By Roy B. Blizzard
In the teachings of Jesus, there is one underlying and overriding theme, a theme on which Jesus consistently dwells, a theme that serves as the foundation upon which biblical faith is built. If one looks at the Bible as a whole, if one includes additionally all Jewish literature that is extant, the oral law, the written law, the commentaries, and search for one, single, overriding theme that is the foundational theme of biblical faith, one would have to conclude that that foundational theme is summed up in the Hebrew word tzedekah, the word frequently translated into English as righteousness. Tzedekah is the outstanding, overriding, and yet simple, theme of Jesus.
I have been deeply concerned for some time because it appears that Christianity has little or no understanding of true biblical faith. It has lost the real focus of biblical faith. It seems the people of God simply do not understand what biblical faith is all about. What I am about to say, I am saying not to be offensive or irreverent, and I hope you will not be offended because it is not meant to offend.
I am concerned that in everything we see, everything we do, and everywhere we go today in Christianity, the focus is upon what? Jesus. It is all we hear. Jesus. Christianity has become an other-worldly religion to the same degree, and in the same sense, that other religious systems emphasize other-worldliness.
Jesus has become an idol, if you will, our focus of attention, our focus of worship, and it seems that very few think about God anymore. Seldom do we hear anyone speak of the glory of God, his grandeur and mercy, the holiness of God, and the other many attributes and characteristics of God. There is very little talk about God anymore.
Please understand that I am not trying to lessen the importance of Jesus. What I am trying to do is emphasize that, in all of the teachings of Jesus recorded for us in the gospels, his focus is not upon himself, what he is, what he is doing, or what he is to become. Additionally, Jesus has very little to say about God and, in particular, the worship of God. We do not read in the gospels of Jesus instructing people how they are to worship God, what they are to pray, or to sing, or what they are to do when they come together.
My point is that, in the teachings of Jesus, there is not all that much emphasis upward. When the disciples come to Jesus and ask him to teach them how to pray, Jesus gives them some very specific instructions as to where the focus of those who are part of his movement is to be.
Dr. Brad Young has published an excellent book on this subject, The Jewish Background to the Lord’s Prayer. In his book, Dr. Young points out that the emphasis in the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray is outward, not just thy kingdom come, but let your kingdom be spread abroad over the whole earth in such a way that God may begin to rule in the lives of more and more people. Let those who are being ruled by God demonstrate his rule in their lives in action.
The action of those who are a part of the kingdom of God, who are being ruled by God, is outward in acts of tzedekah toward their fellow man. What is tzedekah? We translate it very frequently in the English as righteousness, or as almsgiving, or charity; but, it is a word that really defies translation into English, a word pregnant with meaning.
In Deuteronomy, chapter 15, verse 7 ff., we read "If there is among you a poor man, one of your kinsmen in any of the towns of your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not harden your mind and heart or close your hand to your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks. Beware lest there be a base thought in your mind and heart and you say, `the seventh year, or the year of release, is at hand,‘ and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing, and he cry to the Lord against you, and it be sin in you. You shall give to him freely without begrudging it, because for this the Lord will bless you in all your work and in all you undertake. For the poor will never cease out of the land; therefore, I command you, you shall open wide your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor in your land (Deuteronomy 15:7-11 Amplified). "
Torah insists that the poor and needy be remembered. The biblical text expected the people of God to be aware of the need of the poor and the stranger. In chapter 10 of Deuteronomy, verse 19, it gives the reason why. "Therefore, love the stranger and sojourner for you were strangers and sojourners in the land of Egypt." Tzedekah is not an option. It is a responsibility, an obligation, but notice, an obligation not without promise. "The Lord will bless you in all your work and in all to which you put your hand."
Tzedekah is an attribute of God himself. In Deuteronomy 10:17-18 we read, "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, the terrible God, who is not partial and takes no bribe. He executes justice for the fatherless and widow and loves the stranger, (or temporary resident), and gives him food and clothing." The woman of valor in Proverbs 31:20 was the one who "stretched out her hand to the poor and needy." In Proverbs 19:17, charity to the poor is equated to lending to God and the good deed He will repay.
However, there is no one word in the biblical text that expresses this idea of man’s responsibility to his fellow man. The rabbis adopted tzedekah to describe it. Another closely related and widely used word is chesed. Chesed is frequently translated as loving-kindness, and it is used widely in the biblical text to refer to physical aid or lending assistance of one kind or another apart from giving money or food to assist the poor and needy.
Unfortunately, we have been guilty of equating righteousness (tzedekah and/or chesed) with holiness, or spirituality, being in a right relationship with God. We have never quite understood that in order to be in right relationship with God, one must first be in right relationship with his fellow man.
It is interesting to note that the rabbis saw tzedekah not as a favor they were doing for the poor but as a favor the poor were doing for them because, they said, the poor man does more for the householder in accepting alms than the householder does for the poor man by giving him alms. In accepting the alms, the poor man gives the householder an opportunity to perform a good deed, or a mitzvah. Since tzedekah is considered a biblical commandment, the rabbis found it necessary, as in the case of every other commandment, to define it in detail.
