Is the Torah for Gentiles, too? | God's requirements for the native born and the sojourner

foreign hello and welcome to another teaching from 119 Ministries our ministry believes that the whole Bible is true and applicable to our lives today if you'd like to learn more about what we believe and teach please visit us at test everything.net if you enjoyed this video please click the like button and subscribe to our Channel by clicking the Subscribe button below we hope you enjoy studying and testing the following teaching thank you foreign that Christians keep the Torah that is God's law given through the prophet Moses some will argue that the Torah was given only to Israel Israel is the people with whom God made his Covenant at Mount Sinai and the Torah functions as the terms of that Covenant this seems pretty straightforward after all God's covenant was with Israel not Egypt Babylon or any other Nation so it is only the people of Israel who are required to keep this Covenant however many will then Define Israel to mean only the ethnic descendants of Jacob the result of this perspective is that the Commandments in the Torah such as the Sabbath dietary laws and festivals apply only to the physical descendants of Jacob and not to Gentile followers of the god of Israel in this teaching we will explore this topic by looking at how the Bible defines Israel how the Bible describes the identity and expectations of the Sojourner who worships God and what impact this has regarding the torah's role in the lives of Gentile Christians this teaching seeks to answer the question should Gentiles keep the Torah too we will argue that the answer to that question is yes but to begin let's consider the argument of someone who answers no Christian author R.L Solberg articulates why he thinks Gentiles are not required to keep God's Commandments in the Torah here's what he says quote whom does God say will be his treasured possession in a kingdom of priests and a holy nation his words were addressed to the house of Jacob and the people of Israel in Biblical Hebrew House of refers to a person's physical descendants or family thus the phrase labayat yaakov House of Jacob is an explicit reference to the descendants of Abraham through Jacob thus the phrase people of Israel in Exodus 19 3 is a synonym for House of Jacob at Sinai God entered into a covenant with the physical descendants of Jacob who through that Covenant become the nation of Israel this is the ethnic group referred to in the Bible as the Israelites and later known as the Jewish people what Yahweh commanded in the Mosaic law he required of Israel alone to set them apart from all the other peoples so according to Solberg unless you are a physical descendant of Jacob you do not have to keep the Commandments of the Torah but does the bible teach this idea let's consider solberg's argument which can be put into the following syllogism one God gave the Torah only to Israel two Israel is the physical descendants of Jacob three therefore God gave the Torah only to the physical descendants of Jacob regarding the first premise it is true that God originally gave the Torah to Israel however what seems to be neglected by dispensationalists like Solberg is that God intended to make his Torah known to the whole world through Israel the Torah was intended to be Israel's wisdom in the eyes of the Nations the prophets of Israel yearned for the day when the Gentiles would hear and obey God's righteous laws as the Torah went forth from Jerusalem Isaiah prophesied that God's justice expressed in the Torah is how Israel shines forth her light to the Gentiles Isaiah also looked forward to when the Gentiles would join themselves to Yahweh and keep his sabbaths and when God's house would be called a house of prayer for All Peoples these prophecies about the Gentiles joining Israel and obeying God's laws are fulfilled in the Great Commission the apostles were commanded to make disciples of all the nations and to teach them to observe all that Yeshua commanded which included his instructions to observe even the least of The torah's Commandments so although God did give the Torah to Israel the Torah was not meant to stay with Israel only through Israel and ultimately through Israel's Messiah God made his righteous laws known to the whole world one of God's goals with the Torah was to reach all the nations so that they would join Israel in worshiping and obeying him thus the first premise of solberg's argument is incomplete God gave his Torah to Israel and through Israel to All Nations now let's focus on the second premise which is that Israel is made up of only the physical descendants of Jacob is that true what happens when a gentile aligns himself with Yahweh through faith is he excluded from worshiping Yahweh fully because he is not a physical descendant of Jacob is a gentile's responsibility toward God as a Believer different from the Jews dispensationalists say yes but is that what the scriptures say the Bible does not say that Israel is made up of only the physical descendants of Jacob granted in the Old Testament most of the members of Israel were ethnic descendants of Jacob but the Bible is clear that Israel was not exclusive to ethnic descendants of Jacob as