By Hillel ben David (Greg Killian)
I. Study Goal
I am trying to see if
there is any scriptural difference between HaShem's
people as revealed in the Tanach (the Old Testament), and HaShem's
people as revealed in the Nazarean Codicil.
II. Hypothesis
Torah (the law) is a description of the character of HaShem as it is
written:
Yeshayah
(Isaiah) 2:3 Many peoples will come and say, "Come,
let us go up to the
We know, from the
Nazarean Codicil, that the "Word" is Yeshua.
This passage is equating the Torah (Law) with the Word. Torah is a description
of Messiah. And He is unchanging, as it is written:
Malachi
3:6 "I HaShem do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.
An unchanging God who's
character is defined by Torah, would have a consistent and unchanging
requirement for those whom He loves. We know that all those who are saved by grace through faith are called sons
of God, as it is written:
Romans
A gathering
of the sons of God, those who are saved by grace through faith, for the
purposes of obeying Torah and worshipping the unchanging God, are called an
assembly as it is written:
Devarim
(Deuteronomy) 5:22 These are the commandments HaShem proclaimed
in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added
nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets
and gave them to me.
The word
"assembly" is qahal in Hebrew. This is the
Hebrew word that is translated ekklesia, or church, in the Septuagint.
I would, therefore,
expect that an unchanging HaShem would have an unchanging requirement for His
people to obey the Torah (the law) which is a description of His character. The
term "church" and "Israel" are
the two most frequent terms used to describe this called out assembly. I would,
therefore, expect these two terms to describe the same group of people.
III. The first usage of "assembly".
The first use of
assembly (qahal) is in:
The first use of
"Qahal", which is
translated ekklesia in the Septuagint, is in:
Bereshit
(Genesis) 28:1-4 So Isaac called for Jacob and blessed him and commanded him: "Do not
marry a Canaanite woman. Go at once to Paddan
In this passage we can
see that the community, or church, of peoples were to be Isaac's
offspring, Jacob. From Jacob we have the twelve tribes of
The related word,
"edah", is first found in:
Shemot
(Exodus) 12:1 HaShem said to Moses
and Aaron in
This passage also
brings us back to
Lets examine the words
for "church", in the Nazarean Codicil, and "congregation"
in the Tanach.
"Church" is the English translation
of the Greek "ekklesia". "Ekklesia" is also translated as
"congregation" or "assembly". Strong's definition is:
1577
ekklesia, ek-klay-see'-ah; from a comp. of 1537 and a der. of 2564; a calling
out, i.e. (concr.) a popular meeting, espec. a religious congregation (Jewish
synagogue, or Chr. community of members on earth or saints in heaven or
both):-assembly, church.
So, a church is an assembly or congregation.
"Congregation" is the English
translation of the Hebrew "qahal".
6951
qahal, kaw-hawl'; from 6950; assemblage (usually concr.):-assembly, company,
congregation, multitude.
The Greek Ekklesia
means simply an Assembly: any assembly
of people who are called out (for that is the etymological meaning of the word)
from other people. Hence, it is used of the whole nation of
The Septuagint uses
the word Ekklesia seventy times when it translates the Hebrew
word: lhq; (qahal), from which we get our English word "call". It
means to call together, to assemble, to congregant, or gather
together. A related word is:
5712 `edah, ay-daw';
fem. of 5707 in the orig. sense of fixture; a stated assemblage (spec. a
concourse, or gen. a family or crowd):-assembly, company, congregation,
multitude, people, swarm. Comp. 5713.
The first usage of
ekklesia, in the order of the Nazarean Codicil, is in:
Matityahu
(Matthew) 16:18 And I tell you that you are Tzefet (Peter),
and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not
overcome it.
Peter was an
Israelite. So, if Messiah's church has anything to
do with people, it has to do with Peter, or with Israelites.
V. Idiomatic usage of "Church":
Let's look at another
usage of the word "church". This usage is an idiomatic phrase:
"The Angel of the Church".
This is an officer of the synagogue. The
following names and titles also describe this officer:
Sheliach Tzibbur (Hebrew)
Angellos Ekklesia (Greek)
(Angel of the Assembly or
Angel of the Church)
Bishop of the congregation
Baal Teffilah (Master of Prayer)
Chazzan
overseer
This officer is known
today as the Chazzan, Hazzan HaKeneset, or the Beadle. The qualifications for
this office, according to Shulhan Arukh - OH 53:4-9, were:
1. Humility
2. Acceptability to
the congregation.
3. Knowledge of the rules of prayer and the
proper pronunciation of the Hebrew text.
