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“There is No Text in the New Testament<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/p>\n That Requires Gentile New Covenant Believers<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/p>\n To Observe the Biblical Feasts.”<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/center><\/p>\n Dedicated to the noble Bereans<\/U><\/STRONG><\/br><\/p>\n that study whether those things be so.<\/center> Acts 17:10, 11.<\/FONT> Remit royalty consideration to:<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n Stephen W. Kraner<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n 821 S. Williams Street, Apt. C603<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n Westmont, IL 60559<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n USA<\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n E-mail: torah_guy@yahoo.com<\/FONT><\/TD><\/TR><\/TABLE> “There is No Text in the New Testament<\/STRONG><\/p>\n That Requires<\/STRONG><\/p>\n Gentile New Covenant Believers<\/STRONG><\/p>\n To Observe the Biblical Feasts.”<\/STRONG><\/FONT> By<\/p>\n Stephen W. Kraner<\/P><\/p>\n Outline<\/U>.<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/FONT> Introduction<\/U>.<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n One common argument against the New Covenant observance of the Biblical Feasts is that:<\/P><\/p>\n The objective of this study is to refute this mis-perception.<\/P><\/p>\n In order to appreciate whether the Biblical Feasts belong to the original covenant and, hence, to the New Covenant, some basics about ancient covenants and the In order to appreciate “Why” the Biblical Feasts were to be observed by Gentile believers, two related questions must first be addressed: What is the “Law” that This mis-perception shall be addressed by showing what Hebrew words are translated as “feast” in the Hebrew Scriptures and, what their corresponding Greek Next, it shall be shown that one of these Greek equivalent words for “feast” occurs in Acts 17:25-27, where the apostle Paul clearly speaks to unconverted The idea that the New Testament teaches that Gentiles observed YHWH’s Feasts shall be supported by examining Acts 13:42-44. There, we learn that nearly all Acts 17:25-27, 30, shall be additionally supported by Paul’s admonition to the Greek Corinthians to “continue keeping the feast [of unleavened bread].” Acts 17:25-27, 30, shall also be supported by Acts 20:6, where the Philippians join the apostle Paul in keeping the Feast of Unleavened Bread.<\/P><\/p>\n Acts 17:25-27, 30, shall also be supported by the apostle Paul’s approval of the Thessalonians’ patterning their church after the churches in Judea.<\/P><\/p>\n This text shall also be supported by Yahushua’s statement, “My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer.” (Mark 11:17, quoting Isaiah 56:7, based And, Revelation 7:9-10 shall be examined to show that it describes a “great multitude” “of all nations” keeping the Feast of Tabernacles.<\/P><\/p>\n Understanding Basics About the Covenants<\/U>.<\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/P><\/p>\n In order to appreciate whether the Biblical Feasts belong to the original covenant and, hence, to the New Covenant, some basics about ancient covenants and the When an ancient covenant was “made” it was “cut.” In our King James Bibles, the words, “made a covenant” occur 28 times. The word, “made,” is translated The Hebrew word, karath<\/EM>, occurs in 25 of the 28 occurrences of the phrase, “made a covenant.” Karath<\/EM> occurs 278 times in the Hebrew Scriptures. Karath<\/EM> In these words we see the full context of the ancient “cutting of a covenant.” Scholars understand that this cutting, into two, of animals, and then passing The words, “their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the fowls of the heaven, and to the beasts of the earth,”<\/STRONG>find their fulfillment and their enforcement in When the Ten Commandments were made, they were “cut” with the finger of Elohim into the stone tablets.<\/P><\/p>\n It is important to note that the “Ten Commandments”<\/STRONG> are actually, in Hebrew, the “Ten Words,”<\/STRONG> hence, the word, Decalogue, a middle English word derived This distinction of the Ten Commandments being the Ten Words of YHWH, the Ten Debarim, is a most important distinction. By not noting this distinction, the To further appreciate that the Ten Debarim (Ten Commandments) are Ten Summary Words for the various laws of the Covenant, please note the full context of I call your attention, again, to the understanding that the Hebrew word, “debar,”<\/STRONG> has the idea of being a “summary word” of a spoken matter.