In the Beginning: Torah and Commandments

Many people think that Godʼs commands were introduced at Sinai for the first time. Mt Sinai is where Moses told Godʼs Torah (instruction and teaching) to the people of Israel after rescuing them from Egypt. Many believe that these commandments were introduced for the first time at Sinai, as if they were an innovation and unheard-of. One may wonder, what about the people beforehand, who had not such knowledge? If the commandments were introduced so late in history, they must not be very important. One could reason similar to how St. Paulʼs epistle to the Galatians is interpreted, namely, that after the Torah came, people were brought into a slavish obeisance to rote commandments, but that before the Torah, people were free and lived only by faith and the promise of Abraham. This post seeks to show that such an understanding is not the understanding that the Bible itself presents.

Rather, Godʼs commandments were introduced at the beginning of creation. I will show this understanding by going to the Book of Genesis. I myself am very surprised by this and it is a learning curve for me. I am not going to argue that God taught all 613 mitzvoth of the Torah to humanity from the beginning—only that he taught some before Sinai. The only way to refute these observations of Scripture would be to deny any validity to the historical veracity of Genesis. Those who have already done so will have no issue with this post, but those that take the Bible seriously may need to rethink their understandings of Scripture (as do I).

1. Sabbath

   The Sabbath is taught from the beginning. Genesis 2:2-3, KJV, says: And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. God rested on the Sabbath during the first week of the world and, likewise, taught Adam and Eve and the first humans to do so. Sabbath is not some man-made burden, but rather an essential part of the cycle of the universe, such as winter and weather and gravity. Sabbath comes every 7 days and it is our choice to partake in it or not.

2. Holy Days and Festivals

   On the fourth day of creation, God introduced holy days (holidays) and festivals. In Genesis 1:14, it says that God created lights in the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. The word that the King James translators rendered seasons is Hebrew moʿedim. Moʿedim is the word that the Hebrew Bible uses for all the festivals of Israel, such as Passover, Shavuot, Sukkot, and Yom Kippur. Shabbat is also a moʿed. Moʿed can mean meeting, and often refers to the ʾohel moʿed, the Tent of Meeting. The word basically means the appointed time and place of meeting with God.

3. Clean and Unclean Animals

   If clean and unclean animals were introduced first in Leviticus 11 at Mount Sinai, then why do they appear in Genesis 7? If the distinction was not introduced until millennia later, then how could God have expected Noah to have known the difference? Apparently, God taught humanity clean and unclean animals from an early time. Genesis 7:2-3, ESV, says, Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. Noah took seven pairs of clean animals and only one pair of unclean animals onto the ark. Even if Noah himself did not drag the animals onto the ark, he still would have known which were clean and unclean.

4. Dietary Restrictions

   The first dietary restrictions may not have been kashrut, but there were dietary restrictions. And from 3, above, we know that early humanity knew about clean and unclean animals. It is interesting that the first dietary restriction that God imposed upon humankind was to eat only plants. In Genesis 1:29-30, KJV, God tells humanity,

   Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

   God gave plants to humans and animals alike to eat. Humanity was vegetarian until after the flood. After the flood, God tells humanity that they can now eat meat: every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat (Genesis 9:3-4, KJV). But God adds even though you can eat meat, you cannot eat blood. This restriction is the foundation of kashrut, which requires that humans drain the blood out of the animals they kill before they eat it. God tells Noah and humanity they cannot eat meat with blood in it, and he had already told Noah the clean and unclean animals, so that means that God expected Noah and the rest of the humans to eat essentially kosher.

5. Murder

   That murder is a sin to any human anywhere is pretty obvious. But it does not hurt to say that murder was not condemned for the first time in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 19). In Genesis 9, after mentioning the blood of animals, God tells humanity that human blood is also sacred and should not be spilled. God says: Whoso sheddeth manʼs blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man (Genesis 9:6, KJV). One can also discern Godʼs hatred of murder from the story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4. After Cain murdered Abel, God said to Cain: What hast thou done? the voice of thy brotherʼs blood crieth unto me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brotherʼs blood from thy hand (Genesis 4:10-11, KJV). God condemned Cainʼs murdering of his brother. Murder and hatred was also one of the reasons that God flooded the world: The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence (Genesis 6:11, KJV).

