J5. Appointing Elders to Lead, Pray, Teach, Judge, & Make Halachah. [Make a Comment]
We are to appoint elders in our communities to lead, pray, judge, teach, & make halachah.
This precept is derived from His Word (blessed be He):
Key Scriptures
APPOINTING ELDERS
Exodus 18:21-22
But you should choose from among all the people competent men who are
God-fearing, honest and incorruptible to be their leaders, in charge of
thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Normally, they will settle the
people's disputes. They should bring you the difficult cases; but
ordinary matters they should decide themselves. In this way, they will make
it easier for you and share the load with you.
Deuteronomy 1:11-13
May ADONAI, the God of your ancestors, increase you yet a thousandfold and
bless you, as he has promised you! But you are burdensome, bothersome and
quarrelsome! How can I bear it by myself alone? Pick for yourselves from
each of your tribes men who are wise, understanding and knowledgeable; and I
will make them heads over you.
Deuteronomy 16:18
You are to appoint judges and officers for all your gates [in the cities]
ADONAI your God is giving you, tribe by tribe; and they are to judge the
people with righteous judgment.
Acts 14:23
After appointing elders for them in every congregation, Sha'ul and
Bar-Nabba
(with prayer and fasting)
1 Timothy 3:1-7
Here is a statement you can trust: anyone aspiring to be a congregation
leader is seeking worthwhile work. A congregation leader must be above
reproach, he must be faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled,
orderly, hospitable and able to teach. He must not drink excessively or get
into fights; rather, he must be kind and gentle. He must not be a lover of
money. He must manage his own household well, having children who obey him
with all proper respect; for if a man can't manage his own household,
how will he be able to care for God's Messianic Community? He must not
be a new believer, because he might become puffed up with pride and thus
fall under the same judgment as did the Adversary. Furthermore, he must be
well regarded by outsiders, so that he won't fall into disgrace and
into the Adversary's trap.
Titus 1:4-5
To: Titus, a true son in the faith we share: Grace and shalom from God the
Father and from the Messiah Yeshua, our Deliverer. The reason I left you in
Crete was so that you might attend to the matters still not in order and
appoint congregation leaders in each city - those were my instructions.
ELDERS ARE TO LEAD
Proverbs 31:23
Her husband is known at the city gates when he sits with the leaders of the
land.
Acts 20:28-31
Watch out for yourselves, and for all the flock in which the Ruach HaKodesh
has placed you as leaders, to shepherd God's Messianic community, which
he won for himself at the cost of his own Son's blood. I know that
after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you; and they won't
spare the flock. Even from among your own number, men will arise and teach
perversions of the truth, in order to drag away the talmidim after
themselves. So stay alert! Remember that for three years, night and day,
with tears in my eyes, I never stopped warning you!
Titus 1:7-14
For an overseer, as someone entrusted with God's affairs, must be
blameless - he must not be self-willed or quick-tempered, he must not drink
excessively, get into fights or be greedy for dishonest gain. On the
contrary, he must be hospitable, devoted to good, sober-mindedness,
uprightness, holiness and self-control. He must hold firmly to the
trustworthy Message that agrees with the doctrine; so that by his sound
teaching he will be able to exhort and encourage, and also to refute those
who speak against it. For there are many, especially from the Circumcision
faction, who are rebellious, who delude people's minds with their
worthless and misleading talk. They must be silenced; because they are
upsetting entire households by teaching what they have no business teaching,
and doing it for the sake of dishonest gain. Even one of the Cretans'
own prophets has said, "Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy
gluttons" - and it's true! For this reason, you must be severe when you
rebuke those who have followed this false teaching, so that they will come
to be sound in their trust and no longer pay attention to Judaistic myths or
to the commands of people who reject the truth.
Hebrews 13:17
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your lives,
as people who will have to render an account. So make it a task of joy for
them, not one of groaning; for that is of no advantage to you.
