Ordinances Against Us?
The Apostolic Letter to Gentiles
The Law of Yahweh & of Moses
The Veil Over Their Minds
Yoke Our Fathers/Unable to Bear
Yahshua: The End of the Law
Yahshua was not a Lawgiver
How to Count to Pentecost
Yahweh's Passover
Yahshua is Coming
Love the Heavenly Father
Salvation & the Sacred Names
The Creator/What is His Name?
The Father's Name
The Importance of the Name
Read & Restore Sacred Names
What is the Messiah's Name?
John 5:18
The Sabbath
Clothing for Men and Women
Feet Washing
Is This Your Ancestor?
Speaking in Tongues
The Plan of Salvation
The Soul of Man
When does the Day Begin?
Wine in the Bible
What Body are the Dead Raised?
Women
THE YOKE OUR FATHERS WERE UNABLE TO BEAR
Was It The Decalogue And The Ordinances?
By Voy Wilks
12/10/84
"Now therefore why do you make trial of Yahweh by putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?" (Acts 15:10).
What was this yoke which the fathers nor the disciples were able to bear? Could it be the Decalogue which was delivered to Moses on Mount Horeb about 1400 B.C.E.? Or could it include the Decalogue together with the judgments and ordinances which Yahweh gave through Moses? When considering the above scripture without consulting others which bear upon matters of the law, it does indeed seem to speak disparagingly of the law which was delivered on Mt. Horeb.
When we realize, however, that there are approximately 200 scriptures in the New Testament alone which teach that the law is still in force, then we must take a closer look at Acts 15:10. Living some 1900 years after this was written makes it more difficult for us to understand the true message. Please remember how pointedly the Messiah spoke to the Pharisees.
"Then the Pharisees and scribes came to Yahshua from Jerusalem and said, Why do your disciples transgress the traditions of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat. He answered them, And why do you transgress the commandments of Yahweh for the sake of your traditions? ... This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine the precepts of men" (Mt. 15: 1-3, 8, 9 RSV).
"You leave the commandment of Yahweh and hold fast the traditions of men. ... You have a fine way of rejecting the commandments of Yahweh, in order to keep your tradition! ... Thus making void the commandment of Yahweh to keep your tradition which you hand on. And many such things you do" (Mk. 7:8-13).
"So for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of Yahweh (Mt. 15: 12).
"Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (Mt. 16:12).
"The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but do not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice. They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger" (Mt. 23:2-4).
Many of those traditions were burdensome and hard to bear, going far beyond the requirements of the law of the Almighty as given through Moses from Mt. Horeb. Let us at this time examine only a few of those burdensome traditions which many Jewish people felt obligated to live by. The simple law which follows has been extended to great length and is traditionally observed, even today, in a most peculiar manner.
“You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk” (Ex. 23:19; 34:26; Deut. 14:21).
“Separate utensils, dishes and cutlery must be used for dairy foods and meats, … and must be stored separately, washed separately, and when washed, in separate [wash] bowls, and separate dish cloths … must be used. If meat and milk foods are cooked at the same time … care must be taken that the dishes do not splash each other …” After eating meat, Jews are to wait at least 6 hours before eating dairy products (Encyc. Judaica, Vol. 6, Page 40).
“Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy” (Ex. 20:8-11).
The Sabbath law consists of two requirements: (1) to rest from labor and (2) offer worship to our Creator. However, the more strict school of Shammai forbade cutting flax on Friday. Why? Because the sun “worked” at drying the flax on the Sabbath day, even though the farmer rested from his labors (The Temple – Its Ministry And Service, by Alfred Edersheim, Wm. B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1972, Page 178.
“The Mishna enumerates no less than thirty-nine principal classes of prohibited actions” [of work on the Sabbath] (Rest Days, by Hutton Webster, Ph. D., 1916, page 263).
Tying or untying a knot was considered to be breaking the Sabbath, though a knot which could be tied or untied with only one hand did not break the Sabbath law, according to the tradition of the elders (Ibed, Page 264).
