W hen discussing scriptural issues, there seems to be a prevalent lack of under- standing regarding the concept of the Torah of Moses (Old Covenant) and its relationship to the Abrahamic Covenants of Promise. Some believe that the Torah (Law) has been completely done away with including the Ten Commandments and that we are now under grace. Still others, on the other hand, maintain that the Torah of Moses is still in force and must be adhered to, including all of the works that are contained within it. There is another viewpoint that the Torah is only for the Jews and that non- Jews need not “labor under the law (Torah).” Within the scope of this study, we will endeavor to arrive at a proper understanding of what constitutes the Torah of Moses. We will then determine if, in fact, the Torah has been completely done away with or if all or any part of it is still applicable. This study shall also demonstrate, among other things, that the Torah given at Mount Sinai was a marriage covenant between Yahweh and the nation of Israel, which was brought about due to Israelite transgressions against the Abrahamic Cov- enants of Promise. The Torah of Moses was used to teach the Israelites what sin (transgression) was, thereby revealing in written form the conditions of the earlier verbal Covenants of Promise. It merely put into writing those original conditions and augmented them with judgments. Never - theless, the Israelites continued to break their marriage vows. As a result, under the condition to obey Yahweh’s voice, 1 the Old Covenant was further augmented with what became known as the “works of the Law.” An Augmentation The Torah (Law), or Old Covenant, 2 came into existence several centuries after the Covenants of Promise were given to Abraham. This Torah or Old Covenant was, in fact, an augmentation of the Abrahamic Covenants of Promise. 3 William Smith reminds us that it is “all-impor- tant, for the proper understanding of the law, to remember its entire dependence on the Abrahamic covenant.” 4 In form, the Old Covenant was a marriage covenant between Yahu Yahweh and the nation of Israel. 5 It was intended to bind the Israelites to the conditions of the Abrahamic Covenants (also referred to in the singular as the Abrahamic Covenant) 6 by a written contract: If you do this, then I will do this. The Torah is called the “Old Covenant” to distinguish it from the “New Covenant” of marriage that Yahweh is yet to make with the elect of Israel. 7 Accordingly, the expression “Old Covenant” must not be confused with earlier covenants, The Torah 1 That obeying the voice of Yahweh eloahi was a condition of the Abrahamic Covenants see Gen., 26:5. This condition is also reflected in the Mount Sinai covenant at Exod., 23:20–22. 2 In Heb., 8:8–13, and Jer., 31:31–34, it is called the Old Covenant, while in Gal., 3:15–20, it is called the Torah (Law). As we shall prove, the Old Covenant given at Mount Sinai is merely the first of various stages of the augmentations of the entire Torah. 3 For the covenant given at Mount Sinai, see Exod., 20:1–23:32. 4 DB: A Dictionary of the Bible: Comprising its Antiquities, Biography, Geography, Natural History and Literature with the latest researches and references to the Revised Version of the New Testament. Ed. by William Smith. Revised and Edited by F. N. and M. A. Peloubet. Zondervan Publishing House, Michi gan, 1948. Copyright by The John C. Winston Company, p. 344, in which Smith cites Gal., 3:17–24. Also see below n. 6. 5 Jer., 31:31f; Isa., 54:5. 6 The various covenants between Yahweh and Abraham are often spoken of in the singular, i.e., as the Abrahamic Covenant, because they stand as one covenant. The classing together of several covenants into a single covenant was common practice and finds counterparts elsewhere in Scriptures. For example, the Old Covenant consists not only of the original covenant made by Yahweh with the Israelites at Mount Sinai but includes the additional covenants produced during the next 40 years, down to the covenant discussed in Deut., 29:1. Similarly, the Torah (Law) of Moses includes a large number of torath (laws), which help make up the book of the Old Covenant. 7 The book of Hebrews states that the messiah is the “mediator” or “go-between” of the New Covenant and that by his death took place the redemption for those transgressions under the first covenant (the Old Covenant), so that “they which are called might receive the Eternal Inheritance” (Heb., 9:15). Nowhere in Scriptures does it say that we are presently under the New Covenant. It does say that the Old Covenant “grows old and aged” and is “near disappearing” (Heb., 8:13). The apostles are also called “servants of a new covenant” (2Cor., 3:6). Yet the New Covenant itself cannot be made as a marriage agreement until the messiah returns, resurrects the elect, places the laws within their innermost selves, and regathers the house of Israel and the house of Judah into one nation. It is at that time that Yahweh will make