the scholar R.L Watson remarks quote from The Exodus onwards we begin to find Gentiles being included into that body of people that is Israel as a partial fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham that in him all the families of the Earth shall be blessed as these Gentiles joined the people of Israel they experienced and shared in their Covenant blessings moreover not only were the same rights afforded to them the same obedience and faithfulness was expected of them let's examine some passages that show how Israel includes more than just the physical descendants of Jacob a mixed multitude when Israel left Egypt the Bible records that a group of people called the mixed multitude went with them Exodus 12 verses 37-38 and the people of Israel journeyed from Ramesses to Sukkot about 600 000 men on foot besides women and children a mixed multitude also went with them and very much livestock both flocks and herds this mixed multitude refers to people who were not ethnically descended from Jacob these people left Egypt with the ethnic descendants of Jacob and were incorporated into the broader people of Israel the scriptures later refer to this group of people as sojourners strangers or aliens as Christian scholar Douglas Stewart remarks quote this verse confirms that the Israelites of The Exodus and thereafter were actually a mixed people ethnically something that most Christians are unaware of the verse would best be translated as follows quote a huge ethnically diverse group also went with them and very many cattle both flocks and herds to what was Moses referring to the fact that many other persons who were not descended from Abraham or Israel joined the Israelites as they left Egypt these people had observed the miraculous work of Yahweh Israel's God and had become convinced that conversion to him and life among his people would represent their best hope for the future so in Exodus 12 verses 37-38 we see that the people of Israel who left Egypt were comprised of not only ethnic descendants of Jacob but also many others who were not ethnically descended from Jacob this fact has significant implications regarding whether Gentiles should keep the Torah how so because the same mixed multitude stood at the foot of Mount Sinai to receive the Covenant along with the physical descendants of Jacob they were part of the group who said all that Yahweh has spoken we will do for more on this mixed multitude see your teaching what was the mixed multitude even R.L Solberg is forced to admit that this mixed multitude was with the descendants of Jacob when Israel received the Torah nevertheless he dismisses this fact as insignificant and maintains that it was still only the ethnic descendants of Jacob who were given the Torah quote regardless of the ethnic makeup of the Sinai attendees as we saw above Yahweh made his Covenant exclusively with the descendants of Abraham through Jacob despite who else may have been at Sinai God's words in Exodus 19 make it clear that the criteria of Eligibility and his promise the people with whom he was making this Covenant were the descendants of Jacob so it does not matter that the people of Israel who left Egypt included a mixed multitude according to Solberg this fact does not mean that Gentiles who worship Yahweh should keep the Torah because Israel is only physical descendants of Jacob by definition Gentile Believers were not invited into this Covenant relationship but do the scriptures bear this out no they do not who is Israel the issue comes down to this for dispensationalists Israel has a very narrow definition it means only ethnic descendants of Jacob as we saw earlier Solberg bases this definition of Israel on passages where the term Israel is equated with the house of Jacob but is this term really so narrow besides the example of the mixed multitude is there anywhere else in scripture where Israel includes Gentiles does Scripture ever say that people who are not ethnic descendants of Jacob can be Covenant members consider the following passages Deuteronomy 29 verse 1. These are the words of the Covenant that Yahweh commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel and the land of Moab besides the Covenant that he had made with them at Horeb this verse introduces an interesting section of scripture here Moses calls on the new generation of Israelites to commit to the Covenant this is not a New Covenant but a renewal of the previous Covenant as scholar Daniel block explains quote what is happening on the plains of Moab is not the establishment of a New Covenant but the renewal of the original Covenant first made with Abraham and then established with Israel at Sinai since the people standing before Moses were not involved in the proceedings at Horeb 40 years earlier these procedures are necessary to bind this generation to the Covenant ratified at Horeb and to ensure that they enter the promised land as the Covenant people of Yahweh so this new generation of Israelites is being invited into a covenant relationship with God which is the Sinai Covenant renewed significantly Moses explicitly identifies the people with whom God is making this Covenant the people involved in this Covenant renewal ceremony include not only physical