Yeshua and His Friends

Audio Teaching

Notes

Yeshua: A Prophet Like Moses

Deut. 18:9-19 CJB

“What would a prophet like Moses look like? He would need to be a prophet who heard directly from God, like Moses did. He would need to be a redeemer of Israel, like Moses was. He would need to be a man of unsurpassed humility, like Moses was. Who is this mysterious prophet? The prophet like Moses is none other that the Messiah.” – Unrolling the Scroll, Book 5, pg. 804, First Fruits of Zion.

• Moses heard directly from God – Yeshua: Jn. 12:49-50 “For I have not spoken on my own initiative, but the Father who sent me has given me a command, namely, what to say and how to say it. 50 And I know that his command is eternal life. So what I say is simply what the Father has told me to say.”
• Moses was a redeemer – John the Baptist said of Yeshua: “Look! God’s lamb! The one who is taking away the sin of the world! (Jn. 1:29). [See also, 3:16-21; 10:1-18].
• Yeshua, like Moses, was a servant: Matt. 20:28 ” For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve — and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Lk. 22:27b “But I myself am among you like one who serves.”

Yeshua and the Pharisees

Matt. 23:1-3 “Then Yeshua addressed the crowds and his talmidim: 2 “The Torah-teachers and the P’rushim,” he said, “sit in the seat of Moshe. 3 So whatever they tell you, take care to do it. But don’t do what they do, because they talk but don’t act!”

• Some of the Pharisee’s actions may have been wrong, but Yeshua never corrected their teaching.
• Yeshua was a Pharisee; if he hadn’t been, he wouldn’t have been able to teach in the Synagogue.
• We sometimes think Yeshua despised the Pharisees and their teaching. But according to Scripture, God corrects those He loves (Psa. 94:12, Prov. 3:11-12). Yeshua’s love for them caused him to admonish them and tell his disciples to obey their teaching but not follow their actions.
• Historically speaking, the Pharisees were the popular teachers among the Jewish people, and they helped the people practically apply the teachings of the Torah.

*Brad H. Young’s books Meet the Rabbis and Jesus the Jewish Theologian are helpful introductory studies on this topic.

The Origination and Purpose of the Elders

• In Num. 11, Moshe’s father-in-law encouraged him to appoint elders to help him.
• Deut. 17:8-11
• The Great Assembly which later became the Great Sanhedrin. Members of the Great Assembly you would know would be Ezra, Nehemiah, and Mordecai.
• The rulings of the Great Assembly and Great Sanhedrin were later compiled in what is known as The Mishnah. It was compiled between 300 BCE and 220 CE.
• The Mishnah includes how-to information on topics such as prayer, offerings, The Feasts of the Lord, Marriage, and various things concerning the Temple.
• The Talmud is another monumental Jewish work that contains the Mishnah and Gemarah (rabbinical commentary on the Mishnah).
• Lev. 26:46 “These are the laws, rulings and teachings that Adonai himself gave to the people of Isra’el on Mount Sinai through Moshe.”
  • Teachings (Torot in Heb.) Plural – The Written and Oral Torah.
  • The Gospels we now have in written form were first transmitted by the teachings of the disciples.
• The Ethics of the Fathers: “Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua; Joshua to the Elders; the Elders to the Prophets; and the prophets to the men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be deliberate in judgment; develop many disciples; and make a fence around the Torah.” (Avot 1:1)

Yeshua and The Mishnah

• Yeshua will be deliberate in judgment at the End of Days.
• He cultivated twelve disciples and told them to make disciples.
• His “Sermon on the Mount” was His fence around the Torah.
  • “You’ve heard it said, don’t commit adultery, but I say to you, whoever looks with lust has already committed adultery in his heart.” Looking with lust is the fence. If you stop at lust, you won’t commit adultery.
  • “You are not to murder, but I say, if you are angry, you have committed murder in your heart.” The fence is anger. If you stop the anger, you will never reach murder.
• Matthew 13:52 “So then, every Torah-teacher who has been made into a talmid for the Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of a home who brings out of his storage room both new things and old.”
  • Old: he teaches the original meaning.
  • New: fresh application.

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Resources

The Mishnah: Translation and Explanatory Notes by Herbert Dabny

Everyman’s Talmud: The Major Teachings of the Rabbinic Sages by Abraham Cohen