Using Tradition as an Excuse

A man once said: 
" I want to remind folks that Y'shua kept man made traditions. "

He used Luke 4:16-17 as proof — "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written....."

This man concluded: "Reading the Torah on the Sabbath is a man made tradition and here we find that not only did Y'shua keep this man made tradition but it was his custom to do so."

Well, as you probably figured out, this didn't set right with me. From my understanding of that verse Y'shua was not keeping a tradition. It was very normal for him to be in an assembly on each 7th Day, which ever town he was in at the time. In Luke we read that Y'shua was in Nazareth, his home town, and it was the Sabbath day. When he stood up, he was handed the scroll of Isaiah. When he 'stood up' means he had been sitting which means he had not been standing previously and reading from Torah scrolls. After Y'shua was handed the scroll he looked for the part he wanted to read to the assembly. Today we know he read from Isaiah 60, a prophecy concerning the Son of YHWH. 

Y'shua made it clear that he came to do the will of the Father and I really don't think there were any traditions handed down by Him. YHWH did give us His original set of rules, laws, regulations and teachings that are for our health and well being - these are not traditions. Anything that man adds, says or does outside Yah's clearly stated Instructions become traditions if people continue to do them time after time, year after year. These are practices that man thought made the Creator's instructions even better. By this type of behavior man places himself above YHWH and this is not a good thing.

Some folks believe Y'shua was teaching from the weekly Torah portion format and the section he was reading was from the Haftarah. It is true that Jewish rabbis had adopted the Haftarah readings as part of Torah teachings, but, again I point out Y'shua read the prophecy about himself being fulfilled that day from the scroll of Isaiah. There's no mention of Y'shua reading from any other scrolls.  Folks 'assume' he was.

I am inspired to take a closer look at what is written in Luke beginning with 4:15:

And he would teach in their assemblies and would be praised by every man. And he came to Nasrath where he had been raised and entered into the assembly as he was accustomed on the day of the Shabbat and stood up to read (from) the scroll of the prophet Isaiah which was given to him. Y'shua opened the scroll and found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of Master YHWH is upon me.... He has anointed me to declare hope to the poor; to heal the brokenhearted and to preach release to the captives and give sight to the blind; to free those who are oppressed by the power of forgiveness; and to preach the acceptable year of YHWH". Verse 20 - And he rolled up the scroll and gave it to the minister and sat down. 

Y'shua told them the Scripture he just read and they just heard was fulfilled that day. He has the Spirit of YHWH and is the Mashiyach - the Anointed One.  He was not teaching a Torah portion. This is the Son of YHWH letting folks know who he is and backing it up with Scriptures! Folks became angry with him to the point they were ready to toss him off a cliff. Does this sound like he was making them happy by following their 'tradition'?  I don't think so.

Quote from Chabad: The custom to complete the weekly public reading of the Torah every year finds its root in Babylon of the Talmudic Era. The Torah was then divided into fifty-four sections to allow for the completion of a yearly cycle with the reading of one Parshah per week. (end quote) 

Now that describes a man-made tradition! I really don't think Y'shua would adopt the practices that came from the Babylonian Talmud which are traditions passed down from the elders to the Pharisees whom Y'shua often called hypocrites. He would not enter a synagogue to join with the Pharisees and their method of teaching, but to teach the difference between their way and Yah's way.

Many think that there is nothing wrong with keeping traditions. The point these folks try to make is if tradition does not break commandments then it is just fine and dandy as long as we don't call them commandments, yet, at the same time, they know it was the traditions of the Pharisees that got them into trouble but think it was because they made their traditions into 'commandments'. This kind of self justification makes my head spin!

Again, we need to take another look into Scriptures for some clarity. It does not appear that the Pharisees made their traditions into commandments, although, they did value their own opinions and commentaries, just as many 'religious leaders' do in this day and age. And they did mix these ideas in with Torah, which is why they loved their Oral Torah. This is how the Mishnah, Talmud and Kabbalah came into existence. In Scriptures Y'shua calls them 'traditions' many times. An example of mixing imagination with Yah's Instructions is Nadab and Abihu, priests who did not follow the Instructions of YHWH exactly, but added their own touch and offered it as if it would be accepted. Things didn't go so well for them after that. Why is it so difficult for folks to simply obey the Instructions given us by our Creator without thinking we can do as we please which only pleases ourselves?  You know, after YHWH finished creation He said it was 'good' but Satan told Eve it could be better. Look where that got us.

Back in the time of Moses there were no 'synagogues'. Yah's people gathered at the Tent of Meeting and there certainly wasn't a 'haftarah' portion back then as the prophets were still a future time. The priests followed the pattern given by Yahweh through Moses, not some tradition they learned in Egypt. There were no 'chapters and verse' back then, either. However, His Instructions do say to be in His Word, reading and teaching them to our children Every Day: reciting them when you stay at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up, and to write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates to the end that you and your children may endure in the promised land (Deuteronomy 11:18). The command to read Torah during Sukkot is to be done every 7th year when everyone attends Sukkot (not just the males during the other years). It is an extra observance in keeping Sukkot each seventh year, not a separate command. 