<\/P><\/p>\n In Exodus 34:10-28, after reviewing the highlights of the (covenant described in Exodus chapters 20 through 23, with the confirmation of the covenant in Within the details of the covenant recorded in Exodus, chapters 21-23, in Exodus 23:10-17, the seventh-day Sabbath and the three annul pilgrim Feasts are <\/P><\/p>\n Stand as Summary Words for the rest of the words of the Covenant!<\/STRONG><\/TD><\/TR><\/TABLE> It is claimed by some that the Covenant contained in the Tables of Stone and the Covenant contained in the scroll of the law are two different covenants. Here is We see this combination of the SAME words written on a tablet and in a book in Isaiah 30:8:<\/P><\/p>\n <\/P><\/p>\n <\/DL><\/p>\n YHWH makes a prophecy, which, by virtue of the combined imagery of the “tablet” and the “book,” He makes to be an eternal covenant. The significant point is Comprehending the parallel of the words of the “covenant prophecy” referred to above in Isaiah 30:8 (that what was written upon the tablet was also written in The Tables of the Covenant.<\/STRONG><\/FONT> <\/DL><\/p>\n The Book of the Covenant.<\/STRONG><\/FONT> <\/DL><\/p>\n
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\n©Copyright 2009, by Stephen W. Kraner. Limited royalty free copy\/distribution release is
\nherewith granted to the holder of this document for ten personal copies for the purpose of
\ndistribution to friends. On condition of royalty consideration of $0.75 per copy (after initial ten
\nfree copies), copy and distribution release is herewith granted of this document.<\/FONT> <\/P><\/p>\n
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\nBiblical covenants need first to be understood. Several aspects of both the Sinai covenant and the “New Covenant” shall be examined.<\/P><\/p>\n
\nwas “added because of Transgression”? And, “When” was it added?<\/P><\/p>\n
\nequivalent words are.<\/P><\/p>\n
\nGreeks, adjuring them to repent of their worship of idols and to seek YHWH at the kairos<\/EM> before appointed, when all nations should seek YHWH.<\/P><\/p>\n
\nthe Gentiles of the city of Antioch in Pisidia met together on YHWH’s Feast, the seventh-day Sabbath, to hear Paul teach the gospel.<\/P><\/p>\n
\n(1Corinthians 5:7-8)<\/P><\/p>\n
\nupon Solomon’s prayer in 1Kings 8:41-43.) And, that “house of prayer for all nations” is the “tabernacle of the mo’edim,” the “Tabernacle of the Feasts.”<\/P><\/p>\n
\nBiblical covenants need first to be understood.<\/P><\/p>\n
\nfrom the Hebrew word:<\/P><\/p>\n
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\nbargain, originally by cutting flesh and passing between the pieces<\/STRONG>): – be chewed, be con-[feder-]ate, cut (down, off), destroy, fail, feller, be freed, hew (down), make a league
\n([covenant]), x lose, perish, x utterly, x want.<\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nseems to be translated most frequently as “cut off” (181 times). It is translated as “cut down” 21 times. It is translated as “cut” only 8 times. Yet, “to cut’ is the
\nprimary meaning of karath<\/EM>. Karath<\/EM> occurs for the first time, in relationship to “covenant” in Genesis 15:18:<\/P><\/p>\n
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\nthe river Euphrates:” Genesis 15:18.<\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nin-between the divided halves existed in several ancient Mid-East cultures, especially the Hittite. Here is the “cutting of a covenant” where the animals are cut
\ninto two or more pieces<\/P><\/p>\n
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\nH3772, karath] the calf in twain, and passed between the parts thereof,<\/STRONG> <\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nthe beasts of the earth.”<\/STRONG> Jeremiah 34:18-19.<\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nRevelation 19:17-21.<\/P><\/p>\n
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\nthe mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water: <\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nmount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.” Deuteronomy 9:9-10.<\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nfrom Old Latin meaning, Ten Words.<\/P><\/p>\n
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\ncovenant, the ten commandments [Strong’s H1697, debar].” Exodus 34:28.<\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nstone.” Deuteronomy 4:13.<\/FONT><\/DD><\/p>\n
