Hebrews Chapters 7 and 8 with notes
Guide: CJB emphasis
in bold (CJB online), mine in green with footnotes replaced in blue; NIV in magenta ;
Nomads* discussion in yellow; and my
comments in gray.
*Participative
Sunday-school-class at UBC led by Kenneth Tipton. My continually improved
statement about Genesis 1:26-28 is at the end of this. Also: Why did The Church
canonize this particular literature? (To be answered in future.)
Major
concerns from Chapters 7 and 8
1. The writer renews my
accusation: failure to integrity.
a.
I address intentional omissions rather than ignorance.
i.
Jeremiah
31:32 “. . . says Adonai: “I will put my Torah within
them and write it on their hearts [skipping to 35] “If these laws leave my presence,” says Adonai, “then the offspring
of Isra’el will stop being a nation in my presence forever.”
b. It prompts the questions: Why did The Church canonize Hebrews and why
doesn’t CJB object to Old Testament plagiary-distortions?
2. We discovered that family
trees, dates, geography, and languages impact understanding regarding Hebrews
7. I printed some impressions and will bring them Sunday for viewing. Everyone
can easily find them online.
3. Using a mysterious entity
(Melchizedek) to obfuscate Yeshua’s influence to goodness is nothing short of
treason to humankind.
4. Philanthropy including tithing is a
political ploy to grant wealthy entities favor in taxation of the civic faction
of We the People. Modern beneficiaries of philanthropy laws, such as Bill
Gates, and The Church are villains. It’s a form of taxation without
representation and creates pockets of undesired power over the people. We, the
civic faction, who pursue statutory justice, may and can amend the United
States Constitution to stop this obvious injustice.
5. The writer tries to claim that priests are
on par with Jesus.
6. Psalm 110:1 implies The God has very low
goals like making an enemy bow.
7. Heb 8:6-8 in CJB vs NIT juxtaposes the
hierarchy Yeshua, God, and Adonai against Jesus, God (the Trinity?), and the
Lord, respectively. Thank you, Nomads class (and UBC and others), for
aiding/facilitating my trust, at age 81, in The God, without objection or
imposition, and Yeshua’s civic influence without divinity, admitting to myself
that I do not know the ineluctable truth and to others that consequently I do
not object to a civic citizen’s trust in Jesus or Christ or The Trinity or
whatever motivates them to goodness.
8. I think it is egregious that the Hebrews
writer and the Messianic Jews, who published the Complete Jewish Bible, quote
Jeremiah 31 but hide V 35, which claims that The God holds humankind
responsible to moral law. I searched on Jer 31:35-37 on youtube.
a. “Larry”, with no humility toward Yeshua’s
civic influence, perceives a message about Jesus; see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIrRwhVszPc.
b. Jesse turns it to comfort in The God; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRULrKogmCg.
c. Charlene, starts with Joshua, the only man
who stopped the sun, prays thanks for rightness, starts at 4.5 minutes to
ramble nearly 10 minutes about the permanence of Israel; https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jeremiah+31%3A35-37
.
d. A Baptist minister presents V 31-37 as God’s
grace to those who know God through God’s work – he seems to view the mystery
of The God as the physics of the universe; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8JgrApkk3E
.
e. There are other videos. Please explore and
let me know if I should listen.
f.
Accepting
personal opportunity to pursue goodness rather than forgiveness need not be
this difficult if not unlikely. I am interested in fellow Nomads’ and UBC members’
views.
9. Competitive monotheism is not interesting to
people who view Genesis 1:26-28 as affirmation of the obvious: if goodness will
be established and maintained on earth, it will happen because most people
intend it.
Yale course, Session 4,
covering Hebrews 7 only, to my surprise
Video
1. The writer craftily, playfully suggests that
Melchizedek
represents righteousness, peace, superiority to Abraham, and eternity; the
ideal priest.
a. Biblical silence implies non-existence
(Melchizedek’s parents and death).
b. He is thus better than the
Levitical priests.
c. Jesus is a priest like Melchizedek but even
better, because he represents The Father.
2. The scholars wonder, without disclosing the
possibility, if the writer plagiarized Plato regarding forms or “world of
ideas”: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plato-parmenides/.
3. Again God swore on himself.
4. The Psalmist “cleverly” represented God, the
Lord, or self.
5. They doubt modern priests are divine merely
for representing The Son.
Study Guide
1.
The
writer of Hebrews employs typology – asserting that an old testament entity
foreshadows the writer’s opinion about Jesus (obfuscating the historical
Yeshua).
a.