1 Peter 5:1-3
Therefore, I urge the congregation leaders among you, as a fellow-leader and
witness to the Messiah's sufferings, as well as a sharer in the glory
to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is in your care, exercising
oversight not out of constraint, but willingly, as God wants; and not out of
a desire for dishonest gain, but with enthusiasm; also not as machers
domineering over those in your care, but as people who become examples to
the flock.
ELDERS ARE TO PRAY
James 5:14
Therefore, I urge the congregation leaders among you, as a fellow-leader and
witness to the Messiah's sufferings, as well as a sharer in the glory
to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is in your care, exercising
oversight not out of constraint, but willingly, as God wants; and not out of
a desire for dishonest gain, but with enthusiasm; also not as machers
domineering over those in your care, but as people who become examples to
the flock.
Revelation 4:10-11
the twenty-four elders fall down before the One sitting on the throne, who
lives forever and ever, and worship him. They throw their crowns in front of
the throne and say, "You are worthy, ADONAI Eloheinu, to have glory, honor
and power, because you created all things - yes, because of your will they
were created and came into being!"
ELDERS ARE TO TEACH
1 Timothy 3:2
A congregation leader must be above reproach, he must be faithful to his
wife, temperate, self-controlled, orderly, hospitable and able to teach.
1 Timothy 5:17
The leaders who lead well should be considered worthy of double honor,
especially those working hard at communicating the Word and at teaching.
ELDERS ARE TO JUDGE
Exodus 18:13-26
The following day Moshe sat to settle disputes for the people, while the
people stood around Moshe from morning till evening. When Moshe's
father-in-law saw all that he was doing to the people, he said, "What is
this that you are doing to the people? Why do you sit there alone, with all
the people standing around you from morning till evening?" Moshe answered
his father-in-law, "It's because the people come to me seeking
God's guidance. Whenever they have a dispute, it comes to me; I judge
between one person and another, and I explain to them God's laws and
teachings." Moshe's father-in-law said to him, "What you are doing
isn't good. You will certainly wear yourself out- and not only
yourself, but these people here with you as well. It's too much for
you - you can't do it alone, by yourself. So listen now to what I have
to say. I will give you some advice, and God will be with you. You should
represent the people before God, and you should bring their cases to God.
You should also teach them the laws and the teachings, and show them how to
live their lives and what work they should do. But you should choose from
among all the people competent men who are God-fearing, honest and
incorruptible to be their leaders, in charge of thousands, hundreds, fifties
and tens. Normally, they will settle the people's disputes. They
should bring you the difficult cases; but ordinary matters they should
decide themselves. In this way, they will make it easier for you and share
the load with you. If you do this - and God is directing you to do it - you
will be able to endure; and all these people too will arrive at their
destination peacefully." Moshe paid attention to his father-in-law's
counsel and did everything he said. Moshe chose competent men from all
Isra'el and made them heads over the people, in charge of thousands,
hundreds, fifties and tens. As a general rule, they settled the
people's disputes - the difficult cases they brought to Moshe, but
every simple matter they decided themselves.
Deuteronomy 1:9-18
(Moses speaking)
At that time I told you, 'You are too heavy a burden for me to carry
alone. ADONAI your God has multiplied your numbers, so that there are as
many of you today as there are stars in the sky. May ADONAI, the God of
your ancestors, increase you yet a thousandfold and bless you, as he has
promised you! But you are burdensome, bothersome and quarrelsome! How can I
bear it by myself alone? Pick for yourselves from each of your tribes men
who are wise, understanding and knowledgeable; and I will make them heads
over you.' You answered me, 'What you have said would be a good
thing for us to do.' So I took the heads of your tribes, men wise and
knowledgeable, and made them heads over you - leaders in charge of
thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens, and officers, tribe by
tribe. At that time I commissioned your judges, 'Hear the cases that
arise between your brothers; and judge fairly between a man and his brother,
and the foreigner who is with him. You are not to show favoritism when
judging, but give equal attention to the small and to the great. No matter
how a person presents himself, don't be afraid of him; because the
decision is God's. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me and I
will hear it.' I also gave you orders at that time concerning all the
things you were to do.
