Au – The Religious Jew’s Lack of Obedience 2: 17-24

The Religious Jew’s Lack of Obedience
2: 17-24

The religious Jew’s lack of obedience DIG: How did rabbinic Judaism and the Oral Law, distort God’s original intent of the Torah? What did they learn? In what four areas does the religious Jew consider himself to be a spiritually superior teacher? What three areas revealed their spiritual and moral hypocrisy? Instead of special treatment, what did God’s blessings actually give to the Jews?

REFLECT: Instead of special treatment, what have God’s blessings actually given to you? Without having to be perfect, how do you view your obedience to ADONAI? What needs to change? Anything gets between you and God, He wants out of the way. Do you put anything before God? Your family? Your job? Your spouse? Yourself? Why?

Jewish privileges brought on certain responsibilities; however, these privileges do not prove the Jews righteousness. Only faith in Yeshua brings righteousness.

The religious Jew boasted in the Torah. He was different from the Gentile pagan who worshiped idols (to see link click Ak – The Pagan Gentile), or the “good person” (see Ao – The “Good Person”). Paul made it clear that it was not the possession of the Torah that counted, but the obedience to the Torah that mattered. Religious Jews looked upon the pagan Gentiles and the “good person” as blind, in darkness, foolish, immature, and ignorant. But if YHVH found the Gentile pagan and the “good person” guilty, how much more guilty were the “privileged” Jews? Paul is making the same point as Moshe: Circumcise your heart (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Cn – Circumcise Your Hearts).

1. What they learned: But since you call yourself a Jew and rely on Torah and boast about God and know His will and give your approval to what is right, because you have been instructed from the Torah, nevertheless, you cannot claim any superiority on this basis (2:17-18). Because rabbinic Judaism had corrupted the Torah to an outward observance, and hence the futile attempt to keep all 613 mitzvot, some rabbis began teaching that merely learning the mitzvot was sufficient to please YHVH. Weakening the purpose even further, some taught that the mere possession of it, in the form of written scrolls, was adequate. Still others believed the Jews were safe from God’s judgment simply because, as a people, they were the special recipients and custodians of the Torah.

Dear Loving Heavenly Father, Praise You that Your love for us is not merely an outward observance, but a real and genuine, deep and forever love! You ask the same of us. And He said to him, “‘You shall love ADONAI your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ (Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27). Thank You that entrance into your Heavenly Kingdom will not be by words nor by actions that people do. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘”Lord, Lord!” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, and drive out demons in Your name, and perform many miracles in Your name?” Then I will declare to them, “I never knew you. Get away from Me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21-23)!

Entrance to your eternal kingdom of love and peace is for all who move beyond just saying they believe, and also have a heart full of love for you that prompts them to do actions to show their love of Yeshua as their Lord and Savior. For if you confess with your mouth that Yeshua is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart it is believed for righteousness, and with the mouth it is confessed for salvation (Romans 10:9-10). “True love from the Heart” is the key to heaven! In your holy Son’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen

The TaNaKh makes its purpose quite clear, however, and it repeatedly warns against placing any trust in outward ceremonies and objects, even those such as the Levitical sacrifices and the Temple itself, which Ha’Shem had ordained (see the commentary on Jeremiah Cc – False Religion is Worthless). Self-righteous and presumptuous, rabbinic Judaism became satisfied to simply know the will of ADONAI, without obeying it. They learned what YHVH required and what He forbade, what He commanded and what He prohibited, what He rewarded and what He punished. But rather than saving them, that knowledge became a judgment against them, because they refused to live by it and refused to accept the remedy for such failure.⁵⁵

2. What they taught: Jews not only felt secure in what they knew, but also in what they taught. Considering themselves the most religiously wise, they naturally thought themselves to be the most competent teachers of the spiritually unaware, namely, the Gentiles, who did not have the benefit of the Torah. But, Isra’el’s continued unfaithfulness to God and disobedience of His Word disqualified her as an example and teacher to them. And even when the Jews made an occasional convert to Judaism, they made the Gentile convert worse off than he was before. Woe to you hypocritical Torah-teachers and Pharisees, Yeshua said. You go about over land and sea to make one proselyte, and when you succeed, you make him twice as fit for Gei-Hinnom as you are (Matthew 23:15)! Instead of leading Gentiles to trust the One true God and become obedient to His will, the Jewish leaders indoctrinated converts into the Oral Law (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ei – The Oral Law). Paul then mentions four areas in which religious Jews considered themselves spiritually superior teachers.

First, Paul said: You have persuaded yourself that you are a guide to the blind (2:19a). The religious Jew considered himself to be a superior mentor of the community in spiritual and moral matters. He saw himself as a religious guide, to the unlearned Jew, but especially to the blind Gentile pagans. Because of their arrogant pride and blatant hypocrisy, Messiah charged them with being blind guides (Matthew 23:24-28). Far from being qualified to guide others, they were themselves in desperate need of guidance.

Second, Paul notes that the religious Jew considered himself to be a light to the Gentiles who were in the darkness (2:19b). Ironically, that was the role that YHVH had intended for Isra’el. Moses had pointed to the fact that all the families of the earth will be blessed by her (Genesis 12:3b). Then Isaiah elaborated even further when he said: I, ADONAI, called you righteously, I took hold of you by the hand, I shaped you and made you a covenant of the people, to be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6). But the Jews fell far short of their lofty responsibility.

