I have often heard Christians come to an erroneous conclusion when they declare that “The Old Testament has placed a veil over the eyes of the Jewish people.”
In 2004, a former pastor at a church I once attended preached an entire sermon from 2nd Corinthians 3 (while staring me down the entire time), as he proceeded to imply that the “Old Testament has blinded the Jewish people!”
This pastor knew that I was beginning to explore the Hebraic Roots of my faith, and he was worried that I was spreading heresy among his congregation. He felt it necessary to blast me through sermons---always using Paul’s epistles completely out of context.
I find it unfathomable that anyone would believe that the very same “words” that our Messiah taught us to live by would now be deemed as something that makes us blind! A careful reading of 2nd Corinthians 3 never even mentions the Jewish people, for it only mentions Yisra’el!
Another common error that people often make is they equate the nation of Yisra’el with the “Jewish people.” What most people fail to understand is that there are Twelve Tribes of Yisra’el, of which only one tribe is named “Judah.” This is the tribe from where we derive the term “Jew.”
The term “Jew,” what does it mean? Well, several different things, in fact. Firstly, when we look up the Hebrew word for the name “Judah” (the fourth son born to Jacob & Leah), we learn that it means the following:
#H3063 Yhuwdah yeh-hoo-daw' from 3034; celebrated, praised; Jehudah (or Judah), the name of five Israelites; also of the tribe descended from the first, and of its territory:--Judah.
A derivative of this name is the word “Jew.”
#H3064 Yhuwdiy yeh-hoo-dee' patronymically from 3063; a Jehudite (i.e. Judaite or Jew), or descendant of Jehudah (i.e. Judah):--Jew.
As you can see, to be a “Jew” means that you are ethnically descended from the Tribe of Judah, the same tribe that our Messiah was born into. However, it goes much deeper than that!
In our modern culture, there are many non-Jews who converted to a religion known as “Judaism,” however, they may not necessarily have the physical DNA as one born from the Tribe of Judah. Is there a biblical precedent for this?
Well, yes there is! In Ezekiel 47:22-23, we are told that if any non-Jew or stranger wants to sojourn with one of the twelve tribes, they can become as one who is born into the tribe!
This means that you don’t have to have DNA from the original Tribe of Judah in order to be counted as a “Jew!” Even the Apostle Paul (Sha’ul) explained in Romans 2:24-28, that being a “Jew” is more about having your heart circumcised (being born-again), and thus being obedient to the Law of Moses.
When we join ourselves to the “lawgiver,” which is our Messiah (who was born into the Tribe of Judah), we are “sojourning with” or “walking with” the Tribe of Judah, and thus we are counted as “one born into the tribe!” In Genesis 49:10, Jacob, gave his son Judah, the blessing of the “lawgiver.” When we are under the authority of Judah, the lawgiver, we are joined into his tribe!
In today’s modern culture we have three different reasons for assigning the title “Jew” to a group of people:
1.) Ethnically Jewish & Religiously Jewish:
There are those who were born and raised in the ethnic culture and religion of Judaism, regardless if their family has the DNA of the original Tribe of Judah. If they are obeying the Mosaic Law (Towrah), they are counted as a “Jew” in the eyes of our Creator.
2.) Religiously Jewish:
Even those born into any of the twelve tribes are still counted as “Jews” when they are following the Laws of Moses, because the scepter of the lawgiver was given to Judah. Therefore, to be under the scepter of Judah, means to be under their authority.
3.) Ethnically but not Religiously Jewish:
There are those who are ethnically descended from Judaism (the religion) or a Jewish heritage (bloodline identity), and yet, if they are not obeying the Mosaic Law (Towrah), they are still considered “Jewish,” (ethnically speaking), yet in the end, (unless they repent and follow the Jewish Messiah), they will not be counted as a “Jew” in the eyes of our Creator. There are many Jews in America today who are atheists, and some have even joined other religions such as Buddhism, or Hinduism.
4.) Jewish by Heart Circumcision through Messiah:
There are those who were not born, neither raised in the religion of Judaism, nor can they trace their DNA to the original Tribe of Judah. And yet, they may still be counted as a “Jew” in the eyes of our Creator, if they have their heart circumcised (in another words, born-again), and they have the Towrah (Mosaic Law) written in their hearts as a sign of the New Covenant (see Jeremiah 31:31-33, Hebrews 8:10; Hebrews 10:16).
A Word of Caution
In Revelation 2:9 & 3:9, our Messiah gave a rebuke to those who would claim to be Jewish, and yet, their spiritual fruit says otherwise.
In his address to the Congregation at Smyrna, this is what our Messiah had to say:
Revelation 2:9 I know your works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but you are rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Yahuwdiym (Jews), and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.
