Fulfilling the Law

[rosends]

Show the verse from Scripture that a high priest must be from Aaron.

Jesus is the High Priest in accordance to the following,

Psalm 110:1,4 (NIV)
The LORD says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Psalm 110 is relating a conversation God has with Abraham. It reads

The Lord swore and will not repent; you are a priest forever because of the speech of Malchizedek.

God tells Abraham a promise of the future children of Israel, that from him, because of the positive things Malchizedek said about him, a nation will emerge and in it, priests.

Numbers 25:13 gives some info about the lineage of later priests as does Lev 21:1 (through verse 22, and inclusive of verse 10).

And I stumbled on this King/Priest

 

[Hawkins]

Psalm 110 is relating a conversation God has with Abraham. It reads

The Lord swore and will not repent; you are a priest forever because of the speech of Malchizedek.

God tells Abraham a promise of the future children of Israel, that from him, because of the positive things Malchizedek said about him, a nation will emerge and in it, priests.

Numbers 25:13 gives some info about the lineage of later priests as does Lev 21:1 (through verse 22, and inclusive of verse 10).

And I stumbled on this King/Priest

Since when Abraham is sitting to the right of God?
since when God said to Abraham that "I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"?
And since when Abraham is called the lord (of the Psalm writer)?

Christians would rather interpret this otherwise. It is a prophecy of the Messiah.

 

[rosends]

The purpose of Law (of a covenant) is to identify the righteous from the wicked. However, this effect will be lost when nearly all of humans under a covenant failed to keep the Law.

A covenant is a combination of Law and Grace applying to a scope of humans. The OT is more about how Mosaic Law was made obvious to a cope of humans called the Jews.

Genesis 17:14 (NIV)
Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.

The scope of humans (the Jews) only applies to those who abide by the Mosaic Law. So if a Jew by bloodline broke the covenant, he may no longer be a Jew.


When most Jews are unable to keep the Law to God's specified standard for the covenant to be valid, then there's no Jews are still under the covenant. It thus becomes a covenant covering no humans (with most of the Jews being cut off due to the breaking of the covenant).

Jesus' coming is to legally correct the situation such that the covenant with its contents (Law and Faith) will be used again to identify the righteous from the wicked.

These are some strange claims. First off, not circumcising does not men one is not a Jew, just that he is subject to a process called "karet" (the text reads "vnich'r'tah"). Next, most Jews are able to keep the covenant of circumcision. In fact, we still do. Also, if a Jew doesn't keep the covenant, even if many don't, that has no bearing on whether anyone is still bound by the covenant.

These strange and unprecedented legal twistings are not any sort of explanation about why law doesn't apply. And by the way, the law is substantially more than a single covenant with Abraham.

 

[rosends]

Since when Abraham is sitting to the right of God. And since when Abraham is called the lord?

Christians will interpret this otherwise. It is a prophecy of the Messiah.

Gen 23:5-6

And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,
Listen to us, my lord; you are a prince of God in our midst; in the choicest of our graves bury your dead. None of us will withhold his grave from you to bury your dead."

Since when? Since that is the way the text was explained from before the birth of Jesus.

 

[Hawkins]

Gen 23:5-6

And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,
Listen to us, my lord; you are a prince of God in our midst; in the choicest of our graves bury your dead. None of us will withhold his grave from you to bury your dead."

Since when? Since that is the way the text was explained from before the birth of Jesus.

What you said here is completely irrelevant. Try again,

Since when Abraham is sitting to the right of God?
since when God said to Abraham that "I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"?
And since when Abraham is called the lord (of the Psalm writer)?

 

[rosends]

What you said here is completely irrelevant. Try again,

Since when Abraham is sitting to the right of God?
since when God said to Abraham that "I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"?
And since when Abraham is called the lord (of the Psalm writer)?

You asked where Abraham was called "lord" and I showed you. You find that irrelevant? OK.

The medrash Tehillim actually has the text as follows:
The word of the Lord to Abraham, whom the world called “my master,” as it is written (Gen. 23: 6): “Hearken to us, my master.”

And the word "shev" in verse one does not mean "sit" but "wait" as in Deut 1:46. Abraham was reassured that God would make his enemies (like Amraphel) subservient.

The messianic claim is what is irrelevant and completely illogical here.

 

[Harmonious]

Show the verse from Scripture that a high priest must be from Aaron.

