Paul on Halakhah and Aggadah

Last installment, or Part 3 of this series, I introduced to you the Hebrew concept of Halakhah. In that discussion, I attempted to not only define what halakhah meant, but I also attempted to convey the significance of Halakhah to a great portion of Paul’s teachings and writings.

If you’ve not done so at this point, and are interested in what I had to say about halakhah and Paul, I would humbly ask you to head on over to part 3 of this series and listen or read what I had to say about this concept.

Before I proceed on over to the concept of aggadah today, I want to do a little more exploration of the concept of halakhah. There is indeed a great deal more to halakhah that I feel is vitally important to gaining a firm understanding of many of Paul’s teachings and writings.

 

The Hebrew concept of halakhah is quite simply the walking out of one’s Faith; how one behaves in accordance with the tenets of one’s Faith; that which one can see that is directly or indirectly associated with one’s Faith commitment.

Thus, halakhah is how we walk out our Faith. It’s what others see us do as a result of our commitment to our Faith. And the most prominent representation of Halakhah is found with Torah; that which the Jews refer to as the written Law. For all intents and purposes, Torah is the rawest form of halakhah, for it contains the instructions of how we are to behave and conduct our lives.

As children of the Most High Elohim, our forefathers weren’t simply whisked out of Egypt, ushered into the Sinai wilderness and left to figure this whole Faith thing on their own. Father established a conditional covenant—an agreement–with Israel, that if they would obey Him; walk according to His commands; behave in accordance with the precepts and ordinances and instructions that He passed down to them through Moshe (ie., Moses), then He would be their God (ie., their Elohim) and He would make them a peculiar—a special people—unto Him above any other nation peoples of the earth—with all the privileges and benefits associated therein (Exo. 19:5,6). The stipulation, however, was that Israel would have to halakhah—walk in accordance with His instructions.

As I just mentioned, Yehovah did not simply lead our forefathers out to the wilderness and leave them to figure everything out on their own. Indeed, He not only miraculously and brilliantly delivered Israel from devastating Egyptian slavery or bondage (Exo. 18:10), Abba then gave them His Torah: the governing constitution; instructions for acceptable righteous living; that which would make Israel a light to the nation peoples of the world.

Messianic Jewish teacher Brad Scott brilliantly helped me understand this concept of halakhah from the perspective of a Hebrew father, placing the palm of his hand upon his young son’s head, and then guiding him through all aspects of life. That father would teach his son all the ways of Yehovah and Torah. He would train his young son in the family’s vocational trade. The father would teach his young son how to be a man.

And this was a perpetual handing down from father to son; an unaltered teaching and training throughout every generation.

No Hebrew father in their right mind would think of leaving his son to figure life out on his own. Such a thing would go against everything the Hebrews were taught and instructed to do concerning the rearing of children by Yehovah.

Moses commanded:

“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up” (Deu. 6:7; cf. Deu. 4:9; 11:19; NASB)

Heck, even the Apostle Paul recognized the immense relevance of this illustration of halakhah. Paul wrote to the Assembly of Messianic believers in Ephesus:

“And ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath; but bring them in the nurture and admonition of the Master” (Eph. 6:4; KJV).

Yet today, we in the west have, for the most part, forsaken this commandment. Most of us have placed the responsibility of teaching and raising our children on the shoulders of our nation’s teachers. We fathers have walked away from our Torah mandated responsibilities of placing our hand upon the head of our children—metaphorically speaking–and teaching them how to walk out their lives as Godly men. And that’s a travesty. Indeed, is there no wonder that our younger generation is in many cases so out of control?

The halakhic concept, as symbolized in how one “walks” out their Faith, is mentioned dozens of times throughout the Tanakh (ie., the Old Testament), as well as the Brit HaDashah (ie., the New Testament).

Gen. 17:1—in speaking to Abraham YHVH instructed him: I am the Almighty God; walk before me and be thou perfect.

Exo. 16:4—that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or no.

Lev. 18:4—and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am YHVH your God.

Deu. 5:33—Ye shall walk in all the ways which YHVH your God hath commanded…

Jos. 22:5—and to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments…

Psm. 119:45—I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.

Eze. 11:20—That they may walk in my statutes and keep mine ordinances and do them…

We see this same principle of halakhah illustrated in the term “follow,” which not only suggests a physical coming after the one beckoning others to follow; but more so, to become a disciple and to walk in the ways of the one beckoning to follow; that being the Master.

Mat. 4:19—Yeshua speaking:…Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.