a New Covenant of marriage with the elect of Israel (Heb., 8:3–13; compare with Jer., 31:31–34). The rest of mankind remaining to be saved shall enter into this eternal New Covenant marriage at the end of the Millennial Judgment Day (e.g., Rev., 21:1–3, 9–27, 22:17). A rticle S erieS Q AdeSh l A Y Ahweh P reSS c oPYright © 2020such as the Covenants of Promise made with Abraham. The Torah was established at Mount Sinai, only a few weeks after the Exodus when Israel came out of Egypt, in the third month of that year. 8 The precepts of this marriage agreement declared in writing that if the Israelites obeyed Yahweh’s voice and kept his commandments, statutes, and judgments, then Yahweh would give them the ≈ra (erets; land)—from the Suph Sea (Gulf of Aqaba) unto the Palestim Sea (Mediterranean), and from the wilderness (of Sinai) unto the River (Euphrates), i.e., the Promised Land. 9 All the people of Israel agreed, and the marriage covenant was ratified. 10 According to Scriptures, although the Torah gives the inheritance as a reward for keeping the marriage covenant, it does not annul the promises of inheritance given to Abraham in the Covenants of Promise. Saul reports, “For if those of the Torah are the heirs, trust has been made empty, and the promise is of no effect.” 11 Put another way, if the inheritance only went to those who came under the Torah (Old Covenant) and its works, then what worth are the Covenants of Promise given much earlier to Abraham and his seed (the messiah)? Was not the inheritance of this covenant-will guaran- teed to Abraham because he trusted Yahweh, obeyed Yahweh’s voice, and kept Yahweh’s charge, commandments, khoquth (statutes), and torath (laws)? Did not Yahweh give an oath to fulfill his covenant with Abraham swearing to do so by his sacred name? In his epistle to the Galatians, Saul begins to clarify this issue when he writes: This now I say, a covenant con- firmed beforehand by the deityunto the messiah, the Torah having taken place 430 years after, does not annul so as to make of no effect the prom- ise; because if the inheritance is out of the Torah, it is no longer out of promise. But to Abraham, through promise, the deitygranted it. 12 This statement confirms that the inheritance is not accomplished solely from the Torah given at Mount Sinai, even though the Torah allows for the inheritance if all of its precepts are kept. Instead, the Covenants of Promise were granted to Abraham, and as with any man’s covenant agreement, it cannot be changed. 13 Neither can any scripture be broken, 14 nor would Yahweh change it, for Yahweh does not change. 15 These promises were later confirmed with Jacob a full 430 years before the marriage covenant of the Torah was made at Mount Sinai. 16 Further, since the Eternal Inheritance was promised in the covenants given to Abraham and did not originate in the Torah (Old Covenant), the inheritance found in the Torah must itself somehow be derived from the Covenants of Promise. The next question natu- rally arises, “If the Eternal Inheritance was already promised in the Covenants of Promise, why bring about another covenant granting the same inheritance?” Saul explains: Why then the Torah? It was pros- etevqh (prosetethe; an augmenta- tion) 17 for the sake of transgres- sions, until should have come the spevrma (sperma; group of seed, the elect) 18 to whom the promise has been made, having been ordained through angels in a mediator’s 8 Exod., 19:1f. The Exodus took place in the first month (Exod., 12:1–20, 13:4, 23:14f, 34:18; Deut., 16:1). 9 Exod., 23:20–23, 30f; compare with Gen., 15:18–21; Deut., 1:7f, 11:24; Josh., 1:4. Compare with The New Jerusalem Bible, p. 111, n. 23 m. 10 Exod., 24:1–8. 11 Rom., 4:14. 12 Gal., 3:17f. 13 Compare with Gal., 3:15f. 14 Compare with John, 10:35. 15 Mal., 3:6; Heb., 13:8. 16 The Abrahamic Covenants of Promise were not confirmed with Abraham, as many have so often incorrectly assumed. Scriptures specifically report that they were confirmed years later with Jacob (Ps., 105:8–10; 1 Chron., 16:14–18). 17 Prosetevqh (prosetethe) means, “to place additionally, i.e. lay beside, annex, repeat” (SEC: Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Gk. #4369); “to add . . . i.e. to make oath and then add the statement . . . to make additions, to augment . . . esp. of adding articles to documents” (GEL: An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon. Founded upon the seventh ed. of Liddell and Scott’s Greek- English Lexicon. At the Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1961, p. 698). 18 The spevrma (sperma; group of seed) are identified in Gen., 17:9f, 24:60 (compare with the LXX for the Greek term). These are the collective plural seed, united as one group, which form the elect (compare with Gal., 3:29; Rom., 4:16–18, 9:7–8). 