Revelation 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Yahuwdiym (Jews), and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
There are many Christian Churches, (the Roman Catholic Church in particular) that teach a false theology called “Replacement Theology” whereby they cite the above verses, and claim that the Christian Church, has “replaced” ethnic and religious Jews, (since they rejected Christ), and now they claim that Christians are counted as the “New Jews!”
The Apostle Sha’ul (Paul) made sure to clear up this kind of confusion in his letter to the Romans, in the eleventh chapter. Paul referred to the Gentiles as “wild branches,”and he referred to Yisra’el, as the “natural branches.” He warned the wild branches (Gentiles) not to be “high-minded,” and not to “boast against the natural branches,” (Romans 11:18) citing that the natural branches (Yisra’el) are the ones who bear the root of the Olive Tree, and it is not the Gentiles who bear the root!
He concludes in Romans 11:21 by saying that if Elohiym did not spare the natural branches (Yisra’el), how much more would he not spare the wild branches if they boasted against Yisra’el from where the root of the Olive Tree originated?
How Did Judah & Yisra’el Become Two Separate Kingdoms?
The term “Jew” is first mentioned in the Bible in 2nd Kings 16:16 during the reign of Yowtham (Jotham), the King of Judah. During the reign of King David and later, his son Solomon, all Twelve Tribes of Yisra’el were dwelling in the land of Yisra’el, and they were all united under the Kingdom of Judah. That is when all twelve tribes were referred to as “Yahuwdiy” or “Jews.”
However, in 1st Kings 12, we learn that King Rehoboam sent letters to King Jeroboam (Solomon’s son) promising to serve him if he would only lower the taxes of the people. King Rehoboam, however refused to do so, and in fact, he promised to make the increase their taxes even higher than what his father Solomon did.
This is what caused the two kingdoms to split. From that point, moving forward, they became known as “The Two Southern Tribes of the House of Judah” and the “Ten Northern Tribes of the House of Yisra’el.”
The Kingdom of Yisra’el and the Kingdom of Judah became two separate nations, making the term “Jews” distinct only to the Two Southern Tribes of Benjamin & Judah. All other tribes were no longer referred to as “Jews,” they were referred to as Yisra’el.
Today, the only ones who are called “Jews” are those who are following the religion of Judaism or they have some ethnicity tracing back to those following the religion of Judaism. Many of the Tribes of Yisra’el are no longer following the Mosaic Law or the Jewish religion, yet they are in the nations living as Gentiles. They have lost their identity, and they do not even know that they are Yisra’elites.
After the events of 1st Kings 12, the Kingdom of Yisra’el became two separate nations a. The Tribes of Benjamin & Judah were called “The House of Judah” (Jews), and the “The House of Yisra’el” became known as “Gentiles” by the House of Judah. Why did they call them Gentiles? It is because YaHuWaH divorced them in Jeremiah 3:8, for their idolatry with false deities. In Hosea 1:9, he called them “Lo Ami” which means “You are no longer my people.”
Today, many in the Christian Church refer to themselves as “Gentiles,” because they do not realize what this term means. In the Strong’s Concordance, the word “Gentile” means “a heathen.” Paul wrote in Ephesians 2, that if we have been “brought near to the covenant,“ we are former Gentiles, and we are no longer a stranger to the covenants of promise!
This means that Christians are still blinded to their true identity as Yisra’elites! Jews for the most part are still blinded to the identity of their Messiah!
Both Houses of Yisra’el (Judah & Ephrayim) are “blinded in part” (Romans 11:17-25).
This means that most of Christianity, as well as the Jewish people are blinded to the true meaning of the Old Testament! Born-again believers are “Grafted into the olive tree” and this means they are considered to be part of the “Commonwealth of Yisra’el” (Ephesians 2:11-12). Since most of Christianity does not see themselves as Yisra’el, they are also blinded at the reading of the Old Testament every bit as much as the Jewish people!
What exactly did Paul mean when he used the term “Old Testament?”
Was he talking about the books in the Bible from Genesis to Malachi? Was he referring to Law, Prophets & Psalms? Was he talking about the books of the Bible that we call the “Old Testament?” I am going to show you that this is not at all what Paul was referring to when he used this terminology, “Old Testament!”
Let me prove this to you now by citing the words of our Messiah:
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of Elohiym.
Luqas (Luke) 4:4 And Yahuwshuwa answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of Elohiym.
Now we have to ask ourselves, what were these “words” that our Messiah told us that we should live by? When he declared that we should live by “every word” of our Creator, did he mean only the Briyth Chadashah (New Testament) scriptures? No!
The New Testament writings would not go into print until about 60 years later, after he made this statement! So what did he mean by “Every word of Elohiym?”
