Is There a Connection Between Sinai and Shavuot (Pentecost)?

The following program is recorded content created by The Truth Network. Michael Brown. Thanks so much for joining us on Thoroughly Jewish Thursday.

Michael Brown, delighted to be with you. If you have a Jewish related question of any kind, it can relate to the Hebrew Bible, the Hebrew language, it can relate to Israel today, it can relate to Jewish tradition, it can relate to Yeshua being the Messiah of Israel, messianic prophecy, any things like that. Jewish related. Give me a call. 866-348-7884. That's 866-348-7884. 866-304-TRUTH. I don't know why things work like this on radio, but there have been many shows over the years where there are relatively few calls through a good part of the broadcast, and then the closer we get to the end, a flood of calls that we can't possibly get to. Now sometimes, depending on the subject matter, we'll be slammed with calls through the entire show, and sometimes with an interview people just sitting back listening, but if you have a Jewish a question and you're able to call earlier it gives us a better chance of getting to you later in the show okay we are coming into the high holy days and that begins on the Jewish calendar well on our calendar September 25th all right so the evening of September 25th will be the Yom Teruah the sounding of the trumpet of the shofar blast which in traditional Judaism becomes Rosh Hashanah the beginning of the year ten days later Yom Kippur the Day of Atonement five days after that week-long celebration of Sukkot Tabernacles and there is the eighth day of the festival added on all right so why do I want to talk to you about about Shavuot today about Pentecost which which happened back in the spring it was on my mind last night thinking about the High Holidays coming in Judaism called Yamim Nochaim the days of all the ten days from from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur being especially sacred set apart for repentance and introspection and things like that but I was just thinking back to larger issues relating to the Torah relating to the giving of the Torah and in Jewish tradition the Torah was given at Mount Sinai at the time of the Feast of Shavuot all right now it is called weeks because it marks out the seven weeks and a day from Passover to Pentecost so God says in the laws concerning this Leviticus 23 gives the overview of all the High Holy Days as as well as talks about the Sabbath but but when we when we look at this I would not have thought based on my own calculations that from the Passover from the children of Israel coming out of Egypt from Passover to Sinai would have been 50 days now the rabbis have come up with that count and if you look in Exodus chapter 19 verse 1 on the third new moon after the Israelites had gone forth from the land of Egypt and that very day they entered the wilderness of Sinai well since you have the the first of the excuse me have Israel coming out in the middle of the month right the 14th day the 15th day leaving so they're celebrating Passover this this new festival this new time of of remembrance so they are they are now in a situation where 14 days later roughly you get to the first new moon then 30 days later second new moon then third new moon would be 30 days after that so just looking at this I I would say okay this is obviously not 50 days from Passover to Sinai a rabbinic calculation comes out differently but in any event that's what they've come up with all right put aside the fact that I don't see this being chronological it is Jewish tradition that the Torah was given on Mount Sinai so during the time of Shavuot there is the special celebration of the giving of the Torah to Israel now if you look at this from a spiritual point of view the parallels are very accurate I don't see it as chronological but from a spiritual point of view the parallels are very very interesting because let's just say you agree with the tradition that God gave the Torah on Mount Sinai and if you're traditional Jew and you want to give the chronological argument for it please please call I don't see how it works but I know there are traditional arguments for it so please call and provide those traditional arguments but let's just say okay according to Jewish tradition Torah was given at Mount Sinai now Pentecost Torah was given at Mount Sinai we all agree with that on Shavuot Pentecost now fast forward to the giving of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost so 14 1500 years later what happens there the giving of the law on Mount Sinai then Moses going up on the mountain to be with the Lord staying there 40 days 40 nights by the time he comes down the children Israel worshipping idols and what happens as a result of that three thousand Israelites die roughly three thousand Israelites die what happens when the Holy Spirit is given at at Shavuot Pentecost in the New Testament three thousand Israelites come to faith doesn't stop there what was one of the conspicuous elements when God came down on Mount Sinai fire what was one of the conspicuous elements when the Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost tongues of fire there's even a Jewish tradition that says that because you did not just have the children of Israel there you had to mix multitude that came out of Egypt with him so they would not have spoken Hebrew that on Mount Sinai God spoke in multiple languages at the same time and of course we know that at Pentecost God spoke in multiple languages at the same time to the Jews who had been gathered from all around the world so the parallels really are interesting I just don't know how it works chronologically