Well, Chapter 8 in Leviticus is the installation of Aaron and his sons for the Priesthood, altogether. However, the high priesthood was given to Aaron's grandson Pinchas into eternity in Numbers 25:13.

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: י. וַיְדַבֵּר יְהֹוָה אֶל משֶׁה לֵּאמֹר:
11. Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the kohen has turned My anger away from the children of Israel by his zealously avenging Me among them, so that I did not destroy the children of Israel because of My zeal. יא. פִּינְחָס בֶּן אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן אַהֲרֹן הַכֹּהֵן הֵשִׁיב אֶת חֲמָתִי מֵעַל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּקַנְאוֹ אֶת קִנְאָתִי בְּתוֹכָם וְלֹא כִלִּיתִי אֶת בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּקִנְאָתִי:
12. Therefore, say, "I hereby give him My covenant of peace. יב. לָכֵן אֱמֹר הִנְנִי נֹתֵן לוֹ אֶת בְּרִיתִי שָׁלוֹם:
13. It shall be for him and for his descendants after him [as] an eternal covenant of kehunah, because he was zealous for his God and atoned for the children of Israel." יג. וְהָיְתָה לּוֹ וּלְזַרְעוֹ אַחֲרָיו בְּרִית כְּהֻנַּת עוֹלָם תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר קִנֵּא לֵאלֹהָיו וַיְכַפֵּר עַל בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל:

Jesus is the High Priest in accordance to the following,

Psalm 110:1,4 (NIV)
The LORD says to my lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Concerning that Psalm, it was written by a soldier about King David.
110:1 Regarding David, a psalm. The Lord to my master; "Wait at My right, until I make your enemies a footstool at your feet." א. לְדָוִד מִזְמוֹר נְאֻם יְהֹוָה | לַאדֹנִי שֵׁב לִימִינִי עַד אָשִׁית אֹיְבֶיךָ הֲדֹם לְרַגְלֶיךָ:

Vowelization counts, and the word Adonee (as it would be pronounced), which is Master, is not the same as Adonai, which is the way it would be pronounced if it were referring to God, as our Lord.

110:4 The Lord swore and will not repent; you are a priest forever by my word [you are a] Righteous King. ד. נִשְׁבַּע יְהֹוָה | וְלֹא יִנָּחֵם אַתָּה כֹהֵן לְעוֹלָם עַל דִּבְרָתִי מַלְכִּי צֶדֶק:

There is no "order of Malkizedek."

The praise that the soldier had written regarding King David called him a priest, not because he WAS a priest, but because his actions on the battlefield encouraged the soldiers around him to act morally and ethically.

Besides... If you are looking to this psalm for your justification connecting King David and Jesus, it is lost, as if King David isn't paternally connected to Jesus, the whole "forever" aspect is lost.

 

[Harmonious]

The purpose of Law (of a covenant) is to identify the righteous from the wicked.

No, it isn't. The purpose of the Law is the connection that we, as people, have to God. The point isn't to cull the righteous from the wicked. If it was, there would be no ability to repent, and God is ALL about repentance.

However, this effect will be lost when nearly all of humans under a covenant failed to keep the Law.

Again, no. Either you believe God, or you don't. That is your prerogative. However: In Leviticus 26:44, it says:
But despite all this, while they are in the land of their enemies, I will not despise them nor will I reject them to annihilate them, thereby breaking My covenant that is with them, for I am the Lord their God.

You realize, this passage is at the end of a whole litany of punishments of what will (and has) happen if and when the Jews fail to keep the commandments. There is no limit to how badly "failing to keep the Law" has gone. God said "I will not despise them nor will I reject them to annihilate them, thereby breaking my covenant with them."

You have no obligation to believe it. But please don't try to tell us what the purpose to OUR law is, or the boundaries of OUR covenant, when you clearly don't seem to know them yourself.

I intended to go point by point through the rest of your post, but I realized that it wouldn't help.

Instead, I'll address it generally. While an individual may be punished by being "cut off" from our people for failure to adhere to commandments and beliefs, that doesn't work for the entirety of the Jewish people, whom God has promised HE will never abrogate the covenant, regardless of what individual Jews may do.

And when we repent, turning away from our sinful ways (we understand that this is a permanent work in progress, but progress IS possible), God promised to forgive us.