Luqas (Luke) 24:44 And he said unto them, These are the words which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the Towrah (law) of Mosheh (Moses), and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me.
As you can see, the scriptures consist of three parts: Law, Prophets & Psalms. Now if the Law (Towrah) and Prophets testify of our Messiah, how then can the Old Testament scriptures make us blind? People who think that Paul was declaring that the scriptures make us blind might as well become atheists. To believe such a notion is the epitome of foolishness.
The separation of the Bible into two different books called “Old Testament & New Testament” is an invention of the Roman Emperor Constantine.
The Bible was not divided up into two testaments prior to the Latin Vulgate Catholic Bible going into print in the 3rd Century. Under orders of Constantine, a bishop of Caesarea named Eusebeus was commissioned to make him fifty copies of the Bible in Latin. This word “testament” has a very specific meaning in the Greek Textus Receptus which I will illustrate from the Strong’s Concordance:
Let’s look up the terms here for “Old Testament” which Paul uses in these passages. The Greek word used in 1st Corinthians 3:14 for “old” is as follows:
Strong’s #G3820 – palaios- old, ancient; no longer new, worn by use, the worse for wear, old.
The Greek word used for “testament” is as follows:
Strong’s #G1242 – diathēkē- a disposition, arrangement, of any sort, which one wishes to be valid, the last disposition which one makes of his earthly possessions after his death, a testament or will; a compact, a covenant, a testament; God’s covenant with Noah, etc.
As you can see, this word “testament” is not referring to the books of Genesis through Malachi! The term actually means “The last will and testament” that YaHuWaH made with his bride Yisra’el!
Here are some examples of how this word “testament” is used.
Mattithyahuw (Matthew) 26:28 For this is my blood of
the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of
sins.
Marqos (Mark) 14:24 And he said unto
them, This is my blood of the new testament,
which is shed for many.
Luqas (Luke) 22:20 Likewise also the
cup after supper, saying, This cup is
the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.
1st Qorintiym (Corinthians) 11:25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had
supped, saying, this cup is the new
testament in my blood: this do you, as often as you drink it, in
remembrance of me.
Ibriym (Hebrews) 7:22 By so much was Yahuwshuwa made a surety of a better testament.
Ibriym (Hebrews) 9:15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament,
that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were
under the first testament, they which are called might receive the
promise of eternal inheritance.
Ibriym (Hebrews) 9:16 For where a testament is,
there must also of necessity be the
death of the testator.
Ibriym (Hebrews) 9:17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator lives.
The word “testor” in these two passages of Hebrews 9:16-17 is defined here in the Greek Concordance as follows:
Strong’s #G1303 – diatithēmi- to arrange, dispose
of, one’s own affairs; of something that belongs to one; to dispose
of by will, make a testament; to make a covenant, enter into a covenant,
with one.
Ibriym (Hebrews) 9:18 Whereupon neither the first testament was
dedicated without blood.
Ibriym (Hebrews) 9:20 Saying, This is the blood of the testament which
Elohiym has enjoined unto you.
Chazown (Revelation) 11:19 And the temple of Elohiym was opened in heaven, and there was
seen in his temple the ark of his testament:
and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and
great hail.
The correct terminology for the “Old Testament” scriptures is called the “TaNaKh” which is an acronym for Towrah (Law), Nebiym (Prophets) & Ketuwbiym (Psalms or Writings). The New Testament writings are more accurately called in Hebrew “The Briyth Chadashah,” which literally means “Covenant Renewed.”
What did Paul mean by the expression “Old Testament?” In order to understand what he meant, we are going to have to go back to the book of Exodus, where Yisra’el was first married to YaHuWaH, and subsequently, she committed adultery with the molten calf. After the golden calf incident, Moses broke the stone tablets as a sign of Yisra’el being divorced from YaHuWaH. However, Moses went back to the mountain to receive a second set of stone tablets (symbolic of the New Covenant). When Moses returned, he instituted the office of the High Priests after the Sons of Aaron.
Prior to the incident with the molten calf, their High Priest was Melchizedek, who visited Abraham in Genesis 14:18. After they committed adultery, they had to have a temporary office of the High Priest made up of mortal men, who would eventually die.
We are going to see that Yisra’el was just like Tamar who had three husbands. We first learn about Tamar in Genesis 38, as she was first married to the oldest son of Judah named Er who represents Melchizedek, her first husband (the Messiah) who in eternity is “The lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8).
Er also represents Mosheh (Moses) who was a “type” of Messiah and he also died. After Er died, she was married to his brother, Onan who refused to perform the duty of a kinsmen redeemer for his dead brother. Therefore, YaHuWaH slew him. Onan represents the temporary office of the High Priests after the sons of Aaron.
