Brit Chadashah

[shmuel]

It has been stated recently on this forum that brit chadashah means renewed covenant. However, the Hebrew does not support such a translation. The Hebrew of Jer 31:31 reads:

Hiney yamim ba'im ne'um YHWH vekharatti 'et beyt Yisra'el ve'et-beyt Yehudah berit chadashah.

where the verb and object have been bolded. The verb vekhatatti is the 1st person singular perfect vav consecutive qal (pa`al) from the root kaf-resh-tav, karat. Karat literally means cut or cut off. It is the standard verb used to mean make when speaking of a treaty. Berit chadashah is a (feminine) noun with its adjective modifier. The adjective chadash means new. I have found no dictionary or lexicon that gives renewed as a meaning for chadash. In order to say renewed one would need to use a passive participle.

If the author wanted to say renew the convenant a different verb needed to be used, since karat (in this context) means make. Or if a renewed covenant was meant, a different modifier (pu`al participle) for berit should have been used.

Vs 32 continues

lo' kaberit 'asher karatti 'et-avotam ...

lo' kaberit = not like the covenant

'asher karatti = that I made (same verb as vs 31 except without the vav consecutive)

'et-avotam = with their fathers

The berit chadashah spoken of here is clearly stated to be a different covenant that the one made with the fathers.

S

 

[JewishHeart]

Shmuel,

Good stuff! I know Hebrew as well and dicduc (grammar) and you are right! Let us see if this encourages discussion.

{edited by Henaynei - Moderator}

 

[koilias]

But it says,...

"I will put My Torah in their inner being and on their heart I will write it."

A different "cutting", but the same Torah nonetheless!

 

[rooster]

Forgive me if i sound incredibly ignorant here.

But is it possible for the torah to be remain unchanged (Torah being the moral and ritual stipulations) and the covenant to change?
Meaning the standards of conduct and holy living would never change , but articles of the contract can. Furthermore can it be possible that changes in articles of the contract would not infringe the promises of God to Noah, Abraham, Moses and David?

 

[JewishHeart]

One thing is certain... no man changed the face of mankind like Yeshua's new covenant of His blood!

 

[Henaynei]

Rooster - Torah IS the covenant That is not unlike asking "can you change the Constitution of the USA without changing the Constitution of the USA?"

Yeshua gave us the Torah at Mt Sinai, He lived it flawlessly and showed us how to live it and called our hearts back to Torah. He showed us what all the sacrifices were looking forward to and what all sacrifices in the future will be looikng back to.... His sacrifice.

No man had been able to complete the ratification of the Covenant with HaShem because no man had been able to keep it flawlessly. HaShem upheld His end of the Covenant all those years while waiting for the full ratification by the other party, the Jews. The divinity of Yeshua enabled the humanity of Yeshua to live the Torah without sin, and thus He was able to complete the ratification of the Covanant that was started at Mt Sinai.

 

[JewishHeart]

heynanei, your explanation makes sense and is the best case I've heard for Renewed Covenant..

 

[JewishHeart]

He showed us what all the sacrifices were looking forward to and what all sacrifices in the future will be looikng back to.... His sacrifice.

I've always believed this

 

[ShirChadash]

Rooster - Torah IS the covenant That is not unlike asking "can you change the Constitution of the USA without changing the Constitution of the USA?"

Yeshua gave us the Torah at Mt Sinai, He lived it flawlessly and showed us how to live it and called our hearts back to Torah. He showed us what all the sacrifices were looking forward to and what all sacrifices in the future will be looikng back to.... His sacrifice.

Well said, Henny. ITA.

^That, right there, that is exactly how I see it, as well.

 

[ShirChadash]

Rooster, your sig lines

".....convert or i'll sacrifice you to your Gods" Olaf Trygvesson, at a time where evangelism was a little more "robust"..... and fun

This one cracks me up everytime I see it... and

"I go wherever the truth leads me . . Lurie, if the Torah cannot go into your world of scholarship and return stronger, then we are all fools and charlatans. I have faith in the Torah. I am not afraid of truth.."

