For almost four years now, since I began this blog back in the fall of 2006, it has been my intention to read a different Messianic/theological book selection each month and keep myself accountable to this goal by writing a monthly book review (contained under the “reading corner” tab). This month of March it was my intention to read Daniel Boyarin’s “A Radical Jew”, but here I am on the 28th day of the month with only half the book read. Today I must finish the removal of chametz from the kitchen, tomorrow I will host 10 guests in my home for the Seder, and after that is the Yom Tov of first day Matzot. Although my intentions were well meaning, Boyarin’s book will not get finished this month and I will not write a review of it for March. Because I have other books “waiting in the wings” I do not plan to finish the book anytime soon or stretch out its reading over a couple of month’s time.
The trouble with this unrealized intention is that “A Radical Jew” is one of the most unique selections I have read, as Boyarin, an Orthodox Jew, attempts to understand Paul’s motivation and hermeneutic as seen in the Apostolic Scriptures. Boyarin presents Paul as a man driven by a desire for all people to be children of HaShem, a desire spawned from a union of Hebraic monotheism with the Greek ideal of universalism. Such a desire could only be accomplished through a theology in which the allegorical meaning of Torah supersedes and fulfills its literal observance. For Boyarin, Paul “redefined Jewishness in such a way that everyone could be Jewish”.
But perhaps the most intriguing thought that Boyarin presented, in my partial reading of the book, is that Paul considered his Apostleship to be superior to others due to his gospel coming to him through a direct revelation of Jesus. Unlike the other Apostles who knew Jesus in the flesh as their teacher upon the earth, Paul received his calling and revelation from the resurrected Christ “in the spirit” and from G-d who raised him. Paul therefore considered himself an Apostle “not of men” and one who understood more than mere human teachings or corrections to traditions of Judaism, as the other Apostles did.
With this idea in mind, I found myself contemplating Paul’s instructions regarding the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:20-34. Although this passage has been well considered in Messianic circles regarding when and how often the Supper should be observed, especially in relation to the Passover Seder, what caught my attention was the fact that Paul clearly explains his instructions about the Supper as being directly received from the Lord himself (v. 23). Certainly the details that Paul gives after this statement, in vv. 23b-25, were not a direct spiritual revelation from Yeshua. Such information would have been common knowledge among believers regarding the symbolism of the Last Supper and certainly related to Paul by Peter himself with whom he spent fifteen days, early in his ministry, while in Jerusalem as recorded in the first chapter of Galatians.
The special revelation that Paul seems to be relating involves the understanding that partaking of the Supper elements in an unworthy fashion, by “not discerning the Lord’s body” was to eat and drink damnation upon oneself (v.29). For Paul, to “discern the Lord’s body”, was to understand Yeshua’s sacrifice as a Passover offering (1 Corinthians 5:7). By likening Yeshua’s death to the Korban Pesach, Paul presents Yeshua’s sacrifice as a shelamim (peace) offering.
In Torah there are two types of peace offerings. One is the Shalmei Todah or Thanksgiving offering brought in recognition of a miraculous rescue performed by the hand of HaShem on behalf of an individual. The other is the Shalmei Neder u’Nedavah, or Votive/Freewill offering brought by an individual due to a vow made to HaShem and not in recognition of a particular event or miracle. All peace offerings were to be eaten within a very specific timeframe by the priests (who received the breast and thigh) and the individual (who received the rest of the meat). The Thanksgiving offering was to be consumed within one day (by the morning following the sacrifice) and the Votive/Freewill offering was to be consumed within two days. Any meat that was leftover past the given timeframe was to be burned.
The Pesach offering is understood to be a type of Thanksgiving/Peace offering meant to memorialize the rescue of Israel from Egypt by the miraculous Hand of HaShem. As a Thanksgiving offering the Pesach was to be completely consumed in one day, with the entire animal (minus the portions for the altar, such as the fats, kidneys and lobe of the liver) completely eaten during the night of the Seder.
Parashah Tzav relates that the timeframe of the peace offerings was so important that the intention of the person in bringing the sacrifice and eating its meat was a very serious matter;
“And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace-offering be at all eaten on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it; it shall be an abhorred thing, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity.”
(Leviticus 7:18 Original JPS Translation)
From this the Sages derive that one who intended (in his thoughts during the offering of the sacrifice) to eat the peace offering beyond the timeframe specified in Torah, would be in danger of karet – being totally cut off from the community of Israel and forfeiting their share in the World to Come. [1] In rabbinic literature, karet is understood to be “death by the hand of heaven” involving an early death, and in some cases childlessness, as a punishment upon the individual. [2]
According to Rambam there are three types of wrong thoughts or intentions a person can have when bringing an offering. One is an intended change of name. An example of this would be a person who sets aside a lamb intending it as a sin offering but later changes his mind and offers it as a peace-offering instead. A second type of wrong intention is a change of place, when a person brings a peace-offering with thoughts of eating it outside of the place assigned by Torah (within the confines of Jerusalem for the individual or within the confines of the Temple for the priests). A third type of wrong intention is a change of time intending to consume a sacrifice outside of its allotted timeframe (as described in Leviticus 7:18). Of the three wrong intentions regarding sacrifices only an intended change of time brings with it the possibility of karet. The other two (change of name or change of place) simply invalidate the sacrifice but do not bring condemnation upon the one bringing the offering or the one performing the blood service. [3]
With this in mind, when Paul gives additional revelation regarding the Lord’s Supper in 1 Corinthians 11:23, he does so with the understanding that Yeshua’s sacrifice is a Peace/Thanksgiving offering, likened to the Korban Pesach — a sacrifice through which HaShem provided miraculous rescue from sin and death; rescue that makes it possible for one to enter a new existence in the World to Come. Therefore, Paul admonishes each individual to examine himself, in order not to participate in the Supper in an unworthy manner (v.28).