6. Sexual Immorality

   God expected all humanity to live by his standards of sexual immorality that he later re-stated at Sinai. From Genesis 2:24, we know that God expects humans to get married and not have sex with everyone, the implication of the one flesh phraseology. Genesis 2:24, KJV, states: Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. In fact, it was because humanity was being corrupted sexually that God brought the flood on the earth, in addition to their murderous ways. Genesis 6:2 tells us that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. These sons of God were marrying the daughters of men, and Godʼs response to this situation was to destroy humanity because they had corrupted their way on the earth. Whatever was happening, humans were not following Godʼs commandments regarding sexuality.

   And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them (Genesis 6:3, 5-7, KJV).

7. Idolatry

   One would think that if Godʼs commandments were only for a certain group of people, he would not care if other people did not follow him. An interesting note made in the Hebrew text is that then began men to call upon the name of the LORD (Genesis 4:26). If something is mentioned in the Bible, it means itʼs important. This act was important to God. It says humans began calling upon His name. A Hebrew tradition has it that it means they began blaspheming his name at this point in history. Whether it means humanity began worshipping God or blaspheming him, apparently God thinks it important that everybody does so and not have idols instead of him.

8. Tithing

   An interesting observation is if tithing was only introduced in the Mosaic law, why did Abram give a tithe? The word tithe literally means a tenth. God required a tenth of the income of the Israelites, but why would Abram do so 400 years before God introduced the Torah? In Genesis 14, after Abram fights a battle, he presents to the priest of ʾEl ʾElyon (God Most High) a tenth of his assets. And he gave him tithes of all (Genesis 14:20). The later book of Leviticus describes this system of tithing to the priests, but apparently, Abraham knew about tithing to the priests a half-milliennium earlier. But the tithe goes back even in earlier than Abraham — back to Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel brought offerings to the Lord because they knew that he required their tithes. Genesis 4:3-4, KJV, states: And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. Intriguingly, the Hebrew reads literally, And it was, from the end of days, Cain brought from the fruit of the soil a minchah for Adonai. The end of days here means the end of the assigned time period, whether of the year or of the festival. Minchah is the Hebrew word that is used in Torah for an offering, so it is clear that Cain brought a tithe offering to Adonai. Abel, likewise, brought the bekorah for Adonai as a tithe. The system of bringing God the firstfruits (later codified in the Torah) was existent from the days of Cain and Abel.

9. Levirate Marriage

   Levirate marriage was also instructed from an early day, not just in Deuteronomy 25 for the first time. Also known in Hebrew as yibum, levirate marriage is when a man marries his deceased brotherʼs wife (levirate from Latin levir, brother-in-law). The reasoning behind this law was to ensure that a manʼs family name and inheritance would not end. His posterity must continue, so the brother provided children on his behalf by marrying his widowed wife. This situation can be seen in Genesis 38, which is an exceedingly interesting story for many reasons. There was a man named Judah who had three sons: ʿEr, ʾOnan, and Shelach. Judah married ʿEr to the woman Tamar, but ʿEr was evil in the eyes of Adonai; and Adonai killed him (Genesis 38:7). As a result, his brother ʾOnan had to marry Tamar to provide children in ʿErʼs name. Accordingly,

   Judah said unto ʾOnan, Go in unto thy brotherʼs wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother. And ʾOnan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother. And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also (Genesis 38:8-10, KJV).

   Basically, ʿOnan did not want to give his brother children so he ejaculated on the ground instead of impregnating Tamar. God was so enraged that ʾOnan did not obey his commandment of yibum that he slew him.

These are all the commandments I will discuss today, but aside from the last one (which was only commanded after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the patriarchs of the Jewish people), it is clear that God expects these commandments of all humanity. I say that because if he gave them to all humanity, it would follow that he expects them to keep it. It is important to note that the chosen people did not emerge until Abraham, so that means that all the times before Abraham, God was speaking to everybody. Especially in regards to Noah, because according to the biblical understanding of history, Noah is the ancestor of everybody because everybody before had died in the flood. Noah was the only one to survive (with his family), so everyone is descended from him.