Mar. 8:34—Yeshua speaking:…If any who comes after me, let him deny himself and take up his stake and follow me.

Joh. 12:26—Yeshua speaking: If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will the Father honor.

Rom. 6:4—We were buried therefore with him through baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised from the death through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.

2 Cor. 5:7—(for we walk by faith, not by sight)…

Gal. 5:16—Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

Eph. 5:2—and walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for an odor of a sweet smell.

1 The. 2:11—That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath called you unto His kingdom and glory.

1 Tim. 6:11—But thou, O man of god, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

Hands down this is an essential element of our Faith. Yet most folks don’t even realize it’s significance.

Think about it: what is the first thing (or one of the first things) that a convert to our Faith inquires about? I can answer that from this ministry’s standpoint: by far, the question I am asked the most is “how do I…”

• How do I keep Sabbath?
• How do I keep the Feasts?
• Is it okay for my son to play sports on the Sabbath?
• Can I cook on the Sabbath?

These are all halakhic questions. How do I walk out this newly chosen Faith of mine? And the truth of the matter is that there is no shortage of individuals who are standing by at a moment’s notice to tell these converts how to halakhah.

Why is it that the convert to our Faith is faced with so many challenges and questions related to walking out the Faith? Is it not obvious that converts to fundamental Christianity conversely have no issue whatsoever as it relates to walking out or walking in their faith? There’s a difference.

Fundamental Christianity places more attention on aggadah—establishing a relationship with the Almighty—establishing one’s Faith in the Almighty—loving one another—establishing that hope for life eternal—than it places on walking out or walking in Christianity. Christianity is more aggahdic in her approach to faith (and we are just about to get into what aggadah is all about) than halakhic. Hebrew Roots, conversely, is more halahkic in her approach to Faith than it is aggahdic. And it is this inherent imbalance, on both sides of the aisle, that creates so much angst and hostility between the two groups of Messianics/Hebrew Roots and Christianity.

The reason it is so challenging for many converts, and veterans of Faith for that matter, when it comes to understanding how to properly halakah our Faith is that Torah is purposely vague in many of its commandments. I truly believe Father designed His Torah to be vague in many areas. Why? Because He desired the Hebrew to first give Him their hearts—to establish a substance relationship with Him. And it would be that after that relationship has been firmly established that Father’s Spirit, dwelling in them, would lead and guide their halakhah. The vagueness in halakhah—the vagueness of the various commands of Torah would be filled with a joyful seeking out by the Hebrew, of ways that he or she may keep the spirit of every Torah instruction and command. The Hebrew would wake up each day and be driven by his or her love for Yehovah, how they may please Him and how best for them to keep Father’s Laws. No longer will that Hebrew look for ways to get around keeping the commandments of Father’s Torah. Instead, the true, converted Hebrew looks for ways to please their God. Halleluyah.

And this is just scratching the surface of the concept of Halakhah in both the Old and New Testaments.

The Other Side Of Halakhah

In your many studies throughout the days, months and years of your walk with Messiah, you may have come across numerous examples and calls for the people of God to halakah in accordance with the ways of Yehovah our Elohim. You, like me, may not have associated a specific Hebrew term with this principle of walking or following in the ways of our Creator at those early times. But as you can clearly see, halakhah is extremely important to Yehovah and the Apostle Paul recognized this. In many of his writings he is constantly urging his charges to walk or follow in accordance with the traditions and doctrines and teachings he put forth to them:

“Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).

1 Cor. 4:16—Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.”

Phi. 3:17—Brethren, be followers of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample.

When Paul wrote this to the Corinthian and Philippian assemblies, he was no doubt pulling extensively from various aspects of his Jewish upbringing. It’s a fair bet that he was raised by his father and taught all aspects of Jewish life by him, including how to be a man as well as the family trade of tent-making.

So Paul then takes this essential principle and applies it to the various Messianic assemblies he oversaw. Paul was treating the members of those assemblies as if they were his children. We can only assume that Paul did not have any biological children of his own. Thus, the members of the various Messianic assemblies he over saw, were in effect his children—his sons. And Paul took very seriously the training he was providing his children. To him, it was his absolute responsibility to ensure that his charges were fully trained and adopted into the Faith.

