading only half the parable.  In fact, the answer to your question is embedded in the final clause of the very same verse.  Let's first examine this parable more closely.

    Jeremiah's purpose in using this parable is two-fold.  First, the prophet wishes to vividly illustrate Israel's spiritual disloyalty to its Creator.  Second, and most importantly, unlike the twice-estranged wife whose original husband cannot return to her, the prophet appeals to the Jewish people to repent and proclaims that it is their covenantal purpose to be restored as God's chosen people.  What is impossible with the forsaken woman is the destiny for the children of Israel.  Let's look at the entire verse in context.

    They say, "If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man's, may he return to her again?"  Would not that land be greatly polluted?  But you have played the harlot with many lovers; "Yet return to Me," says the Lord.    (Jeremiah 3:1)

    The central feature of the prophet's exhortation that you overlooked appears at the very end of the verse, " 'Yet return to Me', says the Lord."  Jeremiah makes this plea five times throughout the chapter.  The message of the prophet is clear: The mercy and compassion of the Almighty is far beyond the scope of man's comprehension.  Whereas normally the betrayed husband would never take back his adulterous wife, our merciful God will forgive His wayward nation.  While the transgressed husband would never part with his burning wrath against his estranged wife, Jeremiah points the way to forgiveness, reconciliation, and salvation with the Almighty. In contrast to the enraged husband who would never take back his unfaithful wife, God will, upon repentance, compassionately receive his disobedient people.  What must Israel do to win the affection of its Maker?

    Just cry out to Me, "My Father, you are the Master of my youth!" (Jeremiah 3:4)

    Yet how can this be?  Will God's wrath not be kindled forever against His nation?  Jeremiah responds with a rhetorical question.

    Will He remain angry forever?  Will He keep it to eternity? (Jeremiah 3:5)

    The Almighty's answer follows with a comforting oath promising Israel an eternal destiny and permanent union with the Almighty.

    "Return, O backsliding children," says the Lord, "for I am married to you.  I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion." (Jeremiah 3:14)

    The central message of the third chapter remains: The fate of disloyal Israel stands in stark contrast to an unfaithful wife.  Whereas the adulterous woman may never return to her former husband, Jeremiah beckons the Jewish people back to the Almighty, and assures them of their eternal destiny to be forever married to their Maker. 

    Yet, by what means can the Jewish people return to God?  A few chapters later, Jeremiah answers this question as he outlines for his disobedient nation how they are to end their persistent backsliding.  In his seventh chapter, the prophet warns his people not to place their hopes on blood sacrifices or look to The Temple of the Lord to save them.  Jeremiah proclaims that these institutions cannot deliver them from their brazen sins.  Rather, they must turn away from idolatry and return to God by keeping the commandments.  Please take a moment and study Jeremiah's remarkable message on atonement. 

    So said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, "Improve your ways and your deeds, I then will allow you to dwell in this place.  Do not rely on false words, saying, 'The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord, The Temple of the Lord are they.'  If you improve your ways and your deeds, if you perform judgment between one man and his fellow man, you do not oppress the stranger, an orphan, or a widow, and you do not shed innocent blood in this place, and you do not follow other gods for your detriment.  I will then allow you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave your forefathers from days of yore to eternity . . . .  So says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, "Add your burnt offerings upon your sacrifices and eat flesh; for neither did I speak with your forefathers nor did I command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning a burnt offering or a sacrifice.  This thing did I command them saying, 'Listen to Me so that I am your God and you are My people, you walk in all the ways that I command you . . . .' " (Jeremiah 7:3-7, 21-23)

    The above chapter stands as a reverberating indictment against the church's most fundamental creeds.  For example, according to Christian doctrine, man cannot merit salvation through his own repentance.  Atonement comes only through the shedding of innocent blood.  Throughout the seventh chapter of Jeremiah, however, the prophet proclaims the very opposite message on atonement.  Over and over again, Jeremiah loudly declares that God does not want blood sacrifices but rather repentance alone for man's grievous sins.(  See my post of True Biblical Teachings on Atonement) 

     
    The  term new covenant is used again in the continuation of the text in 8:10.  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
     11.  And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
     12.  For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
     13.  In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
     
    G-d made a covenant with Abraham. G-d reconfirmed that covenant with Isaac. He recommitted it with Jacob. G-d made a new covenant, built on the old, with Moses.None of the "old" covenants went away as implied by the Greek text. This is what Jeremiah prophesied. After the Diaspora G-d will make it clear to the world that Israel is STILL his beloved. He will make a new covenant with the houses of Judah and Israel that will be so apparent to Israel and the world that we won't need to teach the word of G-d. Instead Torah will be inscribed in the heart just like the prophesy says.
     
    On first look at the text in Hebrews 8, it appears that the author is saying that soon people WOULD have it written on their heart and the old way of learning and study was going to end. Then you get to Hebrews 12 where the author drops any pretense of saying the new covenant is anything like it says in Jeremiah, but changes it to being pivotal on the death of Jesus. Hebrews 12:24.  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.
     
    Then when one looks at Paul's book 1 Corinthians 11:24-25
     
    24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me."  This verse shows a claim as to what the new covenant is completely changed without any pretext.
     
    Under the eternal covenant G-d has with the Jews we are forbidden from consuming  blood -- even symbolically. Leviticus 17:12.  Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood.
     13.  And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunteth and catcheth any beast or fowl that may be eaten; he shall even pour out the blood thereof, and cover it with dust.
     14.  For it is the life of all flesh; the blood of it is for the life thereof: therefore I said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh: for the life of all flesh is the blood thereof: whosoever eateth it shall be cut off.
     
    This is a total abhorrence to a Jew and this "new" covenant is obviously NOT a continuation of the Jewish covenant nor any type of reflection of the prophesy in Jeremiah. The concept shown in the Greek text is not a mistranslation of the Hebrew text, but a completely foreign idea to what it says in the Jewish scripture as far as the Law and the Prophesies.
     
     Compare 2 Samuel 7:14 against Hebrews 1:5. The link in the Christian bible is not such a straight line. Hebrews 1:5 references Psalm 89:26, not 2 Samuel. When you read a few verses preceding that in Psalm 89, you will find a replay of 2 Samuel 7  Then you see that Psalm 89:24 is almost exactly 2 Samuel 7:15 - but who would know, without searching. …then…. you will see something more.  Psalm 89, which the book of Hebrews has directed you to, the same book of Hebrews that says the "old" covenant is decaying and about to vanish away (see above) …when you come upon Psalm 89: 34 which just eight verses later and even in the poorly translated Christian version -(this is v.35 in the Jerusalem bible) - says clearly:
    My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips."