But with Yeshua, the Powers to be in Jerusalem had sent these Pharisees to spy on Yeshua from the Sanhedrin. They wanted to know IF HE was Messiah. So, from this time on, He was under constant scrutiny. Why? Because He was recognized as a Legitimate Candidate for being The Messiah. The Messianic Miracle, those that only THE MESSIAH would be able to do, were being done! There are FOUR  Miracles that can only be done by Messiah. We studied this. Remember the reason He told the cleansed Lepers to go directly to the Priests? It was to confirm their cure without being swayed by outside influences. As soon as the Cleansed Lepers started disobeying Yeshua and telling everyone in their pathway, the people ran to the Priests with all kinds of stories pro and con and the Priests came up with reasons why they never had leprosy to start with. Once the Priests saw a man legitimaly cleansed of Leprosy, they would have the Sanhedrin investigate the incident. The reason? Only Messiah, G-d, could or ever had cleansed Leprosy. (Moses, Miriam, Naaman, all those cleansed of leprosy were cleansed by G-d. The Prophet told Naaman to go in the water seven times, but G-d cleansed him.

When the Sanhedrin sent the Pharisees to investigate a Messianic Candidate, and there were MANY Messianic Candidates, But in their investigation, the Pharisees did TWO things. They observed (Luke 5 and Mark 2) They sat and watched Him, not saying a word. The Bible says that they set and watched Him reasoning in their minds, they were not saying anything. But Yeshua said to them: “I know what you are thinking.”   The second step, after they went back to Jerusalem and said: “He’s doing Messianic stuff.” Then they would come back and start interrogation. “Who told you to do that? Where did you learn this stuff? On what Biblical text do you base this on? He always answered them. They went back and said: “No man speaks like Him and we can’t deceive Him on anything!” They said: “You are healing on the Sabbath.” He said: “ You can heal with the Word, but you can’t heal with action.” This was Rabbinic stuff. No one knew this but the most learned Rabbis. How about when He was with His Disciples on the Sabbath Day eating in the fields and they jumped all over Him. He said: “when the ox is in the ditch, it is permitted. Life and Death situations, someone hasn’t eaten, it’s permitted.” The body is more important than the Holy Day. Sabbath was made for man, man was not made for the Sabbath. This is what the Oral Law said. They went back and said: “ We are the interpreters of the Law and He knows more than we do! We learn from Him! He’s not normal.”

The Terms for Priests and Sanhedrin and Scribes and Pharisees should be known by every Christian. Yeshua is constantly referring to them.

The Priests were divided into 24 courses of Priests. 1st Chronicles 24 talks about this. Scribes were originally secretaries to the Kings. In ancient times, you may be able to read the Torah and The writings of the Prophets of HaShem, but you couldn’t make an opinion of it. You would need an interpreter to tell you what it really meant. Someone steeped in the Law and G-d’s Word. Ezra, 400 years before Yeshua set the Law on this. You had to have an expert, steeped in    G-d’s Word, both Oral and Written, to tell you what it meant. There was only ONE meaning and it was passed from Sage to Sage, Prophet to Prophet. It was passed down from Priest to Priest, Father to son. Today, it’s all shoot from the hip stuff. I love it when I hear: “Well, that’s your opinion!” My opinion passed down from Moses and Joshua. From father to son, from Kohane to Kohane. I never heard it in Judaism where the Kohanim that are steeped in generation after generation of the Word of G-d are respected for the depth of their knowledge. But, I hear it all the time from Pagan Gentiles whose ancestors were swinging in the trees with painted faces while mine were crossing the Red Sea led by Great G-d Almighty! “Well, that’s your opinion!’ My opinion is what was passed down to me by my Grandfather whose opinion was passed down to him from his Grandfather whose opinion was passed down to him by his Grandfather, all the way back to Moses and G-d at the Mountain. I don’t shoot from the hip where the Word of G-d is concerned and I pray that you understand that. I might kid around about a lot of things, to kind of lighten up. But the Word of G-d is what was passed down to me from HaShem on the Mountaintop.

In the day of Yeshua, all Pharisees were considered to be Scribes, but not all Scribes were considered to be Pharisees.

The School of Scribes goes all the way back to Ezra, 400 years before the time of Yeshua walking this earth. The Scribes were the forerunners of the Pharisees. They were the initiators of the distinction between the Jewish Period and the Israelite Period. They were called Yehudim when they returned from the Babylonian captivity. These Scribes were working with Ezra. Remember Nehemiah comes back and builds the wall, Zerubabel comes back and builds the Temple. The Temple was kind of on the shoddy side because they had to keep looking over their shoulders while they were building it. But a generation before Yeshua, Herod comes along and remodels. He’s called the Great Builder, because he was a Great Builder. He rebuilds the Temple 40 years before Yeshua and it becomes one of the Greatest Wonders in the world. This time of Ezra was the time of the Scribes., It was called The Knesset Gadol, The Great Assembly. For two centuries before the time of Yeshua, they had these Scribes very actively interpreting the Word of G-d. Actually, translating it correctly was the biggest part of the job.