The Levites later on in history made up a law that prevented the Ten Northern Tribes from coming into the outer court of the Temple so that they could hear the Towrah and be saved. In this way, they were like Onan who refused to be the kinsmen redeemer for the widowed wife. And then finally, Judah represents the Father and the Son.
Judah (her father-in-law) promised to send his son Shelah to be her husband once he became old enough. However, when Shelah was old enough, Judah did not send him to Tamar. Tamar then disguised herself as a harlot and covered her face with a “veil.” Now pay close attention to this typology of the “veil,” because Tamar covering her face with a “veil” is related to Mosheh (Moses) covering his face with a “veil” also.
Every time you see the word “veil” in scripture, you are always going to see Yom Kippur typology being portrayed. The word “veil” typifies something “hidden, concealed, secret, covered.”
2nd Qorintiym (Corinthians) 3:
2 You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men:
3 Forasmuch as You are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Mashiyach (Messiah) ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living Elohiym; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.
4 And such trust have we through Mashiyach (Messiah) to Elohiym:
5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of Elohiym;
6 Who also has made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.
7 But if the administration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Yisra’el could not stedfastly behold the face of Mosheh (Moses) for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away:
8 How shall not the administration of the spirit be rather glorious?
9 For if the administration of condemnation be glory, much more does the administration of righteousness exceed in glory.
10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excels.
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious.
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13 And not as Mosheh (Moses), which put a veil over his face, that the children of Yisra’el could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which veil is done away in Mashiyach (Messiah).
15 But even unto this day, when Mosheh (Moses) is read, the veil is upon their heart.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to YHWH, the veil shall be taken away.
What exactly is the veil? The “veil” over
the face of Mosheh (Moses) is directly analogous to the “veil” in the Temple which
separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies (Exodus 26:33). Mosheh was allowed
to enter into the presence of YaHuWaH because he was chosen, and he was righteous. He also was a prophetic “type” of the future Messiah.
The ordinance that Mosheh was about to put into place after Yisra’el transgressed with the molten calf was the temporary office of the High Priests. Before the molten calf, their High Priest was the eternal one, Melchizedek (the heavenly High Priest from the Tribe of Judah). Psalm 110:4 tells us that Melchizedek is “A priest forever.” Hebrews 7:14 tells us that Melchizedek sprang out of Judah!
The veil in the Temple was meant to protect
the people from dying in the presence of Elohiym in the Holy of Holies. This is because no man is righteous or holy enough
to come directly into the presence of Elohiym except for our Messiah Yahuwshuwa. When
the sons of Aaron performed this ordinance year-by-year on Yom Kippur, they
were only made righteous by the blood of the bullock which was
symbolic of Messiah, who is the “red heifer” sacrifice seen in Numbers 19.
The red heifer was the only sacrifice that was to be done “outside the camp” or outside of the city limits of Jerusalem. The red heifer had to be spotless and without blemish. The red heifer was to be killed, and then burned down into ashes. The ashes were then mixed with water to make a cleansing solution to cleanse altar in the Temple after it had become defiled. The killing of the red heifer symbolized ending the transgression of Yisra’el with the molten calf.
Yisra’el took marriage vows with YaHuWaH on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19. Forty days later, they entered into another covenant with the molten calf, and this was the covenant that “genders to bondage” (Galatians 4:24). They were now married to this false pagan god. When Mosheh returned to find them committing adultery with the molten calf aka Satan, he broke the stone tablets to signify that YaHuWaH was divorcing them.
He did this as an act of mercy so that they would have to die as a nation. YaHuWaH wanted to destroy the entire nation, however, Moses interceded for them, and begged Yah not to destroy them for his own name-sake. The alternate plan (instead of destroying the entire nation) was to have the nation be married to a temporary priesthood after the Sons of Aaron.
Now, Mosheh (Moses) had to make atonement for them when he went up to Mount Sinai a second time. Mosheh was from the Tribe of Levi, thus, the priesthood was being changed from the eternal priesthood of Melchizedek (from Judah) to a temporary priesthood from the Sons of Aaron (from Levi).
But why?
Well there are three reasons why. First of all, it was Aaron who was guilty of causing the nation to sin with the molten calf in the first place. This is why Aaron and his sons had to bear the guilt for the nation forever (1st Chronicles 15:2).
The Levites are going to minister to YaHuWaH forever, during the reign of Messiah when he returns. They are going to be ministering side-by-side with the Melchizedek Priesthood in the Millennium, under our Messiah. When the Levites are born-again (changed into immortality), they will then become part of the Melchizedek Priesthood under Messiah.
The second reason why is because after the nation sinned with the molten calf in Exodus 32:26-28, the Levites were the only ones who were willing to be on the side of YaHuWaH. The rest of the nation did not choose to be on the side of YaHuWaH, and they were slain because they did not repent.
