E1. Preserving & Disseminating God's Word. [Make a Comment]
We are to preserve God's Word, & disseminate His Word to the Gentile nations.
This precept is derived from His Word (blessed is He):
Key Scriptures
Exodus 19:5-6
'Now if you will pay careful attention to what I say and keep my
covenant, then you will be my own treasure from among all the peoples, for
all the earth is mine; and you will be a kingdom of cohanim for me, a
nation set apart.' These are the words you are to speak to the people
of Isra'el.
Deuteronomy 4:9-10
(Meir MP14)
Only be careful, and watch yourselves diligently as long as you live, so
that you won't forget what you saw with your own eyes, so that these
things won't vanish from your hearts. Rather, make them known to your
children and grandchildren - the day you stood before ADONAI your God at
Horev, when ADONAI said to me, 'Gather the people to me, and I will
make them hear my very words, so that they will learn to hold me in awe as
long as they live on earth, and so that they will teach their
children.'
Deuteronomy 6:4-9
(Maimonides RP11-RP13, RP15; Meir MP8-MP9, MP12, MP14;
Chinuch C419, C421-C423)
Sh'ma, Yisra'el! ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad [Hear,
Isra'el! ADONAI our God, ADONAI is one]; and you are to love ADONAI
your God with all your heart, all your being and all your resources. These
words, which I am ordering you today, are to be on your heart; and you are
to teach them carefully to your children. You are to talk about them when
you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road, when you lie down and
when you get up. Tie them on your hand as a sign, put them at the front of
a headband around your forehead, and write them on the door-frames of your
house and on your gates.
Deuteronomy 11:18-21
(Maimonides RP11, RP13, RP15; Meir MP12; Chinuch C419,
C421, C423)
Therefore, you are to store up these words of mine in your heart and in all
your being; tie them on your hand as a sign; put them at the front of a
headband around your forehead; teach them carefully to your children,
talking about them when you sit at home, when you are traveling on the road,
when you lie down and when you get up; and write them on the door-frames of
your house and on your gates - so that you and your children will live long
on the land ADONAI swore to your ancestors that he would give them for as
long as there is sky above the earth.
Deutoronomy 17:18-20
(Maimonides RP17; Chinuch C503)
When he has come to occupy the throne of his kingdom, he is to write a copy
of this Torah for himself in a scroll, from the one the cohanim and
L'vi'im use. It is to remain with him, and he is to read in it
every day, as long as he lives; so that he will learn to fear ADONAI his God
and keep all the words of this Torah and these laws and obey them; so that
he will not think he is better than his kinsmen; and so that he will not
turn aside either to the right or to the left from the mitzvah. In this way
he will prolong his own reign and that of his children in Isra'el.
Mark 16:15-20
Then he said to them, "As you go throughout the world, proclaim the Good
News to all creation. Whoever trusts and is immersed will be saved; whoever
does not trust will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who
do trust: in my name they will drive out demons, speak with new tongues, not
be injured if they handle snakes or drink poison, and heal the sick by
laying hands on them." So then, after he had spoken to them, the Lord
Yeshua was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God. And they
went out and proclaimed everywhere, the Lord working with them and
confirming the message by the accompanying signs.
Romans 3:1-2
Then what advantage has the Jew? What is the value of being circumcised?
Much in every way! In the first place, the Jews were entrusted with the
very words of God.
Supportive Scriptures
Isaiah 49:5-9
So now ADONAI says - he formed me in the womb to be his servant, to bring
Ya'akov back to him, to have Isra'el gathered to him, so that I
will be honored in the sight of ADONAI, my God having become my strength -
he has said, "It is not enough that you are merely my servant to raise up
the tribes of Ya'akov and restore the offspring of Isra'el. I will
also make you a light to the nations, so my salvation can spread to the ends
of the earth." Here is what ADONAI, the Redeemer of Isra'el, his Holy
One, says to the one despised, whom the nations detest, to the servant of
tyrants: "When kings see you, they will stand up; princes too will
prostrate themselves, because of ADONAI, who is faithful, the Holy One of
Isra'el, who has chosen you." Here is what ADONAI says: "At the time
when I choose, I will answer you; on the day of salvation, I will help you.