2 t he t orAhhand. But the mediator is not (the mediator) of one, but the deityis one.Is the Torah then against the promises of the deity?May it not be. For if a Torah was given which was able to quicken, indeed by a Torah would have been justification; but the Scriptures shut all things under sin, that the promise out of trust might be given to those that trust Yahushua the messiah.” 19 There is an essential dif- ference between an ejpidi- atavssetai (epidiatassetai; supplement), 20 which is for- bidden in this covenant and contract, 21 and a prosetevqh (prosetethe; augmentation), which has been provided by the Torah. A supplement can contain additions that contra- dict the original agreement, while an augmentation merely expands or restricts the requirements already allowed for by the original covenant agreement. For example, if a condition of the Abrahamic Covenants is that one must obey Yahweh, Yahweh can later augment that covenant by having his heirs build a Tabernacle and associate with that artifact a priesthood and certain religious services of cleanliness, as long as these works do not contradict the conditions of the original covenant. On the other hand, if a condition of the covenant is that you shall not steal, Yahweh cannot later command that you can or should steal. Augmentations allow for the establishment of specified customs in dress, foods, and cleansing rites—all found as fleshly works of the Torah (of Moses)—which were meant to keep one ritualistically clean. The Judahite expression “ hrwthyçam (mashi ha-Torah; works of the Torah)” was used by the apostle Saul in the 1st century C.E. to define these augmenta- tions. 22 They refer specifical- ly to the purity laws found in the written Torah of Moses. This detail is confirmed by the fact that this label was given to the contents of a Hebrew manuscript (MMT) written by a contemporary Jewish community located at Qumran. 23 Among the sub- jects listed under this heading were rulings concerning the cleansing of lepers, the bar- ring of the blind and deaf from the Temple, the restric- tion of intermarriage with the Ammonites and Moabites, the prohibition of intermar- riage between the priests and commoners, the prohibition against plowing with, unlike ani- mals, the use of hides and bones of unclean animals, as well as the rules for purification, offerings, sacrifices, and other such things. 24 As Martin Abegg comments, the aim of this work “was clearly to call attention to matters that trespass the boundaries between the pure and impure.” 25 We will confirm this definition as we proceed. Therefore, the Torah of Moses or Old Covenant came about because the Israelites had transgressed the conditions of the Abrahamic Covenants, to which they were subject. The Torah, as a result, under a marriage agreement, 19 Gal., 3:19–22. 20 See above Chap. II, p. 38, n. 29. 21 Gal., 3:15f. 22 The Hebrew expression “ hrwth yçam (mashi ha-Torah; works of the Torah)” is equivalent to the Greek expression e[rgwn nov- mou (ergon nomou; works of the Law) as used to describe the augmentations by Saul (e.g., at Rom., 3:20, 28; Gal., 2:16, 3:2, 5, 10), see A Concordance to the Septuagint and the Other Greek Versions of the Old Testament (including the Apocryphal Books). Edwin Hatch and Henry A. Redpath. 3 vols.; reprinted by Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1991. 1, pp. 541–544, s.v. e[rgon . Also see BAR: Biblical Archaeology Review 20.6 (Nov./Dec. 1994), pp. 52–55. 23 BAR 20.6 (Nov./Dec. 1994), p. 61, MMT, . 27. 24 BAR 20.6 (Nov./Dec. 1994), pp. 56–61. 25 BAR 20.6 (Nov./Dec. 1994), p. 53. Nevertheless, Martin Abegg’s conclusion that Saul was only addressing the members of the early Christian Assembly who had belonged to the Essene sect is clearly inaccurate. Saul’s reference was to the entire body of purity laws found in the Torah of Moses and as practiced by mainstream Judaism, which included the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, and oth- ers. The fact that the Essenes provide us the only remaining record of the phrase “works of the law” does not mean that 1st century C.E. Judaism as a whole did not know or understand the meaning of this phrase. t he t orAh 3augmented the requirements of those earlier covenants. What then were these augmenta- tions, and how are they different from the orig- inal conditions? Furthermore, did these aug- mentations bring into existence the festival cel- ebrations and sacred days or merely dress them with customs? To answer these questions, we must examine more precisely what makes up the Torah and why it was considered the proper response to Israelite transgression. The Torah: A Series of Covenants The covenant of the Torah of Moses was much more than the agreement made at Mount Sinai. Rather, it became a series of handwritten aug- mentations created because the Israelites were unable to keep their covenant with Yahweh. These augmentations encompassed every thing from building a Tabernacle and restricting the priesthood to the family of Levi to establishing further covenants, khoquth, and torath, includ- ing regulations for cleanliness, food offerings, required sacrifices, and burnt offerings. These