The mitzvoth of Shabbat, kashrut, moʿedim, murder, sexual immorality, idolatry, and tithing (giving God his due as the source of all bounty and blessing and recognizing him alone) were given to all humans and apparently God expected them to keep it. This next statement is my own hypothesis. I have always wondered why Israel was called the light to the gentiles. That phrase expects that the gentiles ought to learn from Israel and imitate them because they are following God correctly. Here is my hypothesis: God gave some of the Torah commandments to all humanity at the beginning. However, over time, he realized that they were not obeying. So at Noahʼs time, he wiped them out with a flood to start over. Afterwards, humanity still was not obeying. Accordingly, he decided to call Abraham and his descendants to keep the Torah. It took some years, but eventually, Abrahamʼs descendants, the Israelites and Jews, accepted the Torah and continue to revere it to this day. So: at first, God gave the Torah to everybody; they did not keep it; so he gave it to Israel, in order to show everybody else how they should act.

The Torah was not some innovation at Mt. Sinai. Rather, it existed eternally with God before creation and then he revealed parts of it to the first humans. Later, he fully revealed it to Israel. Nevertheless, the Torah is not slavish legalism, but rather the way God expects and hopes all people to live.

Postscript. I am not intending to be legalistic or judaizing. I am merely sharing my knowledge as I have come to learn it. If you disagree, please feel free to comment and hopefully we can have a fruitful discussion. The conclusions of this article are just as shocking to me as they are to you.

Kendrick Lamar and the Hebrew Israelite Movement

Hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar recently dropped his latest album DAMN. to widespread acclaim. As another artist like Chance the Rapper that integrates faith into his rap, Kendrick is a positive trend in hip-hop, while still retaining many of the characteristic themes of hip-hop. As I was listening to his album and perusing the lyrics, I noticed a theme in his poetry that I have not necessarily seen in other hip-hop. Now, to be honest, I donʼt listen to a ton of hip-hop so it would be difficult for me to tell you how common this theme is. Nonetheless, I was surprised to find it and have decided to write about it.

The theme I noticed is not just that Kendrick talks about God and faith (a lot of rap does mention God), but that the way he discussed faith was from a Hebraic orientation. For example, Kendrick used Hebrew words in his rap and also used themes drawn from the Hebrew Israelite Movement.

First, I must explain the Hebrew Israelite movement. The Hebrew Israelite movement is a trend among African Americans to identify themselves with either Judaism or the ancient Hebrew faith. The movement re-ignited in the late nineteenth century, partially with the help of Marcus Garveyʼs Pan-African movement from the 1920s-1930s. Adherents of this movement may call themselves Hebrews, Israelites, Black Israelites, or Black Jews. They claim that they are descended from the ancient Hebrew people. There are also black Jews who are adherents of normative majority-white Judaism, but they are not the exactly the same as the Hebrew Israelite movement, since, sadly, mainstream, white Judaism does not recognize that movement.

One argument the Hebrew Israelite movement uses is that the Africans sold in the Atlantic Slave Trade in the 1500s were often from Western Africa, places like Ghana, Benin, and Nigeria, and therefore the majority of African Americans are descended from those countries. It is indeed true that some modern-day inhabitants of those countries claim Jewish and Hebraic descent. Some of these indigenous people include Igbo Jews and the Lemba people.

Another African group claiming Israelite descent is that of the Beta Israel, or the Ethiopian Jews, also known as falashas. The Beta Israel were accepted by the State of Israel and allowed to make aliyah in the last few decades. Many of the Beta Israel now live in the land of Israel but still retain ties to Ethiopia.