Deuteronomy 16:18-20
You are to appoint judges and officers for all your gates [in the cities]
ADONAI your God is giving you, tribe by tribe; and they are to judge the
people with righteous judgment. You are not to distort justice or show
favoritism, and you are not to accept a bribe, for a gift blinds the eyes of
the wise and twists the words of even the upright. Justice, only justice,
you must pursue; so that you will live and inherit the land ADONAI your God
is giving you.
Deuteronomy 17:8-12
If a case comes before you at your city gate which is too difficult for you
to judge, concerning bloodshed, civil suit, personal injury or any other
controversial issue; you are to get up, go to the place which ADONAI your
God will choose, and appear before the cohanim, who are L'vi'im,
and the judge in office at the time. Seek their opinion, and they will
render a verdict for you. You will then act according to what they have
told you there in that place which ADONAI will choose; you are to take care
to act according to all their instructions. In accordance with the Torah
they teach you, you are to carry out the judgment they render, not turning
aside to the right or the left from the verdict they declare to you. Anyone
presumptuous enough not to pay attention to the cohen appointed there to
serve ADONAI your God or to the judge - that person must die. Thus you will
exterminate such wickedness from Isra'el
Ruth 4:1-2
Meanwhile, Bo'az had gone up to the gate and had sat down there, when
the redeemer of whom Bo'az had spoken passed by. "Such-and-such," he
said, "come over, and sit down"; so he came over and sat down. He took ten
of the city's leaders and said, "Sit down here"; and they sat down.
1 Corinthians 6:1-5
How dare one of you with a complaint against another go to court before
pagan judges and not before God's people? Don't you know that
God's people are going to judge the universe? If you are going to judge
the universe, are you incompetent to judge these minor matters? Don't
you know that we will judge angels, not to mention affairs of everyday life?
So if you require judgments about matters of everyday life, why do you put
them in front of men who have no standing in the Messianic Community? I say,
shame on you! Can it be that there isn't one person among you wise
enough to be able to settle a dispute between brothers?
ELDERS ARE TO MAKE HALACHAH
Acts 15:1-31
But some men came down from Y'hudah to Antioch and began teaching the
brothers, "You can't be saved unless you undergo b'rit-milah in
the manner prescribed by Moshe." This brought them into no small measure of
discord and dispute with Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba. So the congregation
assigned Sha'ul, Bar-Nabba and some of themselves to go and put this
sh'eilah before the emissaries and the elders up in Yerushalayim. After
being sent off by the congregation, they made their way through Phoenicia
and Shomron, recounting in detail how the Gentiles had turned to God; and
this news brought great joy to all the brothers. On arrival in
Yerushalayim, they were welcomed by the Messianic community, including the
emissaries and the elders; and they reported what God had done through them.
But some of those who had come to trust were from the party of the
P'rushim; and they stood up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise
them and direct them to observe the Torah of Moshe." The emissaries and the
elders met to look into this matter. After lengthy debate, Kefa got up and
said to them, "Brothers, you yourselves know that a good while back, God
chose me from among you to be the one by whose mouth the Goyim should hear
the message of the Good News and come to trust. And God, who knows the
heart, bore them witness by giving the Ruach HaKodesh to them, just as he
did to us; that is, he made no distinction between us and them, but cleansed
their heart by trust. So why are you putting God to the test now by placing
a yoke on the neck of the talmidim which neither our fathers nor we have had
the strength to bear? No, it is through the love and kindness of the Lord
Yeshua that we trust and are delivered - and it's the same with them."
