SET MY PEOPLE FREE!

ACTS 15:20


by Avram Yehoshua

This book is dedicated to my King Yeshua, whose Spirit has shown me the Way of Life.

And to my wife, Ruti, whose love for Yeshua has been a beacon Light for me in this world of darkness.

And to all those Gentiles whom the Spirit of Yeshua is leading into their ancient Hebraic heritage; You are truly a part of Israel:

'But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous Light. For you once were not a people, but now you are the People of God. You had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1st Kayfa [Peter] 2:9-10)
For you have been called by the Messiah of Israel To love His Jewish People by walking in the Torah, and by laying down your life for them, 'for such a time as this.'
'I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.' 'But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an Apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow Jews and save some of them.' (Romans 11:11,13-14)

'For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so the Jews also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you, they also may now be shown mercy.'

'Therefore I urge you brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. (Romans 11:30-31; 12:1)
And to all my Jewish Family... The Time for Your Redemption draws very near:
'But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, Seed of Abraham, My friend; you whom I have taken from the ends of the Earth and called from its remotest parts and said to you, 'You are My servant. I have chosen you and not rejected you. Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Surely I will help you. Surely I will uphold you with My Righteous Right Hand.' (Isaiah 41:8-10)

Table of Contents

(Endnotes in red. Click on the number to go to endnote. Click the BACK button on your browser to return to the article)

I have seen the Spirit of the Holy One leading many Gentile followers of Yeshua the Messiah out of pagan feast days (Sunday,1 Easter, Christmas 2 and Thanksgiving Day 3 observance, etc.), and into observance of the Torah (Law of Moses). He has led them into the Holy Sabbath (Gen. 2:1-3), the Holy Days (Lev. 23), clean and unclean animals (Lev. 11 and Deut. 14), etc., much to the consternation of Catholic, Protestant and Messianic alike.

The Messianic Community is divided over the observance of Torah for the Gentile. Some believe the Gentile should keep the Torah, and others believe the Gentile does not have to. I believe what the Ruah HaKodesh (the Spirit of the Holy One), is doing, is preparing the People of God for observance of the Law of Moses, when Yeshua returns and reigns as King of Israel for 1,000 years (Ezekiel 45-48; Zech. 14:16-21). The Spirit of the Holy One is leading Gentile (and Jew), into the Glory of the Law of Moses. The Spirit is also using this as a filter, to see who will walk where King Yeshua is leading them, even if it goes against their theology and previous teachings.

It is very important to understand the Word of God; from God's point of view. One place that seems to cause much misunderstanding is Acts 15. It centers on whether or not the Gentile needs to be circumcised in order to be saved. In it's ruling, it gives us both the judgment of whether the Gentile needs to be circumcised in order to be Born from Above (saved), and also a prescription of what the Gentile was to do after they had come into the Kingdom of Yeshua. Since Israel was not saved by circumcision (but by the blood of the lamb in Egypt), it followed that the Gentile would not be saved by circumcision either.

The Church has understood Acts 15 to be a Scripture when God rules that the Gentiles do not have to keep the Law of Moses, period. Whether 'to be saved' or after they enter the Kingdom of Jesus. Following this understanding, the four rules given to the Gentiles in verse 20, are seen to be, 'an expression of Christian charity'4 toward 'the weaker brother'5 (the Jewish believers). So as not to offend Jewish sensibilities, the Gentile was told to walk in those four rules. This way there could be 'a basis for fellowship'6 with the Jew, because the Jews were 'in every city' (Acts 15:21).

These four rules were not made primarily so Jew and Gentile could fellowship though, but so the Gentile could walk with the God of Israel. The Gentile needed to know what were the immediate boundaries of the Covenant that they had entered into. What was not permissible for them to do anymore.

The whole idea of why the meeting was called, rested on finding out just how the Gentile should be saved. Acts 15:1-2 tells us:
'Some men came down from Judah and began teaching the brethren, 'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.' And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and Elders concerning this issue.'
The four rules are the portal through which every Gentile had to come, in order to know that his salvation was valid. These rules are not arbitrary on James' part, but designed to filter out idolatry. That is offensive to the God of Israel. As you'll see, all four rules revolve around idolatrous practices involving other gods. One might think in today's terms of Christianity, that anyone coming to Jesus would not think that they could worship Jesus...and Zeus also. But Gentiles in the days of the Apostles, believed that they could have as many gods as they wanted. Adding Jesus to their pantheon was not a big deal as far as many of them were concerned. Of course this is an abomination in God's Eyes. This is why James makes the ruling. He saw that some Gentiles would take Jesus and place Him among their many gods, and think nothing of it.

Acts 15:20 is the filter through which every Gentile must leave all his others gods behind him. It's not the magic wand that makes the Law disappear, but quite the contrary. It establishes the place of the Law in the life of every Gentile believer (Acts 15:21, Romans 3:20, 31; 7:7, etc.). It's the first phase in the Kingdom process, after having been Born from Above, of learning what is acceptable to the God of Israel, and what is not. By understanding that the four rules all center around pagan idolatry, we see that James was only giving to the Gentiles, what Yahveh had given to Israel, when Israel was about to enter the Promised Land. Yahveh sternly warns Israel about worshiping Him...and Him alone. Deuteronomy, chapters four through nine, twelve and thirteen, etc., has Yahveh admonishing Israel about idolatry and its consequences. There were to be no other gods for the Sons of Israel. The Gentile, coming into the Promised One (Yeshua), was being warned by James in the very same way.

Once that is understood, it opens the theological door to see that the ruling doesn't give the Gentiles freedom from the Law, but calls them to immediately drop idolatrous practices, so that they can continue in fellowship (Covenant), with Jesus. Fellowship with the Jew is secondary. The Gentile is expected to learn the Law of Moses, after he has come into the Kingdom of Yeshua (Acts 15:21), and practice what pertains to him as a Gentile. As we will see the four rules stemming from idolatry, it will become clear that Yakov (James), is erecting a fence that will bar the Gentile from assuming that he can have Jesus...and Zeus too. It'll also allow us to understand that the Law of Moses, far from being discarded, is very much the basis for understanding not only Who the God of Israel is, but what He thinks is sin, and what pleases Him (Deut. 4:5-8; Romans 3:20, etc).

Sexual Immorality or Fornication?

As the Jewish believing community in Jerusalem wrestled with whether to circumcise the Gentile or not, they came to the conclusion that the Gentile was Born from Above, by faith in the Risen Messiah, just as they were (Acts 15:11). Acts 15:20-21 gives us both the four rules of James, and a statement of his that directs the Gentile to the synagogue on Sabbath, to learn about the God of Israel. Yakov rules that the Gentile must:
'keep away from the pollution of idols and of sexual immorality and of the thing strangled and of blood. For Moses, from ancient generations, in every city, has the ones preaching him in the synagogues, on every Sabbath being read.'7
The Interlinear rendering uses the term 'sexual immorality' while the translation in the margin, opts to replace it with the word fornication.8 In the same book, there are two different terms. Is it fornication or sexual immorality? Are they interchangeable, or is there a difference? We will see that they are not interchangeable and theologically, there is a world of difference between the two. The one, fornication, correctly understood in it's biblical usage, will show us that the four rules that Yakov gave, can be rightfully said to relate to idolatry, and consequently the learning of the Law of Moses by all the new Gentile converts, as they went to the synagogue on the Sabbath Day to hear Moses read. The other, taking the Greek word to mean 'sexual immorality' will allow others to side track the issue of the Law for all believers.

Many take Yakov's judgment to be some form of the rabbinic Noahide laws. The Gentile believers need only to observe these four rulings, and that's all. Others are not so convinced that the rules are from the Noahide laws, but both believe that they are partly dietary, and allow the Gentile believers in Yeshua to eat (have table fellowship), with their Jewish counterparts, as they adhere to these four admonitions or rules. I think that the Ruah haKodesh wants us to realize that these four rules are the authoritative guideline to the former pagans (now 'Christians'), to completely cease from all pagan worship. The four rules have nothing to do with the dietary laws. They are the pagan 'doors' that the Gentile must close, in order to enter the Door of Salvation, and maintain a relationship with the God of Israel, and the Messianic Jewish Community, through Messiah Yeshua.

If the judgment of the Council of Jerusalem was to impart only some form of the Noahide laws as binding on the new Gentile converts, with a view that that's all they needed to observe, then Yakov's further admonition that Moses is taught on the Sabbath in all the synagogues (Acts 15:21), in the Diaspora (outside Judah and the Galilee), holds no meaning. (As would much of Paul's letters.) For if those Gentiles were not under divine admonition to walk in the Torah of Moses, (i.e. to observe the Sabbath, etc.), why did they need to learn anything about Moses? Why would they have needed to go to the synagogue? The direct implication is that they would learn how the Word of God (Torah),applied to them, and do it.

If it centered on table fellowship, as the only thing for the Gentiles to know, or if their first teaching centers on table fellowship, with learning the Torah as they walk with Yeshua and the Messianic Community, we have a very strange inversion of priorities. Table fellowship between the new Gentile believers and the Jewish believers was important, but not as important as the Gentile believers continuing to practice idolatry. Also, the table fellowship version of the observance of the four rulings by the Gentile believers, would still allow them to eat pig and squid, etc., because nowhere in the four rules does it mention any animals that are not to be eaten. Table fellowship would seriously be strained if the Gentile was eating ham and offering it to his Jewish counterpart, don't you think?!

Fornication: The Hebraic Perspective

Unger's Bible Dictionary says this about fornication: 'The worship of idols is naturally mentioned as fornication (Rev. 14:8; 17:2,4; 18:3; 19:2) as also the defilement of idolatry as incurred by eating the sacrifices offered to idols (Rev. 2:21).'9 'Figurative. The close relationship between Jehovah and Israel is spoken of under the figure of marriage, Israel being the unfaithful wife of the Lord, now rejected but yet restored.'10 This definition of idol worship doesn't get to the heart of what fornication is though.

Going further, Unger also defines fornication in a way that does not line up with Yeshua's words. Unger writes, 'At the present time, adultery is the term used of such an act when the person is married, fornication when unmarried;...'11 This cannot be, for Yeshua declares that only for fornication (not adultery, and the two words are different in Greek), can a man give a divorce to his wife. If fornication is defined as only for people not married, Yeshua's statement makes absolutely no sense.

Matthew 5:32 records Yeshua saying, 'whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery...' (King James Version). Fornication must apply to married people. (Please note too, that Unger uses the term, 'At the present time...' I would like to know what it meant in Bible times, thank you!)

As good as Webster's Dictionary is, it is not perfect. Under 'fornication' Webster opts for the common misunderstanding that it is sexual intercourse between persons other than a man and his wife.12 This would include married people (as well as unmarried), but still does not get to the root of the biblical meaning. In Yeshua's example above, if a spouse has an adulterous affair, Webster would label this fornication. But only for fornication (not adultery), does Yeshua allow the marriage to be severed. Webster gives a popular definition instead of the biblical understanding. But how can we fault Webster, when many Bible scholars don't know the biblical meaning?!