Ever since the Levites stood up for YaHuWaH, every year on Yom Kippur, the High Priest (Kohen ha’Gadowl) had to make atonement for the entire nation of Yisra’el. The priests had to first atone for themselves with the blood of the
bullock (the red heifer), and if they did not, they would die behind the veil when they went to make atonement for Yisra’el with the blood of the goat in the Holy of Holies.
These instructions
for Yom Kippur are found in Leviticus 16. What does the bullock typify? It
represents the fact that “molten calf worship” was being destroyed. Aaron was
the one who formed the molten calf in the first place with the golden jewelry of the Yisra’elites. Thus, he and his sons had to first sanctify themselves with the blood of a bullock before they could
sprinkle the blood of the goat for Yom Kippur on the Mercy Seat.
The body of our Messiah (his flesh) is what the Temple Veil (the curtain) was meant to symbolize. When his flesh (his body) was torn, then the curtain in the Temple was also torn at the same time!
Ibriym (Hebrews)
10:20 By a new and
living way, which he has consecrated for us, through the veil, that
is to say, his flesh;
The moment that our Messiah drew his last breath, (when he died on the tree), it says in the gospel of Matthew, that the Temple Curtain was torn in two from top to bottom:
Mattithyahuw
(Matthew 27:51) And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent (torn)
in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake,
and the rocks rent (torn).
This means that he was restoring the Melchizedek Priesthood to not only the sons of Aaron, but to born-again believers who are called to be his royal priesthood after the order of Melchizedek (see 1st Peter 2:9, Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:10).
So what was abolished? The entire Mosaic Law? No! That is impossible, for our Messiah already told us that it would not be abolished until heaven and earth passes away! And when is that supposed to happen?
In Revelation 21:1 we read that the first heaven and earth will pass away AFTER the 1,000-year reign of Messiah is completed. This is when the “New heaven and the new earth” come down with the New Jerusalem!
Until then, the only thing that is abolished is the office of the High Priests after the sons of Aaron!
What did Paul mean when he said that the “Old
Testament” blinded the nation of Yisra’el when they read it? Is he talking about the scriptures? No, not at all!
This term he is using is
directly related to the “Law of Divorce” found in Deuteronomy 24. This is the third reason why the Sons of Aaron had to be the new High Priests after the transgression with the molten calf:
Debariym (Deuteronomy) 24:
1 When a
man has taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no
favour in his eyes, because he has found some uncleanness in her: then let him
write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of
his house.
2 And when she is departed out
of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
3 And if the latter husband
hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and gives it in her hand, and
sends her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her to be
his wife;
4 Her former husband, which
sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after that she is
defiled; for that is abomination before YHWH: and you shall not cause the land
to sin, which YHWH your Elohiym gives you for an inheritance.
Okay, so now we understand that the nation of Yisra’el was divorced by YaHuWaH, when Mosheh broke those first set of stone tablets.
After that, he went back up a second time to receive a “New Covenant” (a second set of stone tablets). However, Deuteronomy 24 specifically says that she may not return to her first husband after she has been defiled by another. Yisra’el was now in covenant with the molten calf, therefore, she was defiled and unable to be restored to Yah.
This is why an ordinance had to be made for the High Priests after the sons of Aaron, to kill a bullock. The bullock symbolized the eradication of their marriage to the molten calf. Yet, Yisra’el still would not be able to return to her first husband, YaHuWaH.
Yisra’el could not be remarried to Melchizedek as her High Priest, for Melchizedek is YaHuWaH himself who has “No mother, nor father, neither beginning of days nor end of days” (Hebrews 7:3). YaHuWaH came down himself, and made atonement in the Garden of Eden for Adam & Eve. He made “coats, skins, coverings” for them which was Yom Kippur typology.
The word “kippur” means “atonement.” However, it comes from another root word “kaphar” which means “to cover.”
This is why Yisra’el had to be divorced from YaHuWaH when the first set of stone tablets were broken. This would then release her from the marriage covenant with Melchizedek. This would enable her to be temporarily married to the Priesthood of the sons of Aaron. They would then act as her High Priest, her kinsmen redeemer, and her husband.
The Levites would stand in the gap and make intercession for her once per year on Yom Kippur. The only way that she could be married to Melchizedek again is if he came down here himself in human flesh and died for her, thereby destroying the Law of Divorce!
That was the “Old Testament!” Let us look up the terms here for “Old Testament” which Paul uses in these passages. The word
used here in in 1st Corinthians 3:14 for “old” is as
follows:
Strong’s #G3820 – palaios- old,
ancient; no longer new, worn by
use, the worse for wear, old.