Ethiopia has an interesting religious identity overall. The Christians of Ethiopia—the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church—have a biblical canon of 81 books, including the Book of Enoch. They also claim to have the original Ark of the Covenant in a monastery in Addis Ababa, guarded by a hand-selected monk his entire life. Additionally, Ethiopiaʼs last dynasty, which was overthrown in 1974, claimed descent from biblical King Solomon himself. In an ancient Ethiopian text called the Kebra Nagast (the glory of kings), the story is recounted how King Solomon had a baby with the Queen of Sheba, whom she named David Menyelek. The Queen of Sheba turned from idolatry and converted to Judaism under King Solomonʼs instruction and ended up taking the Ark of the Covenant from Israel at the bequest of an Israelite priest to Ethiopia. She then taught her people the worship of one God and Judaism. This story is bolstered by the fact that the Beta Israel knew of no rabbinic texts or of Hanukkah, even though they knew earlier festivals. The fact that they did not know the Talmud and Hanukkah means that they lost contact with the wider Jewish world before the Common Era, since Hanukkah was instituted in the Maccabean period (167 – 160 BCE) and the Talmud formed 200 to 600 years later. This critical point puts their origin presumably at the time of the Ten Lost Tribes or even earlier. Also intriguing is the fact that the Ark of the Covenant is not mentioned in the Hebrew Scriptures after Solomon. This evidence suggests that the Beta Israel indeed did emerge at the time of Solomon and that the Ethiopian falashas and Ethiopian Church are descended from them.

The latest reigning monarch of the Solomonic dynasty was Ras Tafari Makonnen Woldemikael, who ruled from 2 April 1930 – 12 September 1974. (Ras was the title for young Ethiopian nobility.) The Tewahedo Church coronated Tafari with the regnal title, By the Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings of Ethiopia, Elect of God. They also gave him the imperial name Haile Selassie, meaning the power of the holy trinity. His coronated title was the traditional title for Ethiopian monarchs to hold. Because of this elaborate title, some diaspora blacks in Jamaica and Ethiopian citizens began seeing Haile Selassie as literally the power of the trinity—they believed he was the incarnation of the second coming of Jesus. These worshippers were called Ras-tafari, after Makonnenʼs pre-coronation name, Ras Tafari.

Rastafari believe that Haile Selassie is the incarnation of Jesus, and therefore the visible manifestation of the Trinity, whom they call Jah, or Jah, Jah, or I and I. They also follow some of the Torah laws and they believe that Haile Selassie (who is dead now) will return them to Zion, which to Rastafari is not Israel, but the ancient capitals of Ethiopia known as New Jerusalem (such as the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela associated with the history of the Eastern Orthodox Tewahedo Church). Rastafari follow a kosher diet and keep to biblical morality.

All this to show the Jewish-African connection, which has some very interesting manifestations, whether itʼs indigenous African groups claiming Hebrew ancestry, African Americans claiming Israelite identity, or Rastafari basing their faith on the Jewish faith. Kendrick Lamar, in his albums, is not afraid to discuss such matters and makes many references to them.

In the second track, DNA, Kendrick discusses the stereotype of how some people think that blacks are innately aggressive, itʼs in their DNA. In the track, he references Jesus, but he uses his Hebrew name, Yeshuaʿ. He seems to be saying that Jesusʼs confidence in his bloodline—i.e., being the son of God and the virgin-born of the blessed virgin Mary—is what allowed him to be successful (being born in that miraculous manner was Yeshuaʼs weapon).

I was born like this, since one like this
Immaculate conception
I transform like this, perform like this
Was Yeshuaʼs new weapon

Kendrick sees Yeshuaʿ on his side, that they are in the same fight. Later in the song, Kendrick raps

And Nazareth gonna plead his case
The reason my powerʼs here on earth
Salute the truth, when the prophet say

Kendrick seems to be saying that the people of Yeshuaʼs time did not accept the truth, but Kendrick is continuing his prophetic message.

In the next track, Kendrick says that heʼs an Israelite and that they will be punished for not following the Torah. The track is called, Yah, a shortened form of Godʼs divine, four-letter name, the Tetragrammaton.