To the Corinthian Assembly of Messianic Believers in Yeshua, Paul wrote concerning his ties to them:

“For I am jealous for you with God’s kind of jealousy (remember where Father stated that He was a jealous God to Israel?); since I promised to present you as a pure virgin in marriage to your one husband, the Messiah; and I fear that somehow your minds may be seduced away from simple and pure devotion to the Messiah, just as Havah (ie., Eve) was deceived by the serpent and his craftiness. For if someone comes and tells you about some other Yeshua than the one we told you about, or if you receive a spirit different from the one you received or accept some so-called “good news” different from the Good News you already accepted, you bear with him well enough! (In other words, when some bootleg preacher dude comes in your midst with some foolishness he or she calls the Gospel Message directly from Jesus Christ, you don’t seem to have a problem accepting that jacked up message.) (Continuing) For I don’t consider myself in any way inferior to these “super-emissaries.” I may not be a skilled speaker, but I do have the knowledge; anyhow, we have made this clear to you in every way and in every circumstance” (2 Cor. 11:2-6; CJB).

Thus Paul was uber-committed to ensuring that his charges—his children so to speak—learned to walk—to halakhah–in the proper ways of Messiah. Unfortunately, he realized that there were a lot of folks out there delivering to the Corinthian Assembly members a different kind of walk and many of the Corinthian Assembly members easily altered their walks to match the walks being taught to them by these other so-called apostles.

There is indeed another side to halakhah that you may be familiar with and I’m certain you’ve come across indications of this other side of halakhah many times throughout your studies. The other side of halakhah that I am now referring to has to do with walking in ways that are NOT of Yehovah: that is following after other gods; walking in our own ways, according to our own desires and understandings. Needless to say, this is not halakhah that pleases Father.

Now, the thing that should naturally come to the minds of well established Torah Observant Believers in Yeshua Messiah is the fact that any who would truly “halakhah”—walk—follow after the ways of Yah stand to reap tremendous, positive benefits and blessings, especially in this life, and even in the life to come. And over and over we find, especially in Torah, where Father pleads with Israel to walk in His ways which will always “lead to life” and “blessings.”

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that thou mayest live and thou and thy seed—that is your descendants” (Deu. 30:19).

We can see tucked away in this admonishment directed to wandering nation of Israel to halakhah according to the ways of Yehovah in order that they would live well and receive abundant blessings, that there is another side to halakhah that leads instead to death and curses.

And the simple truth of the matter is that the world with the exception of Father’s chosen and obedient ones, halakhah’s—walks—follows after ways that are not of Yah on a daily basis. Yeshua Himself when describing the unbelieving people He encountered close to the time of His crucifixion in Jerusalem:

“He (speaking of Yehovah, His Father) has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they do not see with their eyes, understand with their hearts, and do not t’shuvah (return; repent) so that I could heal them” (John 12:40; CJB).

Part of the reason the world walks in all the various ways that are NOT of Yehovah is because they are blinded and their hearts are hardened. According to Master here in this passage, thus they are incapable of understanding, nor repenting from their evil ways.

The bible is filled with examples of this other side of halakhah. I shall only give just a few for your reference since our focus is on the proper halakhah:

Psm. 1:1–blessed is he who walks (ie., halakhah’s) not in the council of the ungodly…

 

Jude 18–the mockers shall walk after their ungodly lusts.

 

1 Joh. 1:6–If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk (ie., halakhah) in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.

 

Hos. 2:5—In illustrating the infidelity of Israel with Yehovah, Father borrowed from the life of the Prophet Hosea. In speaking about Gomer, Hosea’s wife, Hosea writes: Yes, their mother is promiscuous; she conceived them and acted shamefully. For she thought, ‘I will go after (I will walk or follow) after my lovers; the men who give me my food and water, my wool and flax, my oil and drink” (CSB).

Lev. 26:21—”And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me, I will bring 7-times more plagues upon you according to your sins” (KJV). This is indeed clear enough warning that those who walk in walks that are contrary to the ways of Father will suffer problems. This is talking expressly of God’s chosen ones who abandon Father’s ways and walk in ways that are contrary to the ways Father has commanded us to walk.

And so forth throughout the remainder of the bible, we find where there is a form of halakhah that is not of Yehovah and any who chooses to walk in those paths are destined for death and curses.

 

Aggadah Defined

 

I want now to spend the remainder of our time together discussing the concept of Aggadah. As with halakhah, aggadah is a uniquely Hebraic concept. You will soon see that aggadah is intricately linked to halakhah, although many Messianic and Orthodox Jews have failed to link them in their lives. What I mean is simply this: there are many folks out there who halakhah, but lack entirely aggadah in their lives. You will see clearly in a moment what I mean.

Brad Scott describes Aggadah as instructions that we cannot see. Aggadah is something born from the heart.