The problem centers around the definition of the Greek word, (por-nay-ahs), 13 translated as either fornication or sexual immorality by different bible translators. Of course, we know that Yakov was not speaking Greek at the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15, but Hebrew. The word would be (miz-nute) 14 coming from the Hebrew verb (zah-nah).15 The Hebrew verb (zah-nah), means to,
'be or act as a harlot ... intercourse with other deities, considered as harlotry, sometimes involving actual prostitution ... Exodus 34:15-16; Deuteronomy 31:16; Leviticus 17:7 ... especially of Israel, Judah and Jerusalem ... figuratively of a lewd woman...'16

It also means, 'to commit fornication, be a harlot, play the harlot.'17 This word and its derivatives speak of either a professional harlot (prostitute), or someone who acts like a harlot, or a person or nation (Israel in relation to Yahveh), that combines the whoring, sexual spirit of a harlot with idolatry. Many times the People of Yahveh are reprimanded for having such a spirit. Numbers 25:1-13 is a prime example. Some definitions from Webster's Dictionary that might prove helpful are:
Debauchery: '1a: an extreme indulgence in sensuality, b: orgies, 2a: archaic: seduction from virtue or duty.'18

Debauch: '1a: archaic: to make disloyal, b: to seduce from chastity, 2a: to lead away from virtue or excellence, b: to corrupt by intemperance or sensuality.'19

Licentious: '1: lacking legal or moral restraints; esp: disregarding sexual restraints.'20

Orgy: '1: secret ceremonial rites held in honor of an ancient Greek or Roman deity and usually characterized by ecstatic singing and dancing 2a: drunken revelry b: an excessive, sexual indulgence (as a wild party)'21
Of course, here Webster stops short, in assigning this 'honor' of orgies, to the Greeks or Romans. The Assyrians and Babylonians 22 who preceded them, had such orgies as part of their idolatrous worship, as well as the Moabites. In Numbers 25:1-13, we read: '
While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods. So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and Yahveh was angry against Israel. Yahveh said to Moses, 'Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before Yahveh so that the fierce anger of Yahveh may turn away from Israel.'

'So Moses said to the judges of Israel, 'Each of you slay his men who have joined themselves to Baal of Peor. Then behold, one of the Sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the Sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the doorway of the Tent of Meeting.'

'When Phineas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the Priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the Congregation and took a spear in his hand, and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the body. So the plague on the Sons of Israel was checked. And those who died by the plague were 24,000.'

'Then Yahveh spoke to Moses, saying, 'Phineas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the Priest, has turned away My wrath from the Sons of Israel in that he was jealous with My jealousy among them, so that I did not destroy the Sons of Israel in My jealousy.'

'Therefore say, 'Behold, I give him My Covenant of Peace; and it shall be for him and his descendants after him, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood, because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the Sons of Israel.'23
In commenting on what Pinhas (Phineas), did, The Chumash states that, 'Pinhas had saved them from calamity' and 'put an end to the devastating plague that had taken 24,000 lives in retribution for the orgy of immorality with the Moabite and Midianite women.'24

As we can see, the people had fallen into 'debauchery and idolatry.'25 The worship of Baal Peor entailed this, as did the worship of many other pagan gods. The sacrifice that the Sons of Israel offered to Baal Peor bonded them to the god. They ate the sacrificial meat and (possibly drank the sacrificial blood), bowed down and worshiped this god, and engaged in orgies with the women, and so joined themselves to Baal Peor (Num. 25:3). This is (biblical) fornication and expressly what Yakov did not want the new Messianic Gentiles doing.26 Yahveh was so jealous, that He was ready to destroy the whole Congregation of Israel, so great was the offense (Num. 25:11).

The name Baal Peor just means that it was the god Baal, on top of the mountain called Peor. The god was also known as Baal or Molech in other places, and originally signified Nimrod, the first King of Babylon, deified.27 To the Greeks, Baal was known as Bacchus. To the Philistines, Baal was known as Dagon. There were many other names for different countries and times. But his licentious worship rites remained the same.

'The sun, as the great source of light and heat, was worshiped under the name of Baal.'28 This is one of the reasons why the mountains and the high places were used for worship. 'Infants were the most acceptable offerings at his altar' 'with the priest of Baal eating of the human sacrifice.'29 We aren't told if Israel sacrificed their infants in Numbers 25, but numerous places in the Hebrew Bible (called the Tanach), confirms such monstrous events.30

In Numbers 25:1 we again see the Hebrew verb (zah-nah) used. It means, 'to commit whoredom, play the harlot; frequently also to commit spiritual whoredom or idolatry.'31 Here we see two spheres of intent. It's used of a person who makes a living as a harlot (who obviously is not walking in covenant with Yahveh), or of the nation of Israel in its apostasy from Yahveh. It also allows us to understand that spiritual whoredom is a form of idolatry.

This latter meaning also applies to an individual (i.e. an Israeli worshiper of a pagan god who, unlike a common harlot, did not receive money for the 'worship'), a community or a tribe. It speaks of idolatrous apostasy, not the vague term, sexual immorality. King David, in his adultery with Bat Sheva, did not apostatize, as great as his sin was. He committed adultery, not fornication.

Unfortunately, some translations like the New International Version, use 'sexual immorality' instead of spiritual whoredom or harlotry. (Even with the ones that use fornication, we see the problem that these run into, in being defined by the popular misunderstanding, instead of the biblical definition.) The difference amounts to placing what Israel did under a heading that is very general (sexual immorality), as opposed to a specific understanding of the spirit and practice in which they engaged (fornication: spiritual whoredom, harlotry).

Most 'sexual immorality' would not biblically fall under harlotry (whoredom or idolatry). By using the generalization, 'sexual immorality,' instead of fornication, it classifies this most abhorrent sin of apostasy, with other non-apostasy related (sexual) sins like premarital sex or adultery. This, of course, has tremendous theological ramifications for Acts 15:20, as well as its practical implications (i.e. the understanding of marriage and divorce). With this understanding of fornication, it opens the four rules up to be seen as different expressions of idolatry.

Using Yeshua's example of what is the only grounds where divorce can take place, we now understand that if a person acts like, or is a harlot (fornicator), and, or practices spiritual harlotry; fornication-idolatry, they have already cut themselves off from the Covenant with God (apostasy), and severed their relationship with their partner. The official act of divorce just ratifies what has already happened; the tearing apart of the one flesh and high rebellion against God. This kind of sin stands in a class all by itself. This is one of the forms of apostasy. For the person has willfully bound themself to another god. There is no longer union with Yahveh or the People of Yahveh, and for this reason the plague in Numbers 25 took 24,000 Hebrews. And Yeshua tells us that when one has a partner that commits fornication, divorce is justified.

The Sons of Israel involved in the fornication were having sexual orgies and they had bound themselves to another god, having eaten of those sacrifices (Num. 25:2). This directly attacked and severed the marriage relationship that they had with Yahveh. To eat of the meat of the sacrifice was to be one with the god to whom it was sacrificed to. This would play prominently into the first rule of the Acts 15:20 passage, 'to keep away from the pollution of idols,' i.e. the eating of sacrificial meat offered to the idol. The orgies crudely emphasized that union with Baal Peor.

In the Mosaic Sacrificial system, eating of the sacrifice was only done (by the common Israeli), upon entry into the Covenant for the People (Exodus 12:3-10), for the ratification of the Covenant by the Elders (Exodus 24:4-11), and the sacrifice of Shalom (peace, communion, union), where the person and his family and friends sat down with the officiating priest and ate some of the meat of the sacrifice (Leviticus 3:1-17).32 This spoke of oneness with Yahveh, and of His being pleased with them. In pagan rituals, the symbolism was the same, just counterfeit.

The Hebrew verb in Numbers 25:3 that states that Israel joined itself to Baal Peor is (tzah-mahd), the verb meaning, 'to be bound to, joined to,'33 the noun meaning, 'pair, couple, yoke (of oxen, mules, horsemen).'34 The eating of the sacrifice solemnized a 'new marriage' to Baal Peor. The orgy consummated it. The verb also means, 'specif. of (a) girl with two lovers ... be attached, attach oneself, specif. be (religiously) devoted.'35

Here was Israel, Yahveh's Bride, with another lover, Baal Peor, while the Groom was still in the House! The Shekinah, the visible expression of Yahveh, the Cloud of Glory, was always over the Holy of Holies, except when it led them to another camp; (Exodus 40:34-38).

We see the picture of those 24,000 Israelites and Baal Peor walking hand in hand. And yet, if you would have asked any one of them if they still believed in Yahveh, they would have said, 'Of course!' But there can be no 'pairing up' of Yahveh's People with another god. For in doing this, those Israelites weren't worshiping the One True God, and Him only. This was fornication and was dealt with by Yahveh, Pinhas rescuing Israel from certain destruction.

The Hebrew verb in Numbers 25:11 that Yahveh uses to describe what He was going to do to Israel is (kah-lah), in the Piel form, and means, '1. to complete, finish, end. 2. to waste, ruin, destroy'36 and 'to cause to vanish.'37 Yahveh was very jealous because of the whoring heart of those Israelites. Israel being His Wife, the Lord was ready to annihilate the whole Camp.

Unger states that, 'the worship of Baal-Peor was a temporary apostasy brought about by the temptations to licentious indulgence offered by the rites of that deity.'38 It's strange that they say 'temporary apostasy' because all who took part in it were killed! Notice too, the seductiveness of the pagan worship, with its appeal to the lust of the flesh (the orgies). The Moabites were not unusual in their 'sexual indulgence' but representative of pagan worship all over the world. Yahveh abhorred it for His People Israel, and so did Yakov in Acts 15:20.

Apostasy Among God's People

There are many times in the history of God's People, in the Land that He gave to them, where we see Yahveh rebuking them through His servants, the Prophets. From just after Yehoshua's (Joshua's), death, till the captivity in Babylon, the Scriptures abound in Yahveh grieving and being angry with His People, for their fornication. Many times it would include worship of Yahveh, as under King Solomon, whereas other times it would not.

King Rehoboam, son of an Ammonite mother, 'perpetuated the worst features of Solomon's idolatry (1st Kings 14:22-24)...'39 Hezekiah (almost 300 years later in 700 BCE), would restore and purify the Temple, 'which was dismantled and closed during the latter part of his father's'40 reign (2nd Chronicles 28:24, 29:3). 'But the reform extended little below the surface (Isaiah 29:13). Idolatry spread fearfully in the last times of the Kingdom of Judah, until it brought down on the people the punishment of captivity in Babylon.'41 The punishment seemed to have reoriented them, for never again do we hear of the Jewish People being addressed for harlotry.