to say that the law was given to Israel at that time but that is what traditional Jews believe that is what traditional Jews celebrate and for sure even without the chronology we can see the parallel you say does that mean the law was bad no quite the opposite it means the law was perfect it means it was a reflection of God's goodness and attributes now there were aspects of the Torah that were given by God based on the weakness of human flesh such as divorce in Deuteronomy the 24th chapter and that's what Jesus says in Matthew 19 because of the hardness of your hearts it was given there was divorce was not the ideal but because of human weakness and human sinfulness it was given as a necessary helpful concession so in in this case we say the law itself set standards loving God with all of our hearts soul mind and strength loving our neighbor as ourself it said other kinds of standards and we fell short when I say we I mean the people of Israel whoever it was given to any nation any people would have fallen short because the law was bad no because the law was good that's what Paul writes in Romans 7 that that the reason sin was awakened in him through the law the reason that do not covet awakened within him all times have covetousness is because he is sinful but the law is spiritual the law is holy the law is good that's why the law God's teaching God standards God's authoritative revelation could not save because it showed us what was right but did not give us the supernatural ability to climb up to those heights it's here it's accessible it's it's doable in terms of nobody is stopping you from doing it nobody is stopping you from carrying it out here just just think of New Testament commands that are given is anybody stopping us from fulfilling the Great Commission is anybody stopping us from praying is anybody stopping us from doing various good deeds is anyone stopping us from living a whole life no we can do it if we choose to but so much of the time we don't choose to which is why we need a Savior so the Torah Paul writes in Galatians 3 and with that in particular in mind that the Sinai Covenant and the Torah with that was a pedagogue was a schoolmaster was someone that would oversee the education of the children the household slave that would watch over them to bring us to the Messiah when you read through the book of Deuteronomy in the 30th chapter and God says to Israel it's it's right here it's not too difficult you don't need someone to figure it out for it's right here you can do it and then the 31st chapter Moses says look I know how wicked and evil you've been while I've been here I know what you've done in my lifetime you're gonna be much worse after me and then in chapter 32 here's a song to sing as witness against yourselves because you're gonna sin you're gonna be scattered why that's human nature so as Paul writes in Romans 7 and the inner being we affirm laws good laws right but God says is right we know it's true and yet we don't live it out that's part of the purpose of the Torah Paul understood that as someone who loved the law people said no traditional drew religious to observant you whatever say what Paul says about the law he attacks the law he denigrates the law you look at Psalm 19 you look at Psalm 119 they exalt the law Paul exalted the law and understood the purpose of the law because of which he recognized that there had to be a new and better covenant which God himself had said God himself had said because of the failure of the people of Israel Jeremiah 31 beginning in verse 31 I will make a new and better covenant and that's what we experienced the first fruits now that we experienced the beginning of it now we're not the fullness of it as the nation of Israel fully embraces the Messiah will come into the fullness of it and we're still in these earthly bodies not yet resurrected into a place of perfect obedience but we enjoy the first fruits of having a new heart we enjoy the first fruits of having a new nature we enjoy the first fruits of supernatural empowerment to do what God has commanded us to do by grace we are not just forgiven of sin but empowered to live above it and as we draw on that that's a full perfection in this world because of human nature but as we draw on it even while in this world we can experience the new life of the Spirit let's draw on everything that God has given to us okay eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four we come back maybe I'll start taking calls but I also want to talk to you about biblical prophecy it's not as simple as we often make it out to be we'll be right back it's the line of fire with your host dr. Michael Brown get on the line of fire by calling eight six six three four truth here again is dr. Michael Brown welcome welcome friends to 30 Jewish Thursday on the line of fire I tell you what before I get into this issue of biblical prophecy not being as simple as we make it out to be I'll explain what I mean in a moment let's uh let's grab some calls also post it on Twitter for folks to post questions that I may get to some as well let's go to Elena and Alexandra Virginia welcome to the line of fire hello dr. Brown always an honor to hear your show thank you so much for having me I have a question more general questions in regards to translation of the Bible it is of my understanding that the New Testament was written down in the Greek language so basically in their adapt of when the apostles were writing down the book is there a gap and missing of the understanding of the Hebrew culture within the words that they were using moreover those are translation the translation of the Greek into several languages in the