In reading the New Testament we frequently observe that our Lord differed from the synagogue leaders of His day in regard to the purpose and understanding of the Sacred Writings. The Saviour repeatedly explained to the scribes and Pharisees that the Scriptures taught of Him. To this assertion the elders objected. Jesus said:
"Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?" John 5:45-47.
In reviling the blind man healed by the Saviour, the Pharisees said to him: "Thou art His disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence He is." John 9:28, 29.
When the Sadducees came to the Master with the question in regard to the resurrection of the dead, Jesus answered them: "Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the Scriptures, neither the power of God?" Mark 12:24.
There were influential men among the Jews in the Saviour's day who without doubt could repeat the entire volume of the Old Testament. From childhood the rabbis insisted that the youth must familiarize themselves with the words of Scripture. If a lad planned to be a teacher of the law, he must add to his knowledge of Scripture constantly. There were many in that day who were able to repeat entire books of the Old Testament, in addition to their knowledge of rabbinical lore. Yet the Saviour accused these leaders of not knowing the Scriptures. From the Saviour's viewpoint they were ignorant of the Holy Writings, even though they were familiar with the letters and words of the text.
Interpreted in Four Ways
After the death of Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament canon, there arose a class of teachers who insisted that the Scriptures can be expounded in different ways. Because many Jewish teachers came into contact with Greek learning and philosophy, they undertook to liberalize the Old Testament, and asserted that it was not wise to narrow down the Sacred Writings to only one exposition. Depending more upon learning than upon inspiration, these leaders of Jewish thought turned away from the pure stream of inspiration, and drank at the unclean fountain of heathen learning and scholarship.
Mystical application of Scripture was made, and it was maintained that the Sacred Writings were like a garden. Four different interpretations were given to Scripture, with the following names:
1. Peshat, the simple way. This was to accept the text as it read.
2. Deutrsu, the spiritual way. This gave the text a certain spiritual application.
3. Reniez, the allegorical or parabolical application. This method afforded the rabbis an opportunity to advocate strange teaching.
4. Son, the secret way. There were many hidden and mysterious ideas wrapped up in the texts, they maintained, and the scholars were privileged to adduce endless and far-fetched, hidden suggestions from the Sacred Writings.
From the first letters of these four words, —Peshat, Remez. Derush, Sod,—the acrostic PaRDeS was formed; hence the rabbinical idea of a paradise. They compared the Scripture to a beautiful garden, wherein the learned might enter and discover an endless variety of charming and original flowers.
Hillel the Great, grandfather of Gamaliel of New Testament record, offered seven rules of interpretation of Scripture. The learned Rabbi Ishmael suggested thirteen rules of interpretation; and Rabbi Jose of Galilee introduced the "thirty-two rules of interpretation." The Talmud declares that the law can be interpreted in forty-nine different ways.
Four Modes of Inspiration
In order to encourage and to stimulate thought and mental acumen among the younger men who were forging ahead to make a name for themselves, it was deemed necessary for the sages to clarify the meaning of inspiration. It was taught that while the Lord gave the Scripture to the men whom He chose, there was a difference in the value of the writings. The rabbis said, first, that since God Himself spoke the law on Mt. Sinai, those precepts were in a class by themselves. They called the writings of the decalogue the pure Inspiration. This was the highest form of God-expression. These ten words were not intrusted to the mouth of man; they were expressed by God Himself. Since the Lord is pure and holy, this gift of the law to the people was the purest. It was God-breathed.
Next, Moses was a man specially chosen of God. The Scripture says of him that God spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend. Therefore the Lord had a tender regard for and love toward Moses. They taught that the writings which the Lord gave to Israel through Moses were good, enduring, valuable, and holy; yet the breathing of these words from God to Moses was not equal to the inspiration of the ten commandments, which did not pass through human lips. Therefore the inspiration of the Pentateuch was not equal to that of the ten commandments.
Then, the prophets were good men, they were called of the Lord. Through these men were given commandm, nt-, warnings, forecasts, benedictions, counsels tnd valuable instruction. But these men were not all clean men. The prophet Isaiah said that he was "a man of unclean lips," and he dwelt in the midst of a people of unclean lips, yet he had seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. They therefore held that the instruction given through the prophets was not on a par with the teaching of the decalogue, or even the Pentateuch. This was the third kind of inspiration.
And lastly, such books as Job. Psalms, Proverbs, Ezra, Nehemiah, and other writings of the Old Testament, were given by the Lord to the people for a purpose, but they did not rank in force or in effect with the writings even of the prophets. These Kettubim (Scriptures) were inspired, but in a class by themselves. So the teachers in Israel claimed that the difference in these classes of inspiration must be recognized. They stoutly maintained that the teachings of the Old Testament were not all on an equal plane. They felt at liberty to handle these writings as they chose. The result was that leaders and people lost the significance and purpose of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures.
Since the synagogue and temple depended upon rabbinistic exegesis instead of inspired application of the writings of Moses and the prophets, the masses had no right to determine for themselves the uses of the word of God. The Am-ha-ratsim, the people of the earth, as the laity were designated, were not allowed to use or to explain the Scriptures only as these writings were taught them by the rabbis.
His Own Knew Him Not
In view of the bondage in which the people were held by the elders of the Jews, when John the Baptist, forerunner of the Messiah, came to Israel with the message based on the writings of the prophets, the rank and file of the people found it hard to understand what he meant by his teaching. The scribes and Pharisees did not recognize John as a teacher, for he had never attended the rabbinical schools, and he was not authorized by them to teach. When the Saviour came to declare to the people the fulfillment of the word of God which they were taught to cherish as the fountain of truth, the leaders of Israel said that He had not learned of them the meaning of the writings, and therefore He was not authorized of God to be a teacher in Israel.
Because the theologians of that day differentiated between the writings of the holy men of God who were moved to write by the Holy Spirit, leaders and laity became darkened in their minds as to things divine, and they misunderstood the purpose and import of the messages of God given through the men chosen to impart the knowledge of God to Israel. In the end the multitudes of leaders and laity lost their God and their Saviour by rejecting Him who is the fulfillment of Moses and the prophets.
May we be admonished by the Spirit of God to accept the Sacred Writings which we know come to us from heaven, as the word of God. The fountain which issues the divine stream is a pure fountain. Let us drink from the river of the water of life.
Washington, D. C.