Israel was in covenant with Yahveh, married to God, pledging itself to Him and Him only (Exodus 19:3; 20:2, etc.). Idolatry was 'a political crime of the gravest nature, high treason against the King. It was a transgression of the covenant (Deuteronomy 17:2-3), the evil (emphasis theirs) preeminently in the eyes of Jehovah (1st Kings 21:25). Idolatry was a great wrong because of the licentious rites associated with it (Romans 1:26-32), thus debauching the morals of its adherents.'42

If left unchecked, idolatry spread like wildfire through the whole community, tribe and nation. This would destroy the Northern Kingdom, and bring the Southern Kingdom into Babylonian captivity.

Fornication: The Greek Perspective

The Gentiles never had a Father Abraham who worshiped the One True God or a Moses who led the Sons of Israel out of Egyptian slavery under the mighty, outstretched Arm of Yahveh. The Gentiles had no godly boundaries for how perverse worship and morality could be.

All the Gentile lands and peoples were steeped in idolatry. It permeated their thinking and their way of life. Part and parcel with this was the belief that one could have as many gods as one wanted. And that one could include any god into their worship that they desired. So it would be very natural for them to add Yeshua into their already packed idol worship.

I'm not saying that all of them would do this (for there would be some 'God-fearers' among them, who would have already stopped practicing idolatry), but that too many of them might do this in ignorance. This is why Yakov made the ruling, because of their need to understand they couldn't worship Yeshua and their former gods. The Messianic Gentile believers knew exactly what Yakov meant, understanding fornication as pertaining to a specific expression of idolatry: temple prostitution. In the Brit Hadasha (the New Covenant), the word for fornication or sexual immorality found in Acts 15:20 is the Greek word (por-nay-ah). Wesley Perschbacher translates it as 'fornication, whoredom,' 'from the Hebrew, put symbolically for idolatry, Rev. 2:21; 14:8.'43

In the book of Revelation, the Greek word that is a cousin to (por-nay-ah) is (por-nay-oh). '...from the Hebrew, to commit spiritual fornication, practice idolatry, Rev. 17:2; 18:3, 9.'44 The noun, (por-nay) means, 'a prostitute, whore, harlot, an unchaste female, Matt. 21:31-32; from the Hebrew, an idolatress, Rev. 17:1, 5, 15.'45 Again, a specific sexual, or idolatrous, distinction. These biblical Greek lexicons define fornication accurately and precisely. I wonder why many of the English translations of the Bible don't?

Looking at another lexicon (foreign language dictionary), we find that (por-nay-ah) means, 'prostitution, unchastity, fornication. fig., in accordance w. an OT symbol of apostasy from God, of idolatry; from the time of Hosea the relationship betw. God and his people was regarded as a marriage bond. This usage was more easily understandable because many pagan cults (Astarte, Isis, Cybele, et al.), were connected with sexual debauchery (cf. Hosea 6:10; Jeremiah 3:2,9; Revelation. 19:2).'46

Another word derived from (por-nay-ah), is (por-nu-oh), and means, 'to prostitute, practice prostitution...'47 and it's further stated,
'1. lit. 1 Corinthians 10:8 ... b. Distinguished from ' (moi-koo-ain), 'commit adultery, regarded as a sin against one's own body, 1 Corinthians 6:18. eat meat offered to idols, Rev. 2:14, 20. 2. fig. in the sense 'practice idolatry' ('...cf. Hosea 9:1; Jer. 3:6; Ezekiel 23:19...) Rev. 17:2; 18:3, 9...'48
Fornication and adultery are two totally different words and are not biblically interchangeable. The noun (por-nay) means, a 'prostitute, harlot. 1 Corinthians 6:15. fig. (Isaiah 1:21; 23:15f; Jeremiah 3:3; Ezekiel 16:30f); as the designation of a government hostile to God and his people, Revelation 17:15f.'49

It's used of the Woman sitting on the Beast, who gives men to drink from her cup of abominations in order to lead them astray (Rev. 17:5; 14:8; 18:23).

These meanings are totally different from the common misunderstanding of fornication as sexual immorality (whatever that ambiguous phrase might mean), or adultery. Fornication, (por-nay-ah), among God's People, is sexual idolatry against Yahveh. This shatters the Covenant. (Sometimes (spiritual) adultery is used, of Israel going after another god, but fornication is never used for someone committing adultery, not biblically that is.)

The problem is that too many people don't realize that the concept of fornication, (por-nay-ah) has a special biblical meaning throughout the Hebrew Scriptures, from Genesis through Revelation. It doesn't change. They confuse it with adultery and other sins involving sex. To see the error in that, we only have to look at how Yeshua uses it, to see that it is in a special category all by itself. The core or center of fornication, is rooted in the spirit and attitude of whoredom.50

Looking at the lexicons, we see that they go back to the Hebrew mind set to determine their definition. This is extremely important. I once heard it said that, 'The only thing Greek about the New Testament are the words. All the concepts behind the words are Hebraic in nature.'51 What this means is that to truly understand the New Covenant, you must see that the Greek words point to a Hebraic Reality.

The Hebraic perception of Reality (God), is significantly greater and clearer than any other, because Yahveh chose Abraham, not Socrates. God bound Himself (Covenant), and interwove His Ways (Torah), among Israel. Yahveh revealed Himself in Power (Exodus and Passover; Yeshua crucified and resurrected), to Israel, not Athens. His Reality is embedded in the consciousness of the Hebrew People, and it is reflected in the Hebrew Bible and language.

It is from this understanding of Reality, of Who Yahveh is, and of What He has done for His People, that compels us to understand His Word (the Hebrew Bible: Genesis through Revelation), from a Hebraic perspective. We can only 'rightly divide the Word,' when we see how He understands the Word.

To see how important this is, one need only to look at the Church, steeped in paganism. It has led its people into the pagan observance of Sunday assembly, claiming the resurrection as justification.52 Without Hebraic understanding, there is no foundation. For what has Athens (Babylon), to do with Jerusalem? With no foundation (Torah), one can bring Babylonian pagan things into 'Christianity' and 'justify' it.

Our Friend Paul

I thank God for you Gentiles! Without you, half the epistles of the Apostle Paul would not have been written! He wrote the bulk of his letters, responding to problems in the local Gentile congregations. Problems that needed to be addressed, because of the lack of their knowledge of Torah.

The first eight years of my walk with the Lord were spent in the church and seminary. It was here that I learned that 'the Law was dead.' So in 1983, when His Spirit began to lead me into the Torah, I said, 'Lord, the Law is dead.' Everybody in Christianity knew that. But Yeshua did not give up on me. He would show me one thing and then another. Finally one day, after He had shown me something else in relation to Torah, I said, 'You know Lord, You have a point there.' My theological wall had been cracked and I was ready to look at the Torah from His perspective, with an open, and not a defensive mind set. Isn't He Good?!

Directly relating to Acts 15:20, we hear a very frustrated Shaul (Paul), crying in 1st Corinthians 6:15-20: (KJV):
'Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid! What? Know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? For two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

Flee fornication! Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.'
A translation that would vastly improve understanding, would use 'temple harlot or temple prostitute,' instead of just 'harlot' or 'prostitute.' Without those words, the translation gives the impression that the fornication 53 that Paul was talking about was with an ordinary harlot. It is not linked to idol worship here in the English, except by our knowledge of what fornication is (pagan temple prostitution). Now we can better see the direct reference that Paul uses when he writes about the Temple of the Holy Spirit, being our body. One goes to the pagan temple to 'worship' (fornicate). One should not then turn around and use that same body to worship Yeshua. Notice how Shaul remands them and relates fornication's opposite: worship of the True God, in His Temple, our body. (Also note that he doesn't say, 'Flee adultery!').

Falling From Grace

Shaul begins to speak of the danger of walking in idolatry, especially fornication in 1st Cor. 10:1-4:
'For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the Cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the Cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual Rock which followed them; and the Rock was Christ.'
Shaul wanted them to understand that Israel was in covenant with Yahveh, and that the Body of Moses preceded, and was a picture of, the Body of Messiah. Both were chosen of God. And people in both could sever the covenant. 1st Cor. 10:5-6 continues:
'Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved.'
Shaul brings the identification to a point, wanting the Gentiles to understand that membership in the Body of Messiah is not a guarantee of never falling from grace. This is an all too common problem today, in this Age of Cheap Grace. His next statement deals with the problem that he was addressing among them, in relation to our topic. 1st Cor. 10:7-8 declares:
'Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play. Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did' (lit. 'Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed fornication')54 'and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.'55
Here we see the coupling of idolatry with fornication. Not all idol worship involves fornication. In some instances, idol worship can be the burning of incense to the pagan god, or ancestor worship, astrology, magic, etc. Fornication entered Israel with the idolatrous orgies (Numbers 25:1-13). Fornication falls under the general heading of idolatry. It is the sexual expression of idolatry. Shaul goes on in 1st Cor. 10:11-14:
'Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.'
How many times have I thought of the phrase, 'No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man,' and never realized that it was expressly talking about fornication? Shaul is telling them that he realizes that fornication is a great temptation56 (lust). He is warning them. He makes the point that, as those Israelites fell, so could the Gentiles who believe in Yeshua who continue to practice idolatry. Also note that adultery is not brought up. It's distinct from fornication and idolatry.

Fellowship With Devils

In looking at another aspect of pagan worship, the drinking of blood (or some other symbolic representation of the blood)57 we hear the Apostle Shaul strongly rebuking the Corinthians for partaking of the communion cup of demons! Now he becomes very specific in relation to their demonic practice of communion. He speaks of how it would make Yeshua feel (jealous), and what it would mean to them (they would be cut off from Messiah). 1st Cor. 10:16-22 states:
'Is not the cup of blessing which we bless, a sharing in the Blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.

Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in (partners with)58 demons.' (The King James Version has, 'and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.')

'You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? We are not stronger than He, are we?'
It's not a minor problem that Shaul is addressing. His reference to jealousy, the word used over and over again, of how Yahveh felt in the Baal Peor affair (Numbers 25:11, 13), means that Yeshua will cut them off, just as Yahveh cut off those Israelites who sacrificed to Baal Peor. What God did to His People Israel, He was capable of doing to His People Israel, who were Gentiles.

It seems that the Gentile believers were drinking the cup of communion of demons, and didn't realize that it was wrong! Their religious culture would permit the inclusion of the worship of Jesus with their other gods. Paul was telling them that they couldn't mix their other gods with worship of Yeshua. He didn't want them to be fornicators, a shocking, new concept to them.59 The history of Israel was to be their example and he didn't want them unaware or ignorant of their responsibility. This passage will also help us with the term 'blood' in Acts 15:20.

