“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near.”

Isaiah 55: 6

דרשו יהוה בהמצאו קראהו בהיותו קרוב׃

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What Did the Messiah Say About Halacha: An Excerpt from The Trilogy

The Messiah is Yahweh. Both the Old Testament (i.e., the Tanach) and the New Testament make that crystal clear, but very few people have heard it in church. Fewer still have heard it in synagogue. It’s interesting how that works, because the Messiah was Jewish through-and-through.

Rabbis prohibited people from using Yahweh’s Name in the mid-second century BC. They made up the name Yehovah and told Jewish people that Yehovah is Elohim’s name. Their goal was to prevent Jewish people from accidentally blaspheming or profaning Yahweh’s Name. They were probably thinking, If people don’t know Yahweh’s Name, they can’t say it. Thus, they can’t blaspheme or profane His Name.

Regrettably, that Jewish tradition stuck and was brought forward. Today, Jewish people who are not religious at all are reluctant to say “Yahweh”. They don’t know what the Tanach says about Yahweh’s Name. All they know is what ancient rabbis said.

Few Christians know the Name Yahweh. When they hear it, they don’t associate it with the Messiah. That’s a serious problem. Preachers need to spend more time reading Yahweh’s word and praying. Time is running out for many of them.

One of the Messiah’s missions on earth was to restore the use of Yahweh’s Name, because Yahweh commanded us to declare His Name to the world. (See His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition.) Obviously, very few preachers have gotten the message even though those commands are all over the Bible they preach from. They must think that they didn’t hear it in seminary, so it must not be all that important. Seminaries are a huge part of the problem.

Several years ago, a friend who had read His Name is Yahweh gave me a tape of a sermon that his preacher had delivered and asked me to listen to it. The sermon’s title was “The Importance of the LORD’s Name”. When I saw the title, I wanted to hear it, but I was in for a big surprise.

It was a long, tedious sermon delivered in a monotone. The preacher kept saying “the LORD this” and “the LORD that”. After an hour, that got tiresome.

Listening to the sermon was doubly frustrating for me. I kept waiting for the preacher to say the Name Yahweh, but he never did. He delivered a complete sermon about the importance of Yahweh’s Name without mentioning His Name even once. The irony was conspicuous.

I wonder if the preacher knew that the Messiah was crucified for saying “Yahweh”. In your Bible, it says that Caiaphas tore his robe and said,

“He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; what do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death!” (Matthew 26: 65-66)

Since the mid-second century BC, the definition of blasphemy according to Halacha has been simply saying “Yahweh”. See Sanhedrin 7: 5:

The blasphemer is punished only if he utters [the divine] name. Rabbi Joshua b. Korcha said: “The whole day [of the trial] the witnesses are examined by means of a substitute for the divine name:, ‘may Yose smite Yose.” When the trial was finished, the accused was not executed on this evidence, but all persons were removed [from court], and the chief witness was told, ‘State literally what you heard.’ Thereupon he did so, [using the divine name]. The judges then arose and tore their garments, which were not to be resewn. The second witness stated: “I too have heard thus” [but not uttering the divine name], and the third says: “I too heard thus.”

Preachers today are wondering why so many people are turning away from religion. To attract crowds, many of them are resorting to entertainment of various sorts. Most of them are failing miserably. If they were serious, they would get back to the basics in Yahweh’s word, because Yahweh honors His word. Entertainment is not a good substitute for the truth.

Yahweh’s people are fleeing churches and turning to Yahweh Himself. He is taking over and doing what preachers should have been doing all along. If preachers don’t get their acts together, they will regret it. Yahweh is patient, but His patience has limits. That is obvious in the Scriptures.

What is Halacha?

Halacha is Jewish religious law. It’s also called the Oral Law and the traditions of the Jews. It’s spelled out in the Talmud, the Mishnah, and the Gemara.

In Judaism, Halacha supersedes Yahweh’s word (the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings, a.k.a. the Tanach or the Old Testament). Subordinating Yahweh’s word to man-made religion is a serious problem with serious consequences.

For details, read His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition and The Trilogy. You can download both books for free in PDF format, or you can buy either book in paperback and eBook. Click here for details.

An Excerpt from The Trilogy

With that information as backdrop, consider the excerpt below from The Trilogy:

The Messiah Distinguishes between Yahweh’s Law and Halacha

In John chapter 8, the Messiah addressed the distinction between Yahweh’s Law and Halacha specifically. Let’s take a look.

The Messiah was on the Temple Mount engaging in a discussion with a group of people who believed in Him, but many religious leaders (Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes) were there as well. They didn’t believe in Him.