augmentations developed as follows: To begin with, the Covenants of Promise grant- ed to Abraham, supported by an oath to Isaak, and confirmed to Jacob as a statute, were in the form of a verbal contract. Nothing was placed in writing. It was backed only by the word of Yahweh. Centuries later, Yahweh reports that he revealed himself to the Israelites while they were in Egypt, requesting them not to defile themselves with the idols of Egypt, i.e., they should obey Yahweh and not commit idolatry (follow other eloahim). In turn, he would bring them into the Promised Land. 26 It is manifest that obedience to Yahweh includes obeying his commandments, statutes, and laws which he had earlier attached as conditions to the Covenants of Promise and to which Abraham was subject. Contrary to the conditions of the Covenants of Promise, the Israelites rebelled by disobey- ing. Nevertheless, Yahweh did not destroy them while they were in Egypt. He was unwill- ing to destroy them for the reason of his name’s sake so that his μç (shem; name, honor) 27 would not be profaned among the nations. 28 Put another way, he continued with them because his sacred name was attached to the Covenants of Promise, sworn to by an oath. 29 If he failed to accomplish these covenants by giving the Israelites the land as an inheritance, then the other nations would speak ill of the worth of Yahweh’s word as sworn to Abraham. 30 Yahweh’s shem (name, honor) was at stake. When Yahweh brought the Israelites out of Egypt and into the wilderness, he gave them knowledge of his statutes and judgments, “which if the adam (mankind) does them he will live in them; and also my Sabbaths to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am Yahweh, who sets them apart.”31 Such statements are important, for we know that Yahweh’s statutes, laws, and com- mandments were revealed even before the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai. 32 Further, the statement that the Israelites were given knowl- edge of Yahweh’s “ twtbç (sabbathuth; Sabbaths),” in the plural, demonstrates that the high Sabbaths, as well as the weekly Sabbaths, were meant.33 Of interest for our study is the fact thattamong these statutes, laws, and commandments known prior to the Israelites 26 Ezek., 20:5–7. 27Parke-Taylor, G. H. Yahweh: the Divine Name in the Bible. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Waterloo, Ontario, 1975, p. 2; SNY: Clover, R. The Sacred Namehwhy. Vol. 1. of the series on Yahweh. Qadesh La Yahweh Press, Garden Grove, 1989, chap. iii; SEC, Heb. #8034. Available at www.yahweh.org; Analytical Concordance to the Bible. Robert Young. 22nd American Edition, rev. Wm. B. Eerdman’s Pub lishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan, reprint 1968, pp. 683, 685; HEL: Hebrew-English Lexicon. Zondervan Edition, 1970. Catalog #6264. Samuel Bagster & Sons, LTD., London. Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, p. 270. 28 Ezek., 20:8f. 29 Gen., 22:15–18, 26:3; Exod., 6:8; Heb., 6:11–19; compare with SNY:, chap. iii. 30 Ezek., 36:16–23; Deut., 9:25–29. 31 Ezek., 20:10–12. 32 Exod., 13:4–10, 15:26, 16:28, 18:20. 33When Yahweh referred only to the weekly Sabbath, it was normally spoken of in the singular (e.g., Exod., 20:8–14, 31:14–16; Lev., 23:3; Deut., 5:12–15; etc.). Yet when all the various Sabbath days (weekly or other sabbathon) are being included, they are referred to in the plural (e.g., Lev., 23:37–39, 26:2; Isa., 1:13, 56:4; Lam., 1:7, 2:6; Ezek., 20:12–24, 22:8, 26, 23:38, 44:24, 45:17, 46:3; Hos., 2:11; etc.). Also, when a number of weekly or seventh-year Sabbaths were counted as a group to give a total figure, they were spoken of in the plural (e.g., Lev., 23:15, 25:8). 4 t he t orAharriving at Mount Sinai, there were those deal- ing with the Sabbath day and the Festival of Unleavened Bread and Phasekh (Passover) of which specific mention is made. 34 After the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai, the marriage contract of the Old Covenant was made due to continued Israelite transgression. Two important things occurred. First, the covenant was placed into writing, clearly spelling out what was required. Second, appendaged to the conditions of the Ten Commandments were the statutes augmented with the μyfpçm (mashaphatim; judg- ments) 35 —judgments being statutes that render criminal decisions if a required commandment or statute is broken. 36 Previously, only the requirements of the Covenants of Promise were expressed (though punishment, such as death, is clearly allowed for). 37 With the advent of the Torah (Old Covenant) at Mount Sinai, specific types of punishment for breaking these requirements were declared in written form. The Torah’s authority to continue with fur- ther augmentations is also found among the Old Covenant statutes. The Old Covenant com- manded that the Israelites must “guard from the face” of the angel who carries the name of Yahweh, 38 i.e., the angel of the covenant who swore an oath by his sacred name to give Abraham the promises. 