descendants of Jacob but also the Sojourner Deuteronomy 29 verses 10-15 you are standing today all of you before Yahweh your God the heads of your tribes your elders and your officers all the men of Israel your little ones your wives and the Sojourner who is in your Camp from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water so that you may enter into the sworn Covenant of Yahweh your God which Yahweh your God is making with you today that he may establish you today as his people and that he may be your God as he has promised you and as he swore to your fathers to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob it is not with you alone that I am making the sworn Covenant but with whoever is standing here with us today before Yahweh your God and with whoever is not here with us today as we can see from this passage the people of Israel are called to accept the Covenant and be God's people the Sojourner is explicitly included among those who are being established as God's people in this passage here sojourners are as much a part of the Covenant as the physical descendants of Jacob this offer also extended to quote whoever is not here with us today that is to Future Generations who would accept this Covenant whoever accepted this offer to enter this Covenant relationship took on the responsibility of a living according to God's Commandments Deuteronomy 29 verse 9 therefore keep the words of this Covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you do another passage that helps us see that sojourners are included among the people of Israel as Covenant members is found in Joshua chapter 8. as Joshua was Leading the People Into the land they performed a covenant reaffirmation ceremony here is what the passage says Joshua 8 verses 30-35 at that time Joshua built an altar to Yahweh the god of Israel on Mount Abal just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded the people of Israel as it is written in the book of the law of Moses an altar of uncut Stones upon which no man has wielded an iron tool and they offered on it for offerings to Yahweh and sacrificed peace offerings and there in the presence of the people of Israel he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses which he had written in all Israel Sojourner as well as native born with their elders and officers and their judges stood on opposite sides of the Ark before the levitical priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh half of them in front of Mount gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Abal just as Moses the servant of Yahweh had commanded at the first to bless the people of Israel and afterward he read all the words of the law the blessing and the curse according to all that is written in the book of the law there was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the Assembly of Israel and the women and the little ones and the sojourners who lived among them here we see that all Israel rehearsed the blessings and curses of the Covenant to reaffirm their commitment to God and once again the Sojourner is fully included in the ceremony to drive this point home let's consider one more passage in Deuteronomy 26 Moses instructed the people of Israel that after they enter the land they are to recite a formal liturgy when they present their first fruits offerings at the Tabernacle here's what Moses said to do Deuteronomy 26 verses 5-11 and you shall make response before Yahweh your God a Wandering aramian was my father and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there few in number and there he became a nation Great Mighty and populous and the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor then we cried to Yahweh the god of our fathers and Yahweh heard our voice and saw our Affliction our Toil and our impression and Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm with great Deeds of Terror with signs and wonders and he brought us into this place and gave us this land a land flowing with milk and honey and behold now I bring the first to the fruit of the ground which you o Yahweh have given me and you shall set it down before Yahweh your God and worship before Yahweh your God and you shall rejoice in all the good that Yahweh your God has given to you and to your house you and the levite and the Sojourner who is among you the first thing to note about this remarkable passage is that everyone who lived in the land was instructed to recite this liturgy when they offered their first fruits Moses explicitly mentions that the Sojourner is to do this too this liturgy acknowledges the Covenant blessings of God given to Abraham's descendants which the Sojourner likewise recites the Sojourner is to call Jacob his father second the passage states that God's blessings are given quote to you and to your house which then goes on to include the Sojourner thus those who are not part of the House of Jacob are nevertheless fully included in the Covenant blessings Isaiah 14 corroborates this Isaiah 14 1 for Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel and will set them in their own land and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob third notice that the Liturgy does not say a Wandering Jew is my father Jacob was a Sojourner