by gumby 34 Replies latest watchtower bible
As we all know, Jesus many times quoted the old law, but then he'd give a further application of that law. One example is the passage in Matthew 5:43,44 which says, "You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy (44) however I say to you, you must love your enemy and pray for those persecuting you".
So, the question is....where did Jesus get the idea from which says "you must hate your enemy"? Did the 'law' teach this idea?
Gumby
Exposition of the Law by the teachers.
Agreement with minimus here :
(Matthew 5:43-45) 43 "YOU heard that it was said, ‘You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 However, I say to YOU: Continue to love YOUR enemies and to pray for those persecuting YOU; 45 that YOU may prove yourselves sons of YOUR Father who is in the heavens, since he makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous. . .
I have got some notes scribbled in my old large size NWT that it was the Pharisees interpretation of the law that he was getting at.
Bluesbrothers is right. When speaking to the people, Jesus differentiated between the written law and the oral law. When he would say "It was written", he was referring to the written laws that Jehovah gave the Israelites. When he would say "You heard it was said", he was referring to the 'oral traditions' or manmade laws, that went way beyond was the written law was actually saying.
You can compare it to the WTS today. If Jesus were here he would say "You heard it was said'you must not accept a blood transfusion'. It's not that the bible says that anywhere, it's how the Pharisees Governing Body interprets it, and how they put their "oral law" above above the written law. In essense, making themselves greater than God.
"You heard it was said" in Matthew 5 introduces verbatim OT quotations (e.g. "eye for eye and tooth for tooth") just as traditional summaries of current Jewish understanding based on both canonical and extra-canonical texts (remember the borders of the Jewish canon were being finalised by the Pharisees about the same time as the Gospel of Matthew was being written, and both communities would not necessarily agree on this issue). In the present case, "hate your enemies" can be seen as an adequate summary of a number of scriptural texts, e.g. Deuteronomy 7:2; 23:7; 30:7; Psalms 5:5; 26:5; 31:7; 119:113ff; 139.19ff; 2 Chronicles 19:2. Very similar ideas are equally found in the (loosely) Essenian setting of Qumran, e.g.Rule of the Community 1.3f: "To love all He has chosen and to hate all He has despised," 1.9ss: "That they may love all the sons of light... and hate all the sons of darkness, each one according to his sin, in God's Vengeance."
Otoh, "loving one's enemies" is not absent either from pre-Christian Jewish tradition, especially in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. Cf. Testament of Joseph 18:1-3: If ye also, therefore, walk in the commandments of the Lord, my children, He will exalt you there, and will bless you with good things for ever and ever. And if any one seeketh to do evil unto you, do well unto him, and pray for him, and ye shall be redeemed of the Lord from all evil.
Otoh, "loving one's enemies" is not absent either from pre-Christian Jewish tradition, especially in the Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs. Cf. Testament of Joseph 18:1-3: If ye also, therefore, walk in the commandments of the Lord, my children, He will exalt you there, and will bless you with good things for ever and ever. And if any one seeketh to do evil unto you, do well unto him, and pray for him, and ye shall be redeemed of the Lord from all evil. - narkissos
Then why do I often read (even outside of JW literature) that Jesus was this radical preacher who amazingly introduced the concept of loving one's enemies?
Were those praises yet another example of Christian triumphalism??
INQ
where did Jesus get the idea from which says "you must hate your enemyWell Gumby you should know that> From the Watchtower
(((Gumbro)))
Yes. Blues Brother is right. It was the Pharisaical (sp?) teaching that he said to turn away from. Think of all of the pharisaical-like teachings that the society expounds. They go way beyond what is written for instruction. That's why Jesus had to sum up the entire Law - love your God and your neighbor.
Actually, they put the members back under man made laws heaping burdens upon them. They are once again setting up a pseudo "Jewish" sect by enforcing their rules.
Love with hugs guy, Juni
As today we are told to obey the leaders and rulers of our day and their rules to the best of our abilities...we are not authorized to lead a rebellion...even if they are wrong and evil in their thoughts and intentions...as they were in Jesus' day.
HE was authorized to expose and chastise them...and was not bound by their rules and opinions..as they were trying to follow and force others to obey His themselves.....
He had the authority to change the rules...or "fuffill" them as He defined it.....
His authority came from being foretold and expected.....by His killers...who where hoping He would be ridding them of all the people who could not measure up to their standards.
He led a rebellion of sorts by exposing their evil thoughts and intentions to those who followed and obeyed them as men of God.
The next rebel leader will also be fuffilling prophecies so that His authority will not be in question or a guess...but rather undisputable....This helper or spirit of truth He foretold is also evil....which is something completly different.
Who is the most evil rebel leader of all?
That where my research is taking my guesses.....
Things are not quite what they seem the further I dig for some kind of answers.
Another interesting point on this whole thing is the Society's spin on it. In the October 1, 1990 p. 13 Watchtower, they had this to say about the background for the term "You heard it was said:"
*** Righteousness Not by Oral Traditions***
12
When Jesus previously quoted from the Hebrew Scriptures, he said: "It is written." (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10) But six times in the Sermon on the Mount, he introduced what sounded like statements from the Hebrew Scriptures with the words: "It was said." (Matthew 5:21, 27, 31, 33, 38, 43) Why? Because he was referring to the Scriptures as interpreted in the light of Pharisaic traditions that contradicted God’s commandments. (Deuteronomy 4:2; Matthew 15:3) This is made apparent in Jesus’ sixth and last reference in this series: "You heard that it was said, ‘You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’" But no Mosaic law said, "Hate your enemy." The scribes and Pharisees said it. That was their interpretation of the Law to love your neighbor—your Jewish neighbor, no others.
Now consider the last line there with a previous thread that Gumby started (quoted below) from the Daily Text and how the Society is practicing today, exactly what they accuse the Pharisees of doing 2,000 years ago:
Gumby said: Anyways, it goes on to say what Jesus told his diciples who asked him which was the greatest of all the commandments and Jesus answered them that "you must love god with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself".
Then it went on to ask if this law was also important to christians today and the comment was.... ( AND HERES THE KICKER) "Absolutely, the law of christ involves a heartfelt love of god and includes a new command.....CHRISTIANS ARE TO HAVE A SELF SACRIFICING LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER".
So rather than say christians are to love your fellowman, they twist the scripture and say christians are to love other christians.......and we all know by that statement they mean other Jehovah's Witnesses since they hold no regard for christians of this world.
Another good example to show that the WTS is the image of the 1st Century Pharisees-----not Jesus.