Iʼm not a politician, Iʼm not ʼbout a religion
Iʼm a Israelite, donʼt call me Black no moʼ
That word is only a color, it ainʼt facts no moʼ
My cousin called, my cousin Carl Duckworth
Said know my worth
And Deuteronomy say that we all been cursed

Although Lamar does not identify with religion, he still has strong socio-religious ties to the Israelite movement, of which heʼs a part. He considers this identity more important than his black identity even. His cousin, Carl Duckworth, whom he mentions later, was the one that introduced him to his royal Israelite heritage (know my worth), but the flipside of that it entails responsibilities—follow the Torah laws of Deuteronomy or experience the curse, which he mentions in another song.

In the song Lust, Kendrick says that a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

Lately, in James 4:4 says
Friend of the world is enemy of the Lord

In the track Fear, Kendrick again references his cousin and mentor Carl Duckworth. Lamar plays a recording of Duckworth leaving a message on the telephone. Duckworthʼs message is about how Lamar needs to return to the Lord and follow his statutes.

Whatʼs up, family? Yeah, itʼs yo cousin Carl, man, just givinʼ you a call, man. I know you been havinʼ a lot on yo mind lately, and I know you feel like, you know, people ainʼt been prayinʼ for you. But you have to understand this, man, that we are a cursed people. Deuteronomy 28:28 says, The Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart. See, family, thatʼs why you feel like you feel like you got a chip on your shoulder. Until you finally get the memo, you will always feel that way…

The reference to a chip on the shoulder and feeling that way is his song Feel, where Kendrick says that no one is praying for him.

At the outro of the track, Lamar plays more of Duckworthʼs recording:

Verse two says, You only have I known of all the families of the Earth, therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities. So until we come back to these commandments, until you come back to these commandments, weʼre gonna feel this way, weʼre gonna be under this curse. Because He said Heʼs gonna punish us, the so-called Blacks, Hispanics, and Native American Indians, are the true children of Israel. We are the Israelites, according to the Bible. The children of Israel, Heʼs gonna punish us for our iniquities, for our disobedience, because we chose to follow other gods that arenʼt His son, so the Lord, thy God, chasten thee. So, just like you chasten your own son, Heʼs gonna chastise you because He loves you. So thatʼs why we get chastised, thatʼs why weʼre in the position weʼre in. Until we come back to these laws, statutes, and commandments, and do what the Lord said, these curses are gonna be upon us. Weʼre gonna be at a lower state in this life that we live here in today, in the United States of America. I love you, son, and I pray for you. God bless you, shalom.

In sum, Lamar considers himself an Israelite and feels he needs to repent of his sins and return to the Lordʼs statutes outlined in the Torah, the five books of Moses that begin the Bible. He cites Jesusʼs Hebrew name, Yeshua, and also calls God by his Hebrew name, Yah.

In a collaboration track with DJ Khaled, Kendrick Lamar also uses Jesusʼs Hebrew name. In Holy Key, Lamar raps:

I donʼt wear crosses no more, Yeshuaʼs coming back
I ainʼt scared of losses no more, I see life in that

So even though he is personally religious in his devotion to Yeshua, he does not identify with religion as a whole.

Finally, in his song i, from his 2015 album to pimp a butterfly, Kendrick explicitly connects himself to his Ethiopian royal heritage. In the track, he has a man speaking about his Solomonic heritage.

Well, this is my explanation straight from Ethiopia
N-E-G-U-S definition: royalty; King royalty – wait listen
N-E-G-U-S description: Black emperor, King, ruler, now let me finish
The history books overlook the word and hide it
America tried to make it to a house divided
The homies donʼt recognize we been using it wrong
So Iʼma break it down and put my game in a song
N-E-G-U-S, say it with me
Or say no more. Black stars can come and get me
Take it from Oprah Winfrey, tell her she right on time
Kendrick Lamar, by far, realest Negus alive

As I mentioned before, negus is the Ethiopian word for monarch or king, and is the word used in the title of the ancient Solomonic work Kebra Nagast. With this track, Kendrick shows that he identifies with Ethiopian-Israelite royal Solomonic heritage. Heʼs the realest negus alive.