IN THE BEGINNING
Chaim Potok

this one inspires me, and rings deeply in my spirit.


" Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things."

THE CHOSEN
Chaim Potok

And, well this one is just plain nice to read

 

[rooster]

Rooster - Torah IS the covenant That is not unlike asking "can you change the Constitution of the USA without changing the Constitution of the USA?"

Yeshua gave us the Torah at Mt Sinai, He lived it flawlessly and showed us how to live it and called our hearts back to Torah. He showed us what all the sacrifices were looking forward to and what all sacrifices in the future will be looikng back to.... His sacrifice.

No man had been able to complete the ratification of the Covenant with HaShem because no man had been able to keep it flawlessly. HaShem upheld His end of the Covenant all those years while waiting for the full ratification by the other party, the Jews. The divinity of Yeshua enabled the humanity of Yeshua to live the Torah without sin, and thus He was able to complete the ratification of the Covanant that was started at Mt Sinai.

Dear Henaynei
You are always able to add clarity.
Much thanks

But please be patient with me as i allow this wayward train of thought run its course.
I was speaking of the torah in a more restricted sense(perhaps should not have used torah, commandment might had been more appropriate), in a sense that includes only the stipulations of the covenant.
So i was saying "The stipulations of the covenant never changes since it also reflect God's Righteous and Holy nature but the articles of the covenant can change"
Meaning the law does not change, that God's constitution to mankind does not change, but the covenant where blessings and curses and obligation can evolve. That the substance does not change but the extension of the substance changes. That although the Mosiac covenant was more comprehensive then that of Noah, its substance does not differ from Noah's and in actual fact it is entirely consistance. Thus from Noah to Moses, there seem to be a visage of change where in actual fact things are just more explicite. Thus there is no statutory evolulation, but the constitution remains constant but some articles become more explicit. This process of making explicit continues through the prophets.

 

[rooster]

Another point came up in my head because Koilias mentioned "I will put My Torah in their inner being and on their heart I will write it."
I have always thought this in only its moral sense, where stipulations pertaining to right conduct are the only things written to the heart. But now i see the "torah" in the verse should never had been replaced with "law", because as i now see it, the word "law" itself restricts understanding of the verse.
Torah being put into the inner being and the heart is not only for the formulation of a "righteous" human bean but one who understand God's initiative, Abraham's faith; God's promise, salvation from Egypt; that inbedded deeply(but still fairly obvious) is the relationship aspect, that God/his people, Suzerain/vassal, Groom/bride, Father/child. These seems to me the richer meaning of "I will put My Torah in their inner being and on their heart I will write it."

Torah is such a big big word, warm and lively too, while "law" is cold and angular, and restrictive in the way we associat it today.

 

[Henaynei]

Rooster, thank you for your kind words.....

While the non-Jewish man has tried diligently for some 2000 years to separate the blessings of HaShem from obedience to His Instructions/Torah, even to the point that in a great many circles connecting the two is considered heresy - I know of no place in the scriptures where HaShem says that the two are separate-able - only where He states unequivocably that it is forever unchanged.

The Torah has no purpose other than to tell us how to live as pleases HaShem and reap the blessings. In Deuteronomy He clearly states that obedience to Torah = blessings and disobedience = curses. The Neviim only reminded the people of this and informed them when G-d had "had quite enough" of their disobedience. Knowing our perpetual tendancy to disobedience He also used the Neviim to tell us what was going to happen in the future both because of our disobedience and to offer a path to redemption.

b'Shalom
Henaynei

Dear Henaynei
You are always able to add clarity.
Much thanks

But please be patient with me as i allow this wayward train of thought run its course.
I was speaking of the torah in a more restricted sense(perhaps should not have used torah, commandment might had been more appropriate), in a sense that includes only the stipulations of the covenant.
So i was saying "The stipulations of the covenant never changes since it also reflect God's Righteous and Holy nature but the articles of the covenant can change"
Meaning the law does not change, that God's constitution to mankind does not change, but the covenant where blessings and curses and obligation can evolve. That the substance does not change but the extension of the substance changes. That although the Mosiac covenant was more comprehensive then that of Noah, its substance does not differ from Noah's and in actual fact it is entirely consistance. Thus from Noah to Moses, there seem to be a visage of change where in actual fact things are just more explicite. Thus there is no statutory evolulation, but the constitution remains constant but some articles become more explicit. This process of making explicit continues through the prophets.