Typically this examination is understood as an awareness and confession of sin before partaking of the elements. But in light of Yeshua’s sacrifice being as a Korban Pesach, perhaps Paul is instructing the Corinthians to examine their intentions. Each individual should be intent regarding designation; understanding the bread and wine to represent the body and blood of Yeshua. They should also be intent regarding place; as the Supper is a meal to be conducted among believers only. To neglect either of these intentions would be to invalidate Yeshua’s sacrifice altogether.
Yet, the intentions of designation and place do not seem to be specific issues for the Corinthian believers who assembled together in one place (v. 20) and participated specifically in “this” bread and “this” cup (v. 26). Although they were gathering together as believers and recognizing the Lord’s body and blood in the elements, their activity was not considered the Lord’s Supper (v. 20). In Paul’s view what the Corinthians were doing was invalid, and worse yet, was bringing condemnation upon them.
What seems to be missing in the Corinthian observance is the intention of time, for according to Torah purposeful eating of a peace offering outside of the intended timeframe caused one to bear his own iniquity. Remarkably, the condemnation that befell the Corinthians resulted in sickness and death among them (v. 30). This is the same consequence understood by the Sages regarding the punishment of karet, a punishment threatened when the proper timeframe for eating the peace offering was intentionally ignored. Paul also explained the reason for such severe chastening was “that we may not be condemned with the world” (v. 31), a fitting definition of the punishment of karet in layman’s terms.
Paul makes clear that every time the Corinthians gather together to eat the specific bread and specific cup of the Lord they proclaim Yeshua’s death until he comes again (v.27). Although it is debated, there are numerous indications within the Gospels indicating that Yeshua’s death occurred on erev Pesach (Nisan 14 afternoon), at the same time the Passover lambs were slaughtered. Therefore, in coming together as believers and recognizing the elements of the Supper at various times through a regular fellowship meal, the Corinthians were celebrating outside of the intended timeframe of the Korban Pesach offering of which Yeshua’s sacrifice is likened. For the Korban Pesach was to be observed on the on the 14th of Nisan at twilight (Leviticus 23:5). To observe at other times was to intentionally partake of this Peace/Thanksgiving offering outside the designated Torah timeframe and to bring condemnation upon oneself.
Instead of understanding the eating and drinking of the Supper elements in an unworthy manner to involve a lack of reverence through a selfish and gluttonous meal void of examining oneself regarding sin — could it be — that Paul’s instructions from the Lord to the Corinthians regarding the Supper were very different than we assume? Are we to believe that a divine revelation regarding the Supper would involve little more than a hand-slap for inconsiderate table manners or a reminder regarding the commonly understood symbolism of the Last Supper? Would such infractions bring sickness and death to the community, and threaten to condemn them along with the rest of the world? Perhaps instead, the central problem at Corinth was the partaking of a fellowship meal as the Lord’s Supper apart from the designated timeframe of the Passover evening which incorporated the understanding of Yeshua’s sacrifice to be as a Korban Pesach/peace offering.
Certainly this is a radical idea, perhaps spurned on by the intention to read a book about “A Radical Jew” by a radical Orthodox scholar who would delve into the hermeneutics of one of the most controversial “Christian” figures of all time, Paul of Tarsus. In the plainest sense, the consequence of such an idea would result in damnation and judgment upon the overwhelming majority of believers throughout the centuries who have observed the Lord’s Supper apart from a Pesach timeframe. This indeed is a harsh and impossible consequence that need not be the case necessarily.
For the audience Paul addressed in Corinth — being first century believers associated with the synagogue while the Temple was yet functioning — would have understood and been thoroughly taught regarding the various sacrifices and their details as given in the Torah. As time went by and the “church” separated from its Jewish origins such understanding and detail would have been lost, with Messiah’s sacrifice as “our Passover” bringing to mind the lamb’s blood applied to the lintel and little else. In this way, those who have for centuries observed the Lord’s Supper daily, weekly, monthly, and/or quarterly could not be held accountable for purposefully intending to overlook or neglect the Torah specified timeframe of a Thanksgiving offering such as the Korban Pesach to which Yeshua’s sacrifice is likened.
. . . . . . .
Although Boyarin’s book provided intriguing thoughts about Paul and especially the self-understanding of his Apostleship, from his own pen in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul defined himself as “least of the Apostles” instead of the most superior. But it would be unfair of me to judge Boyarin along these lines for perhaps Paul’s words in chapter 15 were considered later in the book. At this point I cannot know. Oh well . . . that’s the trouble sometimes, with even the best and most long held intentions.
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[1] Rabbi Nosson Scherman, The Stone Edition Chumash, Mesorah Publications, Brooklyn NY, 1994, notes on “Pigul/Rejected”, p. 576.
[2] Ibid., citing Ramban in notes on kares, p. 577.
[3] Rambam, Laws of Invalidated Sanctified Things, 13:1,2; 15:1; 16:1 as cited in OU Torah Insights (Shabbat Parashat Tzav), available at; http://www.ou.org/torah/ti/5765/tzav65.htm