39 It commanded the Israelites to “listen to his voice; do not be rebellious against him, for he will not forgive your transgression, for my name is on him.”40 This angel carrying the name Yahweh is called Yahu Yahweh, the deity (eloah) who became Yahushua the messiah. 41 Of course, being careful does not mean that one is to listen to the voice of the angel Yahweh if he adds to the conditions of the covenant instructions outside what is allowed for in the original Abrahamic Covenants of Promise. Such supplements, as we have already proven, are forbidden. 42 However, if the Israelites transgressed its conditions, the angel Yahu Yahweh was allowed to augment the marriage covenant. These augmentations were subjoined as part of the Old Covenant, and are in part, known as the “works of the Torah (Law).”43 For instance, the original statutes found in the Torah (Old Covenant) at Mount Sinai command that the Israelites were to keep the Festival of Tabernacles. 44 The works of the Torah later augmented this statute with the custom that the Israelites should also sleep in tabernacles (tents, booths) during the Festival of Tabernacles. 45 After the incident of the Israelites building the golden calf—thereby committing idolatry and breaking their marriage agreement with Yahweh 46 —the angel Yahu Yahweh kept aug- menting the conditions of the covenant with commandments, statutes, and laws specifying in greater detail what was required. From this process, the works of the Torah (e.g., sacrifices, cleansing rites, washings, etc.) also came into existence. For example, after the sin of the golden calf, Yahweh made another covenant with the Israelites, 47 and then later added the Levitical regulations.48 The key point is that the majority of these statutes and laws forming the works of the Torah had no severe adverse penalty. To 34 Exod., 12:1–51, 13:4–10, 16:4, 22–30. 35 Exod., 20:1–24:8; compare with Deut., 4:12–14; Mal., 4:4. 36 A fpçm (mashaphat), plural μyfpçm (mashaphatim), is “prop. a verdict (favorable or un favorable) pronounced judicially, espec. a sentence or formal decree” (SEC, Heb. #4941). 37 For example, if one breaks the conditions of the Abrahamic Covenants, he does not receive the eternal inheritance. Without the Eternal Inheritance giving life, one is left with eternal death. 38 Exod., 23:20f. 39 Mal., 3:1; compare with Gen., 22:15–18. 40 Exod., 23:21. 41 That the angel Yahweh is identified with Yahu Yahweh see FSDY: The Festivals and Sacred Days of Yahweh. Volume 1. Qadesh La Yahweh Press, Garden Grove, 1998, App. A, esp. p. 397, footnote 102. Available at www.yahweh.org. 42 Gal., 3:15. 43 E.g., see additions in Exod., 34:23–26; Lev., 23:1–44; Num., 28:1–29:40; Deut., 16:1–17. That these regulations are among the statutes and judgments see Deut., 7:11, 26:16–17. 44 Exod., 23:16. 45 Lev., 23:39–43. 46 Exod., 32:1–30; compare with Ezek., 23:37. 47 Exod., 34:1–28. 48 These regulations are found in the book of Leviticus. This book belongs to the period just before the first month of the second year of the Exodus era (Exod., 40:1; compare with Num., 1:1). t he t orAh 5demonstrate, if unclean meat was eaten, the most that would happen is that the guilty per- son would be declared unclean and unable to attend sacred ceremonies, enter the Tabernacle, or remain in the Israelite camp. Breaking one of the commandments, statutes, or laws that were also attached to the Abrahamic Covenants, on the other hand, met with severe consequences. 49 Nevertheless, the Israelites continued to rebel, once more breaking the statutes and laws and profaning the Sabbaths. 50 Indeed, Yahweh counted “ten” rebellions from the time he began to bring them out of Egypt until they arrived for the first time at Qadesh Barnea, including their rebellion at Mount Sinai. 51 For his name’s sake, Yahweh did not destroy Israel, but neither did he bring that generation (those who had left Egypt at the age of 20 years and upward) into the Promised Land. 52 After the death of almost all of that genera- tion who had left Egypt, Yahweh told the chil- dren of the next generation to walk in his statutes and judgments and keep his Sabbaths.53 Once more, they rebelled, this time in the inci- dent at Shittim with Baal-peor. 54 As a result, at the end of a 40-year sojourn in the wilderness, Yahweh “gave them statutes not good and judgments by which they could not live,” 55 i.e., he made the Deuteronomic Covenant, an aug- mentation of the Torah of Moses which is recorded in the book of Deuteronomy. 56 The Deuteronomic Covenant put in place curses that would come upon the Israelites if they once more failed to listen to the voice of Yahweh and observe his commanded statutes and judgments 57 —the ultimate curse being death.58 When Moses died, such augmentations ceased. The books of Moses were, in turn, fol- lowed by the books of the prophets (from Joshua to Malachi), providing the official his- tory of Israel and prophecies of what will be in the future. The Old Testament, as a result, is often referred to as “the Torah and the Prophets.” 