Cain and Abel
And they went, Adam and Eve with him, and showed him how to offer up his gift upon the altar. Then after that, they stood up and prayed that God would accept Abel’s offering. Then God looked upon Abel and accepted his offering. And God was more pleased with Abel than with his offering, because of his good heart and pure body. There was no trace of guile in him. Then they came down from the altar, and went to the cave in which they dwelt. But Abel, by reason of his joy at having made his offering, repeated it three times a week, after the example of his father Adam. 1 Adam and Eve 77:5-6
What is said here is very important lesson that we all need to learn. When Abel made his sacrifice, it was accepted not because of what it was, but who offered it. God looked upon Abel and accepted his offering. He was more pleased with the man (Abel) than the offering, because of his heart. Guile is a word that is not often used these days, so let’s look at what it means. Guile is defined as: shrewdness as demonstrated by being skilled in deception; the quality of being crafty; the use of tricks to deceive someone. This trait was not found in Abel, so his offering was acceptable in the sight of the Most Holy God. But what of Cain and his offering?
But as to Cain, he took no pleasure in offering; but after much anger on his father’s part, he offered up his gift once; and when he did offer up, his eye was on the offering he made, and he took the smallest of his sheep for an offering, and his eye was again on it. Therefore God did not accept his offering, because his heart was full of murderous thoughts. 1 Adam and Eve 77:7-8
As children of God, we need to learn the lesson here. The lesson is about sacrifice. We are all called to sacrifice, but, like Cain, we often will only sacrifice when it is commanded of us, and not out of the goodness of our own hearts. In fact, we will often balk about sacrificing, just as Cain did, causing much anger on the part of our Heavenly Father. For the Jew, the idea of sacrifice is not an alien one, only an impossible one due to the fact that we have no altar on which to offer our sacrifice. For the Christian this thought is alien because we don’t feel that we need to offer sacrifices since Yeshua (Jesus) was the final sacrifice. Unfortunately for many of us, that is not what Scripture states. Because of our faulty understanding of Torah, we have a faulty understanding of many ideas and concepts that, if understood properly, could help us to mature in this walk of faith.
Much of the problem here is founded in a misunderstanding regarding what the author of the book of Hebrews was trying to convey. Christians tend to look at this book from what is called a “Greek mindset” or a Greek way of thinking, instead of thinking like the Hebrews to whom the book is addressed. We must understand what they did before we can understand the message which has been given to them. What was the background of this book? Who were the recipients of this message? What were their concerns and why?
The book of Hebrews was written just before the Romans destroyed the Temple of God in Jerusalem. From the time of the resurrection until this time, the body of Messiah had been growing steadily among the average Jews in Jerusalem and, indeed, in all of Judea. What we now know as Christianity was then known as a sect of Judaism. The Apostles and their disciples regularly worshipped at the Temple, offering up sacrifices and celebrating the biblical feasts and festivals with the rest of the nation. Things were going along pretty well until a new High Priest came into power. He did not like this new sect, or the power that its leadership welded, especially the one called James, the brother of Yeshua. This man was well liked and well received by all who knew him and was often sought after for the answers to the really difficult questions. Since the High Priest felt that he should be the one sought after, the spirit of jealousy took him over and he began to persecute the believers, especially James. As a result of this persecution, not only was James killed, but also the new covenant believers were forbidden to worship at the Temple.
They were devastated, to say the least. From the dawn of time (as this book about Adam and Eve so clearly demonstrates) God’s people have worshipped Him through the offering of sacrifices. This was the form of worship that HaShem Himself specified and to worship in any other manner would be apostasy! This they knew and understood and the thought of not being able to worship God the Father was completely devastating to the believers in Jerusalem. Many had sold and left their homes, moving to Jerusalem to be able to worship more than just the three times a year specified as mandatory. They wanted to worship daily because they loved Adonai their Elohim that much. To be now told that this was no longer possible was almost more than they could bear.
It was to this group of people that the book of Hebrews was addressed. These people wanted to know how they could still follow the Law (Torah) without the High Priest to offer their sacrifices. The answer given to them was that the old priestly system was vanishing away anyway, so they would, and could, simply rely on the sacrifice made by the ultimate High Priest, Yeshua Himself. Most people don’t understand the subject of the statement “about to pass away” is not the Law, or the covenant, but the priestly system. This confusion is not our fault; a translator inserted a word that was not found in the original text: covenant.
For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. Hebrews 8:7
When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear. Hebrews 8:13
The word “covenant” is italicized because it does not appear in the original text, but was added by the translators to “better clarify” what is being spoken of. Only that is not what it has done. Instead, it has added confusion. You see, the translator himself didn’t understand what was being said.
The first verse quoted above states that the subject is the covenant, but the very next verse begins with, “For finding fault with them, He says,” If the subject were the covenant, the statement would have read, “for finding fault with it,” but that is not what it says. If nothing else, this is bad grammar. If it were simply bad grammar, we could ignore it, but that is not the problem here. The problem is this: the author was talking about one thing yet we have been taught that he was speaking of another. So, if he was not teaching in regards to the covenant, what was he speaking of?
The verses leading up to the set in question are clearly speaking of the High Priest.
Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “SEE,” He says, “THAT YOU MAKE all things ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN WHICH WAS SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN.” But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. Hebrews 8:1-6
There is a fact that is being alluded to here that many Christians tend to overlook: the Tabernacle was modeled after the true tabernacle in heaven. Everything found in the Tabernacle of Moses was also found in the Tabernacle of God in Heaven, including the altars. The High Priest (son of Aaron) was modeled after the one in Heaven: Yeshua. I know this sounds backwards, but Heaven is not ruled by earthly boundaries of time and space.
It is very important that we understand what is being taught here, if we truly want to be righteous in God’s eyes. There are many false teachings that we need to come out from under, and if we truly have a heart for Him, as Abel did, we need to know the truth. And the truth is this: Hebrews 8:7-13 is not about covenant; it is about the priesthood. Need proof? Of course we do; we can’t just blindly follow anyone’s teaching, even our own.
For finding fault with them, He says, “BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD, WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH; NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS ON THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT; FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT, AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD.
“FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD: I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS. AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.
“AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN, AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’ FOR ALL WILL KNOW ME, FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM. “FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE.” Hebrews 8:8-12
When we see words in all capital letters, that is the translator’s way of showing us that Scripture is quoting Scripture. In this case, Jeremiah 31:31-34
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.
“But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, “I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. “They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the LORD, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jeremiah 31:31-34