Synagogue and Church – Part Two

Introduction

In the first part of this study (see Synagogue and Church, Part 1: The Historical and Legal Background of Matthew 23:1-12), we presented an argument that Yeshua used His royal authority to change the assignment of responsibility from the Sadducees who ran the Temple to the Pharisees and scribes, and appointed the apostles to guide the believing Jews. Through the Beit Din of Acts 15, James the Just outlined four requirements that non-Jews needed to meet before joining the congregational worship services of Israel. This state of affairs has had profound implications for the past two thousand years, and in this essay, I would like to touch on them.

This is not intended to be a deep dive nor a scholarly treatise, but an extremely abbreviated descriptive study with my personal thoughts about the road ahead at the end. I compare and contrast the Synagogue and Church as they developed over the centuries in the following categories: 1) ecclesiastical leadership, 2) sacred texts, and 3) liturgies, halachah, and evangelism. In addition, I look at the biblical history of Jacob and his family as they became a nation, and what happened in subsequent centuries, because the argument can be made that the division between Synagogue and Church reflects the division between Judah and Joseph.

Ecclesiastical Leadership

Rabbis

After the destruction of the Second Temple, the Pharisees and scribes became the rabbis. Sadducees, Essenes, and other minor sects disappeared. In the early centuries following the loss of the Temple, the rabbis were centered in Palestine and Babylon, and produced the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds (more on that later).

Centuries passed, and by the end of the twentieth century, three major divisions of Judaism had developed. They were the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform congregations. All of them have subdivisions with internal disputes. Other Jewish groups are the Karaites and the Messianic Jews, the former which is barely accepted and the latter of whom are rejected as Jews.

Major thinkers and theologians made profound contributions, earning some of them names of distinction and acronyms to stand in for particularly influential and renowned figures such as the Rambam (Maimon), Ramban (Nachman), the Vilna Gaon (Zalman), and others. Particularly distinguished rabbis become known as rebbes.

In Israel, a group of rabbis have formed what they say is the modern-day incarnation of the Sanhedrin.

Emergence of churches and their leaders

The twelve apostles replaced Judas Iscariot with Matthias. Men were chosen as deacons, and James the Just, brother of Yeshua, in time became the acknowledged leader of the Nazarenes. I suspect this transpired because he had the same royal ancestry as Yeshua, and in effect, became His heir. He was killed a couple of years before the destruction of the Second Temple.

A rabbi named Saul accepted Yeshua and became active in evangelism to the Gentiles, becoming better known as Paul. During his travels, Paul set up both congregations and officers to lead them. The offices Paul listed were apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (Ephesians 4:11). Overseers/bishops and deacons are described in 1 Timothy 3:1,12. Bishops became the leaders in large cities, and within a few centuries, the Bishop of Rome became the overall leader of the church, as the ekklesia became known.

The church suffered at least two major schisms: the first was the Great Schism of 1054 that resulted in the Eastern and Western churches breaking their communion, and the second was the Protestant revolt led by Martin Luther and others in the Western Church. A third may be happening in the present day with Christians leaving the traditional churches and going into Messianic congregations.

My impression of current leadership is that the Pope is considered the overall leader of the western branches of the church, and the Eastern Orthodox churches are led by archbishops. Outside of the large churches, congregations appear to be led at the pastoral level, with congregations being part of associations with democratically elected leadership, and issues jointly voted upon by the membership.

Sacred Texts

Judaism recognizes a standard canon of the Law, Prophets, and Writings. According to Dr. Lawrence Schiffman, the Jewish canon was standardized in the first two centuries CE.¹ Dr. James vanderKam, famed Dead Sea scholar, reviewed a scholarly study that concluded the Masoretic Text became dominant between 150 and 250 CE².

1http://lawrenceschiffman.com/standardization-of-the-text/ Accessed on January 12, 2019.

2https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/reviews/the-formation-of-the-jewish-canon/ Accessed on January 12, 2019.

The different branches of Christianity have their own canons. These generally include the same books as the Jewish canon, and the books of the New Testament. In addition, some include what are known as the Deutero-canonical books, and the Ethiopian church also includes 1 Enoch.

There are writings that are considered pseudepigraphical, like 1 Enoch, and are not considered canonical; they were rejected for various reasons. Other writings are considered gnostic and heretical by both Judaism and Christianity.

In 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, and contributed greatly to understanding the development of the canonical texts and pseudepigraphic writings.

The LDS and related churches also accept additional texts such as the Book of Mormon.

Liturgy, Halachah and Evangelism

Jews

For two millennia, the rabbis have written prayers and developed a Torah study cycle, the one-year and the three-year cycles, which are read weekly. I believe that the basic service conducted each Shabbat is more or less the same throughout the major sects, with tweaks made by each sect. The Shema, v’ahavta and other standard prayers are recited, the weekly reading is read and discussed, and the service closes with the Aaronic benediction.

Halachah is defined as the “walk” and consists of accumulated rulings made by centuries of rabbis in response to daily life.

After centuries of persecution, the Jewish rabbis discourage evangelism and conversion. But, because so many young Jews and Christians intermarry, anti-missionaries have become active, and organizations have programs to encourage non-religious Jews to become more active within Judaism.

Christians

Note: Given the many denominations of Christianity, making broad sweeping statements runs the very real risk of overgeneralizing and inaccuracy.