59 Because Israel continued to sin, Yahu Yahweh did not enter into his great Sabbath rest in Zion, leaving that entry for a future time. 60 Dogmasin Our next effort is to define the Greek term dovg- ma (dogma), plural dovgmasin (dogmasin), and judge its use by Saul when he writes that all of our offenses having been forgiven us by the messiah, “having blotted out the handwriting in the dovgmasin (dogmasin), which was adverse to us, also he has taken it out of the midst, hav- ing nailed it to the (torture-)stake.” 61 Does this mean that all the command ments, khoquth 49 Breaking any one of the original commandments or statutes could result in execution, justifiable death, or severe curses. Compare with Exod., 20:1–17, and Deut., 5:1–21, which list the Ten Commandments, with the judgments rendered in Scriptures for breaking them: (1) Exod., 22:18, 20. (2) Lev., 26:30; Rev., 21:8, 22:15; 1 Cor., 10:14–22. (3) Lev., 24:15f. (4) Exod., 35:2; Num., 15:32– 36. (5) Exod., 21:15., 17. (6) Exod., 21:12–14; Lev., 24:17. (7) Lev., 20:10–16; Exod., 22:19. (8) Exod., 21:16, 22:2. (9) Deut., 19:16– 21; Prov., 21:28; Mal., 3:5. (10) Col., 3:5; compare with Ezek., 23:37. Also see the curses pronounced in Lev., 26:1f, 14–46 (esp. v. 46, which notes that the statutes referred to were only those made at Mount Sinai); Deut., 27:1–26, 28:15–68. Similarly, the non-observance of a sacred khag and its Sabbath resulted in exile from the nation or a severe curse (e.g., Exod., 12:11–20; Zech., 14:16–19; Ezek., 20:12–17). 50 Ezek., 20:13; compare with Exod., 16:26–29, 32:1–30. 51 Num., 14:19–25. 52 Num., 14:20–24; Deut., 1:34–40, 2:13–17; Heb., 3:16–19. 53 Ezek., 20:14–24; e.g., Num., 15:32–36. 54 Num., 25:1–26:1. 55 Ezek., 20:25. 56 Compare with Deut., 4:1, 5:1, 12:1, 31:9–13. 57 Deut., 11:26–32, 27:1–29:1; compare with Gal., 3:10–13. 58 Deut., 30:19. 59 Matt., 5:17, 7:12, 11:13, 22:40; Luke, 16:16; John, 1:45; Acts, 13:15; Rom., 3:21; Acts, 28:23, “the Torah of Moses and the prophets.” Luke, 24:44, further divides it as, “the Torah of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms.” The Torah is often considered as beginning at Mount Sinai when the Old Covenant was made (Rom., 5:12–14, 19f; Gal., 3:17–21). That the Torah also includes the book of Genesis see Gal., 4:21–31, compare with Gen., 16:15, 21:2, 9; the book of Leviticus see Gal., 5:14, compare with Lev., 19:18; and the book of Deuteronomy see Gal., 3:10, compare with Deut., 27:26. 60 Heb., 3:7–11; Deut., 12:9–11; Pss., 95:9–11, 132:13f. 61 Col., 2:13f. 6 t he t orAh(statutes), and torath (laws)named in the Torah are no longer applicable? A dovgma (dogma) is “a public decree,” which is also an “ordinance.” 62 The dogma (decree) from Caesar for a census registration and his decree that there should be no other king save Caesar are two examples given in Scriptures. 63 By comparing the LXX with the MT, we also discover that the Hebrew/ Aramaic word underlying the Greek term dovg- ma (dogma) is td (duth), “a royal edict or statute.” 64 These decrees establish national customs and rituals. To demon- strate, in Daniel, we read the story of how some Babylonian officials creat- ed a duth. They spoke to King Nebuchad-nezzar, saying: All the presidents of the kingdom took counsel together, the nobles and the sa- traps, the royal offi- cials and the gover- nors, to establish a royal μyq (qeyam; an edict [as arising in law])65 and to make a strong ban that whoever shall ask a petition of any eloah or male for 30 days, except from you king, he shall be thrown into a pit of lions. Now king, establish the ban and sign the document that it may not be changed as a duth (LXX dovgma ; dogma; public decree) of the Medes and Persians, which does not pass away. So King Darius signed the document and the ban (LXX dovgma ). And Daniel, when he knew that the document was signed (LXX “was commanded the dovgma ”), he went to his house. 66 These examples all reveal that a duth or dogma is the establishment of statute and cus- tom by public decree, based upon present cir- cumstances. They are often temporary, as reflected by the 30-day period in the above example. Saul further narrows his definition when he states that these annulled dogmasin were hand- written. 67 The Abrahamic Covenants of Promise were a verbal agreement. There is no doubt that the dog- masin of which Saul speaks are only those decrees that were handwritten and placed in the book of Moses. Never-theless, as we shall see, just because we are now under grace and not under the Mosaic Law (Torah of Moses) does not mean that the com- mandments or the entirety of the laws, statutes (i.e., those kept by Abraham), and dogmasin statutes (i.e., those established under Moses)found in the Torah are annulled. The dogmasin about which Saul and the other apostles speak are further clarified when they note that a dogma, such as the statute to circumcise all males in the flesh of their fore- skin, are “after the e[qei (ethei; custom) of Moses” and are found in the “Torah of Moses.” 