When we speak or think about aggadah, we are thinking and speaking about that internal thing that moves the true disciple of Yeshua Messiah to live a righteous life. Aggadah is nascent and cannot be seen, whereas halakhah is clearly seen by all. Aggadah is that which is born or dwells within the disciple’s heart and that which is born or dwells within the heart compels the disciple to walk.

In other words, what we do on the outside has to be born from the inside first. Otherwise, what we do on the outside is nothing more than rote, blind activity that is not genuine: it’s fake; it’s hollow; it’s without substance; and Father can clearly recognize that.

You see, by itself, Halakhah lacks compassion, motivation and commitment. Compassion, motivation and commitment comes from within and is inspired within us by the Ruach HaKodesh.

It is common to see a great amount of walking being done and lived out by people of our Faith Community and of Judaism. Yet many of us find ourselves lacking that compassion, motivation and commitment. We are simply going through the motions of our Faith. We are blindly halakhah’ing-out—walking out the Faith by blindly keeping Torah commandments. Most individuals who find themselves in this situation truly believe they are in a great place. They believe they are doing what they are supposed to do. And before you know it, they start to believe they are purchasing their salvation through their blind, rote obedience to Torah. Next, these same individuals begin to think of ways to get around various Torah commandments—work arounds if you will. They have it all figured out. They follow the teachings of the Jewish sages and start to take on the religion of Judaism. They lack any kind of love for their brothers and sisters in the Faith. Some even turn their noses up on those they deem are not of their elite spiritual status.

Father is not in the least satisfied with heartless Torah-keeping. Yes, it is important to be Torah observant. But being Torah observant must first become a willing giving of the disciple’s all to Father; a desire to please the Father; in so doing, it results in proper keeping of the Creator’s ways—His Torah—the written halakhah.

Recall that although many of the Jews of Isaiah’s time were Torah observant—to a degree—Father saw through Judah’s walk—that they were simply going through the motions in order to stay in God’s good graces if you will. Yet their lives were pure stank. These were evil through and through, although they went through the motions of keeping Torah—of being orthodox—tadah!

What was going on? The people of Judah were going through the motions of keeping the Feasts of Yehovah and the prescribed Temple worship, yet they were at the same time facing east on the Temple Mount and bowing knees to Baal and weeping for Tammuz. The Levitical Priests were corrupt and not carrying out their prescribed duties; mishandling the tithes of the people; committing untold, disgusting acts and forfeiting their reputations as appointed intermediaries between Yah and the people. And there were other iniquities ongoing in Judah at the same time the people were going through the motions of keeping Torah.

This flagrant hypocrisy annoyed Father beyond description. So annoyed was Father over the hypocrisy of His people that He said the following through the Prophet Isaiah:

“’Why are all those sacrifices offered to me?’ asks Adonai. ‘I’m fed up with burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened animals! I get no pleasure from the blood of bulls, lambs and goats! Yes, you come to appear in my presence (so-called worship at the Temple); but who asked you to do this; to trample through my courtyards? Stop bringing worthless grain offerings! They are like disgusting incense to me! Rosh Chodesh (New Moons), Shabbat, calling convocations—I can’t stand evil together with your assemblies. Everything in me hates your Rosh-Chodesh (New Moons) and your festivals; they are a burden to me. I’m tired of putting up with them” (Isa. 1:11-14; CJB)!

What can we see here in this compelling passage of Scripture? We can clearly see that Judah had halakhah, as they were clearly walking out Torah: they were acknowledging New Moons; they were offering prescribed sacrifices; they were showing up at the Temple at proper times of the year to worship; they were keeping Shabbat; they were convening or participating in holy convocations; they were keeping the Feasts of Yehovah.

Yet they were cheating on Yehovah. It was like we saw illustrated in the Prophet Hosea’s story. Hosea marries Gomer, a prostitute. Hosea is representative of Yehovah, while Gomer is representative of Israel and Judah. Hosea marries Gomer and rescues her from her life of iniquity. Yet Gomer is not satisfied with the righteous life that Hosea was affording her. So she returns to her life of prostitution. As disgusting as her previous life of prostitution may have been, she was never in to Hosea. Her heart, even after marrying Hosea and living a life away from the filth she came from, she yearned for her past lovers and her former life on the streets.

