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
What we shall discover is that the established thoughts and behavior of the elders were handed down to the Pharisees as in Definition #3 and eventually 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, 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 - he would not instruct his followers to do likewise.
YHWH did say this, through Isaiah. It is what had happened back then and has continued to happen throughout time, including today's world:
Beginning with Isaiah 1:11, Yah said: What need have I of all your sacrifices... I am sated with burnt offerings of rams, suet of fatlings, blood of bulls; and I have no delight in lambs and he-goats. Who asked that of you, that you would appear before me? Trample my courts no more; bringing oblations is futile, incense is offensive to Me. New moon and sabbath you proclaim solemnities in assemblies with wickedness, I cannot abide. Your new moons and fixed seasons fill Me with loathing; they are become a burden to Me, I cannot endure them. And when you lift up your hands, I will turn My eyes away from you; though you pray at length, I will not listen. You hands are stained with crimes. -- Wash yourselves clean; put your evil doings away from My sight. Cease to do evil; learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; aid the wrongly accused. Uphold the rights of the orphan; defend the cause of the widow. Let us reach an understanding, says YHWH Elohim.
YHWH also lets us know, eventually:
YHWH also lets us know, eventually:
Isaiah 66:23 And new moon after new moon, and sabbath after sabbath, all flesh shall come to worship Me.
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Traditions have been handed down and Satan has made it easy for us to overlook them in our excitement to obey our Creator. So I ask, are we doing something because we think it's right or because we know it's right? Are we pleasing ourselves or are we pleasing YHWH by obeying His Command? His Instructions in Righteous Living are not traditions. If we're not careful to see the difference between His original commands and what man has added, we will inadvertently begin to 'worship' the created thing instead of the Creator. If we do things our own way we are doubting the Word of Elohim and have fallen into the same trap set by Satan in the Garden.
Romans 1:25 - They exchanged the truth of Elohim for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator, who is forever worthy of praise...
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Following is part of the discussion that prompted the need for a better understanding of 'tradition' according to Scriptures. The original post was about YHWH no longer being happy with people who were not keeping His Set Apart times according to His Instructions. The hot spot became the keeping the 7th day sabbath. The discussion went the way of many a FB discussion: rapid fire posting and loss of context. The names have been changed and my comments begin with 'Corn'. My added after-the-fact notations are in italics. Spen's comment was in response to the original post referencing what Yah said in Isaiah 1:11.
Spen: But He was talking to the people who were keeping the biblical feast days and they were keeping all the biblical laws. They weren't keeping pagan holidays. They were keeping Passover, Shavuot, and Tabernacles. They were slaughtering animals.
This is correct. They had been keeping His 'feast days' according to Torah, but as time went by, they started changing how they were doing things, falling short of Yah's Instructions.
This is correct. They had been keeping His 'feast days' according to Torah, but as time went by, they started changing how they were doing things, falling short of Yah's Instructions.
Note: Spen now offers a quote from Isaiah 1: 11 overlooking that I had entered that same quote as my first response. These verses I have provided above.
Gard: "Your" not His. ie. I hate "your" feast days, "your" new moon.... It makes it clear to me that He is talking to people that are not keeping "His" ways.
Note: He is talking to His people who have changed the way they keep His set times.
Corn: Yah specifies Your new moons (months) and your fixed seasons (man's traditions and substitutes for Yah's moedim) fill Me with loathing - they have become a burden to Me, no longer a joy. ~ Those same people began to mix pagan traditions with His Instructions. The same happened with the church system when Constantine incorporated pagan traditions into Christianity. This really helps me to understand His building anger and the Day of Wrath to come. Now consider how many in this day and age who claim to be coming back to Torah, have taken His plain instructions for His set apart times and changed them to fit their idea of how they should be done. For example: today's months are according to the Gregorian calendar, not His way of keeping track by new moon reckoning. If we aren't starting the month on the right day then how can we keep the 7th day count set apart? Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot were to be kept in Jerusalem which was the last place He chose to attach His Name, so we shouldn't be trying to keep them anywhere we choose, turning His Set Apart times into our Fixed Seasons.