68 The 1st century C.E. Jewish priest Philo speaks of the “ novmois kai e[qesin (nomois kai ethesin; laws and customs) which he (Moses) had ordained.” 69 Customs are merely forms of actions practiced as a matter 62 GEL, p. 207; Ibid., 1968, p. 441. 63 Luke, 2:1; Acts, 17:7. 64 SEC, Heb., #1881. HEL, p. 64, “edict, mandate, law.” 65 SEC, Heb. #7010. 66 Dan., 6:7–10. 67 Col., 2:14. 68 Acts., 15:1–5; compare with vs 6–26. 69 Philo, Hypothetica: Apologia pro Judaeis, 6:9. t he t orAh 7of course among the people. The customs established by the statutes and laws of Moses included such things as their type of dress, how to wear one’s beard, when things become clean or unclean, commanded sacrifices, and the like. The dogmasin nailed to the stake and annulled, as mentioned by Saul in his epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians,70 include the idea of customs wherein “you may not handle, you may not taste, you may not touch, which things are all unto cor- ruption in the using,” 71 that is, they are works of the flesh. Also mentioned as one of the dogmasin was the custom of circumcising the flesh of the foreskin, 72 which is also a work of the flesh found in the handwritten Torah of Moses. Under grace, the law of com- mandments in dogmasin, which include fleshly cir- cumcision, has been annulled. 73 Such things are classified as “works of the Torah (Law).” 74 A further example includes the ordinances of service in the Tabernacle. These offerings and works were an allegory, being only in meats and drinks and various washings, and ordinances of the flesh, and lasted only “until is imposed the time of setting things right.” 75 Josephus, a Jewish priest of the 1st century C.E., reports that “there happened to come around the festival called Phasekh, at which it is our e[qo~ (ethos; custom) 76 to offer numerous sacrifices to the deity.” 77 Therefore, the author- ity for offering sacrifices, such as the Phasekh sacrifice, comes as a legal custom. Importantly, the original Phasekh sacrifice performed in Egypt was only a one-time event. After the Israelites left Egypt during the Exodus, Yahweh did not require any further sacrifices or burnt offerings from them. 78 This fact alone proves that the sacrifices and burnt offerings later added by means of the Torah of Moses were not a requirement under the Covenants of Promise given to Abraham, for which purpose the Israelites had been brought out of Egypt. Instead, it was due to the fact that the Israelites continued to sin that these sacrifices and burnt offerings were brought into force under the Torah of Moses. These statements are all vital clues. They tell us that those things nailed to the stake at the messiah’s death were brought into existence by decrees which established certain ordinances or statutes, called laws and customs. These decrees were handwritten by Moses on a scroll, forming the Torah of Moses. Because they are public decrees, they do not act as eternal laws or com- mandments. Rather, they are temporary and conditional. Neither do they represent the entire Torah. This point is established by Saul’s state- ment that these particular annulled dogmasin were “against us” and “adverse to us.” 79 This statement is important because it carries with it the thought that there can also be dogmasin that are helpful to us. 70 Eph., 2:11–17; Col., 2:13–15. 71 Col., 2:20–23. In Colossians these dogmasin are “according to the injunctions and teachings of men” (Col., 2:22) and not Yahweh. Nevertheless, they demonstrate what dogmasin are. 72 Eph., 2:8–22. Also see FSDY, App. D. 73 Compare with Deut., 26:16f, “This day Yahweh your eloahi commands you to do these statutes and the judgments.” Nevertheless, these commanded statutes and judgments, or dogmasin, are not the royal commandments, such as the Ten Commandments. 74 Rom., 3:20, 4:1–5, 11:1–6; Gal., 2:11–3:29. 75Heb., 9:1–28, esp. v. 10. 76 The Greek term e[qo~ (ethos) means, “custom, habit” (GEL, p. 480). 77 Josephus, Antiquities, 14:2:2. 78 Jer., 7:21–23. 79 Col., 2:14. 8 t he t orAhIndeed, Saul and the other apostles make the point that not all of the handwritten dog- masin in the Torah of Moses—which form the augmenting statutes, laws, and customs—were annulled. To demonstrate, among the decreed statutes given by Moses, there yet stand four types of dogmasin that apply even to this day. Proof of these four dogmasin comes with the doctrinal statement given by the apostles at the Jerusalem Council held in 49 C.E. At this coun- cil the apostles addressed the questions of whether or not it was necessary for those con- verted from the nations to practice circumci- sion in the flesh of the foreskin “after the cus- tom of Moses,” and if it was necessary to charge them to keep the Torah of Moses in order to “be saved.” Keph scolds those who would put such a burden on these disciples, stating, “Now therefore why do you tempt the deityto put a yoke upon the neck of the disci- ples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?” 