I have preserved you, and I have appointed you to be the covenant for a
people, to restore the land and distribute again its ruined inheritances to
their owners, to say to the prisoners, 'Come out!' to those in
darkness, 'Show yourselves!' They will feed along the paths, and
all the high hills will be their pastures.
Matthew 28:16-20
So the eleven talmidim went to the hill in the Galil where Yeshua had told
them to go. When they saw him, they prostrated themselves before him; but
some hesitated. Yeshua came and talked with them. He said, "All authority
in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make people
from all nations into talmidim, immersing them into the reality of the
Father, the Son and the Ruach HaKodesh, and teaching them to obey everything
that I have commanded you. And remember! I will be with you always, yes,
even until the end of the age. Later, Yeshua appeared to the Eleven as they
were eating, and he reproached them for their lack of trust and their
spiritual insensitivity in not having believed those who had seen him after
he had risen. Then he said to them, "As you go throughout the world,
proclaim the Good News to all creation.
Luke 24:44-48
Yeshua said to them, "This is what I meant when I was still with you and
told you that everything written about me in the Torah of Moshe, the
Prophets and the Psalms had to be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds,
so that they could understand the Tanakh, telling them, "Here is what it
says: the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day;
and in his name repentance leading to forgiveness of sins is to be
proclaimed to people from all nations, starting with Yerushalayim. You are
witnesses of these things."
John 20:19-21
In the evening that same day, the first day of the week, when the talmidim
were gathered together behind locked doors out of fear of the Judeans,
Yeshua came, stood in the middle and said, "Shalom aleikhem!" Having
greeted them, he showed them his hands and his side. The talmidim were
overjoyed to see the Lord. "Shalom aleikhem!" Yeshua repeated. "Just as the
Father sent me, I myself am also sending you."
Acts 1:4-8
At one of these gatherings, he instructed them not to leave Yerushalayim but
to wait for "what the Father promised, which you heard about from me. For
Yochanan used to immerse people in water; but in a few days, you will be
immersed in the Ruach HaKodesh!" When they were together, they asked him,
"Lord, are you at this time going to restore self-rule to Isra'el?" He
answered, "You don't need to know the dates or the times; the Father
has kept these under his own authority. But you will receive power when the
Ruach HaKodesh comes upon you; you will be my witnesses both in Yerushalayim
and in all Y'hudah and Shomron, indeed to the ends of the earth!"
Ephesians 4:11-12
Furthermore, he gave some people as emissaries, some as prophets, some as
proclaimers of the Good News, and some as shepherds and teachers. Their
task is to equip God's people for the work of service that builds the
body of the Messiah ...
1 Peter 2:4-5
As you come to him, the living stone, rejected by people but chosen by God
and precious to him, you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into
a spiritual house to be cohanim set apart for God to offer spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to him through Yeshua the Messiah.
Commentary
The Jewish People (previously called Israelites and defined as those descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob), are God's original and primary priesthood to the Gentile nations. This priesthood was proclaimed during the time of Moses, and its purpose was (and still is) to bring the Word of God (indeed God Himself) to those in the world who do not know Him.
By virtue of Yeshua's sacrifice and the New Covenant that he brought, all who receive Yeshua as Lord and savior become affiliated through grafting into a "Jewish" olive tree (Romans 17:11, etc.), not to lose their original intrinsic identities as Jews or non-Jews, but to become members together in a new (co-existing) priesthood that has come to be known as the "priesthood of believers" (1 Peter 2:4-5). This new priesthood has functions and responsibilities that overlap with those of the Jewish priesthood, but the latter retains its historic place in preserving and disseminating the Word of God, and now being the host priesthood to the priesthood of believers.
Classical Commentators
Maimonides, Meir, and HaChinuch do not address disseminating God's Word to others directly. They imply it by emphasizing commandments (e.g. t'fillin, m'zuzot, tzitzit) that are visible reminders.
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