The
writer constructs from Genesis 14:17-20, “ Malki-Tzedek king of Shalem brought out bread and wine. He
was cohen of El ‘Elyon [God Most
High], so he blessed him with these words: “Blessed be Avram by El ‘Elyon, maker of heaven of
earth. and blessed be El ‘Elyon, who handed
your enemies over to you.” Avram gave him a tenth of
everything.”
b. Some Jewish scholars offer The Coming of
Melchizedek, an angel; http://www.gnosis.org/library/commelc.htm.
He will rescue Israel from Belial, [source] of
wickedness and guilt in humankind, especially . . . sexual perversions,
fornication, and lust.
c. Philo thought M a symbol of spiritual
reality.
d. Paul also projected Jesus onto OT musings:
i.
Romans
4 (Abraham begetting Isaac like Jesus raised from the dead?)
ii.
Galatians
4 (projecting Jesus onto Isaac, begot from the free woman rather than slave?)
iii.
1
Corinthians 15. This is abstract projection of Jesus a spiritual birth compared
to Adam, formed by God from dust for
eternal life then deceased due to sin. I do not think it kind of the Yale
professors to impose their interpretations on me without explanation.
2. Yale Divinity School egregiously writes “Then comes the obvious punch line, a
reminder that our author probably did not start with the silence of
Genesis 14 but with the affirmation of Psalm 110 to understand Melchizedek:
‘resembling the Son of God he remains a priest forever.’” In reality, Psalm 110:4,
NIV reads, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.’” Yale is projecting Jesus (not Yeshua) onto both
David and Melchizedek. Psalm 110 seems to be David claiming that Adonai made
him both king and priest -- eternal like Melchizedek.
3. Since
the Levites descended from Abraham and Melchizedek was greater than Abraham,
the Levites are less priestly than Melchizedek. However, per Psalm 110, David
is as eternal as Melchizedek. The writer of Hebrews projects Jesus onto this OT
intrigue and the Yale professors exacerbate the secrecy. I do not hold divinity
schools in esteem.
4. The
priesthood of Aaron and Levi gave way to David’s priesthood in the style of
Melchizedek, shifting priesthood from Levites to the tribe of Judah. Yale,
along with the writer of Hebrews, chooses to project Jesus onto David.
5. The
Torah also becomes a thing of the past; good riddance since it did not motivate
perfect goodness.
Yale Questions for Discussion:
1. The interpretation of the relationship
with Jesus’ to Melchizedek probably seems unduly imaginative to us, but can we
see in the homilist’s discussion claims and promises appropriate to our faith
and hope in Jesus?
No. It is
sufficient (and I think more credible) to consider Jesus the descendent of
David, a priest on the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110).
2. If Jesus is the great and
only high priest how do we understand the priesthood of Christians today toward
each other, both in relation to ordination and in relation to the ministry of
all people?
Each person may
choose to pursue goodness, trusting both physics and Genesis 1:26-28. Our
chance for success is enhanced if we read Yeshua’s civic influence and
collaborate with interested fellow citizens.
3. If Hebrews tells us that
we are not bound by the old law found in the Old Testament, how do we
understand law and obligation for our communities today?
Law codes should
pursue statutory justice “to ourselves and our Posterity”.
The scripture:
7:1 This Malki-Tzedek, king of Shalem, a cohen [priest] of
God Ha‘Elyon, met Avraham on his way back from the slaughter [defeat] of the kings
and blessed him; 2 also Avraham gave
him a tenth of everything. Genesis 14:17–20 After
his return from slaughtering K’dorla‘omer and the kings with him, the king of
S’dom went out to meet him in the Shaveh Valley, also known as the King’s
Valley. Malki-Tzedek king of Shalem brought out bread and wine. He
was cohen of El ‘Elyon [God Most High], so he
blessed him with these words: “Blessed be Avram by El ‘Elyon, maker
of heaven of earth. and blessed be El ‘Elyon, who handed your
enemies over to you.” Avram gave him a tenth of everything. [Malki-Tzedek both king and
priest.]
Now
first of all, by translation of his name, he is “king of righteousness”; and
then he is also king of Shalem, which means “king of peace.” [A quick review of this king as
Shem, the first son of Noah, is at
https://hebrew4christians.com/Scripture/Parashah/Summaries/Lekh_Lekha/Melchizedek/melchizedek.html.]