In total, I was surprised to see this imagery and content in Kendrick Lamarʼs album. I had heard he had faith, but I didnʼt know that he identified with the Israelite movement. As an historian and a scholar of religion, this association is very interesting to me. Not being very versed in rap music, I was intrigued to see such connections. So I donʼt know if Kendrick is one of the only vocal Israelites or if it is very or fairly common in rap music. Have you seen this theme and imagery in other rap and hip-hop music? Shalom.

Listen to his album here.

Christianity Is Jewish: Part 1, The Christian Bible Is Jewish

This series of blog posts will explore the theme of Christianityʼs Jewish origins. Even though Christianity has been the long-estranged daughter of Judaism for nearly two millenia, it is a daughter nonetheless (unless the Jewish family has officially removed their daughter from the family).

The title, Christianity Is Jewish, is also the title of a book in the same vein by Edith Schaeffer, wife of the late Christian apologist Francis Schaeffer and co-founder with her husband of the devotional LʼAbri community in France (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1981, originally published 1975). Before Jewish readers write this idea off as a Christian idea, let them read the following.

The statement Christianity Is Jewish may strike some readers as a non-sequitur or even complete nonsense. However, these posts will reveal that the origins, core, and future of Christianity is Jewish, even though it may not always seem that way. For Jews, Christianity is way too goyified to be Jewish, and for Christians, Judaism is way too, well, Jewish (usually associated with ritual barbarism and legalism) to be the spiritual mother of Christianity. Even though Christianity is Jewish, it may be more apt to, like Jews, say that Christianity is a goyified version of Judaism, because if Christianity was Jewish in a literal sense, then Christianity would merely be a sect of Judaism and not an entirely different and even antagonistic religion to Judaism. But the very antagonism that breeds between the two faiths (and their mutual cousin, Islam) is evidence of their relatedness: families fight, and those who are closest to us often hurt us the most. The very relatedness engenders the vilest hatred because they know each other too well. People who donʼt know each other have no reason to hate each other because they donʼt even know them. One must know before one hates.

This particular post will explore how the very Bible that Christians use is Jewish. I think everyone would agree that the Hebrew Bible (or Jewish Bible, or Tanakh) is Jewish, but not many would acknowledge that the New Testament and deuterocanonical and apocryphal books are also fundamentally Jewish. Nevertheless, I will still demonstrate the Jewishness of the Jewish Bible as well. Below is a chart of the book of the Bible and their authors, and to what degree they are Jewish or not.

NB. In the first table, I use the word Jew to refer to the inhabitants of the kingdom of Judah, which is the technical meaning, and not the general meaning of any descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, which is designated by Israelite.

Tanakh

Book	Traditional Author	Jewish Status of Author	Subject
Torah
Torat Moshe or, Pentateuch	Moshe/Moses	Israelite	Creation of Jewish people
Neviʾim = prophets
Book of Joshua	Joshua	Israelite	Jews enter Cna'an/Israel
Book of Judges	Shmuʾel/Samuel	Israelite	Israelʼs judges
Book(s) of Samuel	Shmuʾel/Samuel	Israelite	Israelʼs kings Saul and David
Book(s) of Kings	Yeremyah/Jeremiah	Israelite	Israelʼs monarchy
Book of Isaiah	Yeshayah/Isaiah	Jew	Isaiahʼs prophecies about Israel
Book of Jeremiah	Yeremyah/Jeremiah	Israelite	Jeremiahʼs prophecies about Israel
Book of Ezekiel	Yehezqel/Ezekiel	Jew	Ezekielʼs prophecies about Israel
Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets	Various	Israelite/Jewish	Prophecies about Israel
Kethuvim
Book of Psalms	David + others	Jew + Israelite	Hymns to Israelʼs god
Book of Proverbs	Shlomo/Solomon	Jew	Jewish wisdom and maxims
Book of Job	Unknown	n/a	Godʼs sovereignty over suffering
The Song of Songs	Shlomo/Solomon	Jew	Love: human, and Godʼs love for Israel
Book of Ruth	Shmuʾel/Samuel	Israelite	The marriage of the Jewess Ruth to Boaz
Book of Lamentations	Yeremyah/Jeremiah	Israelite	Israelʼs sorrow
Book of Ecclesiastes	Shlomo/Solomon	Jew	The vanity of life
Book of Esther	Mordecai or Ezra?	Jew	Jewish Queen Esther saves the Jews
Book of Daniel	Daniel	Jew	Danielʼs life and visions about Israel
Book of Ezra-Nehemiah	Ezra + Nehemyah	Jew	God returns the Jews Israel
Book of Chronicles	Ezra	Jew	History of Israelite monarchy for exiled Jews