4. An agreeable voice.
5. Proper dress.
6. A beard.
(Magen Avraham to Shihan Arukh OH. 53:6)
This man was the
public minister of the synagogue. He was responsible
for public prayer, or appointing those who read from
the Torah, and he sometimes preached if there were no others to discharge this
office. This man did not read the Torah publicly, but, every Shabbat, Sabbath, he called out seven
of the synagogue (on other days fewer) whom he judged fit to read. He stood by
those that read and carefully made sure that they read correctly. He would
correct them if they made an error. It is for this reason that he was also
called an "overseer". If you wanted something read in the synagogue,
on Shabbat, you would give it to the Angel of the Church; that is why the
letters, in the opening chapters of the book of the Revelation, are addressed
to the Angel of the Church. He would get folks to read these letters, on Shabbat,
to the whole congregation.
Formerly, in the Temple service in Jerusalem, the
Angel of the Church was the priest who acted as the leader of prayer in intercession with HaShem
for the worshippers.
This office is found
several times in the Nazarean Codicil. I have underlined the word. Note that it
is not always translated as "the angel of the church":
Luqas
(Luke) 4:14-21 Yeshua returned to
Matityahu
(Matthew)
Matityahu
(Matthew) 10:16-20 I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.
Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. "Be on your
guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and
flog you in their synagogues. On my account you will be brought before
governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles.
But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At
that time you will be given what to say, For it will not be you speaking, but
the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.
Revelation
2:1 "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the
words of him who holds the seven stars in his right
hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands:
Revelation
2:8 "To the angel of the church in
Revelation
2:12 "To the angel of the church in
Revelation
2:18 "To the angel of the church in
Thyatira write: These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like
blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze.
Revelation
3:1 "To the angel of the church in
Revelation
3:7 "To the angel of the church in
Revelation
3:14 "To the angel of the church in
From the above usage
we can understand that the "Angel of the Church" was simply an
officer of the synagogue and of the Temple. Both of these institutions are associated with
V. Examples
I would like to remove
the word "church" from the following sentences, and substitute the
word "congregation". This should help us to understand this word
"church" a little better:
Matityahu
(Matthew) 18:15-17 "If your brother sins against you, go and
show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have
won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along,
so that 'every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell
it to the congregation; and if he refuses to listen even to the congregation,
treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.
In this portion the
audience is made up of the Apostles, all of whom are Israelites. These
Israelites had no church as we know it. They had only synagogues
made up of congregates who are Israelites or converts. They knew nothing of a
single pastor because they always had at least three pastors. The singular word
"pastor" never occur in the Nazarean Codicil. It occurs ONLY in the
plural. They knew nothing of our church songs, church government, church
buildings, communion, church baptism, or any of the
other trappings associated with a church. They only knew the synagogue!
If you analyze the
sequence here, you will see that the number of people we "go to" is
increasing from one to two or three to an entire congregation. The idea of a
congregation is the idea of talking to all the folks of your town or community.
Biblically speaking, a congregant ALWAYS walked less than a Sabbath day's journey to get to the synagogue. So, if
you told a matter to the congregation you have effectively ostracized a sinner
from his community.
VI. The Book of Ruth
The book of Ruth gives a beautiful example of the church:
Ruth
1:3-5 Now Elimelech, Naomi's husband, died, and she
was left with her two sons. They married Moabite
women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they
had lived there about ten years, Both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi
was left without her two sons and her husband.
So, we have a
Moabitess named Ruth marrying a Jew of the tribe of
Ruth
1:15-18 "Look," said Naomi, "your
sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her."
But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you or
to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay.
Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will
die, and there I will be buried. May HaShem deal with
me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me."
When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging
her.
Here Ruth is
identifying with the HaShem of the Jews. In fact, it
is from this passage that Jews understand that you should attempt to dissuade a
potential proselyte three times and then you should accept them and never
dissuade them again.
Notice that Ruth and
Naomi get to
Ruth
1:22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth
the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem
as the barley harvest was beginning.
The barley harvest
ALWAYS begins the day after the first day of Passover. Passover is connected to
Hag Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks, by counting the omer. When we have finished counting seven
weeks and fifty days, we begin to celebrate Hag Shavuot.
Now we can see that
Ruth gets betrothed on Hag Shavuot:
Ruth
2:23 So Ruth stayed close to the servant girls of
Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived
with her mother-in-law.