3 There
is no record of his father, mother, ancestry, birth or death; rather, like the Son of God [This is a projection of Jesus –
not Yeshua – onto Melchizedek. The phrase “son of God” does not appear in the
OT.], he continues as a cohen for all time. [a miraculous existence,
according to the author. Differing from Yeshau in that Yeshua’s mother and
father are known.]
4 Just
think how great he was! Even the Patriarch Avraham gave him a tenth of
the choicest spoils. 5 Now the descendants of Levi
who became cohanim have a commandment in the Torah to
take a tenth of the income of the people, that is, from their own brothers,
despite the fact that they too are descended from Avraham. 6 But
Malki-Tzedek, even though he was not descended from Levi, took a tenth from
Avraham. [I think The
Church authored this coercion to tithing. Terah left Ur with his son Abram, to
escape the culture of human sacrifice and form a new civility based on animal,
fowl, blood, and grain sacrifice. The sons from Terah to Moses are: Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Levi, Kohath, Amran, or 7 generations. Adding 9 generations from
Adam to Noah and 8 from Noah to Terah, we have 23 generations from Adam to
Moses. The authors of this history of tithing predated the Internet or information
age and were unaware that the beginning was 13.7 billion years ago and the
earth is 4.6 billion years old. Nomads are not unaware of the actual reality.]
Also,
he blessed Avraham, the man who received God’s promises; 7 and
it is beyond all dispute that the one who blesses has higher status than the
one who receives the blessing. [Does “blessing” mean privilege or notice of responsibility? Consider
Genesis 1:26-28. There, “blessing” seems to be notice of responsibility to
goodness on earth and best wishes for collaboration to human being (verb).]
8 Moreover,
in the case of the cohanim, the tenth is received by men who die;
while in the case of Malki-Tzedek, it is received by someone who is testified
to be still [declared to be] alive. [Is there ineluctable evidence that this person was alive when Hebrews
was written? Tithing to The Church also has continuity. Is Malki-Tzedek a code
name for The Church?]
9 One
might go even further and say that Levi, who himself receives tenths, paid a tenth
through Avraham; 10 inasmuch as he was still in his
ancestor Avraham’s body when Malki-Tzedek met him. [Priests tithe through being priests.]
11 Therefore,
if it had been possible to reach the goal through the system of cohanim derived
from Levi (since in connection with it, the people were given the Torah),
what need would there have been for another, different kind of cohen,
the one spoken of as to be compared with Malki-Tzedek and not
to be compared with Aharon? [If perfection could
have been attained through the Levitical priesthood—and indeed the law [that
was] given to the people established that priesthood—why was there still
need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not
in the order of Aaron? ] 12 For if the
system of cohanim is transformed, there must of necessity
occur a transformation of Torah. 13 The
one about whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no
one has ever served at the altar; 14 for everyone
knows that our Lord arose out of Y’hudah, and that Moshe said nothing about
this tribe when he spoke about cohanim. [Rationalizing the authority of the tribe of Levi?]
15 It
becomes even clearer if a “different kind of cohen,” one like
Malki-Tzedek, arises, 16 one who became a cohen not
by virtue of a rule in the Torah concerning physical descent, but by
virtue of the power of an indestructible life. 17 For
it is stated,
“You are a cohen FOREVER,
to be compared with Malki-Tzedek.” Psalm 110:4
18 Thus,
on the one hand, the earlier rule is set aside because of its weakness and
inefficacy 19 (for the Torah did
not bring anything to the goal); and, on the other hand, a hope of something
better is introduced, through which we are drawing near to God.
20 What
is more, God swore an oath.
For no oath was sworn in connection with those who become cohanim now; 21 but
Yeshua became a cohen by the oath which God swore when he said
to him,
“Adonai has
sworn and will not change his mind,
‘You are a cohen forever.’” Psalm 110:4
22 Also
this shows how much better is the covenant of which Yeshua has become
guarantor.
23 Moreover,
the present cohanim are many in number, because they are
prevented by death from continuing in office. 24 But
because he lives forever, his position as cohen does not pass
on to someone else; 25 and consequently, he is
totally able to deliver those who approach God through him; since he is alive
forever and thus forever able to intercede on their behalf. [Converting Yeshua, a political
philosopher, into Jesus, an entity purported to be eternal priest.]