They asked Yeshua: “Why do your Disciples transgress the Traditions of the Elders?” Any time you see term “Tradition of Elders” in your Bible……that’s the Oral Law. From 200 BCE to 200 CE, they put these Oral Laws, The Mishnah, into writing. Christians need to study the Mishnah. It will tell them what the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings are all about. And if you know that, knowing what Yeshua said will be easy! The Bible was given by G-d to His people as a basic outline. He had already given His Oral Word to Adam. And that had been passed down by SEVEN men to Moses. And from Moses, to Joshua, to us. G-d’s Oral and Written Words are one and the same in Judaism. When Yeshua was twelve years old, it was the Oral Law He was questioned about. The Jewish writings tell us that every Jewish man that went up to the Temple on Passover was questioned by the Interpreter of the Law, the Pharisees,  that sat on the steps of the Temple. They were on the inner steps of the inner Temple. After the Service they hung around and they were questioned by these Doctors of G-d’s Word. They were not questioned on the Written Law, the Tenach, they were questioned on the Oral Law, the Mishnah.

A lot of what Yeshua said has come from the Oral Law. “Better you should lose an eye if it is evil than to go to Hell.” Plucking out your eye was against the Law. You didn’t do stuff like that. It was from the Oral Word. Or, “have your hand cut off” To actually do it was also against the Law, but it had a different meaning in the Oral Word. He quotes a lot of stuff that’s in the Oral Law. People seem so hungry for knowledge of their Jewish roots and that really make me excited about the part G-d has given me in the scheme of things. BUT, when you quote anything outside of the Bible, the same people yell: “Blasphemy!” The interest in Jewish Roots is growing everywhere. And with it comes the Charlatans and Jews who have “Converted to Christianity” and want to Convert all the Jews so that they will know the Joy of Christianity. There is NO JOY in Christianity. The Joy is in Messiah!  

“Why do your Disciples transgress the Traditions of the Elders?” We should never put all Traditions in one basket. When He’s talking about bad Traditions, He’s talking about very few. The Traditions of the Elders were put together to keep good people from getting to lax with the Law. Not cooking the calf in the mother’s milk, or not eating cheese and meat or any dairy with meat, is to Honor G-d who created the Mother’s milk to nourish and sustain the baby. To use the Milk as a dressing, a beverage while eating the calf, is to disrespect G-d. This is not a dietary fence around the Law, It is a MORAL fence around the Law. The term: Tradition of the Elders is referring to the Mishnah, or these fences around the Law, that were concluded in around 200CE.

“Why do you transgress the Commandment of G-d by your Tradition, He said. “Not honoring your father and your mother..” Again, He’s telling them which Tradition is breaking a Law, the Fifth Commandment in this case. They get on Him for breaking a Fence that isn’t a Law about hand washing. He gets on them, for breaking one of the TEN Commandments!

The only way you can understand this, is to understand Second Temple History. There was a way in those days that went against Honoring your Mother and Father. Parents were supposed to be taken care of when they grew old and respected for their years of wisdom. It was the Sons responsibility to bury with dignity his parents. This is what the Fifth Commandment meant, among other things.

Here in Matthew 15 and also in Mark c7:v8

and in other places, Yeshua brings the Jews to task for not honoring there father and mother. In Mark 7:10-11 He says:

10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: 11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.

This was a loop hole in the Law.

Corban was an offering, an offering brought to G-d. In Yeshua’s day, instead of spending the money to help their mother and father, because they didn’t want to spend it on their parents. It happens everywhere today. People think that they are so Religious but they won’t take care of their parents. They go to Church on Sunday and Wednesday Night and they pray a lot for whatever, but where the rubber hits the road, they don’t do anything for anyone but themselves. Charity begins at home and all that junk. Give me a bunch of Unreligious people who miss Church most of the time but in their heart they know that they are supposed to DO what the Word of G-d says. They don’t really know it that well, but when they learn something, they DO it! Yeshua’s entourage was made up of those that were “Lost” from the Temple. They were tax collectors and prostitutes and Mary Magdelean was supposed to have seven devils!  And all this in 19 days of Yeshua’s Ministry!

OK, this Corban thing. Corban was a vow to sacrifice to     G-d. If the parents needed to be helped or cared for, the man would say, “I have vowed it to G-d, Corban.” Then when the time of the sacrifice came, they would only give a small amount to the Temple and pocket the rest. Shades of Annanias and Sophia.  Yeshua calls them on this. He says: You say CORBAN and you break the Fifth Commandment! And you yell at Me and My Disciples for not washing our hands!  Yeshua is quoting:

Isaiah 29:13

13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

NOTHING will stand but the Law of G-d! Religious Ceremony is not worth a thing if you put all your emphasis in it, G-d will cause all of it to fade away.

Keep your eyes on Christ and not on the Christians.

G-d only has 613 Laws and they are made to be kept! We are under the Law, the Word of G-d! Let’s stay there! It’s under His Wings, under the Tzit Tzit.

Boruch arta Adonoy Elohanu Melech Ho olom, asheer kid shanu b’Mitzvotso, v’tzivanu l’heet ateef B’Tzit Tzit. Omen

BLESSED ART THOU O LORD OUR G-D KING OF THE UNIVERSE WHO HAS BLESSED US WITH HIS COMMANDMENTS AND COMMANDS US TO WRAP OURSELVES IN THE TZIT TZIT. AMEN

Boruch HaShem! (Praise the Name!)