The word used for “testament” is as follows:
Strong’s #G1242
– diathēkē- a
disposition, arrangement, of any sort, which one wishes to be valid, the last disposition which one makes of his
earthly possessions after his death, a testament or will; a compact, a
covenant, a testament; God’s covenant with Noah, etc.
Aha! Now we can see that Paul was not talking about the “TaNaKh”
or the scriptures at all!
The terminology “Old Testament” was misapplied
by the Roman Emperor Constantine to mean the entire books of the Bible called the “Law,
Prophets & Psalms.”
However, that is not what the term “Old Testament” actually means!
So what
does it mean? The term “Old Testament” is “the last will and testament” that Yah made with the nation of Yisra’el, which is called “The book of the law.”
In this last will and testament, were the blessings and curses found in Deuteronomy 28, and also the instructions in Deuteronomy 31:26 to make atonement for the nation. The “book of the law” was the “last will and testament” which was placed in the side of the Ark of the Testimony as a “Testimony against Yisra’el.”
This was to remind them of their harlotry with the golden calf. It showed them every year that they needed a temporary High Priest to make atonement for them. It continually reminded them that they would not be able to return to their first husband until he came in the flesh to die for them.
In Deuteronomy 24 it says they could never return to YaHuWaH as their husband, for this would be an abomination. Therefore, a temporary husband was assigned to them, which was the office of the High Priesthood after the Sons of Aaron. It was because Aaron led the nation into idolatry with the molten calf in the first place. Now with all this background information, we will be able to better understand Paul’s letter to the Romans:
Romiym
(Romans) 7:1 For the woman which has
an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he lives; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from
the law of her husband.
*Note: the law of her husband is the law that prevented her from
being married to him again as seen in Deuteronomy 24.
Romiym (Romans) 7:3 So then if,
while her husband lives, she be married
to another man, she shall be called an adulteress:but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is
no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Romiym (Romans) 7:4 Wherefore,
my brethren, you also are become dead to
the law by the body of Mashiyach (Messiah); that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth
fruit unto Elohiym.
When John the Immerser (Baptist) immersed our Messiah in the Jordan River, he was showing that he was the temporary High Priest after the sons of Aaron who was about to die now.
Yahuwshuwa was about to become her new husband, her High Priest, her kinsmen redeemer instead of John.
When Messiah came and died, Yisra’el was able to be married to him again. For once the first husband died, the law of her husband (the law of divorce) died with him, thereby enabling her to return to him!
This is why John had to die, because he was a priest after the Sons of Aaron. Now, Yisra’el became a widow twice, just like Tamar in Genesis 38! Finally, our Messiah, Yahuwshuwa had to die in order to nullify the law of divorce that was against her!
When her first husband died, she was “free from the law of her husband” which prevented her from being married to him again! The last “will and testament” that he left her was that she could never return to him again unless he died for her. This is what Paul was talking about---not the scriptures, but the book of the law which made mortal men (Levites) into High Priests!
Where is this last will and testament found? It is in Deuteronomy 24, where it says that she may never return to YaHuWaH. That is why Yisra’el had to be married to another husband, (the Levites) as their High Priest. Now we can begin to understand why it was important for our Messiah to be
born into the Tribe of Yahuwdah (Judah). This is the reason why in John 4:22, (when he spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well), he said the following words to her:
Yahuwchanon (John) 4:22 You
worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Yahuwdiy
(Jews).
But what did he mean by this? Was he telling her that we had to join the religion of Judaism? No!
That is not what he meant at all. He was talking about the Melchizedek Priesthood that comes from the Tribe of Yahuwdah (Judah). Our Messiah had to be from the Tribe of
Levi (priest) on his mother’s side, and from the Tribe of Judah (king) on his
earthly father Yahuwceph’s (Joseph’s) side as well as his Heavenly Father (Melchizedek) who is also from the Tribe of Yahuwdah (Judah) according to Hebrews 7:14.
The English term “Jew” is defined in the Hebrew
Strong’s Concordance as “belonging to the Tribe of Judah.” Revelation
5:5 says that our Messiah Yahuwshuwa is the “Lion of the Tribe of Yahuwdah” (Judah).
There are some people out there who are now claiming that our Messiah was not
from the tribe of Yahuwdah (Judah), and they are saying that he was not a “Jew”
or a “Yahuwdiy.” But why is this
important?
Messiah’s earthly father Yahuwceph (Joseph) was from the House
of Dawiyd (David) and he was from the House of Yahuwdah (Judah). The Heavenly
Father’s name is YaHuWaH and his name is embedded in the name of the Tribe of
Yahuwdah (Judah).
The 4th letter in the Hebrew alphabet is called the “dalet”
and it is the equivalent of our English letter “D.” The Hebrew letter “dalet”
means “the door.”