Deuterocanon

Now that we have seen that all the books of the Hebrew Bible were authored by Jews, we can now move onto the supposed Christian additions to the Bible. The authors of the deuterocanonical books (coming from the Greek phrase meaning second canon, that is, second from the protocanon, or Tanakh) are mostly unknown, and so the authorship and quote marks are taken from accepted scholarship, as from the Oxford Apocrypha.

Book	Author	Subject
Book of Tobit	a Jew	The Jew Tobit
Book of Judith	a Palestinian Jew	The story of the Jewess Judith
Additions to Esther	Lysimachus ben Ptolemy, a Jew	Jewish Queen Esther saves the Jews
Wisdom of Solomon	a hellenized Jew of Alexandria	Jewish wisdom
Book of Sirach	Yeshuaʿ ben Elʿezer ben Sirach	Jewish wisdom
Book of Baruch	Jeremiahʼs scribe, Baruch	Letter to exiled Jews
Letter of Jeremiah	Jeremiah	Letter to exiled Jews
Additions to Daniel	a Jew	Jewish folkstories about Daniel
1 Maccabees	an educated Jew	The Jewish revolt against Hellenized Jews led by haMaqqabim
2 Maccabees	a Jew	Same
1 Esdras	a Jew	Jewish history
Prayer of Manasseh	a Jew	King Manassehʼs prayer from 2 Chr 33
Psalm 151	a Jew	151st hymn from Psalter, found in DSS
3 Maccabees	a Jew	Alexandrian Jewish history
2 Esdras	a Jew	Jewish apocalypse
4 Maccabees	an observant Jew of the Hellenstic Diaspora who had a Greek rhetorical education	Jewish discourse on Torah

As all of the authors of the deuterocanon are Jews, and they are writing about Jewish themes, it would stand to reason to say that the Apocrypha is a collection of Jewish books. As such, Jews should feel free to learn about their history from its pages, and these books should be regarded by Jews as their heritage, and not shunned as another religionʼs—that is, Christian—literature. Now let us see about the collection of books known as the New Testament, whether that too is Jewish.

NB. Yeshuaʿ ben Yosef haNotsri/Natsrati is Hebrew for Jesus son of Joseph the Nazarene (or, of Nazareth). And Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos refers to he who is known in the Christian tradition as St. Paul. Rather than having a new name upon a conversion, he maintained two names all his life. Paulos was his Roman citizen name, and Rabbi Shaʾul was his Hebrew name, as he was a rabbi who learned at the feet of Rabbi Gamliel, of talmudic fame.

