Intro to The Abstract on: “The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus”The writer of this summary went to see Nehemiah Gordon,
the author of the book “The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus in Bakersfield last summer where Nehemiah brought out some of the highlights of his book in a multimedia presentation. One of the highlights was evidence that the Gospel of Matthew was originally written in Hebrew and that a Hebrew Matthew has been preserved to modern times. Another highlight was the difference between the Hebrew and Greek texts of Matthew with regard to whether or not we should do as the Rabbis tell us. Yet another highlight was the difference between the Hebrew and Greek texts of Matthew with regard to swearing oaths in the name of YHWH. Wouldn’t you like to know a little more about these three highlights: (1) evidences for the New Testament originally being written in Hebrew, not Greek; (2) keeping the rules made by the Pharisees/Rabbis; and (3) the swearing of oaths?A Closer look at “the Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus”(1) Evidences for the New Testament originally being written are numerous, but here are a few just to get a sense of it. The most fascinating evidence ironically comes from the Greek textual term “kai egeneto” which means nothing in English (translated “and it came to pass”), Aramaic, or Greek, but makes perfect sence in Hebrew where it is a rhetorical story telling device meaning “it came to be”. Another evidence for the Hebraic origins of the New Testament comes from word puns in the Hebrew text which abound; for example, in Mt. 18:19, Yeshua says “if your eye causes you to stumble (Heb., tachshilcha)…cast it from your (Heb., tashlicheha). Yet another evidence for Hebraic autographa of the New Testament is Hebrew Grammar that underlies the Greek; whereas Greek is what they call an SVO (Subject, Verb, Object) pattern language, Hebrew is a VSO (Verb Subject Object) pattern language and the pattern in the New Testament syntax is more often than not VSO. So then, what did Nehemia have to say about the rules of the rabbis?(2) The rules made by the Rabbis (previously known as Pharisees) were codified as what is known as the Oral Law and was condemned by Yeshua as the “leaven” of the Pharisees of which the disciples were to beware. Some say that in the Gospel according to Matthew, “Jesus”, taking from the Greek text, said “They sit in the seat of Moses; therefore, do what they say, but don’t do what they do,” making it seem like Jesus is upholding the Oral Law of the Pharisees. However, the Hebrew Text of Matthew, Yeshua says “They sit at the seat of Moses, therefore do what he says.” In other words, Yeshua is saying that they say they get their authority from Moses, so do what Moses says. In this case the Hebrew text makes much more sense than the Greek, because it is in keeping with everything else Yeshua is saying in the Gospels. Another, equally compelling argument for the Hebrew origins of Matthew is coming up right now.(3) There are whole denominations built on the doctrine that we are not to swear at all and seems to be rooted in Matthew 5:33-37. Coming from the Greek text, Jesus says “ You have heard by them of old, you shall not swear falsely by my name, but shall perform unto the Lord your oaths, but I say unto you, swear not at all,…” However, this flies in the face of Jeremiah 12: 16 which states that when the Gentiles begin to swear in my name, saying “As YHWH lives,” then will I add them to my people. Here, the Hebrew text of Matthew comes to the rescue, for there Yeshua says, “…but I swear to you, swear not falsely at all. Again, the Hebrew text does away with a contradiction, not only with Jeremiah, but also with Himself when He says that it doesn’t matter what you swear by, an oath is binding. In other words, crossing your fingers doesn’t count. That just leaves a final statement to put it all together.Conclusions about “The Hebrew Matthew vs. the Greek Jesus”So, swearing oaths, ruling Pharisees and originating Greek are not to be looked at in the same way after taking into account the “Hebrew Yeshua” vs. the “Greek Jesus” according to Nehemia Gordon, son of a Rabbi, participant in the Dead Sea Scrolls Project, and advocate of the Torah. In this book, Yeshua is portrayed as one who upholds the Torah (law of Moses) in the swearing of oaths only truthfully in YHWH’s name, not as the Greek text, which portrays Him as doing away oaths prescribed in the Torah. Yeshua is shown to uphold the Torah in condemning the oral law of the Pharisees, whereas the Greek Jesus is portrayed as doing away with the Torah in doing what the Pharisees bid you to do. Yeshua is portrayed as a Jew who spoke Hebrew as opposed to the Jesus who spoke Greek (or even Aramaic. The bottom line, Nehemiah Gordon’s book “The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus” will make both Christians and Jews do a double take on this carpenter’s son from Nazareth.