Yeshua declares us to be the light of the world and charges us to put our light on a lampstand, where it can be seen and will do some good. Let your light shine before people, so that they may see the good things you do and praise your Father in heaven (Matthew 5:14-16). That has always been Ha’Shem’s intention for His people. He gives us light not only for our own spiritual benefit, but also for the benefit of the rest of the world, before whom we are His witnesses.

Third, the religious Jew prided himself as being an instructor for the spiritually unaware (2:20a). Once again, the primary focus was the spiritually unaware Gentiles, even the wisest of whom were considered to be foolish in the area of the Torah and the Oral Law.

Fourth, the religious Jew thought of himself as a teacher of children in the faith, or in the context here, Gentile proselytes to Judaism, who needed special instruction (2:20b). They needed to learn Torah, but they also needed to rid themselves of many of the pagan ideas and practices in which they had been brought up.⁵⁶ Since the Jews did have the Torah, they actually did have the embodiment of divine knowledge and truth (2:20c). However, their understanding, teaching, and modeling it had become so overshadowed by the Oral Law, what Yeshua called the traditions of the elders (Mark 7:3), that the true benefit of the Torah as God’s blueprint for living (see the commentary on Exodus Dh – Moses and the Torah), was largely unknown and disregarded.

3. What they did: Paul’s contention here is that even when the religious Jew taught the truth, they taught it hypocritically. Just as the Adversary sometimes disguises himself as an angel of light (Second Corinthians 11:14), false teachers sometimes teach the truth for their own selfish ends. Then, you who teach others, don’t you teach yourself (2:21a)? Paul mentions three areas of their spiritual and moral hypocrisy: stealing, adultery, and idolatrous acts.

Stealing: By asking a series of questions, Paul showed that the religious Jew, who had the Torah, totally failed to comprehend the responsibilities that came with possessing it. He taught others, but he failed to teach himself. Preaching, “Thou shalt not steal” (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Bs – Do Not Steal), do you steal (2:21b)? Despite the clear mitzvot against stealing, it was very common in ancient Isra’el. Isaiah rebuked those who turn to their own way, each one intent on his own gain (Isaiah 56:11). Ezeki’el denounced those who take bribes to shed blood . . . demand and accept interest on loans, and in greed you make profits off your neighbors by extorting them (Ezeki’el 22:12). Amos wrote of those who stole by making the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger with dishonest scales (Amos 8:5 NASB). Malachi even accused some of his fellow Jews of robbing from YHVH by withholding some of the tithes and offerings owed Him (Malachi 3:8-9).

When Yeshua cleansed the Temple during the last week of His earthly ministry, He accused the sons of Annus the high priest of making His Father’s house a den of robbers (Matthew 21:13). On another occasion Messiah was cutting in His condemnation of the Torah-teachers and Pharisees – the self-appointed authorities on righteousness – for swallowing up widow’s houses while making a show of praying at great length (Matthew 23:14).

Adultery: Saying, “Thou shalt not commit adultery” (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Br – Do Not Commit Adultery), do you commit adultery (2:22a)? As with stealing, the clear implication is that they practiced the very evil they condemned in others. Many religious Jews tried to get around the Torah’s mitzvah against adultery by divorcing their wives and marrying another woman whom they were attracted to. But Yeshua declared that divorce and remarriage on any grounds other than adultery and desertion resulted in adultery, just as surely as if no divorce had occurred (see the commentary on The Life of Christ Ij – Is It Lawful for a Man to Divorce His Wife?). Adultery can even be committed without the physical act: A man who even looks at a woman with the purpose of lusting after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew 5:28).⁵⁷

Do you think Paul was being too harsh on the Jews? Consider this: in the first century the rabbis had decided that the prohibition against adultery and the sentence of stoning for adulterers should be disregarded because there were so many adulteries. There was so much adultery going around, that the rabbis decided they couldn’t do anything about it!⁵⁸

Idolatrous acts: The third area of hypocrisy related to committing idolatrous acts. Detesting idols (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Bm – Do Not Make Idols), do you commit idolatrous acts by stealing money, whether by themselves or by others, from the pagan temples (2:22b)? With pointed contrast to the hatred of idols on which the religious Jew prided himself, this is certainly the last offense of which we should have expected that he would be guilty of, knowing the care with which he shunned all contact with idolatry. He may, however, have thought the plunder from pagan temples as fair game. At any rate, it is clear that this charge was commonly brought against the Jews. In Acts 19:37, the city clerk of Ephesus acquitted Paul and his companions, by saying: You have brought these men here who have neither robbed the temple nor insulted your goddesses. Josephus also (Antiquities 1v. 8 and 10) quotes as a principle of the Torah, “Let no one blaspheme those gods which other cities esteem such; nor may any one steal what belongs to strange temples; nor take away the gifts that are dedicated to any god.”⁵⁹

4. What they caused: You who take such pride in Torah, do you, by disobeying the Torah, dishonor God (2:23)? The result of Jewish lack of obedience to the Torah described here is that, far from being a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6), as they are supposed to be, they plunge the Gentiles further into darkness, causing them to harden their hearts: As it says in the TaNaKh, “For it is because of you that God’s name is blasphemed by the Goyim” (Romans 24:24; Isaiah 52:5; Ezeki’el 36:20). The Gentiles had daily contact with the Jews in business and other activities, and they were not fooled by the Jew’s lack of obedience to the Torah. The very Torah that the Jews claimed to obey only indicted them! One may add that the same accusation can be made of some who call themselves Christians, but lead lives that shame God, they cause Jewish people to despise their Messiah and distance themselves even further from the saving power of the gospel. Fortunately, God’s truth does not depend on them, and there are others whose lives are a better testimony.⁶⁰