In the eastern and southern parts of the world especially and including some of the Middle East, some things remain little changed from what they have been for hundreds – even thousands of years!
That’s one of the myriad of interesting things about Israel. On the one hand, you have Tel Aviv with a lot of modernity and a major tech development center, and yet less than a 2-to-3-hour drive away south into the Judean wilderness, the Bedouins live much as they have for hundreds of years. Their traditions – such as great hospitality to strangers – go back to the time of Avraham in Gen 18!
Bedouin women – the Bedouins are Muslim – and many Muslim women in the Middle East – dress as Muslim women did many centuries ago. However, the West is very different. As anyone who lives or has lived in the West knows, ‘brand new’ things are constantly being presented to us! A 2-3-year-old tech device, especially if it’s 3 years old, is seen as rapidly becoming ‘old/outdated’.
From tech to almost anything under the sun, we are constantly bombarded in the West that we need ‘brand new’ whatever.
It is natural then that Christians especially think of the NT (‘New Testament’) as, just that; ‘a brand new Testament’. However, is that what Yeshua really made?
Did, Yeshua actually make a ‘brand new Testament’ with the 11 beloved Taught Ones – all fellow Jews from Galilee as Yeshua was on Earth, who remained with him at the Last Passover Seder?
Dear one; you will now see, again, why we only teach you directly from the Bible’s incredible original languages! Also, why we, with God’s help, as we say in Hebrew, try to provide you with historical & cultural background, and, especially the context, context, context of a Biblical passage!
Though the Word of the LORD is, praise God, timeless, it takes place in time. It takes place in specific time and specific places.
So, let’s take a look at the good doctor Luke’s Koine (‘Common’) Greek rendering of the Last Passover Seder (Hebrew ‘order’) in Lk. 22:19-20. How Luke actually renders Yeshua’s making of a Covenant here should profoundly impact how you understand it!
We first need to point out that Luke of course – even if Luke was a proselyte to Judaism as some scholars think he may have been – was not at the Last Passover Seder. Though Luke writes under Inspiration of the Ruach Hakodesh (the original Hebrew name of the Holy Spirit), Luke is totally dependent on Jewish sources for the events of that night.
We’d be negligent if we didn’t point out that Luke’s KG Gospel, while the second most sophisticated Greek in the RCS (Renewed Covenant Scriptures – you’ll learn ahead why we use the term!), is actually much more Hebraic & Jewish than evangelical scholars tend to give it credit for, after the 1st 2 chapters.
(Ironically, the most sophisticated Greek and the most Hellenistic (Greek style) Letter is Hebrews. This is why when asked, ‘Who do we think is the author of Hebrews’, our guess is, based on those 2 key factors, that it’s more likely Apollos than Paul. We also answer, “God knows that’s what counts”! On Apollos, see Acts 18:24-28, Titus 3:13).
Despite the tragic and unfortunate post-Biblical de-Hebraizing and de-Judaizing of Yeshua and the RCS, the Last Passover Seder takes place in a completely, totally Jewish environment. Yeshua did not illuminate for his beloved Jewish Taught Ones in Greek, Latin, or King James English (!) – any more than William. Shakespeare was an Orthodox Jew who lived in Jerusalem and wrote Hamlet, et al, in Hebrew!
A Little Excursus That You’ll See Below Ties In
Christian tour groups in Israel that are taken to the Upper Room, where it is felt the Last Seder took place, are brought to Mount Zion in the Old City of Jerusalem. The Upper Room is located about halfway up a narrow footpath from the back of the souvenir shop at the Garden Tomb. That footpath is the shortest and least steep of the 3 pathways toward the inner part of Mount Zion.
The outer part of Mount Zion, the part with an absolutely spectacular view directly overlooking the Valley of Hinnom between Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives about a mile+ away, is now a paved road for cars and tour busses.
We’ve parked on Mount Zion at times when we had a rental car for various purposes, including to go to pray at the Western Wall or going to the Old City, before going elsewhere. Speaking of modernity, there are parking meters along the curbside of the part of the road on Mount Zion where cars can park.
In Jerusalem, I found out firsthand that you pay parking tickets at the post office. On my birthday I wound up getting 2 parking tickets! When I went back the second time to a neighborhood post office to pay the second one, the clerk stepped back, thinking I’d probably start yelling, something the typical Israeli would have done!
Especially since the second ticket was the result of my confusion since where I needed to pay and where I didn’t wasn’t clear. (Rather than having meters, this residential neighborhood near downtown Jerusalem had the more modern buy-a-time ticket from a machine and place the ticket on the dash or window).
I told the clerk (in Hebrew), “Today is my birthday and the City has given me a second chance now to bless the City with a little righteousness”. In Hebrew, what’s used isn’t ‘charity’ but rather the word ‘righteousness’. This is because In Hebrew from the Hebrew Bible, it is seen that if God has blessed you with material need, then it is ‘righteousness’ to give to someone in need.
To Return….
The Upper Room is located above King David’s Tomb, a place where some very pious Jews also pray. Right across the narrow cobblestone footpath – I’m not sure that God forbid it was needed, an ambulance could pass by – is a very non-descript stone building.