Then the whole assembly kept still as they listened to Bar-Nabba and
Sha'ul tell what signs and miracles God had done through them among the
Gentiles. Ya'akov broke the silence to reply. "Brothers," he said,
"hear what I have to say. Shim'on has told in detail what God did when
he first began to show his concern for taking from among the Goyim a people
to bear his name. And the words of the Prophets are in complete harmony
with this for it is written, '"After this, I will return; and I will
rebuild the fallen tent of David. I will rebuild its ruins, I will restore
it, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, that is, all the Goyim
who have been called by my name," says ADONAI, who is doing these
things.' All this has been known for ages. Therefore, my opinion is
that we should not put obstacles in the way of the Goyim who are turning to
God. Instead, we should write them a letter telling them to abstain from
things polluted by idols, from fornication, from what is strangled and from
blood. For from the earliest times, Moshe has had in every city those who
proclaim him, with his words being read in the synagogues every Shabbat."
Then the emissaries and the elders, together with the whole Messianic
community, decided to select men from among themselves to send to Antioch
with Sha'ul and Bar-Nabba. They sent Y'hudah, called Bar-Sabba,
and Sila, both leading men among the brothers, with the following letter:
From: The emissaries and the elders, your brothers To: The brothers from
among the Gentiles throughout Antioch, Syria and Cilicia: Greetings! We have
heard that some people went out from among us without our authorization, and
that they have upset you with their talk, unsettling your minds. So we have
decided unanimously to select men and send them to you with our dear friends
Bar-Nabba and Sha'ul, who have dedicated their lives to upholding the
name of our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. So we have sent Y'hudah and
Sila, and they will confirm in person what we are writing. For it seemed
good to the Ruach HaKodesh and to us not to lay any heavier burden on you
than the following requirements: to abstain from what has been sacrificed to
idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from fornication. If you keep
yourselves from these, you will be doing the right thing. Shalom! The
messengers were sent off and went to Antioch, where they gathered the group
together and delivered the letter. After reading it, the people were
delighted by its encouragement.
Acts 16:3-4
Sha'ul wanted Timothy to accompany him; so he took him and did a
b'rit-milah, because of the Jews living in those areas; for they all
knew that his father had been a Greek. As they went on through the towns,
they delivered to the people the decisions reached by the emissaries and the
elders in Yerushalayim for them to observe.
Commentary
This Mitzvah presents Scriptures supporting the statement: "We are to appoint elders in our communities to lead, pray, judge, teach, & make halachah." The Scriptures on appointing, leading, praying, and teaching are self-explanatory, so this commentary is limited to discussing the role of elders making halachah.
Halachot are rules that have the force of law in a Jewish community. Elders of a Messianic Jewish congregational (or network of congregations) community can declare halachah (law) for their congregation or network if their community acknowledges that they have been given the authority to do so by Scripture. Examples of common halachic rules for congregations are (a) membership in the congregation requires tithing; (b) membership in the congregation requires attendance at services; (c) pork products are not allowed to be served at congregational meals; and (d) men that assist in a Shabbat Torah service must wear a tallit gadol.
During the Mosaic era, elders were appointed to sit at the gates of the Israelites' cities and judge cases that were brought to them (e.g. Deuteronomy 21:18-21; Ruth 4:1-2). With one exception, the cases decided by elders that we read about in the Bible are those in which a person lodges a complaint against another person. The exception, the one in which halachah is made, is Acts 15:1-31. In that Scripture, elders and apostles gathered in Jerusalem to consider and rule upon how much of Torah (Mosaic Law) is required of the Gentiles.
It is an inescapable necessity that elders of a community interpret God's Law (both Mosaic and New Covenant) for their respective communities, and make decisions as to the Law's application. If they do not, the practices of individuals and families within each community will be out of step with one another, confusion will result, and the community will not be able to function. Here is a Scripture from the Mosaic era that will illustrate my point; it is the familiar commandment to keep the Shabbat:
Exodus 20:8-10:
Remember the day, Shabbat, to set it apart for God. You have six days to
labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Shabbat for ADONAI your
God. On it, you are not to do any kind of work - not you, your son or your
daughter, not your male or female slave, not your livestock, and not the
foreigner staying with you inside the gates to your property.