In fact, the elders added their Sabbath laws to those of the Supreme Being until there were 1,521 laws safe–guarding the Sabbath (From Sabbath To Sunday, by Samuele Bacchiocchi, Pontificial Gregorian University Press, 1977; Page 33.
This indicates the extent to which the elders multiplied their traditions to a burdensome degree, over and above the laws of the Almighty.* It was the Apostle Peter who discouraged those who would place on the Gentile disciples a “yoke … which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear” (Acts 15:10). At a later time this same Apostle Peter wrote, “To the exiles of the dispersion,” to those “born anew,” advising them:
“ … the word of Yahweh abides forever” (1 Pet. 1:1, 23, 25).
If the word of the Almighty abides forever, then to w hat was Peter referring when he spoke of the yoke which some wished to place on the neck of the disciples? This was indeed something burdensome and which was not easy to bear, yet the yoke which the Messiah places on his followers is light and easy! (Mt. 11:29, 30). The scenario is this.
The yoke which Peter spoke of was difficult to bear (Acts 15:10).
YET –
- The Messiah’s yoke is light and easy (Mt. 11:29, 30)
- The Messiah came to magnify the Father’s law and make it honorable (Isa. 42:21).
- The Son spoke the Father’s words, not his own (Jn. 3:34-36).
- The Son came not to speak his own, but the Father’s doctrine (Jn. 7:16).
- He that is of Yahweh hears the words of Yahweh. Others do not (Jn. 8:47).
- The sum of Yahweh’s word is truth and it endures forever (Ps. 119:160).
- The word of Yahweh abides forever (1 Pet. 1:25).
- To love the Father is to keep Yahweh’s commandments, and they are not burdensome to keep! (1 Jn. 5:2, 3).
These Scriptures seem to make it abundantly clear that the “yoke … which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear” was something other than the Decalogue. It makes abundantly clear that it was something other than the judgments and ordinances** of Yahweh’s law, since all his words are to endure forever (Ps. 119:152, 160). What heavy yoke then, was the Apostle Peter speaking of in Acts 15:10?
First, the Apostle Paul explained that Gentile believers are circumcised (symbolically) in the act of baptism (Col. 2:11-13). The council’s decision was that physical circumcision was unnecessary for the Gentile converts. In addition to this, please allow me to point out that circumcision was never something which the fathers were unable to bear. This was not difficult and is, even today, practiced by many Gentiles as well as Jews.
Second, please notice that Peter did not say that the commandments and/or the ordinances of Yahweh were burdens hard to bear. Since the commandments and the ordinances of Yahweh are not burdensome, then we must look elsewhere for the yoke to which Peter referred.
Third, ‘the “party” mentioned in Acts 15 who insisted on circumcision and the keeping of the law were Pharisees (verse 5). Never, I suppose, has any one received such scalding sermons as the Pharisees received from Yahshua the Nazarene (Mt. 23). The indication is that many of those same Pharisees later accepted Yahshua as the promised Messiah (Acts 2:37-47), and were present at the general conference which is recorded in Acts Chapter 15. They had accepted Yahshua as the Messiah, but had not, apparently, given up the powerful traditions which had been handed down to them.
There is every indication that this unbearable yoke comprised the tradition of the elders (the precepts of men) which the Pharisees insisted the Gentile converts must accept; traditions which extended way beyond the requirements of the Decalogue and the ordinances of Yahweh. Peter opposed this.
* Yahshua the Nazarene was anti–Pharisee and was even more anti–Essene. The traditions of the Essenes were so extreme that (1) all latrines must be at least 3,000 cubits beyond the city limits; but (2) it was unlawful to travel more than 2,000 cubits on the Sabbath. This meant that the Essene faithfuls were not privileged to relieve themselves during the 24 hours of the Sabbath, a tradition based on Deut. 23:12, 13 (Biblical Archaeology Review, Sept./Oct., 1984, pages 45, 46; written by the late Yagael Yadin, Israeli archaeologist, soldier and statesman). No wonder the Essenes died off!
** Included in these ordinances are the annual festivals and the clean food laws (Nu. 36:13)