Corn: Over time, for example, Judaism has taken the simple instruction of keeping the seventh day set apart and turned it into 24 chapters. This is included in the Mishnah where Oral Law was finally being recorded. Oral Law is what Y'shua referred to when speaking against what the Pharisees promoted.
Quoted from the Jewish Virtual Library:
The Oral Law is a legal commentary on the Torah, explaining how its commandments are to be carried out.
Question: who can keep Sabbath according to His heart and not our own.
Corn: It can be done, but first we must remember the Sabbath day and keep it set apart. He must have known we were going to get so far off track that He had to tell us to 'remember''. We begin to 'remember' by reading Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, the first 5 books of Scripture also known as Torah, Yah's Instructions for His creation.
Point brought up: oh, they didn't do it right then, but we're doing it right now?
Corn: As with most of His Instructions, adaptations need be done in these modern times. His Instructions have not changed, but the times we are living in are nothing like the good old days. We do not substitute what we think is right.
Gard: We can only obey to the best of our understanding. As we learn more it becomes easier.
Note: We do not stop learning or else we begin to stagnate on that part of His Path. By our patience we gain understanding as we continue to read His Word and grow in our faith.
Question: The Jews were so afraid of breaking the Sabbath they added extra laws. Didn't the Father know their heart? I don't see how they did it wrong, now all the sudden we do it right. I believe the Father was taking about something deeper.
Yahweh tests us to reveal what is in our heart.
Deuteronomy 8: You shall faithfully observe all the Instruction that I enjoin upon you today, that you may thrive and increase and be able to posses the land that YHWH Elohim promised on oath to your fathers. Remember the long way that YHWH your Elohim has made you travel in the wilderness these past forty years, that He might test you by hardships to learn what was in your hearts: whether you would keep His commandments or not....Romans 2:5 - But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when Yah's righteous judgment will be revealed.
Corn: They weren't afraid. The 24 chapters I mentioned from the Mishnah are basically what the rabbis think should be done and how it should be done, adding their own ideas to Yah's instructions. They don't think we are smart enough to figure it out for ourselves. The religious leaders wanted to keep their power over the common folk which is one of the reasons Y'shua said to beware the leaven of the Pharisees (a little leaven affects the whole batch). It is about right or wrong - Many are Not doing it 'right' these days, adding the same traditions the Pharisees included. Many have mixed those traditions in with His Instructions and it started long ago.
Note: It becomes apparent that we three do not agree on the definition of 'tradition' which became a stumbling block toward a unified understanding.
Note: It becomes apparent that we three do not agree on the definition of 'tradition' which became a stumbling block toward a unified understanding.
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 you 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?"
Note: In those verses we learn Y'shua is pointing out The Traditions of the Pharisees go against the Instructions of YHWH. These traditions are woven into the religion of Judaism. This is the key I missed in trying to explain myself.
Questions: Which oral laws were so bad as to be sin? Which traditions are we not allowed to do on Sabbath?
Note: This is when I realized I needed to excuse myself from this discussion and proceed with Scriptures to find the answers that explained the difference between keeping Yah's Way His way or doing things the way we think is right and pleasing. I refer back to Isaiah 1:11. Nadab and Abihu are good examples as well as Jeroboam.
Note: This is when I realized I needed to excuse myself from this discussion and proceed with Scriptures to find the answers that explained the difference between keeping Yah's Way His way or doing things the way we think is right and pleasing. I refer back to Isaiah 1:11. Nadab and Abihu are good examples as well as Jeroboam.
Corn: A tradition we should not partake of is lighting candles, for example. It is not a matter of His allowing us to, it's just not part of His instruction pertaining to the 7th day shabbat.
Gard: At least their traditions are recognizable when you read the Bible. For instance, Christmas seems to not be biblically based whatsoever. I see no harm in lighting candles. I also don't see it as necessary. Is it a harmful tradition? I think it is a good way to get everyone's focus around the table. Is it necessary to drink or harmful to drink a cup of coffee on the Sabbath? A tradition we follow.
Note: Drinking coffee on the sabbath is not a tradition, it is customarily done by many people by habit, any day of the week. Although, if you only drank coffee on the 7th day because it was the sabbath, then you have created a tradition which is not according to Yah's instructions. The mention of a candle on the table to get everyone focused is similar to how a seance is performed. I am NOT saying that is what you intend, but I AM trying to make you see what is tradition. We should live as close to His Word as possible so our deeds are not misleading to others. Yahweh's Instructions in Righteous Living are not traditions. They are laws, rules, teachings and commandments He has provided for us. His is the perfect governing system for our health and well being, not a burden.