It is the Chamber of the Holocaust, a very very emotionally powerful place, though far less known and visited than the famous Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem Yad Vashem (‘hand and name’, from a verse in Isaiah).
Post-Biblically – as with virtually everything else about Yeshua, his earthly family, and his Taught Ones – including Paul – the Last Passover Seder was de-Hebraized and de-Judaized into ‘The Last Supper’, an event that has been portrayed in some of what are considered the great paintings and tapestries of Western Civilization that looks as Jewish as a ham and cheese sandwich on white bread with extra mayo!
Let us kindly please be sure to strongly make the point; though the good doctor Luke obviously has to write in KG (Koine ‘Common’) Greek, the only question about the original words Yeshua uses at the Last Seder, is whether they were Hebrew or its very close sister language Aramaic. It was probably Hebrew, and some scholars feel that while Yeshua probably primarily spoke Aramaic as his everyday language, he taught in Hebrew.
Either way, dear one, have no doubt about it; again, our wonderful Mashiach no more speaks at the Last Seder in Latin, Greek, or King James English (or modern for that matter!) English; any more than William Shakespeare was an Orthodox Jew in Jerusalem writing in Hebrew!
Now, we come to the crux of the matter – and the extremely critical question – did Yeshua make a ‘New Testament’ – or, a ‘renewed, new in quality Covenant’? Why is this an extremely critical question? Because how one answers this will tremendously impact their understanding of everything else!
It will impact, speaking very sensitively but truthfully, whether one sees Yeshua as Yeshua Hamashiach, or, ‘JC’.
So then dear one, when it comes to the language, here is what is so very key to trying to understand and then apply what Yeshua actually does. Hebrew has only one word for both new and renewed. The vast majority of the time there is an issue because unfortunately KG In a number of key instances doesn’t have a word that either means or has the depth of meaning of Hebrew.
Here it is the opposite. While again Hebrew has only one word that is used for both ‘new’ and ‘renewed’, KG has two primary words for new. One is neos, defined in Greek lexicons basically as ‘new in time’, i.e., ‘brand new’. The other word, kainos, is defined as ‘new in quality/renewed’.
What is ‘key’ regarding the Renewed Covenant is this. How does Luke render in Koine Greek Yeshua’s original illumination in either Hebrew (probably) or Aramaic Hebrew’s very close sister language, at the Last Passover Seder regarding the Renewed Covenant Lk. 22:19-20? First; evangelical scholars point out that the KJV (King James Version of the Bible) translators were better versed in Latin than KG (Koine Greek).
The KJV translators rendered the KG diatheke, which can mean ‘last will’ – but also ‘covenant’- by the Latin testamentum. Though very incorrect, it is easily understandable why they thought this way. To the translators, Yeshua was not Yeshua, divinity come to earth in Jewish flesh cf. Yochanon 1:14, Mt. 1:1-17, et al. By the time of the KJV, there had been 1500+ years of post-Biblical Gentile leadership – including the so-called ‘Reformers’ – totally and completely de-Hebraizing and de-Judaizing Yeshua, into a Greco-Roman Western ‘JC’.
The KJV translators changed the name of Yeshua’s earthly brother Jacob, to ‘James’, so they could work King ‘Jimmy’s’ name into the Bible. (They figured they had a better chance of keeping their heads).
With Yeshua very incorrectly thought of as a Greco-Roman, ‘JC’, then ‘JC’ must have thought according in Greco-Latin terms, rather than Hebraically. This, combined with the KJV translators being better versed in Latin than KG, results in diatheke being translated ‘Testament’ rather than Covenant.
Yeshua being thought of in Greco-Roman terms is no more accurate and authentic than recasting William Shakespeare as an Orthodox Jew who lived in Jerusalem and wrote Hamlet in Hebrew! In the same way, Yeshua’s mother’s Hebrew name Miryam ‘Bitter’ ‘Miriam’ KG transliterated Mariam, becomes ‘Mary’. ‘Mary’ is typically portrayed as European-looking, matronly, middle-aged, and very white-skinned.
The truth is, Miryam was a pious Torah observant Jewess (Lk. 1-2) of the 1st century Galil (Galilee) of Israel, raven-haired and olive-skinned and probably no more than 15 or 16, as the average life expectancy then was only 40 years!
Luke Was Not At the Last Passover Seder – the Significance then of What Luke’s Jewish Source Thought Yeshua Meant – A ‘New Testament’ or a ‘Renewed New in Quality Covenant’
Luke’s earthly sources for his Gospel were all Jews – all Jews – and Jews in Israel. As we try to emphasize in our teaching; there are several key Hebrew words that KG has no equivalent to. In this instance, we have 2 situations where there is no Hebrew equivalent of KG.
In the first, there’s no Hebrew word ‘testament’ with the idea of ‘last will and testament’. There is ‘covenant’ – with a very different meaning. Covenants were made, literally cut, between 2 parties. Hebrew has no idea or word for an individual leaving a ‘last will’.