Since we know that the
wheat harvest is ALWAYS begun on Hag Shavuot, we can can understand that the
end of the barley harvest represents the beginning of the wheat harvest. This
was the time of Ruth's betrothal:
Ruth
3:1-13 One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her,
"My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be
well provided for? Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a
kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.
Wash and perfume yourself, and put on your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don't let him know you are there
until he has finished eating and drinking. When he
lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and
lie down. He will tell you what to do." "I will do whatever you
say," Ruth answered. So she went down to the threshing floor and did
everything her mother-in-law told her to do. When Boaz had finished eating and
drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of
the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. In
the middle of the night something startled the man, and he turned and
discovered a woman lying at his feet. "Who are you?" he asked.
"I am your servant Ruth," she said. "Spread the corner of your
garment over me, since you are a kinsman-redeemer." "HaShem bless
you, my daughter," he replied. "This kindness is greater than that
which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich
or poor. And now, my daughter, don't be afraid. I will do for you all you ask.
All my fellow townsmen know that you are a woman of noble character. Although
it is true that I am near of kin, there is a kinsman-redeemer nearer than
The Sages all
understood that Hag Shavuot is when Ruth became betrothed. The Sages also
understand that Hag Shavuot is when
So Ruth,
the proselyte, representing the 'church', became betrothed
on Hag Shavuot, the Feast of Weeks. The 'church', typified by Ruth, first
became Torah observant and then became betrothed.
VII. Connecting "assembly" (qahal)
and "church" (ekklesia) in time.
We have an interesting
Nazarean Codicil which points back to the "church", or ekklesia, in
the wilderness. This is the Nazarean Codicil's earliest reference, in time, to
the church. A careful reading shows that those who constitute the church are
the children of Israel.
II
Luqas (Acts) 7:37-40 This is that Moses, which said unto the children
of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your
brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. This is he, that was in the church
[ekklesia] in the wilderness with the angel
which spake to him in the mount Sinai, and [with] our fathers:
who received the lively oracles to give unto us: To
whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust [him] from them, and in their
hearts turned back again into Egypt, Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go
before us: for [as for] this Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt,
we know not what is become of him.
II
Luqas (Acts) 7:37-40 "This is that Moses who told the
Israelites, 'God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.' He was
in the assembly in the desert, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount
Sinai, and with our fathers; and he received living
words to pass on to us. "But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead,
they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to
Those called
Israelites, in the above passage, also include Gentiles,
as it is written:
Shemot
(Exodus) 12:37-38 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. There were about six hundred
thousand men on foot, besides women and children. Many other people went up
with them, as well as large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.
We see this same group
of Jews and Gentiles, called Israelites, in:
Devarim
(Deuteronomy) 29:9-15 Carefully follow the terms of this covenant,
so that you may prosper in everything you do. All of you are standing today in
the presence of HaShem your God--your leaders and
chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, Together
with your children and your wives, and the aliens
living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water. You are
standing here in order to enter into a covenant with HaShem your God, a covenant HaShem is making with you this day and
sealing with an oath, To confirm you this day as his people, that he may be
your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I am
making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you Who are standing here
with us today in the presence of HaShem our God but also with those who are not
here today.
The Talmud (the oral law) records that HaShem spoke seventy
languages at Sinai, that the whole world might comprehend His Torah:
Shabbath
88b: R. Johanan said: What is meant by the verse, The Lord giveth the word:
They that publish the tidings are a great host? Every single word that went
forth from the Omnipotent was split up into seventy languages. The School of R.
Ishmael taught: And like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces, just as a hammer
is divided into many sparks, so every single word that went forth from the Holy
One, blessed be He, split up into seventy languages.
It is written, that
the number of nations is seventy, in:
Devarim
(Deuteronomy) 32:8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up
boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of
Bereshit
(Genesis) 46:26-27 All those who went to
Egypt with Jacob--those who were his direct
descendants, not counting his sons' wives--numbered sixty-six persons. With the
two sons who had been born to Joseph
in
With this
understanding of what happened at
II
Luqas (Acts) 2:1-47 When the day of Pentecost
came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of
a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole
house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All
of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to
speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. Now there were staying in Jerusalem
God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven. When they heard this
sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard them
speaking in his own language. Utterly amazed, they asked: "Are not all
these men who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them
in his own native language? Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of
Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia,
Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome
(Both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs--we hear them declaring
the wonders of God in our own tongues!" Amazed
and perplexed, they asked one another, "What does this mean?" Some,
however, made fun of them and said, "They have had too much wine."
