JEWISH CUSTOMS AND TRADITIONS.
By F. C. Gilbert
God’s versus Man’s Righteousness.
THE word of God reveals to us two kinds of righteousness, which have been in existence ever since man fell by transgression. One kind is expressed in the following language: “The Lord is delighted for the sake of his righteousness; he will enlarge the law, and make it honorable.” This kind is what we term the righteousness of God as revealed in Jesus Christ, and which makes man a fit subject for the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. The other is stated by the prophet as follows: “And we all are like an unclean person, and all our righteousness as a soiled garment; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our sins bear us away as the wind.” Beginning with Adam, after he had disobeyed the Lord, till the present time, man has either enjoyed the one or clung to the other. But tracing the annals of history all through the course of time, it seems very evident that man, due to the perversions of his nature, has been more ambitious of having his own “filthy rags” for a covering, rather than to accept the robe of spotless purity which God has been seeking to impart. While this has been manifest very clearly all through the various stages of the world, the climax of self-justification, in place of the righteousness of God, was reached by the Jews as a nation, which righteousness they really thought was the same as that of the Lord. From their very inception as a people, it was God’s distinct purpose to make them righteous and holy. This he clearly stated by Moses soon after their liberation from Egyptian servitude. He said: “Ye have seen all that I have done to the Egyptians, and I have carried you about on eagle’s wings, and brought you unto myself. And now, if ye will diligently hear unto my voice, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be to me select of all peoples; for unto me belongs all the earth. And ye shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” This same truth we find later in the Bible iterated and reiterated by prophet, priest, and king, encouraging Israel all the time in that idea of righteousness and holiness. It was for this very purpose the Lord said he had separated them from among the nations of the earth, and made them a distinct people. Deut. 7:6; 14:2. Nevertheless, from the very beginnings of their organization as a separate body of people, till the end of the Jewish economy as recognized by Jehovah, they never had fulfilled God’s plan and purpose concerning themselves. In the different periods of their national existence, there were but very few who were willing to submit to God in their entirety, and be adorned with his beautiful garments of salvation and righteousness. The masses never were converted, and consequently were never righteous in God’s sight as he designed they should be. The only kind of uprightness which has ever been acceptable to the Lord, is the one first described. This is the essence of Christianity; it is also the substance of true Judaism, for the former is but a continuation of the latter. In other words, it has been the only truth which has ever enabled man to enjoy the abiding presence of the Anointed One, and made him capable of understanding the ways of him who liveth and abideth forever. Since the Lord made this promise to Israel of making them virtuous and upright, it has always been their anxious desire and longing ambition to be just such kind of people. This is a fact among the pious Jews even of the present day. While it is true, as previously stated, that they, in the majority of cases, did not seek it in the properly-appointed manner, nevertheless it was righteousness they wanted; and that quality they must have under any circumstance, at whatever the cost, even if to the Lord it was as a soiled garment. To them, of course, it seemed the genuine thing. That this is a fact,—that they have always striven after this desirable trait of character,—is very clearly taught by the great apostle to the Gentiles, who surely ought to know, as he had large experience in this line. He says: “For I bear them [the Jews] record they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God.” “What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for.” Rom. 10:2, 3; 9:30-32; 11:7. So after all their labors for, and pursuit after, the righteousness of God, they came short of securing it; and neither till this day have they obtained it, because the same vail is upon their hearts. It is our purpose in this series of articles to illustrate how they have endeavored to become a holy people, filled with “good works” (?) and righteousness (?), which they thought would be suitable to the Lord, but worked out according to their own ideal. However, they have sought to make it appear that they were following God’s plan in the work; and consequently they have used the very means and ways which God has delineated in his word to make people holy by a strict obedience thereto, and then either perverted those truths or else substituted something very much akin, placing a false interpretation upon them, so that the Jews really believe their substitute to be the genuine article. This was Paul’s experience, this has been the experience of many others who have had anything to do with Judaism, so called. It is a fact recognized by the spiritual-minded Jews of all times that the services connected with the tabernacle in the wilderness had a deep spiritual meaning; that God always intended by those objects to teach his people great truths concerning the Messiah, and salvation through him; and that in those types and symbols were incased great truths, which to Israel meant deliverance from sin, and freedom in God. That this is true is shown in scores of places in both Old and New Testaments. They had the Gospel back yonder; they had Christ there; salvation through Christ was theirs; and eternal life as a result of believing in the Messiah was familiar to them. See Heb. 4:1, 2; John 5:39; 2 Tim. 3:15; John 5:40. Many other passages might be cited. When, however, great apostasy set in among the nation, they lost sight of the true meaning of those ordinances and their spiritual interpretation, and gradually the idea was developed that to secure the favor and righteousness of God, all that was necessary to be done was in the observance and performance of those objects merely from an external point of view. In this way, they lost sight of God and his work for them, and attempted to do for themselves that which he only was able to perform. Hence to keep up appearances that they were still the select of God, and are such yet, they who twist, mangle, and wrest the Scripture in the manner best suited to themselves. As an illustration of the above, I quote from a Jewish prayer book, on the subject entitled “Ethics of the Fathers.” It says, “All Israel have a share in the world to come, for it is written, ‘And all thy people shall be righteous, forever shall they possess the land, the sprout of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.’” This of course is taught to mean that those only are Israelites who are born Jews according to the flesh. The way by which this perversion of God’s truth was brought about will be treated in our next.