The book of Hosea is a fascinating read, especially as it relates to the concepts of halakhah and aggadah. What we see beautifully but woefully implanted in the book is the interrelationship that exists between the two concepts. We see in Hosea’s story and prophecy related to Judah and Israel where Father was calling Israel and Judah out for their bad–halakhah—their bad walk, which is an outcropping—which is resulting from—their hearts—their aggadah—being tied or given over to evil. Israel and Judah were the whores (ie., their whoring being their halakhah—their walk in paganism). The hearts of Israel and Judah belonged to the nations that brought them their paganistic ways. Their hearts were not with Yehovah but with the world. Thus they feigned loyalty to Yehovah through their rote, mechanical keeping of the ceremonial commandments of Torah in order to stay within the good graces of Yehovah. Little did they know, however, that Yah does not play that. Yah desired their full commitment. He demanded their hearts (ie., their aggadah) as much as He demanded their obedience (ie., their halakhah). He was not willing to separate the two. It would be both halakhah and aggadah, or nothing at all. And we know from the scriptures and from history that Israel’s refusal to give their hearts to Father (ie., their aggadah) resulted in them being dispersed to the four-corners of the globe, out of the Creator’s sight. Judah, facing a similar plight for similar, but slightly less heinous crimes, would go into captivity in Babylon.

If you’ve not taken the time to do so, I would humbly encourage you to read the book of Hosea in connection with our discussion here on aggadah and halakhah. The content of Hosea will give you a wider perspective on the dual concept of halakhah and aggadah, that I believe will go a long way towards increasing your understanding of these two concepts beyond that which we have already discussed.

And this has always been the problem with a great many of our cousins in modern Judaism: they halakhah—they walk in Torah (the written Law) and in their so-called oral laws, which they claim acts as a wall around Torah. They are steadfast in their commitment to their religion, which they have been persecuted for throughout millennia. Yet like their wilderness wandering forefathers of old, they lack the heart to properly keep—to properly walk in Torah. In fact, many of the precepts of their oral laws are in place to provide them a way around proper keeping of Torah. Their hearts are not for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Their hearts instead are solely for their religion.

Yehovah desires to have every Hebrew’s heart; every Jew’s heart; every Messianic’s heart—aggadah. (That’s the one thing that Christianity seems to have gotten right in this equation. They have aggadah, but they lack halakhah.)

In order to have aggadah, the heart for walking—halakhah’ing in the Creator’s ways, one must first have a desire know God. One must know God in order for him or her to then desire to walk in God’s ways properly. One must desire; one must establish a true relation with Father first before developing the desire or heart (aggadah) to walk-in (halakhah) the Father’s ways. Otherwise, one ends up making the same mistake that our Hebrew forefathers made in the Sinai wilderness and in the Land of Promise—they end up turning away from the ways of the Creator and walking-in (halakhah’ing in) their own ways or in the ways of evil. We just saw in Isaiah 1 how Father was scolding the Jews for their hypocrisy, despite their seeming keeping of Torah.

Somehow, humans convince themselves that all they have to do to stay in God’s good graces is to render unto the Creator a handful of platitudes and do a few good deeds and chores, and then they are all okay to live like the hellions they’ve given their hearts over to. And like Gomer, Hosea’s prostitute wife, they never had a relationship with their Master—their husband. Their hearts (ie., aggadah) are really with the other entities they admire and the other ways of life that are contrary to the ways of Yehovah.

Israel has never truly had a relationship with Yehovah. Moshe (ie., Moses) knew God. Second only to Yeshua our Messiah, Moses had the most intense and close relationship with Father. Exodus 33:11 described that relationship as:

“YHVH spake unto Moses face to face as a man speaketh unto his friend…” (KJV)

“And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom YHVH knew face to face” (Deu. 34:10).

On the other hand, the Israelites as a nation people only knew of Yehovah. With the exception of just a handful of Hebrews such as Joshua and Caleb, the wandering Hebrews and their descendants in the Land never established a relationship with Yah. And this absence of a relationship with the Creator resulted in their repeated departures from walking-in Yah’s Torah, which in turn resulted in their being subjected to hard penalties and even death.

Father recognized the problem: the people’s hearts were never with Him; their hearts were always somewhere else. Some hearts were with other gods. Others’ hearts were for themselves. Still others’ hearts were after some foreign, made-up principles, beliefs and doctrines that were not of Yehovah and served only to draw the Hebrew away from the Creator of the Universe.

Father’s heart was broken and He acknowledged the problem by saying:

“O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever” (Deu 5:29 KJV)”

Paul recognized that the Jews propensity for halakhah in Judaism was worthless if they lacked aggadah. To the Roman Assembly of Messianic Believers Paul wrote:

29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. (Rom 2:29-3:1 KJV)7

 

___________________________________________________________________________________________________