Note: Drinking coffee on the sabbath is not a tradition, it is customarily done by many people by habit, any day of the week. Although, if you only drank coffee on the 7th day because it was the sabbath, then you have created a tradition which is not according to Yah's instructions. The mention of a candle on the table to get everyone focused is similar to how a seance is performed. I am NOT saying that is what you intend, but I AM trying to make you see what is tradition. We should live as close to His Word as possible so our deeds are not misleading to others. Yahweh's Instructions in Righteous Living are not traditions. They are laws, rules, teachings and commandments He has provided for us. His is the perfect governing system for our health and well being, not a burden.
Corn: I should have said, Lighting of Shabbat candles is a Jewish tradition added to the Word of God which is not necessary as part of the 7th day rest, and not to be confused with what we eat or drink. Also, Christmas is a tradition and you're right, it is not biblically based. Most of us have given up celebrating it yet we still hold onto other traditions.
Here is what our Creator said in regards to keeping the 7th day rest:
Genesis 2:2- By the seventh day YHWH completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then He blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which He had created. (He has set the pattern for us)
Exodus 35:2-For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Set Apart day, a sabbath of Complete Rest to Yahweh Elohim.... (this day is not for ourselves but to honor Him)
Leviticus 23:3- For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of Complete Rest, a holy convocation. You shall not do any work; it is a sabbath to your Elohim, in all your dwellings.
Deuteronomy 5:12- Observe the sabbath day to keep it set apart as Yahweh your Elohim commanded you. (Keep the day of rest according to His Instructions)
As it is written in the Ten Commandments, we are told to remember:
Remember the sabbath day and keep it set apart. Six days you shall do all your work but the seventh day is a sabbath of Mine. You, your family, your hired hands or your work animals or the stranger who is visiting your town shall do no work. I made heaven and earth and sea and all that is in them in six days and on the seventh I rested, therefore I blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart.
Corn: Do we want to follow His Commandments or not? Are we lighting candles for ambiance, or because we live off grid, or are we trying to copy Jewish tradition? Are we cooking full fledged meals this day or do we have enough left overs from the 6th day? Are we causing others to work on this day, or using our farm animals to work, or did we get it all done in the prior six days so everyone could rest on this day, just as our Creator has told us to do.
Exodus 16:23- Then he said to them, "This is what Yahweh meant: Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, set apart to Him. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning." (get all your meals prepared the day before so you don't have to 'kindle a fire' on the sabbath to do any cooking) 35:2 For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Set Apart day, a sabbath of Complete Rest to Yahweh Elohim. You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the sabbath day.
Note: Kindling a fire took a lot of time and was considered work back in the day. Many of us only need flip a switch or turn a knob to light the stove which is fine for reheating yesterday's leftovers. We prepare on the 6th day enough for two days.
Note: Kindling a fire took a lot of time and was considered work back in the day. Many of us only need flip a switch or turn a knob to light the stove which is fine for reheating yesterday's leftovers. We prepare on the 6th day enough for two days.
Spen: Yahshua condemned the jews for lighting candles, or a fire? I don't understand. What is the definition of tradition. Maybe the traditions were something really awful and we haven't recognized it. What are the traditions that are so heinous in the eyes of the Father.
Everything has been written for our benefit so we would not make the same mistakes as they did. There is nothing new under the sun. Nothing is hidden that won't be revealed. We have no excuse, only the choice: obey or don't obey our Creator.
Question - What is the harm of copying a tradition unless it is anti-biblical? It is an American tradition to salute the flag. Where does it forbid lighting candles.
Where does it tells us to light two candles on the sabbath? It doesn't. It is an added tradition. Anti-biblical? That means anti-Elohim, doesn't it? Do we want to go there? Celebrating the 4th of July is tradition, celebrating Chanukkah is tradition, celebrating birthdays year after year is tradition. All of these are man made holidays, not required by our Maker to keep or observe. They are distractions from His Truth. Most of us have been brainwashed from birth with all this 'american' fanfare and thanks be to Elohim we are seeing the truth in all things.