By adding the Hebrew letter “dalet” to the name YaHuWaH,
we get the name YaHuWDaH!
In the Tribe of YaHuWDaH, we see the Father,
YaHuWaH, and the Son (who is the door) as the 4th letter in the name YaHuWDaH!
Our Messiah said that he is the “door” to the Father
(John 10:7-9).
The Melchizedek Priesthood is from the Tribe of Yahuwdah (Judah)
as seen in Hebrews 7:14. If our Messiah was not born into the Tribe of
Yahuwdah, then he cannot be our High Priest after the order of Melchizedek!
In Genesis 38, we read about Tamar who was a widow. She typifies
the Ten Northern Tribes of Yisra’el
who became a widow (Isaiah 54). But her father-in-law, Yahuwdah (Judah) became
her “kinsmen redeemer” by impregnating
her with twins (symbolic of the Two Houses of Yisra’el).
Yahuwdah (Judah) promised to send his son Shelah to marry Tamar
but instead, Judah himself (the father) became the kinsmen redeemer!
This is a
picture of the Heavenly Father promising to send his son as the kinsmen redeemer for the nation of
Yisra’el. However, the Father himself came down, put on human flesh, and became the “first-born” son as a representation of
the nation of Yisra’el.
The Father & the Son
are seen in the “Twin Goats” for Yom Kippur. The Father is seen as the “sacrificial
goat” who is the perfect, sinless sacrifice.
The “scapegoat”
is seen in the Son who is the “innocent party that takes the place of the
guilty party” (Yisra’el). Messiah came as a representation of the
nation of Yisra’el (the firstborn son who was guilty). Romans 8:3 says that he
came in the “likeness of sinful flesh” even though he never sinned.
You
see, in order for him to be the perfect sacrifice, he had to be 100% YaHuWaH
Elohiym, and he also had to be 100% human to die in the place of “sinful
mankind.” See my other article entitled “The Twin Goats on Yowm Kippur Fulfilled in Messiah Yahuwshuwa.”
Messiah had to be born into the Tribe of Yahuwdah (Judah) in
order to be the “kinsmen redeemer” for the nation. What is a kinsmen redeemer? In
Deuteronomy 25:5, we read that when a woman becomes a widow, and she has no son
to carry on the name of her dead husband, a close relative of the woman’s dead
husband may marry her and give her a son. That son will then raise up the name
and inheritance for the dead husband of that widow.
Ya’aqob (Jacob) chose his 4th son named Yahuwdah
(Judah) to be the “kinsmen redeemer” for the other eleven tribes of Yisra’el (see
Genesis 49:9-10). Therefore, the only way that our Messiah could be the
legitimate “kinsmen redeemer” for the
divorced and widowed Tribes of Yisra’el is if he was born into the Tribe of YaHuWDaH!
In Romans 2:26-29, the Apostle Sha’ul (Paul) explained that we
are part of the Tribe of Yahuwdah (Judah) when our hearts are circumcised and
we obey Towrah. Being a Yahuwdiy (Jew) is not merely about ethnicity or
following a religion.
Being a Yahuwdiy (Jew) is about sojourning with the
Messiah himself who is a Yahuwdiy (Jew). This qualifies us to join his
tribe, just as Ruth joined the Tribe of Yahwudah when she “sojourned” to Bethlehem-Judah with her mother-in-law, Naomi.
When Ruth “sojourned” to the House of Judah,
she joined the Tribe of Yahuwdah (Judah) without joining a Jewish Synagogue. In
modern-day Judaism, they say that a Gentile must become a “Jew” by joining a
man-made religious system under a Rabbi. But that is not what the scriptures
teach us at all.
According to Ezekiel 47:22, any stranger or Gentile could “sojourn”
(walk with) any tribe of their choosing and they would then become a part of
that tribe as “one who is home-born” into that tribe. He would then be treated
as a natural-born member of that tribe and he/she would qualify to inherit land
from that tribe as well.
That is how Ruth (a Gentile) was able to be married to Boaz (a
Jew). when it says in the Towrah that a
Moabite may not enter the congregation of Yisrael to the tenth generation
following the evil that they had committed against Yisra’el:
Debariym (Deuteronomy) 23:
3 An
Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter into
the congregation of YHWH; even to
their tenth generation shall they
not enter into the congregation of YHWH for ever:
4 Because
they met you not with bread and with water in the way, when you came forth out
of Mitzrayim (Egypt); and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor
of Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you.