Beef in the Market

Shaul begins to address another problem that is a corollary to what he had been talking about. The buying and the eating of meat in the marketplace for common consumption. In 1st Corinthians 10:23-28 he states:
'All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things are lawful, but not all things edify. Let no one seek his own good, but that of his neighbor. Eat anything that is sold in the meat market without asking questions for conscience sake; for the Earth is the Lord's, and all it contains. If one of the unbelievers invites you and you want to go, eat anything that is set before you without asking questions for conscience sake. But if anyone says to you, 'This is meat sacrificed to idols,' do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for conscience sake;' (all quotes from 1st Corinthians 10:1-28 are taken from the New American Standard Bible).
First, the understanding that all things are lawful for Paul means that he is able to do anything he wants, within the boundaries of the Law of Messiah. 'Eating anything' would fall within the boundaries of anything that God declares to be clean. Paul would not eat ham because he knew that it was a sin for him and for others.

In both 1st Cor. 6:12 ('...but I will not be mastered by anything), and in 1st Cor. 10:23, Shaul makes statements about all things being lawful to him. The force of the Greek here and elsewhere 60 suggests alternate renderings, using words like 'permitted, possible,61 or proper.62 The word for Law or Torah is not found in these places (where the text has 'lawful'). An alternate translation might be, 'All things are possible or proper for me.'

What Shaul seems to be saying is that he is a free man, under no one's judgment (except Yeshua's). That he can do 'anything' that he wants to do and no one is to be his judge (to condemn him). That it cannot mean the Law is 'done away with' is evident because we know that he would not murder, lie, steal, worship pagan gods, drink the cup of demons, break the Sabbath, etc. The Torah is his guideline for what is holy and what is sin, in Papa God's Eyes.63

Second, from two very important passages of Scripture, it would seem that Paul is contradicting both Jesus and His half brother, James, in allowing believers to eat meat offered or 'sacrificed to idols.' Yakov admonishes the Gentile believers not to eat meat that has literally just been sacrificed on the altar (as we'll see later on), specifically referring to it as 'the pollution of idols,' in Acts 15:20. The inference though, is that the person eating it would be at the pagan altar, partaking of the actual sacrifice. And Yeshua says in Revelation 2:20-21:
'Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.' (KJV)
The committing of fornication and the eating of the actual animal sacrificed unto the idol were done within the same time frame by these 'Christians.' The Lord Yeshua is declaring that it is wrong to eat that meat and of course, to have sex with the temple prostitutes. He says that Jezebel was teaching and seducing those believers into doing just that; offering 'worship' to that god, as a 'Christian'!

In Paul's context, the believers eating the meat were not at the sacrifice, worshiping that god. They are told not to ask if it had literally been sacrificed or not, which tells us that they weren't part of the pagan worship. This is the difference between Yeshua and Yakov, that allows Paul to tell them that the meat is alright to eat. The Corinthian passage tells us that they got the meat from either the market place or the home to which they were invited.

The meat that the Apostle Paul allows those Christians to eat was not meat that had just literally been sacrificed to an idol upon an altar. Two possibilities exist here. One, that all or some of the meat in the market place would be 'blessed' by the pagan priests and then slaughtered (not sacrificed), in the market place, by the 'butcher.' This way the meat would be 'fit for consumption' so to speak, for the pagans. But it might concern believers even though it wasn't literally sacrificed upon an altar and then taken to the market.64

Another alternate understanding is that there was some meat literally taken from a sacrifice and brought to the market. As Paul says not to ask if it were sacrificed, it raises the possibility that both scenarios were played out.

We also see that it wasn't to be eaten if an unbeliever informed the believer, whether in the market or at the unbeliever's home, that it did in fact come from a sacrifice. What he is not saying, is that if someone puts ham in front of you, you can eat it. No, Shaul is directly addressing the problem of meat bought at the market that may have been used in a pagan ritual of sacrifice, not which meat to eat (clean verses unclean).

Paul and Ham

For Paul's understanding that ham and shrimp are not food to eat, please note in 1st Timothy 4:4-5, the qualification that makes food acceptable for eating. It is not just prayer, but the word of God and prayer:
'For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.' (NASB)
Was not Leviticus 11, the word of God in Paul's day? Of course it was. For he writes in 2nd Timothy 3:16 that,
'All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be proficient, being equipped for every good work.'
'All Scripture' would include Leviticus 11, as well as all the Tanach: the Torah (five books of Moses), the Prophets, and the Writings (the 'Old Testament').

The pig is good, for what God created it for ('everything created by God is good'). It is one of the garbage collectors of the Earth, one of God's sanitation engineers! So too the vulture, catfish, shrimp, etc. Who wants to eat from the garbage truck?

If a congregation had one or two of Paul's epistle's, that would have been a lot. For the New Testament was not brought together till around 200 CE. The Scripture that Shaul is speaking of is the Tanach. And of course, in the verse before this, 2nd Timothy 3:15, he calls the Tanach, 'the Holy Scriptures that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Yeshua HaMashiah.' And I might add, 'and keep on instructing you, in the Way that you should go.'

Once you come to Yeshua, does it mean that because He is the fulfillment of the Sabbath, that you don't have to observe the Sabbath? I've heard this many times. 'Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath, therefore I don't have to keep it.' Then the same would hold true for love of one's enemies. Yeshua fulfilled that too. Does that mean that I don't have to love my enemies? Oh, my carnal heart would just love that!

One of the reasons why He came, was so that our perverse hearts could be seen for what they are in the Light of His Heart to serve and die for a proud and uncaring human race. As we come to recognize our arrogance, and ask God to forgive us, we are transformed by Yeshua's Blood and His Spirit. But it's only as we are confronted by His impossible Commandments, that our evil heart is revealed to us, and therefore our desperate need. But the 'impossible Commandments' are not the dietary laws, but loving God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourself. The dietary laws are very easy to keep. Yeshua came to give us a new heart that we could love God and neighbor. His Commandments to Moses are Truth and Wisdom for us. The Commandments like the Sabbath, are stepping stones to reveal how much we want to have control; to have our own way. We walk in His Ways and honor Him as King, by obeying His Word.

The Great Apostasy

There are many places in the Brit Hadasha that use (por-nay-ah), (fornication), but none seem to present as clear a picture as to the meaning, as in the book of Revelation. We see the problem exposed on a much greater scale. Yeshua says in Rev. 2:20-21:
'Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not.' (KJV)
The close connection (in the sentence), between fornication and eating things sacrificed to idols implies that they were part of the same event. One complementing the other, the nature of which was union with the god. We also see a grave problem in that community, in that His servants were being taught to fornicate, in the Name of Yeshua. Temple prostitution in the Church. More subtle than all the beasts of the field was the Serpent (Satan). They didn't see themselves as committing fornication, but performing their 'religious duty'!

Too bad they didn't have e mail in that day. This way all the congregations could have been notified about Yakov's letter! Yet, where sin aboundeth, grace aboundeth much more, (don't you just love the King James?!), in that Yeshua gave Jezebel time to repent. Interesting name she had (1st Kings 21:23). I believe that in 1st Cor. 10, Shaul is doing the same thing; giving the Gentile idolaters a chance to repent, for they didn't understand that Yeshua wasn't like Zeus. They hadn't been at Mt. Sinai or Baal Peor, or taken into captivity in Babylon because of fornication.

Now you might say, 'Well, that's a whole lot different from the time Yahveh destroyed 24,000 of them.' But when looking at the whole biblical picture of Israel, Yahveh strove with Israel many hundreds of years concerning their fornication, sending them Prophets to warn them, before He destroyed the northern Kingdom of Israel, and led the southern Kingdom of Judah into captivity. Paul's 'grace' here, is identical. (Also note well: Yahveh's literal Presence was with Israel in the Wilderness in the Baal Peor affair. It would not be so, both in Jeremiah's day, and in Corinth in Paul's day. A very similar reality existed in the beginning of the Jerusalem body, when all the Jewish believers heard about the untimely deaths of Ananias and Sapphira [Acts 5:1ff], where they 'only' lied to the Holy Spirit about how much money they actually got for the sale of their property. But Yahveh's Presence was among them, as it was in the Wilderness.)

Now the particular gives way to the universal. In Rev. 14:8 we read:
'And there followed another angel, saying, 'Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.' (KJV)
All nations. Babylon is the antithesis of the Heavenly Jerusalem where the True God is worshiped. Babylon is the seducer of all the nations, causing the peoples to worship Satan, even in the guise of Yeshua (Jezebel, etc.). This has always been one of the trademarks of the Babylonian mystery religion. Getting the Gentile peoples to think that they were worshiping the True God, when in fact, they were polluted and were worshiping Satan in one of his many different guises. In Rev. 17:2 and 4 we see:
'With whom the kings of the Earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. And the Woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication;' (KJV)
The diabolical scheme of Satan has been to beguile the whole world, that Satan would be worshiped instead of the God of Israel. This is the core of biblical fornication. All fornication comes from Babylon, the great seducer of Man's heart. How could the servants of Yeshua be seduced into committing fornication?, in His Name?! The whole structure of idolatry is a counterfeit mirror reflection of what Yahveh has for mankind. All the concepts of salvation are found in paganism. It is truly a 180s perversion of God's Truth.

The Other Three

Understanding fornication as temple prostitution, a specific (sexual), expression of idolatry, opens the way for the other three rulings to be clustered around it. All four rules deal with idolatry of one kind or another. Breaking Acts 15:20 up into the four rules, we read Yakov admonishing the Gentiles:
  1. 'to keep away from the pollution of idols
  2. and of temple prostitution 65
  3. and of the thing strangled
  4. and of blood.'
Our understanding of the first rule in Acts 15:20 is helped when we see another word added to the rule in the actual letter to the Gentiles (Acts 15:29). Here the Greek word is (ay-doe-low-thu-tone)66 and it specifically relates to the eating of the sacrificial meat 67 by the idolater. Perschbacher states it is meat, 'sacrificed to an idol; the remains of victims sacrificed to idols, reserved for eating; Acts 15:29.'68

Walter Bauer also confirms this. He says it is, 'meat offered to an idol: sacrificial meat, part of which was burned on the altar, part was eaten at a solemn meal in the (pagan) temple.'69 Here we see in greater detail that the meat and the offerer are in the same location. Concerning 1st Cor. 10:23-28: Was some of the remains of the sacrifice sent to the market? How many hundreds of pounds or kilos would come from the sacrifice of an ox? For example; could the offerers eat all of it? How much would be burnt on the altar fire? The first rule or commandment of Yakov is directed against pagan idolatry connected with the eating of sacrificial meat offered to the idol, something which the Apostle Paul agrees with.

In 'communion,' we 'eat the Flesh' of the Son of Man. Eating the unleavened bread, we remember His Sacrifice on our behalf. As He is always with us, we seek to enter into the Reality of His past salvation experience, by His Spirit, to make it a present salvation reality for us.