How does one perform a mitzvah of tzedekah? Who is obligated to give? Who is eligible to receive? How much should be given? In what manner should it be given? Throughout the Talmud, we find these various laws on how to give and how to receive tzedekah. Everyone was obligated to give, even the person who himself was dependent upon acts of tzedekah was obliged to give to one who was less fortunate than himself.
Acts of tzedekah toward a non-Jew were just as obligatory as they were to a Jew. That is, even if one was not a member of the house of God, or the family of Israel, even if one was considered to be a Gentile, a pagan, or an outsider, he was still worthy to receive acts of tzedekah in order to preserve good relations.
Another interesting point of law is that women were always to take precedence over men is receiving tzedekah. One’s poor relations were to come before strangers. The poor of your own community come before the poor of another.
Maimonides took all of these various laws of Talmud and the Mishnah and codified them. He listed eight ways tzedekah was to be performed. They are progressively more virtuous, each one becoming more virtuous than the other. As you read, reflect back on some of the sayings of Jesus relative to the subject and see if it does not ring a bell in your mind. (1) To give, but sadly (Remember, Jesus taught that the Lord loves a cheerful giver. (2) To give less than is fitting, but in good humor. (3) To give, but only after having been asked to. (4) To give before being asked. (5) To give in such a manner that the donor does not know who the recipient is. (6) To give in such a manner that the recipient does not know who the donor is. (7) To give in such a way that neither the donor nor the recipient knows the identity of the other. (8) To help the poor to rehabilitate themselves by lending them money, taking them into partnership, employing them, or giving them work, for in this way, the end is achieved without any loss of self respect at all. (Maimonides, Yad Mattenot Aniyyim 10:7-12)
Maimonides continued that when necessary, accepting charity is perfectly legitimate. Do not be embarrassed. Do not be ashamed, because no shame attaches to the poor who are otherwise unable to support themselves. However, one is advised to do everything within one’s power to keep from accepting charity if at all possible, and so the quote from Jeremiah 17:7, "Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord." In other words, even if a person has to endure some kind of physical suffering such as hunger, if he can just go as far as he can with-out accepting charity, it will be a special blessing for him if he trusts God instead of others. But, if there is no other option available, then there is no shame in accepting charity.
One important principle of charity is that it was to begin at home. The broad family circle was the primary unit for receiving relief, and beyond the family circle was the community to which the individual belonged. There is, however, a higher form of tzedekah I want us to note once again. (I dealt with this subject previously under the heading of Gemilut Hasadim.) Gemilut hasadim means the practice of charity. It comes from the Hebrew word chesed. In the Mishnah, Order Nezekin, Tractate Avot, Chapter 1, Mishnah 2, Simon the Just was one of the last survivors of the Great Assembly (circa 200 B.C.). He used to say, "Upon three things is the word based, upon the law, upon divine service, and upon the practice of charity (gemilut hasadim)."
Gemilut hasadim might be translated as the practice of acts of loving-kindness. It is the most comprehensive and fundamental of all Jewish social virtues. It encompasses the whole range of the duties man has toward his fellow man. In the Chapters of the Fathers, or Pirke Avot, from which we just quoted, the statement of Simon the Just comes immediately after the opening statement of chapter 1, Mishnah 1. "Moses received the list from Sinai and handed it down to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets handed it down to the men of the great assembly. They said three things. "Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the law."
Make a fence around the law means to set bound-aries. That is, this is as far as one can go and beyond that, one cannot go. Then the statement of Simon the Just immediately follows. In Mishnah 3, Antigonus of Soco received from Simon the Just. In Mishnah 4, Jose ben Joezer and Jose ben Jochanan received from them. In other words, we have a principle being established of the continuation of tradition being passed from one generation to the next that continues uninterrupted from Moses onward.
The principle of gemilut hasadim is one of the earliest individual rabbinic statements in Mishnah and serves as one of the three pillars of Judaism. Gemilut hasadim, however, encompasses a much wider range of human activity and loving-kindness than just simple acts of tzedekah. For example, tzedekah, or charity, can be given only with one’s money; whereas, gemilut hasadim can be both the giving of money and/or personal service. Charity can be given only to the poor. Gemilut hasadim can be given to anyone.
Charity can be given only to the living. Gemilut hasadim can be given to both the living and the dead, e.g., helping a lame man over some kind of an obstacle would be considered an act of gemilut hasadim and not merely an act of charity. A gift given to a poor man may be an act of charity but not necessarily an act of gemilut hasadim. The same act of giving charity to the poor, but giving it with a smile and/or a word of encouragement or cheer, would raise the act from charity to gemilut hasadim. The rabbis continued that the only provable example of genuine altruistic gemilut hasadim is paying respect to the dead or assisting in the burial of the dead, because it is obvious there are no ulterior motives on the part of the doer in expecting to receive something back from the recipient.
In Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7 and 1, it says, "He who denies the duty of gemilut hasadim denies the fundamental tenet of Judaism. Again we note that the foundation stone of biblical faith is not man’s actions upward toward God but, rather, his responsibilities to his fellow man. We will see this idea repeated over and over again in the teachings, or sayings, of the rabbis we are going to be noting as we compare their teachings in Pirke Avot, the Chapters of the Fathers, with the teachings of Jesus. The similarity in teaching, as well as style, is both dramatic and important. Jesus says almost nothing about how to worship God, about how to pray, about ritual, or religion, form, ceremony, sacrifice, or service upward toward God. When Jesus looks out over the multitude and begins to teach, he sees beyond the multitudes and sees the world. His injunction, his commission, to the multitudes is to "Go and proclaim the good news" or as it is frequently quoted, "Go and preach the gospel."
That is an important statement, but what does it mean? In Matthew 3, we read, "In those days came John the baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judah and say ing, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."’ That was his message. The kingdom of God is at hand. What did he mean? In Chapter 4, verse 23, we read, "Jesus went about all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom."
Notice the next phrase, "And healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people."
The gospel of the kingdom is not a message about getting to go to heaven. It is not a message for the hereafter, or the world to come. It is a message for today. It is a mes-sage that men and women can come in contact with the power of the living God who breaks through the space time continuum to meet them at the point of their human need. It is a message that men and women can be deliv-ered, healed, made whole, by the power of the living God. That was the "good news." That was the gospel of the kingdom.
God can and will penetrate into this space time con-tinuum in which we live and, in Him, one can live in wholeness, in peace, in happiness, and in joy, now, in this world. That was, and is, the basic difference between western Christianity, as it would later develop, and biblical faith.
Biblical faith is very much a religion of today; whereas, western Christianity develops along the lines of the oriental, mystical religions of that day which were other-worldly. The desire was to escape this physical body that entraps us and to ascend to another-worldly state of nirvana, or paradise – Christianity’s "pie-in-the-sky by-and-by." But that is not biblical faith.
That is not the teaching of the rabbis, nor is it the teaching of Jesus. Jesus taught, "Take no thought saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or with what shall we be clothed…but you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (tzedekah), and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow…(Matthew 6:31-34)."
Notice that Simon was called "the Just," Shimon Hatzadik, and he said, "Upon three things does the world stand, the law, divine service, and gemilut hasadim." Antigonus of Soco received from Simon the Just, and he used to say, "Be not like servants that minister to the master on the condition of receiving a reward, but be like servants that minister to the master without the condition of receiving a reward and let the fear of heaven be upon you."
Here we see gemilut hasadim defined. And where did Antigonus get his teaching, or tradition? From Simon. And from where did Simon get his? From the prophets, and the prophets from the elders, the elders from Joshua, Joshua from Moses, and Moses from God. Here is the point. When we read the teachings of these men, it is like we are hearing God speak. This is not just some extra-biblical commentary by some uninspired Jewish rabbis. Note the similarity between the teaching of the rabbis and the Chapters of the Fathers and the teachings of Jesus. They are so strongly similar that we cannot account for it on the grounds of simple coincidence.
It is interesting and fascinating that many times these individuals will be identified with a particular city or location so that we can pinpoint where they came from, where they lived, where they worked. Here is an interesting statement from Jose ben Joezer. "Let your house be a meeting house for the wise and sit amidst the dust of their feet and drink in their words thirstily (Avot 1:4)." The passage is difficult to translate into English and, as translated, presents a picture of the rabbi, or the wise man, with his students sitting at his feet.
The Mishnah emphasizes that one’s house should be a meeting place for the sages and then the Hebrew says, "…and cover yourselves with the dust of their feet and drink in their words thirstily." In biblical times, the picture of the sage, or the teacher, or the rabbi, was one of a parapatetic, charismatic figure who moved from place to place. Following along behind him was his little group of students, or disciples. If one wanted to study with one of these rabbis, or teachers, one had to follow after them.
Remember the call of Jesus to his disciples? "Come. Follow me." In Jesus’ day, if you wanted to study with one of these rabbis, or teachers, you had to follow after them – and they did not have paved roads. They only had little paths, and if any of you have been in Israel, you know that in the dry season, from mid-April to mid-November when it never rains, everything is covered with a fine dust. If you follow after somebody, or walk behind them, it is not very long before you are literally eating from the dust of their feet. This gives you a wonderful picture of the parapatetic rabbi or teacher, of which Jesus was one.
Notice the injunction, "…drink in their words thirstily." That is, listen to what they say. Give heed to what they say. In Matthew 17:5, when the heavens opened up and God spoke forth out of a cloud, his words were, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him." The phrases, "Drink in their words thirstily," and "Hear Him," are synonymous, i.e., listen to what they say. Listen with the idea not just of hearing but of obeying. In other words, do what they say.
We are reminded of the words of another sage who wrote, "Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves, for if any be a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass for he beholds himself and goes his way and straightway forgets what manner of man he is. But whoso looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues therein, not being a forgetful hearer but a doer of the word, this man shall be blessed in his deed (James 1:22-25)."