The scribes and Pharisees confronted the Messiah by bringing a woman to Him who was “caught in adultery, in the very act”. (John 8: 4) They said,

“Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” (John 8: 5)

The Messiah’s response is well-known, but not well-understood. He said,

“He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8: 7)

Obviously, the woman was guilty according to Yahweh’s Law. If she was caught in “the very act” of adultery, so was a man. He was guilty, too, but they didn’t bring him to the Messiah.

Why not? The Law applies equally to men and women.

The scribes and Pharisees were testing the Messiah to see if He would violate Yahweh’s Law or suggest that violating the Law was of no consequence. His response stopped them dead in their tracks.

He didn’t deny their claim about the Law, but He pointed to their attempt at trickery by telling them that the first person to throw a stone at her should be sinless.

All of them were guilty, and they knew it. They just walked away. When they were gone, He turned to the woman and said,

“I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.” (John 8: 11)

He forgave the woman and told her to repent. That’s what “sin no more” means.

The crowd didn’t disperse. The Messiah addressed these remarks to those who remained:

“I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8: 12)

That’s one of the Messiah’s “I Am” statements. The Name Yahweh derives from the Hebrew verb hayah. It means “to exist”. By using the definition of the Name, He was claiming to be Yahweh.

Most Bible translations use “I Am”, but “I Exist” is more accurate. That’s a minor point for purposes of this discussion.

The Messiah made the same point again in verse 18:

“I am He who testifies about Myself, and the Father who sent Me testifies about Me.” (John 8: 18)

The miracles that the Messiah performed were testimony from the Father. No one could do what He did unless there was Divine intervention. The fact that He performed miracles is well-documented in the New Testament and in the Talmud.^[1]

Large crowds flocked to the Messiah for healing. Most of the people who were with Him that day on the Temple Mount wanted to receive healing or they wanted to watch someone being healed, but the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes were looking for an opportunity to condemn Him.

The Messiah gave the religious leaders (His adversaries) some ammunition in verse 24:

“Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” (John 8: 24)

Clearly, the Messiah was saying that if they didn’t believe He is Yahweh they would die in their sins. He did not say the Name “Yahweh”. Instead, He used the definition of the Name.

According to Halacha, only religious Jews could say “Yahweh” and only on special occasions. As I said, if everyday people uttered His Name, it was considered blasphemy, and the penalty was death.

The Messiah’s religious adversaries got the message:

“So they [the religious leaders] were saying to Him, ‘Who are You?’ The Messiah said to them, “What have I been saying to you from the beginning?” (John 8: 25)

When they asked Him “Who are You?”, they were trying to trick Him again. They wanted Him to say “Yahweh” so they could accuse Him of blasphemy and kill Him. Eventually, they would accomplish their mission,^[2] but not that day.

The Messiah gave His adversaries more ammunition in verse 28:

“When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He….” (John 8: 28)

The Messiah was referring to His crucifixion. He said that they would discover His true identity after they killed Him.

The Messiah’s crucifixion, burial, and resurrection were foretold in the Tanach.^[3] Those things had to happen for our redemption and salvation. As Isaiah said, the penalty for our sins fell upon Him:

“But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.” (Isaiah 53: 5)

Pay close attention to John 8: 30-31, because the Scriptures are His central point:

“As He spoke these things, many came to believe in Him. So the Messiah was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’” (John 8: 30-31)

He addressed that remark to people who believed Him. In other words, they believed what He told them, and He told them that He is Yahweh. Then, He said that they should “continue in My word” because it’s the truth.

“My word” must refer to the Tanach. In other words, He was talking about Yahweh’s Law, not Halacha, and He wasn’t adding anything to Scripture. He certainly wasn’t talking about the New Testament because it didn’t exist at that time.

The Messiah said that Halacha is evil. See John 8: 44:

“You [the religious leaders] are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.” (John 8: 44)

By referring to the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes as sons of the devil, the Messiah made clear where Halacha came from.

In Matthew 15: 3, the Messiah asked the religious leaders a question that illustrates my point:

“And why do you break the command of Elohim [in the Tanach] for the sake of your tradition [Halacha]?” (Matthew 15: 3)

The answer is simple. They broke Yahweh’s Law because they were following the devil. Satan inspired them to believe that their traditions (Halacha) were more important than Yahweh’s word, Scripture.

In effect, their teaching rendered Yahweh’s word null and void. From Yahweh’s perspective, that is a sin of the highest magnitude.

The same problem persists to this day. Jewish religious leaders study and teach Halacha instead of the Tanach. They call themselves “Torah scholars”, but that’s absurd. They are Halacha scholars, and the Messiah told us where Halacha came from.

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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)