The Christian churches (depending on the denomination) have various liturgies, but they do echo the more ancient Jewish liturgies. Some do have formal prayers and creeds; others don’t. They do not have the weekly Torah cycles. The closest to a Torah cycle that I am aware of is the Roman Catholic Church publishing a bulletin for the year prescribing the verses for a given worship service, whether it’s the regular Sunday service or a special holiday. Protestant churches typically teach on topics chosen by the pastor that are found throughout the Bible. Hymns are composed and sung.

Local pastors and higher ecclesiastical authorities set out their expectations for their congregants, but their teachings and doctrines are not necessarily widely accepted throughout the many denominations.

Many denominations emphasize evangelism, often encouraging members from other denominations to change to the new denomination, in addition to evangelism to Jews and other non-Christians.

The Two Houses

Jacob married two wives, Leah and Rachel, and both wives gave him their personal maidservant. Each of the four women gave Jacob sons, and Leah also bore him a daughter, Dinah. Rachel was Jacob’s great love and preferred wife, and that caused tension within the family.

Later, the stories of Leah’s fourth son, Judah, and Rachel’s first son, Joseph, were recorded in Genesis chapters 38 (Judah) and 39 (Joseph). Judah did not have a happy family life. His Canaanite wife died, YHVH killed his first two sons, and Judah was deceived by his daughter-in-law because she needed to bear children to Judah’s first son, Er. On the other hand, Joseph had been sold into slavery on Judah’s suggestion. In Egypt, he rose to oversee his master’s house, and then later, became overseer of the jail after being falsely accused of attempted rape. Because of his gift for interpreting dreams, and practical administrative skills, he became Egypt’s number two ruler, second only to Pharaoh. He was given a wife from a leading religious figure, and she bore him two sons. The text says that YHVH was with Joseph even while he was among the gentiles in Egypt.

Four centuries after the Exodus, King Solomon’s adoption of his foreign wives’ pagan practices was punished by ten tribes revolting from his son Rehoboam, and forming the northern Kingdom of Israel. Judah and Benjamin remained loyal to Rehoboam. Both kingdoms had issues with idolatry. The Assyrians destroyed the northern Kingdom of Israel in 721 BC and the Babylonians conquered the southern Kingdom of Judah in 586 BC. The people of the northern Kingdom lost their identity and became gentiles, and to this day have not returned. The tribes in the southern kingdom of Judah became known as Jews. Some did return to the land after the end of the Babylonian exile and remained there for five centuries until the Second Temple was destroyed by the Romans.

Combining these next two passages about the mission of the servant, we see that Yeshua was to reclaim the Israelites.

And now the Lord says, who formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him, for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and my God has become my strength—
he says, “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel; I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Isaiah 49:5-6 NSRV

Yeshua said “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Matthew 15:24 NSRV

YHVH told Ezekiel that He Himself would make the two houses into one house (Ezekiel 37:19-22).

The Road Ahead

Several writers have opined on what will happen based on the contours outlined in the Bible and current events. The truth is no one knows for sure exactly what will happen as there are many moving parts and players. Then, also, prophecy must be fulfilled and sometimes, that takes surprising forms. YHVH told Ezekiel that He would unite the Houses of Judah and Israel.

1. Since Yeshua divided the leadership between the Pharisee and scribes to Judah and the Apostles to Ephraim, He will be the One to combine them back. Ezekiel describes the “levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok” (Ezekiel 44:15) as those who will minister in His Temple. It looks therefore like the existing rabbis and pastors of Christianity will cease to exist. But at the same time, we will all be a kingdom of priests. So, practically speaking, I don’t see any point with trying to perpetuate any kind of ecclesiastical structure until the final Temple is built and the Zadokians are in service. The rabbis and pastors should thus respect each other in their respective spheres. Interfaith couples are going to have a harder time in this area; ideally, they would accept Yeshua and keep Torah, and should be left alone by the anti-missionaries.

2. As far as sacred texts, for the present time, each group is going to argue that their canon is the right canon. I’d say it’s safe to say that the recognized set of scriptures of the Law, Prophets, and Writings will continue. Will the NT still be in use during the Millennial period? They just might be added to the Writings. Jude quoted from 1 Enoch, so I for one will be interested to see what status Yeshua accords to that book, the other pseudepigraphic writings plus the deutero-canonical books. Yeshua will decide what He approves and doesn’t approve. There may be some surprises in this area. New books will likely not be written during the Millennium if there is no longer a need to teach one another. If the law is written on our hearts, that could totally negate the need for sacred texts.

3. We will be following the Temple service, so the Zadokians will follow the ancient order of service. Since we will have the Law written on our hearts and the Spirit will guide us, there will be no further need of Jewish halachah or Christian doctrine.

4. We do not know when we will pass through Jacob’s Distress or when Yeshua will come as King. We do not know when Ephraimites will be allowed to return to the Land and take up their birthright as Hebrew Israelites, and reclaim their ancient territories. But we know those events are coming. We know the Millennial Age (Athid Lavo) is coming.

5. There are a number of different groups that are engaging in talking with one another. Some groups say Christians should continue to evangelize the Jews, others say we shouldn’t. My thought on this is that Christians and Jews should learn from each other by respectfully asking each other questions. We should learn to respect each other. I do not believe that Judah, by greater knowledge of the Torah, is superior to Ephraimites who need to learn the Torah. Ephraimites should answer questions that Judah should ask about Yeshua. Both houses should respect each other as equals, not be jealous or envious, and recognize that the Fathers (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) are the root of the tree, and that we are native and wild branches, respectively.