As you can see, it would have been unlawful for Boaz (a
Jew) to marry Ruth (a Moabite), so how was this possible? It is because Ruth “crossed over” and she converted! She became
a Yahuwdiy (Jew) simply by sojourning with a Yahuwdiy (Jew)! Ruth became the
ancestor of our Messiah Yahuwshuwa and so she was “in Messiah” even though he had not been born yet, for in he was
her family member from eternity! Sha’ul (Paul) wrote the following:
2nd
Qorintiym (Corinthians) 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Mashiyach (Messiah), he is a new creature:
old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Ruth was no longer a Moabite once she chose to “sojourn” with a
member of the Tribe of Yahuwdah (Judah), and so now she was joining the tribe
of Yahuwdah (Judah) where our Messiah was born into!
Yechezqel (Ezekiel) 47:
22 And
it shall come to pass, that you shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto
you, and to the strangers that sojourn
among you, which shall beget
children among you: and they shall
be unto you as born in the country among the children of Yisra’el; they shall have inheritance with you among
the tribes of Yisra’el.
23 And
it shall come to pass, that in what
tribe the stranger sojourns, there
shall you give him his inheritance, says YHWH Elohiym.
The bride of Messiah must join the tribe of her husband, just
like Ruth who went to Bethlehem-Judah with Naomi and she “sojourned” with her and she therefore joined the Tribe of Judah! That is the reason why
she was able to marry Boaz who was also from Yahuwdah (Judah).
Ruth is a prophetic picture of the nation of Yisra’el who had become a widow. She had no hope of ever being married to the Melchizedek Priest from Yahuwdah (Judah) again, unless, he died for her and thereby made it possible for her to return to him! And that is exactly what happened! Now we know what was “abolished!”
The veil that covered the face of Mosheh was a protective covering that would prevent Yisra’el from dying when coming into the presence of YaHuWaH.
This veil was the very same thing as the Temple Veil which separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, and this prevented the nation of Yisra’el from being allowed to be married to Melchizedek again. She was only allowed to be married to the earthly priesthood of the Levites.
This is why John the Baptist had to die. He represented the High Priests of the Sons of Aaron. When our Messiah was baptized by John in the Jordan River, the role of the High Priest was being transferred back to the Priesthood of Melchizedek! When his body was torn, that indicated that the “Law of Divorce was abolished!”
The law which prevented Yisra’el from being married to her first husband is the only thing that was abolished---in other words the “veil” which separated her from her kinsmen redeemer was removed!
This is why Tamar wore a “veil” on her face when she met with Yahuwdah (Judah). After she became pregnant with his twins, she removed the veil!
Judah symbolizes the Melchizedek Priesthood of Messiah and Tamar represents the widowed wife, Yisra’el whose “veil” separated her from him, as she was disguised as a harlot. Once she became pregnant with the Melchizedek Priest of the Tribe of Yahuwdah (Judah), now she was legally his wife again!
This was the “veil“ that was abolished (the last will and testament) was the “law of divorce“ which kept Yisra’el “blinded, veiled, hidden“ from her husband!
This was all “Yom Kippur” typology, as the nick-name for the Day of Atonement is called “face-to-face.” It is when the High Priest came “face-to-face” behind the veil in the Holy of Holies to meet YaHuWaH.
It is also the day when our Messiah will marry Yisra’el again when he returns on the Day of Atonement in Revelation 19. The “veil” will be removed from the face of the bride, and she will finally see him “face-to-face” as she will look upon him whom she has pierced (Zechariah 12:10).
What was the purpose of the Mosaic Law? It was the schoolmaster (Galatians 3:24-25), the temporary husband to bring the bride to her bridegroom again. In an ancient Hebrew wedding custom, the father of the bride gives her away to the bridegroom. Her father represents Mosheh (Moses) who is the temporary custodian until she is given to the bridegroom forever.
The Towrah was meant to escort the bride to the Melchizedek Priest, Yahuwshuwa Messiah.
However, has the bride been presented to her bridegroom yet? No! In Revelation 19:7, “The marriage supper of the Lamb” will take place at the second coming of Messiah! And who will prepare the bride in the meantime to help her become a spotless bride? Who will judge the five wise virgins, and the five foolish to determine their worthiness to the bride? Listen to what our Messiah said:
Yahuwchanon (John) 5:
45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuses you, even Mosheh (Moses), in whom you trust.
46 For had you believed Mosheh (Moses), you would have believed me; for he wrote of me.
Aha! Now we see that if Mosheh (Moses) wrote of our Messiah then it is the Towrah (Mosaic Law) that will judge us! We must be able to see our Messiah in the Towrah or else it is of no use to us!
Now that brings us to this often-times misquoted and misunderstood letter by the Apostle Sha’uwl (Paul) which I will explain in detail below.
2nd Qorintiym (Corinthians) 3:9 For if the administration of condemnation be glory, much more does the administration of righteousness exceed in glory.