The second rule, fornication, pertains specifically to temple prostitution, as we have already seen. A fornicator is a person who has the spirit of harlotry, and or, is involved in sexual union with a temple prostitute as a form of worshiping a pagan god.70

The third rule is very interesting because some think that Yakov never said it. The Interlinear has a footnote, 'Other ancient authorities lack, 'and from whatever has been strangled.'71 The table fellowship and Noahide consensus believe that it would imply the practice of rightly slaughtering an animal, by slitting the throat, draining the blood, etc.

I agree that slitting the throat is the proper way to slaughter an animal. This allows the blood to flow out of the animal while the heart continues to pump. But if this rule was indeed a part of Yakov's rulings, I see it in the context of an animal being sacrificed to its god, by the breaking of its neck. The 'animal' in this case would most likely be a bird. Birds were often used as a sacrifice, not only to the God of Israel (Lev. 1:14, etc.), but also to other gods. The strangling of the neck could also be done for a dog,72a goat, a lamb, or a chicken, etc. (But not for a pig or a bull!) And as we'll see the fourth rule lining up with idolatry, I'm led to assume that this third one does also, if it was part of Yakov's rulings.

Dr. David Stern writes that if 'from what is strangled' was not originally there, then one is left with the three things that the Rabbis say that a Jew was to die for, rather then transgress. A Jew could transgress all the Commandments, in order to save life, but not idolatry, fornication or murder (Sanhedrin 74a).73This means that Stern equates the word, 'blood' in Acts 15:20, with murder. I don't believe this is correct.

The fourth rule is to keep away from 'blood.' Some link this blood with murder. Others would tell us that it means not to eat the blood in rare roast beef, for instance, a form of the dietary laws. But there is no direct evidence for this from our passage in Acts 15:20. The Greek word for blood 74 in Acts 15:20 is ' (hai-mah-tos). It means, 'blood; of the color of bloodshed; blood-guiltiness; natural descent.'75 As you can see, it can relate to being literally blood, or it's color, or sin (murder), or lineage. Walter Bauer states:
'1. lit.-a. of human blood b. of the blood of animals; use as food is forbidden, Leviticus 3:17; 17:10. some (Harnack, Zahn, etc.) interpret this passage as 'a command not to shed blood. Fig. 2b. blood as 'expiatory sacrifice.' 'As a means of freeing from guilt' (esp. Lord's Supper).'76
Just from the word itself, we cannot determine what Yakov is commanding. It could be either murder, or the blood from a human or an animal. From the context though, murder is ruled out because murder was a very serious crime in the Roman Empire and everyone knew it. The need for a ruling on murder was not necessary. After all, how many Gentile believers were running around murdering people, thinking that it was alright? But the need to have the Gentiles not to drink blood offered to idols was necessary. We've already seen the Apostle Paul warning the Corinthian believers about drinking the 'cup of demons.'

This takes Yakov's ruling out of the realm of what the Rabbis say concerning the three things a Jew should die for and not transgress that Dr. Stern suggested. It centers around how Yakov perceived the need. Drinking blood as part of a pagan sacrifice was not a crime against Rome, but it was a sin against the God of Israel. Yakov is ruling that the drinking of blood is forbidden. This means that all four rules deal with idolatry.

Switched Rulings

A profile of the three passages where the four rulings are seen is both insightful and enigmatic. Insightful in that it also confirms blood as sacrificial blood that is drunk, rather than murder or blood in rare roast beef. Enigmatic in that the order of the four rulings, as well as the wording surrounding them, changes in each instance:

Acts 15:20: 'but to write to them

  1. to keep away from the pollution of idols
  2. and of temple prostitution
  3. and of the thing strangled
  4. and of blood.'
Acts 15:29:

  1. 'to keep away from meat sacrificed to idols
  2. and blood
  3. and strangled things
  4. and temple prostitution, from which keeping yourselves you will do well. Goodbye.'
Acts 21:25: 'And concerning the Gentiles having believed, we wrote, having decided (that) they avoid both

  1. the meat offered to idols
  2. and blood
  3. and strangled (things)
  4. and temple prostitution.'77
Centering in on the word both (Acts 21:25), the Greek word 78 is (toe). The word means 'both' 79 in the sense that it, 'connects- a. clauses, thereby indicating a close relationship betw. them.' 80 It seems that Yakov is saying there is a close connection between the meat offered to idols and blood. If this is the case, 'blood' can only mean sacrificial blood from the sacrificial animal that is drunk (and not murder or dietary law). It might be rendered better, 'to keep away from the meat and blood sacrificed to idols, and from strangled (things), and temple prostitution.'

Excluding number three (things strangled), we have the major components of pagan worship: eat the meat and drink the blood of the sacrifice, and lie with the temple priests and priestesses (prostitutes). Satan knew how to lure men and women to him; just make 'lust' equal 'god'.

From the original order listed (Acts 15:20), number two (temple prostitution), and number four (blood), are switched, (Acts 15:29; 21:25). Why does this happen? Good question. Perhaps it could be that once Yakov said it in Acts 15:20, he realized that a better order for it, would be to place the blood that would be drunk at a pagan sacrifice, right after the meat sacrificed to the pagan god.

Noah

In trying to make Yakov's four rulings relate to the Noahide Laws, as some Christian groups have done, we find interesting questions and problems that arise. 'Noah's Laws' or Commandments for Gentiles are:

  1. '...practicing justice and
  2. abstaining from blasphemy,
  3. idolatry,
  4. adultery,
  5. bloodshed,
  6. robbery and
  7. eating flesh torn from a live animal' ... 'also not to drink blood taken from a live animal.' Sanhedrin 56a 81 (This clause, 'not to drink blood' was added later to the seventh.)
In placing the first three rules of Yakov in the third category of idolatry (eat no meat offered to idols, do not practice fornication, and don't strangle 82 an animal), we're left with blood fitting into either the category of murder (#5) or drinking it (#7). If drinking it, then Yakov took only one category from the Noahide Laws, for drinking the blood could also be placed under idolatry (#3). Isn't that strange that James would use only one of Noah's categories? The Noahide people tell us that the Gentile who believes in Jesus is to observe all of Noah's Laws.

Even granting that blood in Acts 15:20 could mean 'murder' (therefore lining up with #5 of Noah), there are only two of the seven Noahide Laws touched upon. And what would have been the need for him to address murder? Rome already did. Realizing that Yakov's four rules have their basis in the Torah (Commandments against idolatry), one has to squeeze Yakov's rulings into being taken from the Noahide Laws. And why wouldn't Yakov also include adultery?, or blasphemy? And why didn't he just give them the whole thing?!, all the Noahide Laws?! (Note too that there's no mention of draining the blood properly. If we see 'blood' in Acts 15:20 as 'murder' than it could not be taken to mean anything to do with table fellowship with the Jewish believer. Therefore, it couldn't have anything to do with any dietary rules i.e., which animals to eat or not eat, for the Gentile. So, there poses the problem of the Gentile being able to eat ham at the same table with the Jew who thought it was sin.) 83

Sorry, but I can't give you a cite on where Noah's Laws come from in the Scriptures. They come from the Talmud. The idea that God gave these Laws to Noah, and therefore to the Gentiles, comes from the Rabbis. Nowhere in the Scriptures are these Noahide Laws seen as being given to Noah. It's ironic though that the laws that Noah did know, unclean and clean animals, are not part of the Noahide Laws! 84 Hmm. And Noah was a Gentile!

There are some other possible permutations of arranging the rules 'into' the Noahide Laws, like trying to make fornication equal adultery (#4, so that another category of the Noahide Laws are used), etc., but what is the purpose of all this? Why do Yakov's rules have to come from the Noahide Laws? Could it have been devised as a way of saying that the Gentile doesn't have to walk in God's Torah. That the Gentile doesn't have to obey Yahveh's Commandments. Carnal man doesn't like to be told what he can and can not eat, even by God (dietary laws), or what day he is to assemble for community worship on and keep holy (Sabbath), etc. Is this the Garden all over again? Man doing what He wants, even though Yahveh has spoken and written down for us, what He wants His People to do?

If Yakov's rules come from Noah, we also have a tremendous theological problem. God has just created two separate and distinct Messianic (Christian if you must), Communities. One for the Jew and one for the Gentile. Welcome to Sunday School class, where the Law has been done away with! This also holds true for the table fellowship group. They say the Torah is for the Jewish believer but not necessary for the Gentile. This is just one small step outside of mainstream Christianity which says that the Torah is not for the Gentile or the Jewish believer.

The Jew must observe the Torah (Acts 21:20). And the Gentile does not have to? This is not only theologically absurd, but in practical terms impossible. What day will the two peoples (in the same congregation), assemble on? God forbid if they want to have a picnic together. 'No thanks, I'll pass on the beans with bacon in them.' And 'thank you very much for your Christmas present. Did you like my Hanuka gift?' Oh Joy unspeakable, full of Glory! With this understanding, we have two very distinct groups of believers. One that must keep the Sabbath (Jew), and if they don't it's a sin, and the other (Gentile), that can make any day they want to assemble on, etc.

Nowhere in Acts 15, or any other place in the Scriptures, is Acts 15:20 related to being part of the Noahide Laws. This is Man trying to figure his way out of keeping the Torah of Yahveh. It's either for both Jew and Gentile, or its for neither one of us.

Table Fellowship

In biblical law, eating blood in rare roast beef is a sin, but not necessarily idolatry (Lev. 3:17; 7:26; 19:26; Ezekiel 33:25). 'Eating' blood is generally seen as drinking it from a pagan sacrifice (idolatry) or drinking it from an animal just slaughtered (also idolatry). Drinking the blood 85 of an animal was part of the worship of a god. This was a common pagan practice to attain the characteristics of the god, and the benefits thereof. In principle, this is what we are doing when we take the wine of communion.

If blood in Acts 15 relates to table fellowship, then I think that Yakov would have said which animal meat to eat, and which not to eat. No reference is ever made to this. In other words, if Yakov was going to get that specific (in mentioning the blood, that it shouldn't be in rare roast beef), then he really fails to tell the Gentile which animals were acceptable meat to God and which were not. Eating pig at the table with a Jewish believer would not be conducive to good table fellowship.

So the situation arises theoretically, that the Gentile could have butchered the pig according to acceptable slaughter practices, slitting the throat and draining the blood. But could you imagine that Messianic Gentile sitting down with a Messianic Jew and offering him some hot pork chops?! Great way to start a conversation!

It also begs the question that the pig is not the only 'meat' that is forbidden. What if the Gentile were to offer shrimp?, which doesn't have 'blood' or needs to be strangled. (Can you imagine strangling a shrimp?!) This creature is forbidden but Yakov does not address this at all. This is why blood must relate to the pagan ritual of drinking it, for pagan communion, and not to how much is in the meat they might get from the market.