world does it makes really justice to the depth of the text that we're supposed to understand yes the translations really do open up the depth of the languages there's nothing magical about Hebrew or Greek they they are not better than English or Spanish or or Russian or Chinese they're ancient languages and some and then spoken to this day in different forms so when the Apostles were writing and there may have been some documents part of which originally in Hebrew Aramaic but everything that we have of the New Testament was written in Greek that's because that was the language that was most used at the time and could communicate things best to the ancient world so it's it it's not like well Jesus said this in Aramaic we said this in Hebrew now that you put it in the Greek we won't understand it anymore no God would not have done that otherwise God God would not have allowed that to happen he could have had the world speaking Hebrew at that time I mean there any number of different things that God could have arranged but nothing is lost we trust that the writers were inspired by the spirit as they wrote we understand that that this is God's Word so they were inspired to write in Greek adequately conveying the meanings if people say no no no unless you bring this back to the original Hebrew or the original Aramaic then you're not going to understand it in point of fact we don't have an original Hebrew or an original Aramaic what we have is the ancient Greek so first as they wrote in Greek they adequately conveyed what needed to be conveyed it's always good to study background it's always good to ask how this might have been expressed in Hebrew or Aramaic and and then how the New Testament writers understood that as they conveyed it but we're getting it the way God wanted us to get it and that's why if you look at a hundred different translations modern translations into English and other languages if they're done by good scholars the overall sense is going to be consistent anytime you translate from one language to another you're going to have a different expression of things but look I've preached around the world and if I have a good translator the message I preach is exactly what hits home the overall thing I was getting across is exactly what hits home and the people respond as if I had been speaking to them in English so even though it's a different culture and a different language because this person knows my heart we are in the spirit together and the overall message is getting out together then it's clear all the more when it's meticulous Bible translation so background is good to know always helpful but as one who spent decades working with ancient languages I'm totally free preaching in English using the English Bible because I know overall the spirit and and the word is being correctly conveyed thank you dr. Brown that's clarifies a lot and some kind of worry that has been there's a there's a tiny group within a church back and for that that they're trying to kind of deconstruct the Greek and and put it into Hebrew words because they worried about basically losing the true meaning of the culture and the text and what was supposed to be said if people people have been doing that people have been doing that for decades and it's here's the deal God preserved the New Testament for us and gave it to us in Greek that's that's what we have that's what he gave to try to put it back in Hebrew why on earth say would you try to put first Corinthians into Hebrew Paul wrote it to Greek speakers Greek speaking Gentiles Paul Paul wrote it to them in Greek if you wrote it in Hebrew nobody would have understood it you say oh no no I'm talking about the Sermon on the mouth teaches of Yeshua you could make a better argument that he spoke in Aramaic than he spoke in Hebrew but either way once you try to reconstruct what it was based on the Greek if you say the Greek got it wrong that would mean that the Apostles wrote it incorrectly and for all of Church history we've had it incorrectly if you say they got it right then you're just putting it back to what we already have if you say we really got it wrong now you're trying to figure out with your own brain what it might have been dr. Brown said that 2 plus 2 is 4 but I think he actually meant this it's pure speculation it is utterly worthless fruitless and it's it's bad scholarship to to think that you're gonna accurately be able to do it if you put 10 top Hebrew and Greek scholars in 10 separate rooms and say take the sermon on the mount and put it back into what you think was an original Hebrew or their Aramaic and Greek scholars take the Sermon on the mount from Greek and put it back into the original Aramaic as you think it would be it 10 different scholars top scholars at the end of the day every one of them is gonna have something different they're gonna have come up with something different because it's it's you're trying to reconstruct and it's speculation and it's it is a bad bad exercise I have an article on this but it's an academic article I wrote in 93 it's it's just a bad dangerous practice and last thing to reiterate all that has been preserved for us is the Greek manuscripts we don't have an ancient Hebrew or an ancient Aramaic original we have the Greek that's what was preserved and that's what was used by the early church and recognized as authoritative so fear not I do have some expertise in the subject fear not ignore what they're doing and be secure in the word that we have okay thank you so much Dr. Brown I'll follow your suggestion and your advice that that's why I called all right don't worry about that at all all right I'll tell you something really