in a foreign land for much of his life every time the people would recite this liturgy they were reminded of that fact this is why God commands Israel not to oppress the Sojourner because the people of Israel themselves were sojourners the native Israelite is commanded to love the Sojourner as himself and is to treat the Sojourner as an equal Leviticus 19 verses 33-34 When a Stranger sojourns with you in your land you shall not do him wrong you shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you and you shall love him as yourself for You Were Strangers in the land of Egypt I am Yahweh your God while the nation of Israel came from Jacob's physical line the blessings of the Covenant were not meant for Jacob's physical descendants only they were also meant for all the families of the earth who would be blessed by their connection to Abraham's descendants that is why the Sojourner who attaches himself to Yahweh by faith is included in Israel's Covenant responsibilities and privileges the Sojourner an analogy for the believing gentiles these passages about how the Sojourner can be a covenant member of Israel provide a good analogy for how we should think about Gentiles coming to Faith in Israel's messiah in the New Testament Paul wrote that the Gentiles coming to Faith in the Messiah become part of the Commonwealth of Israel Ephesians 2 verses 11-13 and verse 19 therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands remember that you were at that time separated from Christ alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of Promise having no hope and without God in the world but now in Messiah Yeshua you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ so then you are no longer strangers and Aliens but you are fellow citizens with the Saints and members of the household of God In this passage Paul says that the Gentile believer in Messiah used to be alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel and was a stranger to the covenants of promise now through Messiah the Gentile has been brought near by messiah's Blood he now is a fellow Citizen and member of God's household he is no longer alienated from God's covenants thus the Gentile believer in Messiah is fully included in the blessings and responsibilities that come with being a covenant member that is what is understood by the Commonwealth of Israel the Greek word for Commonwealth palatea means the overall project of common life including programs of Education the organization of Labor and Leisure moral rules Etc in Messiah the Gentile believer is fully included in Israel he shares in Israel's identity blessings and responsibilities before we move on from this passage it is worth asking why were these Gentiles excluded from the Commonwealth of Israel to begin with Paul explains that there was a dividing wall of hostility that existed between Jew and Gentile which Messiah has broken down what was this dividing wall well many understand it to be the Torah this is based on what Paul says in verse 15. Ephesians 2 verses 14-16 for he himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of Commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two so making peace and might reconcile us both to God and one body through the cross thereby killing the hostility it would be overly simplistic to interpret verse 15 as referring to the Torah itself since the word law there is qualified by the constructions of Commandments and expressed in ordinances according to the scholar Lionel Windsor quote the qualifications perform more than a descriptive function rather they perform a defining function they specify what would otherwise be ambiguous in other words the qualifications indicate that what has been abolished is not necessarily the law in ever since but rather the law as understood and used in a certain way the law of Commandments in decrees these qualifications have a significant impact on how this phrase should be understood they function to define the law more specifically as a particular understanding and use of the law in light of the precise language then Paul seems to be referring to man-made laws that are derived from a misapplication of the Torah it is worth noting that the word translated Commandments sometimes refers to man-made orders John 11 57 uses this term to refer to the orders given by the Pharisees acts 17 15 uses this term to refer to Paul's command for Silas and Timothy to come to him moreover the word translated ordinances almost exclusively refers to the decrees of Earthly leaders or rulers when this term appears in the Septuagint it always refers to man-made laws given these facts it makes more sense to interpret this phrase as referring to extra biblical traditions and teachings developed from a misapplication of the Torah many of the Jewish leaders at the time misused the Torah to develop man-made laws that created hostility between Jew and Gentile that is what the Messiah abolished not the Torah itself one example of a man-made law that created division between Jew and Gentile is the prohibition against Jews and Gentiles eating together the Torah never commands that Jews and Gentiles must eat separately but Jewish texts like the book of jubilees did and some of the Jewish groups that confronted the apostles held to the same unbiblical and divisive tradition this more nuanced perspective on the phrase the law of Commandments expressed in ordinances makes sense in light of the historical background of Paul's letter and his precise verbiage In this passage in the second temple a wall was constructed that literally separated Jews and Gentiles and restricted Gentiles from the more sacred parts of the temple precincts Paul seems to be alluding to this wall when he speaks of the dividing wall of hostility Josephus records that this wall included an inscription that imposed a death sentence upon any Foreigner who entered spaces that were forbidden to them this inscription is a good example of an ordinance it is essential to recognize that God did not command this wall in the temple to be built in fact he allowed any Foreigner who desired to draw near to him the same access to his presence that the native Israelite had this wall was built by men in order to restrict Gentiles from God's presence interestingly the logic behind constructing this wall is based on a misapplication of numbers 1 verse 51 which commands the Levites to execute any Outsider who comes near the Tabernacle this command and numbers was intended to prevent anyone from approaching the Tabernacle in an unauthorized way but Jewish leaders in the first century misapplied this commandment to prohibit Gentiles from fully participating in worship at the temple given this background it seems clear that for Paul what is being abolished in Ephesians 2 15 are these extra biblical and divisive rulings not the Torah itself as Windsor remarks quote what has been abolished is the law understood primarily as a set of Commandments as expressed and promulgated by certain authoritative decrees concerning the observance of these Commandments the law understood in this way had indeed produced hostility between Jews and Gentiles as illustrated by the officially sanctioned inscription at the dividing wall in the temple this is what Paul is claiming to have been abolished by Christ Paul is not denigrating the law itself nor is he ruling out any possible attempt to apply the law to the lives of Believers this is confirmed by the fact that Paul later quotes a mosaic commandment as the basis for moral instruction of Gentile Believers noting that it is literally the first commandment in promise the promise and view here involves Israel's inheritance of the promised land and inheritance in which the Gentiles have also come to have a share so Ephesians 2 describes the Gentile believer just like the Tanakh or Old Testament describes the Sojourner in Israel Gentile believers who have aligned themselves with Yahweh by faith are full Covenant members it was not the Torah that was abolished what was abolished where the man-made laws based on misapplications of the Torah which caused a division between Jewish and Gentile believers sadly it seems that many modern Believers wish to reconstruct the old wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles many misapply the Torah to exclude Gentiles in various ways for example many will say that the Sabbath and festivals are only for Jews and that Gentiles are not expected to participate in worshiping God the way he prescribes in the Torah some outright discourage Gentiles from following the torah's commands such Traditions fly directly in the face of the Torah prophets and New Testament writings Paul says that Gentiles who are in Messiah are full members of the Commonwealth of Israel far be it from anyone to exclude Those whom God has welcomed moving on acts 15 is another passage that demonstrates that Gentiles were not to be excluded from the community of Israel in this passage the apostles opposed those who insisted that the Gentiles must convert to Judaism and get circumcised to be saved the apostles taught that the Gentile Believers are saved the same way Jews are saved by grace through faith in Messiah not by getting circumcised the Gentiles did not need to convert to Judaism but they did have to start with following four Commandments from the Torah to demonstrate to the Jewish community that they had fully renounced idolatry and were committed to the god of Israel these four Commandments obviously were not the only things the Gentile Believers had to obey forever as the next verse makes clear they were a starting point James implies that these Gentiles were expected to attend the synagogue Services every Sabbath to be instructed in Moses's teaching scholar William williman likewise sees the Gentiles coming to Faith in Israel's Messiah as analogous to the sojourners or strangers in the Tanakh while commenting on acts 15 williman writes this quote James seems to regard these Gentiles as analogous to strangers in the Hebrew scriptures nowhere does Luke suggest that Jesus obrogates the Torah even Gentiles are to keep that part of the Torah which applies to them as non-jews this is an insightful observation by willaman but the question is what are the Covenant responsibilities given to the Sojourner we actually don't have to wonder the Torah explicitly tells us repeatedly that the same laws given to the native-born Israelite also apply to the Sojourner here are some examples of passages where the Sojourner is mentioned explicitly the Sojourner is to keep the Sabbath in the same way as the native Israelite the Sojourner is to observe Passover and unleavened bread in the same way as the native Israelite in fact if he does not observe the command to remove the leaven from his home during the days of unleavened bread he is to be cut off from the congregation of Israel this punishment assumes that the Sojourner is a member of the congregation of Israel the Sojourner is to observe Shavuot also known as Pentecost the Sojourner is to observe Yom Kippur also known as the day of atonement the Sojourner is to observe Sukkot also known as the Feast of Tabernacles the Sojourner is to participate in the Tabernacle services and give the prescribed offerings and finally the Sojourner is to keep all the torah's Commandments during Sukkot when the Torah is read to the community the Sojourner is admonished to hear and observe all the words of the Torah Deuteronomy 31 verse 12 assemble the people men women and little ones and the Sojourner within your towns that they may hear and learn to fear Yahweh your God and be careful to do all the words of this law so it appears that the second premise of solberg's argument is flawed Israel is not made up of only the physical descendants of Jacob the Gentile who aligns himself with Yahweh by faith becomes part of Israel and is afforded the same Covenant blessings and responsibilities this fact is evident in both Old and New Testaments as we have seen given the flaws and the two premises we have examined we are right to reject the conclusion that God gave the Torah only to the physical descendants of Jacob answering objections now there is a potential rebuttal to the idea that sojourners must keep the law just like native-born Israelites the Torah has some laws which do not seem to apply equally to native-born Israelites and Gentile sojourners for instance consider this verse from Deuteronomy Deuteronomy 14 21 you shall not eat anything that has died naturally you may give it to the Sojourner who is within your towns that he may eat it or you may sell it to a foreigner for you are a people holy to Yahweh your God according to Solberg quote this is the Torah telling us in no uncertain terms that non-jews are allowed to eat things that Jews are not notice the Israelites Holiness their set apartness from the foreigners and the sojourners among them does Deuteronomy 14 21 justify solberg's assertion that the Torah is given only to the physical descendants of Jacob no it does not even if we Grant solberg's interpretation of this verse at most all it means is that this particular commandment applies differently to the Sojourner than it does to the native Israelite as we have seen the Sojourner is still explicitly commanded to keep the Sabbath festivals and so forth though soberg wishes to stretch this verse to support his broader claim that the Torah is not for Gentiles this verse is simply not enough to deny the Sojourner his obligation to keep all the other Torah Commandments he is explicitly told to keep still how do we understand this apparent double standard is there a double standard consider the parallel commandment in Leviticus Leviticus 17 verse 15 and every person who eats what dies of itself or what is torn by beasts whether he is a native or a Sojourner shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water and be unclean until the evening then he shall be clean here the command applies to the native Israelite and to the Sojourner anyone who eats an animal that has died naturally will be ritually unclean until evening and must perform the prescribed ritual Washings so regardless of how one interprets Deuteronomy 14 21 Leviticus 17 15 treats the native Israelite and the Sojourner equally nevertheless the Deuteronomy passage does discourage making oneself ritually unclean by eating an animal that has died of natural causes why is the standard relaxed for the Sojourner one theory is that the Sojourner in the land of Israel is presumed to be poor the Sojourner is often mentioned alongside other economically disadvantaged groups such as widows and orphans thus this permission for the Sojourner to eat the meat of animals that have died naturally could be seen as a weightier matter of the Torah that is the survival of the poor Sojourner is more important than ritual Purity and if the Sojourner does eat this meat then according to Leviticus 17 15 all he would need to do to become ritually clean again is to wash his clothes and bathe this is the same thing a native Israelite who eats this meat would need to do thus the different standards are not due to ethnicity per se but rather due to different social conditions and God's concern for the poor however one weakness in this explanation is that if the intent of this command was to provide for the economically disadvantaged we might expect widows and orphans to be given this permission as well but they are not mentioned in the text Tim Hague takes a different approach to solving the apparent contradiction between Leviticus and Deuteronomy he views the Sojourner in Deuteronomy 14 21 as not a covenant member but merely a visitor in Israel Hague suggests that the Hebrew word for Sojourner Gare may be further defined by the word Foreigner no Cree the word no Cree is typically used to describe an idolater and not a covenant member of Israel thus the Sojourner in Leviticus 17 15 and elsewhere throughout the Torah is not the same as the Sojourner mentioned in Deuteronomy 14 21. here's what Hague says here the gear Sojourner who is in your Gates must denote a visitor not on the same level as the gear in Leviticus 17 15. the added phrase or sell it to a foreigner further clarifies the gear in this context to be one who is not a covenant member and has not accepted upon himself the rule of Torah we may rightly interpret the VA this pleonastic and translate quote you may give it to the alien Gare who is in your town so that he may eat it that is to a foreigner no Cree there may be some support for haig's proposal and how early Jews have interpreted this verse the Jewish translators of the septijent consistently translate the Hebrew word ger Sojourner with the Greek prosolutos the term proselytos has connotations of conversion that is it describes someone who has converted or committed oneself to Israel's faith and way of life however in Deuteronomy 14 21 the Septuagint translators translate Gear with the word peroikos which is a more general term for a foreigner this indicates that at least for the Septuagint translators the Sojourner in Deuteronomy 14 21 was not a covenant member of Israel unlike the sojourners mentioned elsewhere throughout the Torah in any case Deuteronomy 14 21 does not prove that the Torah was given only to physical descendants of Jacob once again at most this verse indicates that only the single commandment applies differently to the native Israelite than to the Sojourner who worships Yahweh but even that point is debatable Solberg cites God's Commandments about loans as another example of a double standard quote the Torah teaches a clear difference in the treatment of Jews and Gentiles under the law of Moses Israelites can require repayment and charge interest on loans made to Gentiles but not so with their fellow Israelites however when we examine the passages that Solberg cites we discover that they are not describing Gentiles who are Covenant members of Israel in Hebrew the word translated Foreigner in Deuteronomy 15 3 and 23 20 is no Cree which again is a word used to describe foreigners who are not followers of Yahweh this word is used for foreign altars and foreign Gods The Foreigner in these passages does not equate with the Sojourner who is aligned with Yahweh by Faith No foreign altars or gods were allowed in Israel no matter who was worshiping them so these foreigners cannot be the same as the sojourners who were living in Israel thus when it comes to loans there is no double standard between Covenant members whether native born or Sojourner but only between Israel and the foreign Nations who don't worship Yahweh while these apparent distinctions could be examined and debated again It ultimately does not change the fact that Gentiles are not excluded from God's covenant and the Torah we should take William williman's remarks that we quoted earlier as a starting point quote even Gentiles are to keep that part of the Torah which applies to them as non-jews what have we discovered applies to Gentiles basically everything that applies to the physical descendant of Jacob with maybe one or two possible exceptions we cannot take these one or two possible exceptions as the rule the rule is that for those in Covenant relationship with Yahweh the same law applies to both the native Israelite and the Sojourner in conclusion although God did give the Torah to Israel the Torah was not meant to stay with Israel only through Israel God made his righteous ways known to the whole world Gentiles who put their faith in Israel's Messiah become Covenant members of Israel these Gentile Believers are analogous to the sojourners in the Torah they are to keep the Commandments given to the sojourners which are basically all the same Commandments given to Native Israelites the one or two possible distinctions and standards between the native Israelite and the Sojourner do not negate the fact that Gentiles who align themselves with Yahweh by faith are full Covenant members of Israel and called the Torah observance we pray you've been blessed by this teaching and remember continue to test everything shalom [Music] it is because of you our generous supporters who make it possible to offer these high quality teachings completely free of charge if you feel led to support 119 Ministries so that we can continue this effort please visit testeverything.net and click on the support 119 tab learn how you can partner with us to take the whole word of God to the Nations foreign

Channel: 119Ministries

Views: 17,290

Keywords: 119Ministries, torah, bible, hebrew roots, Is the Torah for Gentiles Too, does the Torah apply to everyone?, Should Christians obey the Torah?, do Gentiles have to follow the law?, who is Israel?, what is Israel?, foreigner, sojourner, Exodus 12:37-38, Deuteronomy 29:10-15, Deuteronomy 26:5-11, Leviticus 19:33-34, Ephesians 2:14-16, Deuteronomy 14:21

Id: I4ls3e5fL-c

Length: 40min 40sec (2440 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 07 2023