Friday, May 15, 2015

Deut.14 money

I was talking with a few "Jews" in "Rabbinic Judaism" and their claim is thatMatt.21:12 Mark 11:15 Luke 19:45, and Jn. 2:14-15 contradict and violate Torah (Deut.14:24-26). That Yeshua was attempting to "reform Torah".  That Jews were to exchange money at the temple Yet Yeshua "condemned the practice" boldly by zealously over turning the tables of the the money ex-changers". How are we to compare these verses in context?
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"Matthew: 21:12 moneychangers – The reference is to Money Changers who would exchange various unkosher coins (such as Roman coins) for kosher shekels for the Temple Tax. The practice is mentioned in the Mishna: 
On
 the fifteenth of the same month [Adar] 
they set up money changers’ tables in the provinces.
On the twenty-fifth [of Adar] they set them up 
in the Temple. …
(m.Shekalim 1:3)

They may have been exchanging Roman coins with pagan images on them (see comments to Lk. 20:22-25) for kosher Temple coins. Also, because of the burden of the journey to the Temple people would convert shekels to darics for the journey and exchange the darics back to shekels upon reaching the Temple (as stated in m.Shek. 2:1).

Yeshua sees them as a robber’s (thieves) den (see Mt. 21:13). This may be because they were taking advantage and not making fair exchanges, or it may be because they were extracting the tax from people annually rather than just once in their lifetime (see comments to Mt. 17:24-27)." /The currency of Israeli Jews went towards tithes and temple finances, to mix it with another currency (and system) was to take away from that which was specifically for Jews and pervert the community as a whole. Mention of these people as thieves (robbers) shows that they were giving unfair exchanges. The people traveled to this location to buy these things at this time each year thus those who had their minds on money knew that their products would sell (Supply and demand), thus they could ask unfair prices (knowing that someone would pay it. 
Pro.20:10 Divers weights, and divers measures, both of them are alike abomination to  the LORD(vs.23; 11:1 A false balance is abomination to the Lord: but a just weight is his delight.; 16:11 A just weight and balance are the Lord's: all the weights of the bag are his work./ see note Companion Bible 3:32, Deut.25:13)
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"A Marginal note in a versified 8th century Bible manuscript known as theAurora of Peter Riga gives a citation on this event from the Goodnews according to the Hebrews:

In the Gospel books which the Nazarenes use we read: 
Rays went forth from his eyes,
by which they were frightened and fled.

This is likely the source for a similar comment made by the fourth century “Church Father” Jerome who elsewhere frequently quotes from the Goodnews according to the Hebrews gives the following citation without giving a source:

For a certain fiery and starry light radiated
from his eyes and the majesty of the Godhead
gleamed in his face.
(Jerome; Commentary on Matthew 21:12)

This reminds us of the shining face of Moshe (Ex. 34:29-35) and a similar tradition about Enoch (1Enoch 38:4; 39:14; 2Enoch 69:10-12; 70:2; Jasher 3:20) We read elsewhere about Yeshua’s face shining (Mt. 17:2 = Lk. 9:29)."

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