One might say that they would learn about the forbidden creatures as they went to the synagogue and heard the Torah read. This too misses the point. If Yakov and the rest of the Council were so adamant about the draining of blood, in relation to the dietary law, and the strangling of the animal (in relation to table fellowship), Yakov would also have made Leviticus 11 the first thing for the Gentile to learn. Nowhere is table fellowship mentioned in Acts 15. Nowhere is it the reason for them holding the Council. And nowhere is it said to be the reason for giving the four authoritative rulings. The rulings were given specifically in relation to a Gentile's salvation (Acts 15:1-2), not table fellowship.

By assigning these rules to table fellowship, one does not necessarily place the Gentile outside the (Torah observant) Messianic Jewish Community, but all too often this is how I have seen the practical implications of this. Again we see the need to detach the Messianic Gentile from the Messianic Jew by placing him in a different category. What God has brought together, Man loves to cut asunder. Table fellowship was not what Yakov had in mind, as important a concept as table fellowship is.

It's very interesting to note when Shaul does forbid table fellowship (i.e., friendship with, eating with, talking to a 'believer'). It has nothing to do with any violations of roast beef with blood in it or dietary laws. In 1st Cor. 5:9-13 he writes:
'I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people' (fornicators); 'I (did) not at all (mean) with the immoral people' (fornicators) 'of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters; for then you would have to go out of the world.'

'But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he should be an immoral person' (fornicator), 'or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler-- not even to eat with such a one.'

For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within (the assembly)? But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves.'
What does Paul mention as justification for severing fellowship? Specifically fornication and the four rules of Acts 15:20 (for drinking blood and strangling would fall within idolatry), and he adds a few of his own which he also saw as idols (covetousness, swindlers, revilers and drunkards).86 This is another strong witness that supports 'blood' in Acts 15:20 as dealing with only idolatrous issues, and not with dietary laws, or blood in rare roast beef, or murder.

In looking at a place where Paul does mention food, he shares a technical rabbinic point as not a valid reason for breaking table fellowship. In Romans 14:14-17, he writes:
'I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil; for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.'
No, Paul is not saying one can eat pig now. If he were he would be breaking the Word of God. Sinning. Shaul could be speaking about an ultra rabbinical point. Food, biblically clean food, bought from a Gentile, was considered unclean by many Jews. This is what he is addressing here. Most likely, it is an argument between the Gentile 'veggie only eaters,' who thought that any and every Gentile meat was 'defiled,' and the meat eaters who believed they could eat (clean) meat (Rom. 14:1-3). In other words, Paul was specifically speaking about that Gentile meat in the market place that might have come from a pagan sacrifice and not that pig and horse were now alright to eat.

The Rabbis also say that if a person does not wash their hands and say the proper rabbinic blessing before eating, the food is considered to be unclean. Even if the food is only a salad made up of carrots, lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes and red peppers. Biblically, this salad could only be 'kosher' or clean. But not so to certain Jews.87 Yeshua confronts this issue directly when He states as the climax of his argument with the Pharisees in Matthew 15:20: 'These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.' The entire confrontation started with the Pharisees asking:
'Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the Elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread' (food). (Matthew 15:2)
And the implication was that as they would be washing their hands, they would be saying the rabbinic blessing. The account does not deal with Yeshua changing the dietary laws (as is seen in some English translations of an almost identical account in Mark 7:1-23, where it states:
'...because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?' (Thus He declared all foods clean.)' 88 (Mark 7:19)
Left out of Mark is the very last phrase of Matthew 15:20 which defines the topic being discussed: washing the hands and saying the proper rabbinic blessing 'to make the food fit for eating' (clean).

Yeshua states that to eat without washing one's hands (and saying the proper rabbinic blessing), is not a sin. And Paul says that to buy food from a pagan is not grounds for breaking fellowship. It does not make the food unclean. But idolatry and fornication are grounds for breaking fellowship.

Yakov's Concern

The four rulings were something that the Gentiles must cease immediately, in response to salvation, not table fellowship between the two groups. Paul and Barnabas didn't come up to the Council for a ruling on table fellowship, or clean and unclean animals. Acts 15:20 deals with new Gentile believers and their natural propensity for pagan worship, with its ensuing obscene rites and ceremonies. If they continued in pagan practices, worshiping other gods along with belief in Yeshua, it would cost them their salvation.

Yakov was dealing with the primary thing first, not a minor point. Yakov was more concerned with Gentile stoppage of pagan rites than the eating of roast beef with blood in it (i.e., not properly drained and, or slaughtered right), which is a modern problem. Temple prostitution and other expressions of idolatry were his concern.

Gentiles would sacrifice animals to the pagan god, drink the blood of the animal and eat its flesh, for purposes of salvation, forgiveness of sin and guilt, 89 communion with the god, attaining the gods' attributes, and life after death. They would engage in temple prostitution, to complete their union with the god.

This is the sin of fornication that Numbers 25:1ff speaks of. The Hebrew men were committing fornication with the women of Moab, yet 'still believed in Yahveh!' Even after they had sacrificed and become one with Baal Peor. Hard to believe? We see that Paul told us the practice was happening among some Gentiles in Corinth. It is this walking in both camps, God's and Satan's, that Yakov was addressing.

In the Ten Commandments, the first three Commandments are directed against idolatry. Other Commandments revealed the punishment: 'The individual offender was devoted to destruction (Ex. 22:20); his nearest relatives were not only bound to denounce him and deliver him up to punishment (Dt. 13:2-10), but their hands were to strike the first blow when, on the evidence of at least two witnesses, he would be stoned (Dt. 17:2-5). To attempt to seduce others to false worship was a crime of equal enormity (Dt. 13:6-10).90

Yakov was concerned about the Gentiles continuing in idolatry when he made his rulings regarding that the Gentiles were not to be circumcised, in order to be saved (Acts 15:1-2). It wasn't that he was commanding them to only observe these four Commandments, as many wrongly think, for he directs them to go to the synagogue where Moses is taught, and learn the Torah. If they were to enter into the Messianic Community, into Yahveh's Community of Salvation, they must stop any and all idolatrous practices first though. For these would truly make them unclean in the Eyes of God and the Messianic Jewish Community.

Eating unclean animals was not the thing that made the Gentiles unclean in the eyes of the Jewish People. Peter in Acts 10:28 said, '...You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him...'.91 It was their pagan worship that truly defiled their souls. This made them unclean. Eating unclean animals was a by-product of their idolatry.

What the Holy Spirit issued through Yakov and the Council was the giant step of severing the new Messianic Gentiles from their idolatrous, pagan worship practices. This would be of supreme importance to God. 'Totally devoted' is how they were to walk in their new Life, as followers of the Jewish Messiah. For as we have seen in the Brit Hadasha (New Testament), some continued to worship their pagan gods, along with belief in Yeshua. As we saw, Shaul was not too happy about it either. This was the primary concern of Yakov in issuing Acts 15:20.92 And we saw that he was justified in issuing his rulings.

Acts 15:20 is not about the Noahide Laws. Making the four rulings come from the Noahide Laws places the Gentile believing Community outside the believing Jewish Community. This is totally foreign to God's way of thinking. 'There shall be one law for the native born and the stranger among them' is a major theme of the Scriptures.93

Yeshua says that even though there is another flock (the Gentiles), the two shall be one and have one Shepherd. Yohanan 10:16 reads:
'I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd.' (NASB)
It would be most unjust for God to command His Jewish believers to observe the Torah, but the Gentiles don't have to, if they don't want to. So it would be a sin for a Messianic Jew to not observe the Sabbath, but not for a Messianic Gentile? What kind of a kingdom would that be? Split in half; divided. That's not Yeshua's Kingdom or the Kingdom of the God who is One.

Acts 15:20 was designed to make the new believing Gentiles realize that pagan worship and Yeshua were incompatible. All idolatry must end with entry into the Body of Messiah. Torah would be learned and walked out, the Gentiles coming to know more fully, the King of Israel and His Ways for their lives.

'God is not a polygamist, He wants One People, One Bride. And that's why the Torah and the Sabbath are for the Gentile also. The Gentile coming into, and becoming one with Israel, not Israel going out and becoming pagan. The wild olive branch is grafted into the natural olive tree, 94 not the other way around.'95 Experience has shown me that many Christians today eat pig, assemble on Sunday and not the Sabbath, keep Christmas and not Passover, etc., out of ignorance and Church doctrine. Yet they love Jesus with all their heart. Today, the Lord is moving upon many of them to reveal to them His Way of walking in His Kingdom. Just as the Apostle Paul pleaded with those Corinthians already involved in temple prostitution, and didn't immediately cast them out because they were only babes in the Lord, and had done it in their ignorance, so too the Lord is now desiring that all His People stop any and all pagan practices. He is getting His Bride ready.

Acts 15:20 is not about table fellowship or the Noahide Laws, but about idolatry. And about assisting people into the Kingdom of Yeshua, who didn't have a foundation of who the God of Israel was.

Reality Ramifications

Acts 15:20 is intended to warn the Messianic Gentile about the salvific need to break off relations with idolatrous practices. The chief implication for today is that one can not use Acts 15:20 as an excuse for not entering into all the Commandments of Yahveh that apply to him. Many say that they don't have to do the Mosaic Commandments and that Acts 15:20 is all that God requires of them. This is very unfortunate as all the Commandments of God are for our blessing, safety, and wisdom and knowledge of God and Messiah.

For the Gentile already walking in the dietary laws (Lev. 11 and Deut. 14), this understanding will not effect their practical food intake. The Messianic believer needs to be walking in the Torah, and the Dietary Commandments are part of Torah. You may have been keeping the dietary laws thinking that Acts 15:20 was the reason. Actually, Acts 15:21 is the reason.

What shifts is the theological perspective of what Acts 15:20 is actually saying. Torah is for all Messianic believers, Jew and Gentile. Yakov realized that the new Gentile believers couldn't possibly learn all the Torah (that applied to them), immediately. So he set out a basic criteria for their entry into, and continued membership with, the Messianic Community. This makes the next verse, Acts 15:21, understandable. Yakov sees the Messianic Gentile assembling on Shabat (Sabbath), in the local synagogue and learning the Torah, something they were already doing.

The question of whether or not a Gentile (or a Jew), had to learn the Torah and observe it, is not even a question in Acts 15. Of course they would have to, in order to understand who the God was that they were being saved by. And, what His Rules were to live by. Yakov did not take for granted that the pagans would automatically stop their pagan worship. So he rightfully addressed this problem. No drinking of sacrificial blood, no eating of the sacrificial meat and no fornication.

The rest of Torah they were to learn as they grew in Messiah and assembled on the Sabbath (Acts 15:21). Why go to the synagogue on Shabat to learn Moses, if not to put the Commandments into practice?

For a community to assemble together, they would all have to come together on the Sabbath. For them to celebrate the time when the Passover Lamb was slain for their freedom, they would have to observe Passover (1st Cor. 5:6-8). They would even come to the understanding that if you had a house with a flat roof (to walk on), you would need a parapet 96 (a type of fence or railing that was made so people might not accidentally fall over the edge. Sort of like a guard rail on a highway.)