\nfire in the day of the assembly: and YHWH gave them unto me.” Deuteronomy 10:4.<\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nKing James translators caused a misunderstanding of the relationship of the Ten Debarim to the various types of laws contained in the Covenant of YHWH with
\nIsrael. Specifically, the King James translators translated both words, “mitsvot” and, “debarim” as “commandments.” As noted above, the Hebrew word,
\n“debar,” is a word as of (or “about”) a spoken matter. That is, though “debar” can mean a single “word,” the word, “debar” can also mean, “a
\nsummary word about a whole matter or, discussed subject.”<\/STRONG> For example:<\/P><\/p>\n
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\n[debar]<\/STRONG>, and which had come unto them,” Esther 9:26.<\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nExodus 34:28 (the first mention of the words, “Ten Commandments” in Scripture). (Those readers that are scholars take note: The Biblical hermeneutic, “the
\nrule of first mention,” in relationship to its context,<\/STRONG> has significant bearing here.)<\/P><\/p>\n
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\namong which thou [art] shall see the work of YHWH: for it [is] a terrible thing that I will do with thee. <\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nJebusite. <\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nsacrifice; <\/FONT><\/DD>
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\ncamest out from Egypt. <\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nshall appear before Me empty. <\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nyear. <\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nwith thee and with Israel.<\/STRONG> <\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nH1697, debar] OF THE COVENANT, THE TEN COMMANDMENTS [Strong’s H1697, debar].”<\/STRONG> Exodus 34:10-28.<\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nExodus 24:1-8), YHWH states, “FOR AFTER THE TENOR OF THESE WORDS [Strong’s H1697, debar] I HAVE MADE A COVENANT with thee
\nand with Israel.”<\/STRONG> (Exodus 34:27) Then, in verse 28, YHWH writes upon the tables of stone “THE WORDS OF THE COVENANT”!!!<\/STRONG> But, they are not all
\nthe words contained in Exodus chapters 20 through 23. Nor are they all the words in Exodus 34:10-26. The “Ten Words” of the Covenant stand as
\nsummary words for the rest of the words of the covenant!<\/STRONG> <\/P><\/p>\n
\nincluded PRIOR TO Israel’s worship of the golden calf. When YHWH renews His covenant with Israel after their worship of the golden calf, did you notice that
\nthe Feasts are again listed in verses 18, 21-23, as continuing to belong to the renewed Sinai Covenant? Remember this point, when we examine WHY a “law”
\nwas “added because of transgression.”<\/P><\/p>\n
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\nThe “Ten Words” of the Covenant<\/STRONG> <\/p>\n
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\nshown the ignorance of both the Scriptures and of ancient covenants. Anciently, the summary words<\/STRONG> of a covenant between a suzerain lord and either, a vassal
\nlord or, his own vassals, were “cut” into wood, stone or, metal or, occasionally, in plaster, while the details of the same covenant were written in a book.<\/P><\/p>\n
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\n30:8.<\/FONT><\/DD><\/p>\n
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\nregister, scroll.<\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nthat the SAME<\/STRONG> prophecy is written BOTH<\/STRONG> on the table and in the book. From the witness of Isaiah 30:8, we are informed of the parallel of SAME words<\/STRONG> in the
\nTables of the Covenant to the Book of the Covenant.<\/P><\/p>\n
\nthe book), in the Torah, we have references to “the Tables of the Covenant” and references to “the Book of the Covenant.”<\/P><\/p>\n
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\nH1697, debar] of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments [Strong’s H1697, debar].”<\/STRONG> Exodus 34:28.<\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nthe Covenant.”<\/STRONG> Deuteronomy 9:11.<\/FONT><\/DD><\/p>\n
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\n24:7.<\/FONT><\/DD>
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\nand great: and he read in their ears all the words [Strong’s H1697, debar] of the Book [Strong’s H5612, cepher] of the Covenant<\/STRONG> which was found in the house of YHWH.” 2Kings 23:2.<\/FONT><\/DD><\/p>\n
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