New Testament

Book	Traditional Author	Jewish Status of Author	Subject
Matthew	Mattityahu	Jew	Yeshuaʿ ben Yosef haNotsri/Natsrati
Mark	Yohannan Markos	Jew	Yeshuaʿ ben Yosef haNotsri/Natsrati
Luke	Loukas	?	Yeshuaʿ ben Yosef haNotsri/Natsrati
John	Yohannan ben Zavdi	Jew	Yeshuaʿ ben Yosef haNotsri/Natsrati
Acts of the Apostles	Loukas	?	the talmidim of Yeshuaʿ after he ascended
Romans	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos	Jew, a Pharisee	Godʼs relation to Israel
1 Corinthians	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos	Jew, a Pharisee	conduct of Corinthian kehilah
2 Corinthians	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos	Jew, a Pharisee	conduct of Corinthian kehilah
Galatians	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos	Jew, a Pharisee	should goyyim be circumcised?
Ephesians	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos	Jew, a Pharisee	Godʼs plan for those who are no longer aliens from the commonwealth of Israel
Philippians	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos	Jew, a Pharisee	epistle to assemby in Philippi
Colossians	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos	Jew, a Pharisee	avoid ascetism and critics
1 Thessalonians	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos	Jew, a Pharisee	the coming of haMashiach
2 Thessalonians	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos	Jew, a Pharisee	the coming of haMashiach
1 Timothy	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos	Jew, a Pharisee	instructions for leading a congregation
2 Timothy	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos	Jew, a Pharisee	same
Titus	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos	Jew, a Pharisee	same
Philemon	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos	Jew, a Pharisee	what to do about a runaway slave
Hebrews	Rabbi Shaʾul/Paulos ?	Jew, a Pharisee	Yeshuaʿ in relation to Temple rituals
James	Yaʿakov, brother of Yeshu'a	Jew	instructions for the Twelve Tribes in the Diaspora
1 Peter	Shimon Kefa, aka Simon Petros	Jew	epistle to the sojourners of the Diaspora in Asia Minor
2 Peter	Shimon Kefa, aka Simon Petros	Jew	Peterʼs final teaching
1 John	Yohannon	Jew	keeping Godʼs commandments if you love him
2 John	Yohannon	Jew	epistle to the elect lady
3 John	Yohannon	Jew	epistle to Gaius about outsiders
Jude	Yehuda	Jew	fate of the wicked
The Revelation	Yohannon	Jew	Jewish apocalypse

As one can see, all of the New Covenant literature were written by Jews, with the exception of Luke, whose Jewish status is uncertain. Additionally, every New Covenant book has a Jewish theme, whether it be the supposed Jewish messiah, Yeshuaʿ haNotsri, or how Godʼs people should act, the relationship of goyyim to Israel and Jews, and the last days (acharit hayamim). Some of the New Covenant epistles were written to Jews in the Diaspora. Due to their authorship and content, the New Covenant books can rightly be considered Jewish literature. As such, Jews should feel in good company reading the New Covenant literature (preferably in Hebrew or in a translation that retains Hebraic terms), as all the authors were fellow Jews. As Jewish scholars Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler conclude in their preface to The Jewish Annotated New Testament (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011),

We hope that non-Jewish readers will learn to appreciate that significant sections of the New Testament derive from the heart of Judaism, and that they will be able to understand these texts without importing false notions of the tradition of Jesus and his earliest followers. We further hope that this volume will make the New Testament more welcoming to Jewish readers (many of whom are unfamiliar with its contents), that these new readers may become better acquainted with the traditions of their neighbors, and that perhaps they may even experience holy envy in the reading (xiii).

Similarly, in his afterword, translator Willis Barnstone states,

Jews should be able to read this book of marvels, of their authorship, about themselves, about some Jews who believe they have found the Jewish messiah, whose offspring become known as messianics or Christians....This translation—having made Yeshuaʼs Judaism obvious through its restoration of Jewish names and its annotation and afterword—should encourage Jews to read the New Covenant without terror, without fear for their very lives and souls

(The New Covenant, Commonly the New Testament: Newly Translated from the Greek and Informed by Semitic Sources, volume 1, The Four Gospels and Apocalypse [New York: Riverhead Books, 2002], 439).

That is my hope. Now that I have demonstrated that the whole Bible—from Genesis to Revelation—is Jewish, Jews especially should feel comfortable reading all of it. However, just because it was written by Jews does not mean that other Jews will agree with all of it, nor that its teachings line up with modern Judaism (which differentiated itself from Christianity in the early centuries of the Common Era). Rather, Jews can read religious books written by other Jews and not, as Willis Barnstone said, fear for their very lives and souls. A Jew should be able to pick up the Apocrypha and New Testament and find therein a close friend, maybe a cousin, and even to see themselves therein. No, Jews need not consider the Apocrypha and New Testament canonical, but they should at least read it. They owe it to themselves, not only as inhabitants of the Western tradition, but more importantly, as part of recovering a lost Jewish legacy. This is their book, and they should make it theirs. The time of the gentiles is nearing its end, and Jews around the world ought to reclaim their lost and trampled-upon heritage. When this occurence takes place, it will be nothing short of the redemption of the world.