Where does it tells us to light two candles on the sabbath? It doesn't. It is an added tradition. Anti-biblical? That means anti-Elohim, doesn't it? Do we want to go there? Celebrating the 4th of July is tradition, celebrating Chanukkah is tradition, celebrating birthdays year after year is tradition. All of these are man made holidays, not required by our Maker to keep or observe. They are distractions from His Truth. Most of us have been brainwashed from birth with all this 'american' fanfare and thanks be to Elohim we are seeing the truth in all things.
Spen: I don't know. I don't think it is a sin. But we keep saying they kept the Sabbath wrong with their traditions, so what we're they?
Corn: Traditions of man that have been added to His Instructions is what I'm trying to point out.... (which is why I am doing this study)
Gard: Misunderstanding tradition - Okay, stay isolated from everyone! You just might copy one of their traditions? I am sorry but I am I am aggravated. Are you saying that if anything is a tradition it is wrong?
Never said nor intended that and never meant to aggravate anyone .... once again another reason I left the discussion to regroup with Scriptures.
Never said nor intended that and never meant to aggravate anyone .... once again another reason I left the discussion to regroup with Scriptures.
Question - which ones where added? He said don't add or take away from the word, so clearly the scribes did. So what was added? And what was taken away? I'm not saying any of those traditions are a sin. I'm asking is there some great sin we are missing?
Corn: OK.... I am seriously being misunderstood here so give me a moment to see if I can regroup and make sense. (I left the discussion last night and have been working on this study.)
Admission of how chaotic this discussion had become:
Gard: I am just not grasping this sorry. I do see that we need to question traditions or maybe I am think habits or culture? Are we to isolate on the Sabbath so that we don't fall into traditions? Are we just to read scripture, argue if the earth is flat and go home? A gathering without any kind of traditions would just suck!
Whew!
"A gathering without traditions would suck."
Best go back and read some of our Creator's advice about copying other peoples traditions and why He instructed them to tear down the altars, posts, idols and destroy other areas of pagan worship, removing them from the land He was giving them. There you will find that even then they disobeyed Him and kept some of the people, the animals, the traditions, etc... look where it has gotten us today: Folks still want to embrace 'tradition'. No wonder He has stored up His anger for that coming Day of Wrath. I don't want to be part of His anger and hope my prayers are received as a pleasing aroma to Him. Let's all stay on the straight path that leads to the narrow gate.Now let me present what is written about tradition in Scriptures so that we may understand why we need not incorporated Jewish Tradition into the clear Instructions given us by our Creator. Yahweh once asked how long we would spurn Him. How many times does Yahshua have to point out that the traditions of the elders which have been passed on to the Pharisees is transgression against the Father's Instructions?
Matthew 15:3 Y'shua is speaking to the Pharisees:
Y'shua answered them and said, Why do you transgress against the Commandments of Elohim because of your traditions?
Mark 7:1
The Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem and gathered around Y'shua. They saw some of his disciples who were eating without washing their hands first. All Yehudeans and the Pharisees, if they do not carefully wash their hands they would not eat because they hold to the traditions of the elders. And there are many other traditions that they have been taught in washing of cups and pots and brass vessels and of beds. (Jewish traditional kosher laws which have been added to YHWH's instructions concerning dietary laws)
The Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem and gathered around Y'shua. They saw some of his disciples who were eating without washing their hands first. All Yehudeans and the Pharisees, if they do not carefully wash their hands they would not eat because they hold to the traditions of the elders. And there are many other traditions that they have been taught in washing of cups and pots and brass vessels and of beds. (Jewish traditional kosher laws which have been added to YHWH's instructions concerning dietary laws)
Colossians 2:8
Beware, or else any man make you naked by philosophy and by vain deception, according to the doctrines of men, according to the rudiments of the world and not according to Y'shua Messiah.
Matthew 15:6 ~ Y'shua is speaking to the Pharisees:
Thus you nullify the word of Elohim for the sake of your tradition.