26 This
is the kind of cohen gadol that meets our need — holy, without
evil, without stain, set apart from sinners and raised higher than the
heavens; 27 one who does not have the daily
necessity, like the other cohanim g’dolim, of offering up
sacrifices first for their own sins and only then for those of the people;
because he offered one sacrifice, once and for all, by offering up
himself. 28 For the Torah appoints
as cohanim g’dolim men who have weakness; but the text which
speaks about the swearing of the oath, a text written later than the Torah,
appoints a Son who has been brought to the goal forever. [After arguing that Jesus won
forgiveness once and for all to all humankind, the writer now argues that the
priests are on par with Jesus yet have to perform physical duties. If I were a
priest, I’d resign and become a social worker doing all I can to lift that
profession to an honored practice.]
8:1 Here is the whole point of what we have been
saying: we do have just such a cohen gadol as has been
described. And he does sit at the right hand of HaG’dulah in
heaven. Psalm 110:1 Adonai says to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” [I do
not accept that The God is so crass, and do not know the ineluctable truth.]
2 There
he serves in the Holy Place, that is, in the true Tent of Meeting, the one
erected not by human beings but by Adonai.
[. . . the
sanctuary, the true tabernacle set up by the Lord, not by a mere human
being] [https://www.bereaninsights.org/bible-gem-2113-the-sanctuary-the-tent-and-the-shadow-hebrews-81-13/]
3 For
every cohen gadol is appointed to offer both gifts and
sacrifices; so this cohen gadol too has to have something he
can offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he wouldn’t
be a cohen at all, since there already are cohanim offering
the gifts required by the Torah. 5 But
what they are serving is only a copy and shadow of the heavenly original; for
when Moshe was about to erect the Tent, God warned him, “See to it that
you make everything according to the pattern you were shown on the mountain.” Exodus 25:40 [In this passage, the writer
mixes physics with mystery and doesn’t keep them separate enough to appear
rational. Physics just does not yield to mystery.]
6 But
now the work Yeshua [Jesus] has been given
to do is far superior to theirs, just as the covenant he mediates is better.
For this covenant has been given as Torah on the basis of better promises. 7 Indeed,
if the first covenant had not given ground for faultfinding, there would have
been no need for a second one. 8 For God [God] does find fault
with the people when he says,
“‘See! The days are coming,’ says Adonai, [the Lord],
‘when I will establish
over the house of Isra’el [12
tribes on lands straddling the Jordan River and Sea of Galilei] and over
the house of Y’hudah [the
land of David, west of the Dead Sea]
a new covenant.
9 “‘It will not be like the covenant
which I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by their hand
and led them forth out of the land of Egypt;
because they, for their part,
did not remain faithful
to my covenant;
so I, for my part,
stopped concerning myself with them,’
says Adonai.
10 “‘For this is the covenant which I will make
with the house of Isra’el after those days,’
says Adonai:
‘I will put
my Torah [laws] in their
minds
and write it on their hearts;
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
11 “‘None of
them will teach his fellow-citizen
or his brother, saying, “Know Adonai!”
For all will know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,
12 because I will be merciful toward their wickednesses
and remember their sins no more.’” Jeremiah 31:30–33(31–34) [The writer of Hebrews seems a
traitor to humankind by stopping short of V 35 (36) ““If these laws leave my presence,”
says Adonai, “then the
offspring of Isra’el will stop being a nation in my presence forever.”
13 By
using the term, “new,” he has made the first covenant “old”;
and something being made old, something in the process of aging, is on its way
to vanishing altogether. [What about “forever” in Jeremiah 31:35?]
[Genesis
1:26-28:
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in
our likeness, so that
they may rule over
the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all
the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own
image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and
increase in number; fill the
earth and subdue it. Rule over the
fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that
moves on the ground.
This,
the conclusion of the first chapter of the Holy Bible informs Today that
humankind may and can rule on earth. Acceptance of this power, authority, and
responsibility is human being (verb) – pursuit of goodness. The rest of the
Bible discloses the chaos that ensues if most individuals choose wanton
behavior. The civic collective cannot rule if most individuals practice badness
and accommodate evil. It’s a matter of personal choice: either pursue human
being (verb) or accommodate dependency, or crime, or evil. Yeshua affirmed
Genesis 1:26-28, e.g. in Matt 5:48 (be as perfect as goodness), 18:18 (don’t
expect error-correction), and 19:4-6 (don’t divide). Today there
are more than 8,000 religions and 45,000 Christian sects on earth. Today is time for individuals to accept the
power, the authority, and the responsibility to practice civic integrity.
“Ourselves” may continue to leave reliable responsibility to “our Posterity”,
referring to the preamble to the US Constitution.]
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