How does Acts 15:20 apply to Gentile (and Jewish) people coming to Yeshua today? Well, first of all, literally. This sort of pagan worship is still going on in the world today. Anyone who was involved in this and has come to Yeshua must stop it immediately and renounce it. They must ask for His Blood to sever any and all connections with those people, spirits, and practices.

Another way that this applies is to the New Age movement. It dates all the way back to Babylon. Sorcery in different clothes. As Solomon said, 'There is nothing new under the sun' (Ecclessiastes 1:9) Transcendental meditation is sweeping the western world with people invoking pagan gods, using mantras. On most continents, ancestor worship still exists among 'Christians.' Reading the daily horoscope (astrology), is part of the lure of the satanic Fisherman. Tarot cards, Ouija boards, crystals, beads, pyramids, Eastern religions (Zen, Buddhism, etc.), are of the Devil. Jewish mysticism is on the rise too. These issues need to be addressed in us, and those of us who shepherd the People of God. Here too there needs to be a renouncing, and the Blood of Yeshua needs to be applied.

The Church needs to realize that Sunday, Easter and Christmas, etc., are pagan, anti-God and very anti-Semitic. They need to re-examine their whole theological structure and turn from their pagan traditions to the Word of God.

A Word About Torah

Some people will want to stone the blasphemer (Lev. 24:16), and other such acts of righteousness. But there are many considerations to take into account before the stone is thrown. The Torah of Mosheh 97 was given to a nation that was a theocracy. Yahveh literally directed the People through His Torah, His High Priest, His Mediator-King (Mosheh), and His Shekinah (Cloud of Glory). There was no authority but His. Under King David it was similar to this. But not so in the days of Yeshua. That's why the Sanhedrin needed permission from Rome to murder Yeshua.

Also, for the person to be stoned in King David's day, the man would have to be brought to the town's elders, to be judged first. It was not the responsibility of any one individual to take the Torah (Law) into his own hands. For instance, if a Messianic Gentile in Corinth had speared the Messianics who had been involved in fornication, he would have been arrested, tried for murder in a Corinthian (Roman) court, found guilty and executed. They would not have awarded him the Covenant of Shalom, as Phineas received (Num. 25:11-12). The Apostle Shaul gave them time to repent.

This is just one example of how the Torah is effected in a non-observant nation. But we must be equally aware that we are not 'to spiritualize' the Commandants (i.e., just to look for the principle 'behind' it, and do that instead of the Commandment). For this is not the primary reason why the Commandment was given. The Commandment is still in effect unless something overrides it.

Yeshua came to reveal the deeper meaning or essence of the Torah, but He did not do away with any of it.98 He unveiled the Commandment not to murder, by revealing that hate was its essence. But the Commandment not to murder still stands. The essence of the Torah has been revealed. The Torah of Mosheh is also spiritual.99

In the days of Yakov, the half brother of Yeshua, the Messianic Gentile could not offer sacrifice in the Temple because it was not under Messianic authority.100 But the days are coming when the Messianic Gentile will be able to offer sacrifice to King Yeshua (Ezekiel 45:13-46:24;101 Zech. 14:16-21; Isaiah 66:23-24: etc.). We must all prepare to meet the Coming King. That is what the Ruah haKodesh is doing today: opening the eye of both Jew and Gentile to see the beauty of His Torah. And that is why Acts 15:20 is beginning to be seen for what it is: the passage that brings the Gentile into the Torah, that he might walk alongside his Messianic Jewish brother and sister.

An Insight

'The Jewish person who comes to faith in Yeshua their Messiah has a dilemma. When they come to believe, where do they go for fellowship and remain true to the God of Israel and Hebraic understanding? If they remain in the unbelieving Jewish Community, they are pulled and adulterated by the anti-Messiah spirit that is throughout Rabbinic Judaism. This includes the pagan mysticism that is interwoven into the writings, and the whole biased and manic mitzva oriented belief system, which is the substitute for the Ruah HaKodesh and the Blood of Assurance.'

'If on the other hand, they go into the Gentile Church as it has been, and this includes many of the so called Messianic fellowships as well, they must enter a form of worship and practice that is foreign to their whole being. It is blatantly anti-Torah and anti-Semitic. Christmas, Easter and Sunday are pagan. As well as the symbols of the cross, 102 the fish, 103 the Star of David, 104 pictures of 'Jesus,' etc.'

'I believe that Yeshua is leading the 'called out' Jews and Gentiles to a Torah lifestyle rich in biblical Hebraic expression. God Himself is the Author of this Hebraic expression because it is His Essence, His Heart. I also believe that Yeshua, through the Ruah HaKodesh, will lead us as we are willing to leave both perverted camps and surrender ourselves to doing the will of His Heart, which is one with His Father's.'

'This does not mean that in those camps there are not things He has given that would enrich us in our walk. But in these things we need to look to Him for His guidance, seeking only to please Him. We are no longer our own, but bought by His Precious Blood and delivered out of darkness to serve Him, in the newness of His Spirit in us.'

'I believe the Ruah (Spirit), is showing us today that the Gentile believer is called also to serve the Jewish People. How is this walked out? By coming out of Babylonian (Church) practices, and moving into obedience of the Torah of the God of Israel, led by His Spirit. Why? So the Jewish unbeliever who is coming to faith in Yeshua is not made to stumble, but is rightly, truthfully restored to his or her God through His Son and Messiah, Yeshua. Yeshua does not look or act pagan. (This of course, holds true to the Gentile coming to Messiah as well, that they are not led into pagan practices, also.)'

'We are created to reflect The Truth. Let us walk hand in hand as one people, with our God.'105

Yahveh has made you one with us. Come take your rightful place alongside us. Walk together with us in His Torah. And this way, we can be that Light unto both Jew and Gentile that the Messiah of Israel has come.

Some Advice

Our hearts continually wander from the attitude of serving and 'washing the feet of our brethren' which is His Heart and His Attitude.106 When we walk in this, the rest of Torah is easy to do or to observe. God does not expect us to walk in all the Torah overnight. But He does expect us to begin. He expects us to grasp the concept that all Torah that applies to us, is for us.107 In keeping these Commandments, in being aware when we break them or sin, we are saying to Abba El (Papa God), that we recognize His Authority and Understanding of what is good for us and what is sin. Walk in the Torah, letting His Spirit lead you.

Please realize that Torah is commanded, not suggested. If God demands it of me, I want to acknowledge this in my heart, and not give way to the teaching of the Church and think otherwise. This is not forcing someone to do His Commandments, that's not His Way. It is being honest about what is required or expected of me; what is the target or the goal. That is His Way. He desires or commands us to walk in His Commandments because of what He has done for us in setting us free from sin and death. We have the Sacrificial Blood of our Savior Yeshua, to cleanse us from all sin. Sins of the heart as well as sins of intention and ignorance.

Fear of legalism is a stumbling block for many. Under the guise of caution, there is little movement toward the doing of the Commandments. Legalism is the strict enforcing, or perversion of, a law. Legalism is not equal to Law or Torah (except in the mind of the Church).

If I'm driving 61 miles per hour in a 60 mile per hour zone, and a policeman gives me a ticket, that is legalism. But the law is good. The Law was given so there won't be chaos and accidents on the Highway of Life.

Keeping the Sabbath is not legalism. It is God's Law for His Chosen People Israel, both Jew and Gentile. Yeshua kept the Sabbath Day holy all His Life, and never did it legalistically. And He has given us His Spirit that we might do the same. But not every rule that the Orthodox Jewish Community has concerning the observance of Torah, is of God. Many are legalistic and many completely miss the mark. But many exhibit a good understanding of how to walk in the Sabbath and other Commandments.

There were times that Yeshua had to correct me concerning a legalistic attitude that I had. A heart that is open to Him will be led into His Ways. If you are afraid of making a mistake or of becoming legalistic, you have already sinned in being afraid. Deal with the fear. Take it to our Lord who is gracious in forgiving and able to strengthen us to walk as He walked.

Legalism (carnality), is part of what we have to deal with on a daily basis. We are all going to make mistakes. He allows this as part of our experiential training in righteousness. We must come to His Torah as little children. No one has all the answers, but oh what joy there is in discovering (some of) them!

Our understanding is faulty. That's why (His) Love covers a multitude of sins. We should be excited with Joy that He is teaching us His Torah (Genesis through Revelation). He will correct us as we walk with Him. He's a good Abba (Papa). Our learning Torah is like a child going with their Abba to the park on an adventure. He will take good care of us. Seek the infilling of the Spirit of the Holy One if you do not have it. I have seen too many 'sincere' Christians (not filled), fall into the tar-pits of Judaism. A Judaism that has been 'anti-Christ' since the Baal Peor affair. Without the infilling of His Spirit, we all too easily fall prey to the spiritual Magician who loves to seduce and lead astray for damnation.

Study the Word. Learn Hebrew. It'll open up hidden treasures for you. Yes, I know it'll be hard, but what else do you have to do with your life?

The teachings of the Rabbis can be very insightful. They can flush out understanding of a Commandment or a passage of Scripture. But realize too that the Rabbis can be very wrong and perverse. Pray before swallowing. If you are not sure or want another opinion, please feel free to contact me.

To abstain from all unclean animals (food), is Torah. To 'keep kosher' the Jewish way, is both Torah and rabbinical. There is a big difference. God requires us to eat only meat that is clean according to His Torah. Keeping kosher means different things to different sects within Orthodox and Conservative Judaism. God requires the one, but not the other.108 One of the differences is that in the observant Jewish Community, there are different dishes for dairy and meat meals.109 This separation came about by a perverse understanding of Ex. 23:19 110 (which is repeated in Ex. 34:26 and Deut. 14:21).

Go to a synagogue if you can. Tell anyone who asks you who you are, that you're there to learn. Perhaps you can learn Hebrew there.111 They will usually have classes on different biblical subjects available for their members and Gentiles. You shouldn't encounter too many problems, at first.

In writing this, I have learned much about Acts 15:20 and other related matters. I've also come to see that idolatry is a divided heart. How easy that is to have in this world. I thank Yeshua that He is the Author and Finisher of our faith.

To Yeshua Be The Glory

Whether inside or outside Canaan, the names of the gods and goddess' might change but their vulgar practices of shackling human souls to Hell would remain the same. Pagan worship in Israel would continue until the Northern Kingdom was decimated and the southern Kingdom of Judah was led into captivity by the king of Babylon.

Even though a few righteous kings would arise in Judah, the history of the People, from after Joshua till Babylonian captivity would only produce five, perhaps six righteous kings who, to varying degrees of reform, would try and lead the People back to a pure worship of Yahveh. The time from the death of Yehoshua (Joshua), till the Babylonian captivity was about 800 years.