What is the great significance of this? It means that Yeshua thinks in terms of Hebrew’s covenant. Further, even if Yeshua meant as the KJV translators and subsequently all Christian translations translate, Yeshua would have to explain the idea of a ‘last will and testament’ to his beloved fellow Jewish Taught Ones at the Seder. They had no idea of a ‘last will and testament’.
Since post-Biblical Gentile leadership had also recast the Jewish Taught Ones as de facto ‘ex-Jews ex-Hebrews who started/converted to post-Biblical ‘Christianity’, this fact is completely overlooked!
Now the crux of the matter. As we mentioned above; Hebrew has just one word which is used for both new and renewed. Just as the Hebrew shalom is used for both ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’. Thus; the key question of whether the Jewish source Luke draws from who was actually at the Seder, thinks Yeshua makes a ‘brand new’ covenant – or, one that’s ‘renewed/new in quality’.
Now, dear one, you will see again, why we teach you only – and directly – from the Bible’s incredible original languages!
In Luke 22:20 Luke renders in KG Yeshua’s Hebraic original regarding the Covenant Yeshua makes as ‘… n kainv diathnkn’, ‘the specific subject identified the renewed, new in quality Covenant’. Extremely significantly the good doctor Luke uses a form of kainos – explained above defined as ‘renewed/new in quality’. Also; Luke does not use a form of neos ‘brand new’.
If Luke thought the Jewish source at the Last Seder thought Yeshua makes a ‘new in time’, i.e. a ‘brand new’ covenant, Luke would have used neov ‘new in time’; not kainv ‘new in quality/renewed’!
Yeshua is the continuation and culmination of the Hebrew Bible! This is what Yeshua illuminates for his beloved Jewish Taught Ones at the Last Seder – and through them – cf. Yochanon 17:20; cf. also 13:20 – to the World!
The easiest way to think of renewed is to think of the ‘new moon’ we see almost every month. Do we get a ‘brand new’ moon? No, the moon is renewed each month!
A Brand New Way to Look at Renewed in the RCS Renewed Covenant Scriptures
It is critical – very very critical – to realize that Yeshua at the Last Seder also does not say, “I have come, thus ending the Old Testament, and making a brand new Testament”. This idea, which is ‘baked into’ my dear Christian brethren, thus impacts how they look at everything.
Yeshua nowhere by the way, ever speaks of an Old Testament/New Testament dichotomy – period. Yeshua also in fact, dear one, never uses the term ‘OT’ – period. Both ideas – ‘old’ and ‘Testament’ together, were completely foreign to his Hebrew heart!
Five of the Six Uses of the Words ‘New’ and ‘Covenant’ in the KG Text of the RCS (Renewed Covenant Scriptures) Are Forms of Kainos – Renewed
This is based on a Greek concordance of the RCS.
Another ‘Key’ Use of Kainos Renewed
In 2 Cor. 5 when Paul speaks of a new creation regarding someone who is in union with Yeshua, Paul uses a form of kainos. As we pointed out in our other blog on New, we point out that based on Paul’s Greek, an evangelical scholar astutely points out the following.
That is, that what Paul says is not that there is a ‘brand new’ creation when one comes to Mashiach Yeshua, but rather ‘the old man is properly reconstituted’.
Renewal for the New Year
Thus, dear one, if you haven’t already, this is a great time to start understanding, thinking, willing and acting on the basis of Yeshua making a Renewed Covenant; rather than a ‘New Testament’ – and with the implication of an ‘Old Testament’. As we pointed out above – Yeshua never uses the term ‘Old Testament’ – period!
A Great Time for Personal Review
This year is last year’s next year. This year is last year’s next year. Meaning, that last year whatever you said you wanted to change, do, not do, spend more or less time doing, improve etc., ‘next year’, it is now, next year!
Don’t beat yourself up, but take a look at where you are now spiritually, compare it to last year at this time. The Orthodox Jewish rabbis especially, put a lot of emphasis on what is called in Hebrew ‘standards and measures’, meaning acquiring and acting with godly character traits and integrity.
These, are the real, deeper essence and substance of the Torah for Christians; rather than the Festivals and Judaica!
As followers of Yeshua we include with these godly character traits, those of the Mashiach and what Rabbi Saul (Paul) and the other Jewish Brothers illuminate. We should also ask, “Where we are at with the Body of Mashiach, with brethren we know, and with the World”?
The rabbis astutely point out that if we try to improve everything about our character, we will be overwhelmed and wind up not improving anything. So then, they recommend picking just one trait to start with – say more forgiveness for others – and focus on that until we feel have definitely elevated our level of that trait.
Then, go from there. An absolutely amazing and Biblical model to follow, and one of the greatest and unfortunately unknown teachings, is Peter’s in 2 Pet. 1:3-12! We call this Peter’s ‘ascending ladder of godly and Mashiach-like character traits.
Also, as Peter was inspired to write, may we look for and hasten, in Greek, in a ‘real, concrete, present tense continuous process’, the Day of God.
Rich blessings to you and yours for this year, in Yeshua’s name!