But, what constitutes work? Continuing in one's income-producing occupation is obviously the kind of work that is prohibited by the Scripture, but what about an elderly or disabled person walking three miles to a synagogue? That is obviously hard work for them, so is it allowed? If the elders of the synagogue community determine that it is, or is not, and make their ruling a standard for that community, they are making halachah, and such decisions are absolutely necessary for a community of individuals to be able to function together.
There are hundreds if not thousands of such examples, but I will present just one more for clarity; referring to the Feast of Unleavened bread, we read:
Exodus 12:15
For seven days you are to eat matzah - on the first day remove the leaven
from your houses. For whoever eats hametz [leavened bread] from the first to
the seventh day is to be cut off from Isra'el.
But what does it mean to eat matzah for seven days? Does it mean to eat it every day for seven days, or does it only mean to not eat leavened bread for seven days? And what constitutes chametz? Clearly, bread risen with yeast is chametz, but is it also other foods that have yeast in them? And if we let a piece of matzah be exposed to the air long enough for yeast spores from the air to fall on it, does the matzah become chametz and therefore unacceptable to be eaten during Pesach and the week following? These are the kinds of decisions that are best made by the Jewish community in which we live, and when the elders of our community declare the answers to these and similar questions, they are making halachah for their community.
The concept of halachah is not the same in the Messianic Jewish community as in the wider Jewish community. In the wider Jewish community, halachah is inextricably connected to certain ancient rabbis whose rulings on Mosaic Law (both written and oral) are recorded in the Talmud. Responsa are modern (and not-so-modern) era decisions and rulings made by respected Jewish scholars in response to questions of Jewish law put to them - also involving the written and (what they consider) oral Mosaic law. Messianic Jewish halachah, however, is fundamentally different in that it does not acknowledge an oral Torah, and looks to the Scriptures (Old and New Testaments) as the only divine authority. It does, from time to time, consider teachings in the Talmud - not for their authority, but for information about what is considered to be Jewish in the wider Jewish community, and occasionally for interpretive wisdom and cultural application.
There is another way in which Messianic and "wider-Jewish-world" halachah are different, and that is that Messianic Judaism seeks God's interpretation of His Law, whereas Orthodox Judaism believes that it has the authority to interpret it themselves and even change God's Torah; the origin of this belief can be found in TB Bava Metziah 59b, in which one translation states:1
It has been taught: On that day R. Eliezer brought forward every imaginable argument, but they did not accept them. Said he to them: 'If the halachah agrees with me, let this carob-tree prove it!' Thereupon the carob-tree was torn a hundred cubits out of its place - others affirm, four hundred cubits. 'No proof can be brought from a carob-tree,' they retorted. Again he said to them: 'If the halachah agrees with me, let the stream of water prove it!' Whereupon the stream of water flowed backwards - 'No proof can be brought from a stream of water,' they rejoined. Again he urged: 'If the halachah agrees with me, let the walls of the schoolhouse prove it,' whereupon the walls inclined to fall. But R. Joshua rebuked them, saying: 'When scholars are engaged in a halachic dispute, what have ye to interfere?' Hence they did not fall, in honor of R. Joshua, nor did they resume the upright, in honor of R. Eliezer; and they are still standing thus inclined. Again he said to them: 'If the halachah agrees with me, let it be proved from Heaven!' Whereupon a Heavenly Voice cried out: 'Why do ye dispute with R. Eliezer, seeing that in all matters the halachah agrees with him!' But R. Joshua arose and exclaimed: 'It is not in heaven.' What did he mean by this? - Said R. Jeremiah: That the Torah had already been given at Mount Sinai; we pay no attention to a Heavenly Voice, because Thou hast long since written in the Torah at Mount Sinai, After the majority must one incline.
The Mitzvot presented in this book are my and Dr. Juster's offered suggestions for Messianic Jewish (New Covenant) halachah, but can only become halachah if and when they are received as such by a Messianic Jewish community.
1. Online Soncino Babylonian Talmud Translation, Rabbi Dr. I. Epstein, editor, 2015.
Classical Commentators
This Mitzvah is not addressed by any of the classical commentators.
NCLA: JMm JFm KMm KFm GMm GFm