Mark 7:6 ~ Y'shua was saying this to the Pharisees and scribes:
And he said to them: Isaiah the prophet did well prophesy about you hypocrites! As it is written, This people honor me with their lips. But their hearts are very distant from Me. And vainly they fear Me while they are teaching the doctrines of the commandments of men. For you have left the Commandment of Elohim and embraced the tradition of the sons of men: the washing of cups and pots and many others that are like these. You have rejected the Commandment of Elohim that you might establish your tradition. (Jewish Tradition still practiced to this day)
And he said to them: Isaiah the prophet did well prophesy about you hypocrites! As it is written, This people honor me with their lips. But their hearts are very distant from Me. And vainly they fear Me while they are teaching the doctrines of the commandments of men. For you have left the Commandment of Elohim and embraced the tradition of the sons of men: the washing of cups and pots and many others that are like these. You have rejected the Commandment of Elohim that you might establish your tradition. (Jewish Tradition still practiced to this day)
1 Peter 1:15 ~ But you be Set Apart in all your conduct, as he is Set Apart who called you. Because it is written: "Be you Kadosh even as I am Kadosh." And you are thus, you call on the Father .... who judges everyone according to his deeds, since you know that neither with perishable silver nor with gold were you redeemed from your vain doings which you had by tradition handed down from your fathers.
Esther 9:20 - Mordecai recorded these events and sent dispatches to all the Jews throughout the provinces of King Ahasuerus charging them to observe the 14th and 15th days of Adar every year... to observe them as days of feasting and merrymaking and sending gifts to one another and giving presents to the poor. The Jews made a tradition out of what they had begun to do which Mordecai prescribed for them.
Esther 9:27 - ... the Jews undertook and irrevocably obligated themselves and their descendants, and all who might join them, to observe these two days in the manner prescribed at the proper time each year.*
*This Jewish Tradition is known as Purim. It is not one of Yah's moedim as it was instigated by Mordecai and supported by Esther who made the people obligated to them, just as they had assumed for themselves the obligation of the fasts with their lamentations (fast days in commemoration of national calamities).
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What are the traditions of the elders passed down to the Pharisees that found there way into the religion of Judaism and copied by the Messianic Hebrew Roots people? Many of them were picked up during the Babylonian exile and brought back to Jerusalem after those seventy years. The names of the months and names of the days, for example, were learned in Babylon. Our Creator did not name them, but had numbered them. If you really want the answer about 'traditions of men' and will use Scriptures as your foundation, then take a look at the Jewish Virtual Library and do a key word search. Most every doctrine of Judaism has been heavily tainted with traditions handed down by the elders to the Pharisees to the rabbis. They do not simply rely on the written Word found in Torah, but have added the Mishnah, Talmud and Kabbalah. Rabbis believed without an oral tradition, some of the Torah's laws would be incomprehensible. This simply is not true. Mysticism is an integral part of Chasidic Judaism, for example, and passages from kabbalistic sources are routinely included in traditional prayer books. The mystical school of thought came to be known as Kabbalah, meaning "to receive, to accept." The word is usually translated as "tradition."
It is not just the Jews that Yah is angry with; His wrath is against all teachers who lead others astray regardless of nationality or heritage. Read Scriptures and let His Spirit open your eyes to the Truth.
Here is another example: Making fringes on the corners of a garment and adding a blue cord is the command. The knotting and wrapping of strings is tradition.
Tradition has turned "fringes" into ornamental tzitzits complete with mystic overtones by wrapping and knotting them, denoting numbers and applying the system of gematria, which is numerology, which is from pagan traditions. That is one of the 'traditions' I am pointing out. I do not deny the command or that Set Apart believers, including Y'shua, wore garments with fringed corners, but they were not knotted, beaded, braided or color coordinated clip-ons.
We are most capable of understanding the instructions left for us by our Creator and without the temptation of discovering deeper meanings. He does expect us to make an effort, such as reading Scriptures and studying in fellowship with other Set Apart believers. When we show Him our intent and abide by His Instructions, best we can in this day and age, He gives us understanding as we are comforted with the truth revealed to us by His Spirit. Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, rabbis, preachers and all the church fathers lose their perceived power, importance, money and control over the common folk when the common folk start reading Torah, and all of Scriptures, for themselves.
We have successfully peeled back the layers of Christian deceptions and religious traditions and found our place in Torah. Now lets peel back the next few layers of tradition and leave Babylon behind us.