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice
and addressed the crowd: "Fellow
Jews and all of you who live in
HaShem
repeatedly emphasizes, in the above passage, that the men who are being added
to their number, are JEWS! Not only are they Jews,
but they are Torah observant Jews! God-fearers were proselytes to Judaism, so
we would consider them Jews too. The only other group of people mentioned, are
the men who lived in Jerusalem. These are most likely
Jews too. This is exactly the same makeup as the people in the wilderness of
Sinai, in the days of Moses. The mixed multitude were demonstrably proselytes
to Judaism. In fact, the rules for how Gentiles are
received into Judaism are derived from the acts that the people performed just
prior to the declaration of the Torah.
There are many who see
II Luqas (Acts) 2 as the beginning of the Church. This cannot be. First the
word for 'church' is not used in this passage. Second, it occurs 1300 years
after the giving of the Torah, which was, clearly,
called the 'church', according to:
II
Luqas (Acts) 7:37-40 This is that Moses, which said unto the children
of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your
brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. This is he, that was in the church
[ekklesia] in the wilderness with the angel
which spake to him in the mount Sinai, and [with] our fathers:
who received the lively oracles to give unto us: To whom our fathers would not
obey, but thrust [him] from them, and in their hearts turned back again into
Egypt, Saying unto Aaron, Make us gods to go before us: for [as for] this
Moses, which brought us out of the land of Egypt, we know not what is become of
him.
It is instructive to
note that the giving of the Torah, in II Luqas (Acts) 7:37-40, and the events
of II Luqas (Acts) 2, both took place on Hag Shavuot. So, I would agree that
the church was first formed on Hag Shavuot, but I
would suggest that it happened in the days of Moses, which was 1300 years
before the events of II Luqas (Acts) 2.
VIII. Conclusion
To put it another way:
The first church was formed
in the days of Moses,
of Israelites and a large mixed
multitude (Gentile proselytes),
at the foot of
on the Feast of Weeks
(Shavuot [Hebrew] - Pentecost
[Greek]).
Most Christians agree
that the first church was formed on the Feast of Weeks (Pentecost), but, they
see the time frame as the time of II Luqas (Acts) chapter 2. Even so, the
people in II Luqas (Acts) chapter two were composed of Israelites (Jews and
proselytes), in
IX. The Etymology of the Word 'Church'
The word 'church' is
probably not a very good word to use when we are describing HaShem's chosen people. This word is a mixture of the
Holy and the profane. Let's look at what the dictionary says about this word:
DEFINITION:
church (chûrch) noun
Abbr. c., C., ch.,
1. A building for
public, especially Christian worship.
2. Often Church a. The
company of all Christians regarded as a mystic spiritual body. b. A specified
Christian denomination: the Presbyterian Church. c. A congregation.
3. Public divine
worship in a church; a religious service: goes to church at Christmas and Easter.
4. The clerical
profession; clergy.
5. Ecclesiastical
power as distinguished from the secular: the separation of church and state.
6. Christian Science.
The structure of Truth and Love (Mary Baker Eddy).
verb, transitive
churched, churchˇing,
churchˇes
To conduct a church
service for, especially to perform a religious service for (a woman after
childbirth).
adjective
Of or relating to the
church; ecclesiastical.
[Middle English chirche, from Old English
cirice, ultimately from Medieval Greek kurikon, from Late Greek kuriakon
(doma), the Lord's (house), from Greek kuriakos, of the lord, from kurios,
lord.][1]
Note that the
dictionary says that "church" is the translation of
"kuriakon" not "ecclessia" as we find in most Bible
translations.
Now lets see who
"circe" is:
Cirˇce (sûršsę) noun - Greek Mythology.
A goddess who turned
Odysseus's men temporarily into swine but later gave him directions for their
journey home.
Ciršceˇan
(sûršsę-en, ser-sęšen) adjective[2]
Circe (sûršsę) (sûršse), in Greek mythology, enchantress; daughter of HELIOS.
In HOMER's Odyssey she turned ODYSSEUS' men into swine, but was forced to break
the spell.[3]
So, I am not sure if
we even want to use the word "church" after we understand it's
etymology. The word 'church' is the name of a pagan goddess who turns men into
swine! This is certainly not what I want to be called by. We might be wiser
just to call these folks the 'congregation' or the 'assembly'.
* * *
This study was
written by Hillel ben David
(Greg Killian).
Comments may be
submitted to:
Greg Killian
7104 Inlay St SE
Lacey, WA 98513
Internet
address: gkilli@aol.com
Web page: http://www.betemunah.org/
(360) 584-9352
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Send comments to Greg
Killian at his email address: gkilli@aol.com