80 The conclusion of the apostles was declared by Jacob (James), the brother of the messiah, and the bishop of the Christians at Jerusalem. Represent ing the leadership of the Assembly, he writes: Wherefore I judge not to trouble those from the nations who turn to the deity; but to write to them to abstain from the pollutions of the idols, and porneia (sexual miscon- duct), and what is strangled, and (eating) blood. 81 All four categories are mentioned in the Torah of Moses. 82 A letter was then sent out from the leaders of the Assembly with the fol- lowing conclusion: For it seemed good to the sacred ruach (spirit)and to us, no further burden to lay upon you than these necessary things: to abstain from the things sacrificed to idols, and from (eating) blood, and from (eat- ing) what is strangled, and from porneia; from which keeping your- selves, you will do well. 83 80 Acts, 15:1–10. 81 Acts, 15:19f. 82 These four dogmasin are mentioned in the Torah as follows: (1)The statute against drinking or eating blood existed even before the covenant made at Sinai (Gen., 9:4). This detail proves that the prohibition against eating blood was one of the original statutes observed by Abraham. The prohibition is also found attached to the covenant given at Mount Sinai as found in Lev., 3:17, 17:10–14, 19:26, and later in Deut., 12:23, 15:23. Blood is connected with life itself. (see FSDY, Chap. VII, p. 109, n. 97. Available at www.yahweh.org). (2)The porneiva (porneia) statutes—i.e., the laws against illegal and immoral sexual behavior—are listed in Lev., 18:1–30, 20:10–24, and Deut., 27:20–23. In 1 Thess., 4:2f, Saul notes that the dogma (decree) to abstain from porneia was given to Christians by the “ paraggeliva~ (paraggelias) we gave you through the sovereign Yahushua.” Paraggelias means, “to transmit a message, i.e. (by impl.) to enjoin” (SEC, Gk., #3853), “to notify, to command, to charge” (Greek–English Lexicon to the New Testament. This lexicon is located in the back of The Interlinear Literal Translation of the Greek New Testament. George Ricker Berry. Zondervan Publishing House, Michigan, 1958, p. 74); ”to give the word, give orders” (GEL, p. 594). Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible renders the passage to mean the “charges we gave you through the Lord Jesus”; The Interlinear Literal Translation of the Greek New Testament, Zondervan Publishing House, Michigan, 1958, has, the “injunctions we gave you through the Lord Jesus”; and The New Jerusalem Bible gives, “the instructions we gave you on the authority of Jesus Christ.” Therefore, we are charged by Yahushua the messiah to observe the porneia statutes. Many of these restrictions (e.g., brothers and sisters should not marry) only became applicable in the days of Moses due to the increasing development of genetic problems. We know, for example, that in the days of Adam and Eve, brothers and sisters did in fact marry (not only understood by the context of Gen., 1:26–28, 2:7, 21–25, 4:1f, 16f; but acknowledged by Jewish writers: Jub., 4:7–15; Chron. Jerah., 26:1f; Josephus, Antiquities, 1:2:1–3; etc.). Abraham married his half-sister Sarah (Gen., 20:12); Nahor, the brother of Abraham, married his niece Milkah (Gen., 11:27–29). Neither are the rules applicable in our present day the end of the matter. During the age to come, after our resurrection into a higher form, marriages between men and women, though they have been permis- sible in our present fleshly state, shall be forbidden (Matt., 22:30). As our condition advances, so shall the relevant requirements. Other forms of sexual misconduct, on the other hand, have always been, and shall always be, counted as evil. These include acts of lewdness as well as effeminate and homosexual activities (1 Cor., 6:9f; Eph., 5:3–5; Gal., 5:19; Rom., 6:19). Those who continue to break these porneia laws shall die in the lake of fire at the end of the Millennial Judgment Day or our present world-age (Rev., 21:8). (3)There is a prohibition against eating things offered to idols (Exod., 34:15; Num., 25:2f; Deut., 32:16f; compare with 1 Cor., 8:10–13). (4)There is also a prohibition against eating animals that have been strangled—an extension of the restriction against eating blood. In Scriptures any animal slaughtered for the purpose of eating must have its blood drained to avoid the meat being saturated with blood (Deut., 12:23f, 15:23; compare with the idea behind Exod., 23:18, 29:11f, 15–21, 34:25; Lev., 1:3–6, 11–15; Num., 18:17; Deut., 12:27; and so forth). To sacrifice an animal, for example, one must kill it according to scriptural standards and drain its blood prior to cooking. This procedure is an extension of the prohibition against eating blood and sets the pattern for the home of Yahweh’s followers. An example of food prohibited by this regulation is “blood sausage.” 83 Acts, 15:28f. t he t orAh 9Next >