Within Judaism, many Jewish people will trust in their rabbi’s opinion to guide them through their whole lives, from how they should prepare their meals, to whom they should marry, to how to pray. Perhaps they assume that the teaching is based on the Tanakh as well as tradition and do not see a need to compare it with a reading of Scripture. But what if the rabbis themselves are ignoring God’s Word? Doesn’t that have more authority than any individual teacher? There is a real danger of blind trust in the opinions of others.
For example, on Deuteronomy 17:11, the celebrated Jewish scholar Rashi writes: “אֲפִלּוּ אוֹמֵר לְךָ עַל יָמִין שֶׁהוּא שְׂמֹאל וְעַל שְׂמֹאל שֶׁהוּא יָמִין:
Deuteronomy 17:11
“Even if he (the judge) tells you about what appears to you to be right that it is left, or about what appears to you to be left that it is right, you have to obey him.”
Rashi’s commentaries are read and digested in yeshivot around the world.
In the Talmud, we read of the dispute over the Oven of Akhnai (Beva Metzia 59a-b), in which a new type of oven is brought before the grand Jewish council known as the Sanhedrin, and a dispute breaks out as to whether the oven is ritually pure or impure. Only Rabbi Eliezer argues that the oven is pure, against all of his fellow rabbis. During this dispute, a voice from heaven - supposedly God - claims that Eliezer is correct, and his opinion should be followed. The other rabbis then argue against God, claiming that his voice is not to be recognised, seeing as rabbis ought to follow majority rulings, citing Exodus 23:2 (which actually teaches the opposite). According to the tale, God then responds, “My sons have defeated me!” and changes His mind, allowing the oven to be declared impure. Read the following article to consider this issue further
Put these two examples together, and we have examples of a religious system that ignores God’s voice yet esteems man’s. And if we look at the Tanakh we find the opposite emphasis. In Isaiah 8:20
Isaiah 8:20
To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
Nowhere in Scripture does God ask men to merely trust the judges or teachers or superiors wholly without reason. Rather, God says in Isaiah 1:18:
Isaiah 1:18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
In Ezekiel 18:20, we read:
Ezekiel 18:20
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
This teaches us that we will not be judged merely corporately as part of Israel, but also individually, in our own persons.
We read in Jeremiah 26 (verses 8, 11):
Jeremiah 26:8, 11
Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die [...] Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.
As Jeremiah had prophesied the destruction of the temple, saying from the Lord:
Jeremiah 26:6
Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.
the people of Israel took this as an insult, having wrongly esteemed the temple given by God, rather than God himself.
Had the people of Israel read the Scriptures, they would have seen that God maintained a covenant with the Jewish people in which exile was threatened for disobedience. We read in Leviticus 26:27-33:
Leviticus 26:27-33
“And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
Jeremiah then was merely speaking the truth that God had already revealed to the Jews in the Torah, and yet the Jewish religious leaders had degenerated so as not to even recognize the voice of God speaking through his prophet.
And if that could happen to Jeremiah, you can be sure it could even happen to the Messiah also. And so it did – Jesus Christ – who as the God-man, is greater than Jeremiah, a mere man. Ask yourself: if the priests can be wrong on Jeremiah so as to sentence a righteous man to death, might they also be wrong to have condemned Jesus of Nazareth in their Sanhedrin?
Had the rabbis honored the Scripture, they would have seen that Jesus Christ fulfilled all the Tanakh’s prophecies: https://nerleragli.org.il/en/blog/is-yeshua-the-jewish-messiah. The Jewish rejection of Jesus Christ is thus predicated on an ignorance of Scripture. And amazingly, even this ignorance is prophesied by the Psalmist:
Put these two examples together, and we have examples of a religious system that ignores God’s voice yet esteems man’s. And if we look at the Tanakh, we find the opposite emphasis in Isaiah 8:20:
Isaiah 8:20
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
Nowhere in Scripture does God ask men to merely trust the judges or teachers or superiors wholly without reason. Rather, God says in Isaiah 1:18:
Isaiah 1:18
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
In Ezekiel 18:20, we read:
Ezekiel 18:20
The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
This teaches us that we will not be judged merely corporately as part of Israel, but also individually, in our own persons.
We read in Jeremiah 26:8-11:
Jeremiah 26:8-11
Now it came to pass, when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die [...] Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears.
As Jeremiah had prophesied the destruction of the temple, saying from the Lord Jeremiah26:6:
Jeremiah26:6
Then will I make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.
the people of Israel took this as an insult, having wrongly esteemed the temple given by God, rather than God himself.
Had the people of Israel read the Scriptures, they would have seen that God maintained a covenant with the Jewish people in which exile was threatened for disobedience. We read in Leviticus 26:27-33:
Leviticus 26:27-33
And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me; Then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. And I will destroy your high places, and cut down your images, and cast your carcases upon the carcases of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste, and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savour of your sweet odours. And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
Jeremiah then was merely speaking the truth that God had already revealed to the Jews in the Torah, and yet the Jewish religious leaders had degenerated so as not to even recognize the voice of God speaking through his prophet.
And if that could happen to Jeremiah, you can be sure it could even happen to the Messiah also. And so it did – Jesus Christ – who as the God-man, is greater than Jeremiah, a mere man. Ask yourself: if the priests can be wrong on Jeremiah so as to sentence a righteous man to death, might they also be wrong to have condemned Jesus of Nazareth in their Sanhedrin?
Had the rabbis honored the Scripture, they would have seen that Jesus Christ fulfilled all the Tanakh’s prophecies: https://nerleragli.org.il/en/blog/is-yeshua-the-jewish-messiah. The Jewish rejection of Jesus Christ is thus predicated on an ignorance of Scripture. And amazingly, even this ignorance is prophesied by the Psalmist:
Psalm 118:22-23
The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.
The builders being the Jewish leaders, and Jesus Christ being the cornerstone.
Your soul is too precious to entrust to the whims, prejudices, and opinions of your superiors. You ought to rightly honor Scripture, as it is God’s Word. We read in Psalm 138:2:
Psalm 138:2
I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.
You cannot trust in man to interpret the Scriptures for you; you must search the Scriptures (John 5:39) for yourself.
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