From King David to Josiah (approximately 1,000 BCE till 587 BCE), there are about 420 years. The amount of time that Kings David, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Jehoash, Hezekiah and Josiah reigned was 200 of those 420 years. More than half the time, pagan worship abounded.

In the northern Kingdom of Israel, from the time of King Jeroboam till Hoshea, the last king (926 BCE till 721 BCE), there are 205 years. There was not one righteous king in all that time. Pagan worship was rampant.

Idolatry is the area that Yakov is addressing when speaking to the Gentile people who have just given their lives to Yeshua the Messiah. Acts 15:20 would be understood by the Gentiles to mean that they couldn't continue in their pagan practices of worshiping other gods and Yeshua. Generally, we don't fully understand today how pervasive pagan worship was in Yakov's day. All the world was deeply involved in it. From Ireland to India and from China to Chile, all the world was enslaved to pagan gods and their cruel practices.

What makes it all the more incredible was that it all stems from Babylon. The names of the gods and goddess' were different in each country but the rites, practices, ceremonies, statues and doctrines were similar, if not the same. For an excellent detailed account of this, read Alexander Hislop's, The Two Babylons.

Remember too, that by Yakov's time, circumcision (the doing of the Law), had wrongfully attained the status necessary for salvation among the Rabbis. This perverse understanding of circumcision would be replaced by baptism (sprinkling by water), in the Catholic Church. Circumcision and baptism in water never 'saved' anyone. Circumcision was given to Father Avraham as a sign of God's relationship (Covenant), with him. Avraham was already 'saved.'

Immersion in water, a picture of the death, burial and resurrection of the person in imitation of Yeshua, for the removal of sin and the infilling of the Holy Spirit, is the sign of the New Covenant believer, both Jew and Gentile. The sign of God's Covenant relationship with the person. The Catholic Church would pervert this sign to mean that anyone being sprinkled by them would be guaranteed Heaven, despite their lack of relationship with Yeshua, their unrepentant heart and sinful lifestyle.112

I want to encourage you to walk in, and train your children in, the Torah. You are preparing them to worship the King, His Way, when He rules for 1,000 years upon the Earth.

'And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the Earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, on them there will be no rain.

Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook them there. There shall no longer be a Canaanite in the House of the Lord of Hosts.' (Zechariah 14:16-17; 21)

'Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the Commandments of God.' (1st Corinthians 7:19)

'Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the Commandments of God and their faith in Yeshua.' (Revelation 14:12)

'And I heard another voice from Heaven saying, "Come out of her, My People, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues."' (Revelation 18:4).

TWO DIFFERENT KINGDOMS?

The Alien and the Native Born

Yahveh states that the alien or stranger that resided with the Jewish People, was to conform to the ways of Israel. There was to be only one law for the both of them. In Acts 15:20-21, as the Gentiles came into the Yeshuic Covenant, they were to learn the Commandments of Torah, that they might be able to gain true spiritual knowledge of Yahveh and to walk with their Jewish brethren.

Exodus 12:19: 'Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the Congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the Land.' This is for Passover.

Leviticus 16:29: 'This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you;' This is for the Day of Atonement.

Leviticus 17:12: 'Therefore I said to the Sons of Israel, 'No person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.'

Leviticus 18:26: 'But as for you, you are to keep My statutes and My judgments and shall not do any of these abominations, neither the native, nor the alien who sojourns among you...'

Leviticus 24:16: 'Moreover, the one who blasphemes the name of Yahveh shall surely be put to death; all the Congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.'

Numbers 9:14: 'If an alien sojourns among you and observes the Passover to Yahveh according to the statute of the Passover and according to its ordinance, so he shall do; you shall have one statute, both for the alien and for the native of the land.'

Numbers 15:14: 'If an alien sojourns with you, or one who may be among you throughout your generations, and he wishes to make an offering by fire, as a soothing aroma to Yahveh, just as you do, so he shall do.'

Numbers 15:15: 'As for the Assembly, there shall be one statute for you and for the alien who sojourns with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; as you are, so shall the alien be before Yahveh.'

Numbers 15:16: 'There is to be one law and one ordinance for you and for the alien who sojourns with you.'

Numbers 15:29: 'You shall have one law for him who does anything unintentionally, for him who is native among the Sons of Israel and for the alien who sojourns among them.'

Numbers 15:30: 'But the person who does anything defiantly, whether he is native or an alien, that one is blaspheming Yahveh and that person shall be cut off from among his people.'

Numbers 19:10: 'The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening; and it shall be a perpetual statute to the Sons of Israel and to the alien who sojourns among them.'

Numbers 35:15: 'These six cities shall be for refuge for the Sons of Israel, and for the alien and for the sojourner among them; that anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee there.'

Deuteronomy 1:16: 'Then I charged your judges at that time, saying, 'Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen and judge righteously between a man and his fellow countryman, or the alien who is with him.'

Deuteronomy 31:12: 'Assemble the People, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear Yahveh your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this Law.'

Ezekiel 47:23: 'And in the tribe with which the alien stays, there you shall give him his inheritance,' declares the Lord Yahveh.'
As you can see, even before the Gentiles became one with Israel through the shed Blood of the Messiah, Yahveh demanded one Law for both peoples. How could it be less now? Why would God change? It says, 'Yeshua HaMashiah is the same yesterday and today and forever.' (Hebrews 13:8)
Isaiah 56:6: 'Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahveh to minister to Him, and to love the Name of Yahveh to be His servants, every one who keeps from profaning the Sabbath and holds fast My Covenant...'

Isaiah 66:23: 'And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, All mankind will come to bow down before Me,' says Yahveh'
Welcome to the Commonwealth of Israel, where the wall of partition has been broken down. (Ephesians 2:1-22; especially verse 19).113

The Blood

Leviticus 17:10-14, 'And any man from the House of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, who eats any blood, I will set My face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people.

For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement. Therefore I said to the Sons of Israel, 'No person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.

So when any man from the Sons of Israel, or from the aliens who sojourn among them, in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore I said to the Sons of Israel, 'You are not to eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood; whoever eats it shall be cut off.'
Here we see that the animal is caught and slaughtered, with the blood drained upon the Earth and covered. Eating the blood in one's roast beef is wrong. It is sin. But the primary reason for the Commandment, is not to drink it fresh from the slaughter, as the pagans did their sacrifices.

Any hunter will tell you that the blood needs to be drained immediately after the kill. This way the meat will not become contaminated. It's only with today's modern methods of mass slaughtering of cattle and chicken, etc., that the blood is not properly drained. Welcome to the 21st century.

Fornication

Leviticus 17:7: 'They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be a permanent statute to them throughout their generations.'

Leviticus 20:6: 'As for the person who turns to mediums and to spiritists, to play the harlot after them, I will also set My face against that person and will cut him off from among his people.'

Deuteronomy 22:21: 'then they shall bring out the girl to the doorway of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death because she has committed an act of folly in Israel by playing the harlot in her father's house; thus you shall purge the evil from among you.'

Deuteronomy 23:18: 'You shall not bring the hire of a harlot or the wages of a dog (male prostitute), into the House of Yahveh your God for any votive offering, for both of these are an abomination to Yahveh your God.'

Deuteronomy. 31:16: 'Yahveh said to Moses, 'Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers, and this People will arise and play the harlot with the strange gods of the Land, into the midst of which they are going, and will forsake Me and break My Covenant which I have made with them.'

Judges 2:17: 'Yet they did not listen to their Judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed themselves down to them. They turned aside quickly from the way in which their Fathers had walked in obeying the Commandments of Yahveh; they did not do as their Fathers.'

2nd Chronicles 21:11: 'Moreover, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot and led Judah astray.

Psalm 106:35-40: 'But they mingled with the nations, and learned their practices, and served their idols which became a snare to them. They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons and shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan. And the land was polluted with the blood. Thus they became unclean in their practices, and played the harlot in their deeds. Therefore the anger of Yahveh was kindled against His People, and He abhorred His Inheritance.'

Isaiah 1:21: 'How the Faithful City has become a harlot. She who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in Her, but now murderers.'

Jeremiah 2:20: 'For long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds. But you said, 'I will not serve!' For on every high hill and under every green tree You have lain down as a harlot.'

Jeremiah 3:6-10: 'Then Yahveh said to me in the days of Josiah the king, 'Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. I thought, 'After she has done all these things she will return to Me,' but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.'

'And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she went and was a harlot also. Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,' declares Yahveh.'

Ezekiel 16:15-17: 'But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by who might be willing. You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors and played the harlot on them, which should never come about nor happen. You also took your beautiful jewels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them.'

Ezekiel 16:26: 'You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your lustful neighbors, and multiplied your harlotry to make Me angry.'

Ezekiel 16:28: 'Moreover, you played the harlot with the Assyrians because you were not satisfied; you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied.'

Ezekiel 16:30-31: 'How languishing is your heart,' declares Yahveh, 'while you do all these things, the actions of a bold-faced harlot. When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every square; in disdaining money, you were not like a harlot.'

Ezekiel 16:34-35: 'Thus you are different from those women in your harlotries, in that no one plays the harlot as you do, because you give money and no money is given you; thus you are different. Therefore, O harlot, hear the Word of Yahveh.'

Hosea 4:12-14: 'My people consult their wooden idol, and their diviner's wand informs them. For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray, and they have played the harlot, departing from their God. They offer sacrifices on the tops of the mountains and burn incense on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, because their shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters play the harlot and your brides commit adultery.'

'I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot, or your brides when they commit adultery, For the men themselves go apart with harlots and offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes. So the people without understanding are ruined.' (The men with harlots and those who offer sacrifices refer to the same thing. The harlot and the temple prostitute is one and the same person here.)

Nahum 3:4: 'All because of the many harlotries of the Harlot, The Charming One, the Mistress of Sorceries, who sells nations by her harlotries and families by her sorceries.' 114 Revelation 17:1: 'Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, 'Come here, I will show you the judgment of the Great Harlot who sits on many waters,'

Revelation 17:15-16: 'And he said to me, 'The waters which you saw where the Harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the Harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.'

The Fire of God

Everything in paganism has its parallel in true worship of the God of Israel. When Yahveh appears in Fire on Mt. Sinai, we see the association of fire with God.

The Fire of the Altar in the Tent of Moses, was not to go out, ever.115 This is a picture of the Fire of God on the Heavenly Altar, and that this Fire is Eternal. For it says that our God is a consuming Fire.116

The altar fire was also seen as a cleansing agent, in that the sacrifices were wholly consumed by what was seen to be the Fire of God (the Holy Spirit). Cleansing from sin, and consequently, total dedication to Yahveh. When the Tent was first inaugurated it was Yahveh who lit the Altar with His Fire:
Exodus 19:16-18: 'So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were Thunder and Lightning flashes and a thick Cloud upon the mountain and a very loud Shofar (Ram's horn sound), so that all the People who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the People out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in Smoke because the Lord descended upon it in Fire, and its Smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnac