Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Yohanan bin-Dawidh" <yohanan.bin.dawidh AT gmail.com>]

*Harold,*

* *

*Let us look at the text of Sefer Yirmeyahu chapter 31 verses 31 through 33,
because I think it speaks for itself: *



*ל*   הִנֵּה יָמִים בָּאִים, נְאֻם-יְהוָה; וְכָרַתִּי, אֶת-בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל
וְאֶת-בֵּית יְהוּדָה--בְּרִית חֲדָשָׁה.



"Behold, days are coming," says YHWH; "and I will cut with the house of
Yisra'el and with the house of Yuhudha, a new covenant,"



*לא*   לֹא כַבְּרִית, אֲשֶׁר כָּרַתִּי אֶת-אֲבוֹתָם, בְּיוֹם הֶחֱזִיקִי
בְיָדָם, לְהוֹצִיאָם מֵאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם:  אֲשֶׁר-הֵמָּה הֵפֵרוּ
אֶת-בְּרִיתִי, וְאָנֹכִי בָּעַלְתִּי בָם--נְאֻם-יְהוָה.



"not cut as I cut with their ancestors, in the day I took them by the hand
in order to bring them out of the land of Egypt, forasmuch they broke my
covenant, even though I was a husband to them,"says YHWH.



*לב*   כִּי זֹאת הַבְּרִית אֲשֶׁר אֶכְרֹת אֶת-בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל אַחֲרֵי
הַיָּמִים הָהֵם, נְאֻם-יְהוָה, נָתַתִּי אֶת-תּוֹרָתִי בְּקִרְבָּם,
וְעַל-לִבָּם אֶכְתְּבֶנָּה; וְהָיִיתִי לָהֶם לֵאלֹהִים, וְהֵמָּה יִהְיוּ-לִי
לְעָם.



"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Yisra'el after
those days," says YHWH, "I will ascribe my Torah into their inward parts,
and upon their hearts I will write it, and I will be to them their God, and
they shall be to me my people;"



*לג*   וְלֹא יְלַמְּדוּ עוֹד, אִישׁ אֶת-רֵעֵהוּ וְאִישׁ אֶת-אָחִיו לֵאמֹר,
דְּעוּ, אֶת-יְהוָה:  כִּי-כוּלָּם יֵדְעוּ אוֹתִי לְמִקְּטַנָּם
וְעַד-גְּדוֹלָם, נְאֻם-יְהוָה--כִּי אֶסְלַח לַעֲו‍ֹנָם, וּלְחַטָּאתָם לֹא
אֶזְכָּר-עוֹד.



"and they shall not teach anymore everyman his neighbour, and everyman his
brother, saying: 'Know YHWH'; for they all shall know me, from the least to
the greatest of them," says YHWH; "for I will forgive their depravity, and
their sinfulness I will remember no more."



*I think this clearly states that all this so-called new covenant is, is
that our Husband, our Master, the Holy One of Yisra'el will write into our
hearts His Torah! And by doing so we will no longer have to teach one
another say, "Know YHWH" for all of B'nai Yisra'el will know YHWH. It is
this simple, and the illusions of Jesus do not play into its simplicity. You
may see otherwise, but if you do then you are going beyond the peshat of the
text, and seeing something that is not there, for anything that denies the
plain meaning of a text is fallacy. *

* *

*Yohanan bin-Dawidh*


On 4/11/07, Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net> wrote:
> Dear Yohanan,
> >
> > Harold,
> >
> > What do you actually think that this covenant spoken of in Sefer
> > Yirmeyahu chapter 31 is?
> >
>
> HH: I write as a Christian under NT authority. so I think it is the new
> covenant inaugurated by Jesus but thus far ignored or rejected by much
> of the nation of Israel.
> >
> >
> >
> > I will speak as to what it is, for is not a new covenant in the sense
> > that we have not known it hence, but rather it is merely the Torah.
> >
>
> HH: The Torah was the old covenant, so that does not seem an appropriate
> answer. The new covenant is contrasted with the old covenant, not
> equated with it.
> >
> >
> >
> > Yirmeyahu is speaking metaphorically to my people here, because of
> > what has taken place amongst my people, which is division.
> >
>
> HH: There is no indication of a metaphor. This new covenant is to be
> just as real as the old covenant was.
> >
> >
> >
> > At the time of Yirmeyahu there were two kingdoms, the Northern and the
> > Southern, both worshipping our Creator differently, i.e. more than one
> > Torah. Thus, the nation was divided.
> >
>
> HH: There really were not two kingdoms at the time Jeremiah wrote. The
> northern kingdom ended in 722 B.C., and Jeremiah was writing about a
> century later.
> >
> >
> >
> > Today we have the Yuhudhim (Jews) and the Shomerim (Samaritans) as a
> > result of this division. Our Creator never wanted this division. This
> > so-called New Covenant is the correction of such a division, where our
> > Creator places His Torah in our hearts so that there is no
> > disagreements amongst us, and we all know Him, and His truth.
> >
> >
> >
> > After this division another division sprung up, the Parushim and the
> > Sadduqim, which likewise our Creator never truly wanted, but it
> > happened, and at the time of this prophecy's fulfillment such a
> > division will disappear. At this time the offspring of these groups,
> > the political movements still exist by other names.
> >
> >
> >
> > Since such has not happened, we know without a doubt that the prophecy
> > of chapter 31 has not happened as of this time, so you are not under
> > it, as we are also not under it, but in truth, it is not new, it is
> > only the redeclaration of that which has been made in the past, the
> Torah.
> >
>
> HH:  Of course, the new covenant will involve a lot of things in the
> Mosaic covenant, since the Mosaic covenant was an expression of God's
> eternal moral truths in many respects.
> >
> >
> >
> > At such a point there will be no need for one Yisraeli to speak to
> > another Yisraeli and say, "This is the correct way……", because we will
> > all know the correct way.
> >
>
> HH: Right. The temporal horizon of the new covenant according to the
> Book of Jeremiah seems to be the eschatological future, the blessed
> kingdom promised to the Jews and yet to be realized on earth.  The
> nation of Israel, as a nation, has not yet entered into the new
> covenant. I agree.  But because of my belief in the NT as divine
> revelation, I accept that the new covenant has been inaugurated. Someday
> Israel as a nation will realize the true identity of the Messiah and
> will enter into that covenant. Many Christians believe this national
> turning will occur shortly before the end of this age.
>
> Yours,
> Harold Holmyard
>
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