interesting I've used this example many a time but we know that the book that's in the Apocrypha in Catholic and Orthodox Bibles Ecclesiasticus or Ben Sira the wisdom of Ben Sira so we know because the beginning of that it says it was originally written in Hebrew and then he translated it into Greek right so you know as it's being passed down and now written the one writing translated into Greek it was originally in Hebrew so we know there was a Hebrew original so early last century there was a Jewish scholar who said well since we know it was written in Hebrew let me take book of Ben Sira how many 40 50 chapters and let me translate that back into Hebrew I'm going to try to reconstruct in German it's Rick Rick Rizzet sing is the is the term so a back translation I'm going to take the the Greek text I'm going to put it back in an original Hebrew because we know there was an original Hebrew so we did that he was a good scholar well among the Dead Sea Scrolls and then subsequent discoveries at Masada there was found the the text of the Hebrew Ben Sira at Masada so now we have the original or something very close to the original so they compared it to to to Margolis his work where he went from Greek back to Hebrew he didn't get a single verse right it's not his fault it's just an almost impossible science he got many words or I mean that'd be common sense but as I understand it he did not get a single verse exactly right even though we know there is an original Hebrew I've seen these reconstructions and you know Jesus said blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness it really means blessed are those who pursue peace like where did you get that from well somebody misunderstood this and misunderstood oh so those Christians are messengers saying that then what you're saying is the Greek New Testament is not the Word of God it's not the inspired Word of God and now you're gonna try to figure out an alleged original what somebody really meant they said this but they really meant this now you straw you just throw out the Bible's what you did you just threw out the Bible throughout the New Testament I am a hundred percent for looking as much as we can at the Jewish background to the New Testament as much as we can looking for better understanding of Semitic grammar vocabulary be it Hebrew be it Aramaic as the case fits we know that the writers of the New Testament with the possible exception of Luke were all Jews and thought in Jewish ways and some thought very hebraically you would say and they wrote in Greek accordingly we understand that that's very different from saying what we have is not the real Word of God and we need to go back to some alleged reconstruction for get about it there is no original Hebrew original Aramaic that we have in our possession so what we have is the Greek New Testament thank God for it it is the Word of God we'll be right back it's the line of fire with your host dr. Michael Brown get on the line of fire by calling eight six six three four truth here again is dr. Michael Brown welcome friends to thoroughly Jewish Thursday eight six six three four eight seven eight eight four do you have a Jewish related question of any kind now is the time to call eight six six three four truth I got some really good emails this week really informative lots of great resources all free from my own ministry yeah I I'm on our email list as well so I see the emails as they go out and some of them come directly from me where I'm writing to you and sharing some things from my heart otherwise it's our team putting them out for me and with me and here are the latest resources and things so if you're not getting them there's so much good stuff out there I was talking to some folks the other day doing a TV show and I referenced the real Messiah website these were people who had been really following us in the Jewish work that we're doing and I referenced real Messiah they didn't know about it so I didn't know but oh all right so first let's make sure you get in our emails ask dr. Brown org ask your brown org go there if you're driving your car what you actually do it if you even a stoplight you do it that quickly put your name first last name email address your physical address if you want us to have that put it in there and boom you'll be in our welcome program you'll get a really neat little e-book for me on how to pray for America and then head over to real Messiah calm real Messiah calm now don't do that at the stoplight because you're gonna want to explore it wait till you have some time to do it real Messiah calm you can watch debates I've had with rabbis you can watch videos where we demolish the misinformation of Rabbi Tobia singer as probably the most vocal counter missionary rabbi you can watch or think it through TV show two seasons we did of that all kinds of great resources there on the real Messiah website okay let's go over to first Kings chapter 19 and I want to talk to you about prophecy for a little while I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that I was the the loudest most outspoken charismatic voice calling for accountability with the failed and false Trump prophecies and prior to that in my 2018 book playing with holy fire I had a whole chapter on unaccountable prophecy and a whole chapter on mercenary prophets and going back years before that I raised issues about unaccountable prophecy so as a charismatic Pentecostal myself as someone who believes in the gift of prophecy today and someone who believes that there are prophets in the church today not with the same authority and function as Old Testament prophets but gifted and anointed in similar ways in other ways