 

[rooster]

Rooster, your sig lines

".....convert or i'll sacrifice you to your Gods" Olaf Trygvesson, at a time where evangelism was a little more "robust"..... and fun

This one cracks me up everytime I see it... and
[/size]

Olaf, apogee of a viking and evangelist extraordinaire

"I go wherever the truth leads me . . Lurie, if the Torah cannot go into your world of scholarship and return stronger, then we are all fools and charlatans. I have faith in the Torah. I am not afraid of truth.."

IN THE BEGINNING
Chaim Potok

this one inspires me, and rings deeply in my spirit.

Let me share another, not exactly in the same vein, but more light hearted
"Truth never dies, but it lives a wretched life"
Yiddish Saying

" Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things."

THE CHOSEN
Chaim Potok

And, well this one is just plain nice to read

Its nice, but somehow i always felt that the mood it sets is a little melancholic.

 

[rooster]

Rooster, thank you for your kind words.....

While the non-Jewish man has tried diligently for some 2000 years to separate the blessings of HaShem from obedience to His Instructions/Torah, even to the point that in a great many circles connecting the two is considered heresy - I know of no place in the scriptures where HaShem says that the two are separate-able - only where He states unequivocably that it is forever unchanged.

The Torah has no purpose other than to tell us how to live as pleases HaShem and reap the blessings. In Deuteronomy He clearly states that obedience to Torah = blessings and disobedience = curses. The Neviim only reminded the people of this and informed them when G-d had "had quite enough" of their disobedience. Knowing our perpetual tendancy to disobedience He also used the Neviim to tell us what was going to happen in the future both because of our disobedience and to offer a path to redemption.

b'Shalom
Henaynei

Allow me to chew over this, it is morning over here and its time i get a little sleep.

Peace

 

[ShirChadash]

"Truth never dies, but it lives a wretched life"
Yiddish Saying

!

 

[Ruhama]

That quote is soooo awesome. I must use it somewhere. I don't know where, but somewhere.

 

[koilias]

Rooster...

The Proverbs say two things are written "on the tablets of the heart" (shnei lukhot ha-brit): Torah and "Hesed v'emet" (Lovingkindness and Truth).

John 1.17 says: "The Torah was given by Moshe, Hesed v'emet came by Yeshua haMashiach."

"Hesed v'emet" though means "covenental loyalty" in the Torah (do a concordance search)...or as I like to translate it "unnecessary loyalty"...loyalty to one's friend that goes beyond the call of duty and the letter of the law.

Such loyalty HaShem shows Abraham in producing the miracles that brought his servant to find Rivkah. Such loyalty the men of Gilead show Shaul in stealing away Shaul's body from the walls of Bet-Shean (Shaul was dead...he doesn't care anymore that he is humiliated, but the courageous Gileadites nevertheless pay him this service...Should the living risk their lives for the dead?).

So you see, the Torah does tell us to perform "Hesed v'emet"...except it is not spelled out as a command, it is a "hidden" command that only Oral Torah can distill. It is a simple command:

Be perfect...As your Father in Heaven is perfect. Imitate HaShem!

 

[debi b]

I have found no dictionary or lexicon that gives renewed as a meaning for chadash.

I have 3

one cannot ignore the relationship between roots and all that is derived from them.

 

[shmuel]

OK Debi let's hear the names of the authorities and what they say about the adjective chadash.

Roots are impotant but it is useage that determines meaning, The root chet-dalet-shin as a verb means renew, freshen, or repair. The adjective from the same root means new, while the noun from this root means month or new moon. To say renewed requires the use of a passive participle. Since this root is conjugated in the pi`el the proper participle would be the pu`al participle.

S