Concluding that Y'shua was teaching per the Torah portion format makes no sense and is not backed up in Scriptures.  Besides that, Y'shua is the Word made Flesh, so he would be naturally teaching 'Torah' with clarity and authority by his behavior, by his very being, and not reading from scrolls as if he were second hand news. 

Matthew 23 ~ Y'shua spoke with the crowds and his disciples, saying to them: The scribes and the Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses. Therefore everything that they say to you, you should keep and do (according to written Torah). But (don't do as they 'do') not according to their deeds (according to oral Torah), for they talk but do not do as they teach. They do all their deeds that they might be seen in public. They widen their Tefillin (leather box/straps) and lengthen the Tekhelet (the cord of blue attached to the fringes) of their robes. And they love the chief places at festivals and the best seats at the assembly. They love to be greeted in the streets and to be called Rabbi by men. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees! Hypocrites! For they shut up the Kingdom of Heaven before the sons of men.

They honor YHWH with their words, in their form, but their hearts are far from him as they please themselves with their made-up traditions.

The established thoughts and behavior of the elders were handed down to the Pharisees which was the ground work for what became the religion we know of today as Judaism: a cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs and institutions (as are most religions). As we uncover the Hebrew origins of our faith we learn that there are traditions we should not add to our spiritual awakening thinking we are pleasing Elohim.

Mark 7:5 The scribes and the Pharisees ask Y'shua, "Why don't your disciples walk according to the traditions of the elders? His short answer is: "You hypocrites... You have left the Commandment of Elohim and have embraced the tradition of men. And you despise the Word of Elohim because of the tradition that you have handed down..."

Matthew 15:3 records the same... the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem ask Y'shua why his disciples transgress against the traditions of the elders. He asks them, "Why do you transgress the Commandments of Elohim because of your traditions?"

Written Torah was pitted against the oral traditions of the Pharisees who were nullifying the Word of YHWH by their traditions and Y'shua would not instruct his followers to do likewise, let alone adopt those same traditions and teach them to others.

Some people just cannot accept YHWH at His word and simply obey His Instructions. For some reason they feel the need to dress 'em up, because that's what the Jews do and they are His chosen people, aren't they? And we Gentiles have been grafted in to the House of Israel, haven't we? When folks who are trying to be Torah Observant do Kiddush on Friday night and light the candles they are doing so because of tradition which has been 'handed down' and  'added' to the instructions of how to keep the seventh day set apart.  Folks use the excuse that it helps them to see that the Sabbath is special, holy, set apart instead of trusting and doing according to the Word of MarYah.

Definition of "tradition" from the 

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

• an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior
• a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable
• the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction
• cultural continuity in social attitudes, customs, and institutions
• characteristic manner, method, or style

Y'shua's focus is on the traditions handed down by the 'elders' which were practiced by the Pharisees. The Book of Mark Chapter 7 showcases one of the greatest discussions of 'oral versus written law' predating what would later be recorded in the Talmud some 200 years later. Matthew 15:3 also records that the scribes and Pharisees from Jerusalem ask Y'shua why his disciples transgress against the traditions of the elders. He asks them, "Why do you transgress the Commandments of Elohim because of your traditions?"

Y'shua is pointing out The Traditions of the Pharisees go against the Instructions of YHWH.  These traditions were woven into the religion of Judaism and are accepted by many Hebrew Roots groups today. Now, can you see what I am getting at? Traditions are not necessary or commanded by our Creator but are additional rituals invented by man, and taught to others who have been doing them for so many years they seem a natural part of YHWH's Instructions. This is the same process by which traditional holidays have taken over the world.

YHWH has told us to remember and observe His Set Apart times for us: 

Passover, which begins the days of Unleavened Bread, First Fruits, Feast of the Harvest/Weeks (aka: Shavuot/Pentecost), Day of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Tabernacles (Leviticus 23). He gave us specific instructions to follow, so why add some man made tradition to His clearly stated how-to list? Nadab and Abihu were trained up in their priestly duties, instructions straight from YHWH, but what did they do? They took the fire pans with fire in them and laid incense on it and offered it up in a way that did not follow YHWH's instructions. They used the tools given them by YHWH to please themselves first and then go before Elohim.

Traditions have been 'added' to the clear instructions given by our Creator.  Are folks doing the traditional things because it makes them feel good? Are they impressing their friends and family? Assembly members? Do they think by doing more than He asks they will score more points with Him? The only thing this type of behavior does is represent 'disobedience' to our heavenly Father.