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8 Hope of Israel Ministries BIBLE Correspondence Course Lesson 13

granted unto these non-Judeans? descended from the tribe of Judah as many think
COMMENT: Here we see a CON- the term “Jew” means today!
TRAST between people “of the circumcision”
(JUDEANS) and the “uncircumcised” -- those
who DID NOT follow the Judean customs. Oracles of YEHOVAH God
Circumcision was one of the many religious
The word “oracles” is translated from
customs strictly adhered to by the Judeans. Let’s
the Greek word logion (#3051 in Strong’s
take a closer look at the religious beliefs and
Concordance), meaning “an utterance.” It is
customs of the JUDEANS.
a form of the Greek word logos (#3056),
meaning “something communicated,” which
The Religion of the Judeans
is derived from the root word lego (#3004),
meaning “to lay forth” or “relate in words.”
We have seen that the Good News of the
Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon explains
Kingdom of YEHOVAH God was preached
the word logion as “the words or utterances of
FIRST to the Judeans, that many of the Judeans
God.”
were ISRAELITES, and that many of them
heard the Messiah’s voice and believed (thus
they were his sheep). The Corruption of YEHOVAH’s Word
1. Read Romans 3:1-2. In verse 1, what
question does Paul ask? During their stay in Babylon, the
2. Paul answers in verse 2 by saying, Israelites continued many of their idolatrous
“Much every way: chiefly, because that unto practices which had caused YEHOVAH God to
them [the JUDEANS] were committed send them into captivity in the first place. In
[entrusted]” WHAT? addition, many of them amalgamated into
3. In Acts 7:38 Stephen, speaking of Babylonian culture, inter-marrying with them
Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai, says and taking on many of their paganistic beliefs
WHAT was it that they received “to give unto us and customs. It was during this time that much of
[the Israelites]...”? the “oral law” and “traditions of the elders”
COMMENT: In the preceding verses developed. The Israelites, and others who
Paul is speaking of the Old Testament returned to Jerusalem, as recorded in Ezra and
(sometimes called the “Law and the Prophets” or Nehemiah, brought with them MANY of these
the “sacred writings”) given to ISRAEL by PAGAN BELIEFS, CUSTOMS and TRA-
YEHOVAH God. The Assyrian and Babylonian DITIONS.
captivities had destroyed Israel’s nationhood, During the years between the return and
including the Temple -- it’s furnishings and the beginning of the first century A.D., the
sacred writings were plundered. Through the CORRUPTION of YEHOVAH’s Word and the
efforts of Ezra and Nehemiah, the Old Hebrew faith continued. A CORRUPT ruling
Testament was salvaged and preserved and aristocracy developed, controlling the civil and
brought back to Jerusalem. Thus, YEHOVAH religious affairs of the people. It was during this
God had entrusted (committed) His Word to the time that the Pharisee and Sadducee sects
JUDEAN ISRAELITES -- something the emerged, whose EVIL and HYPOCRITICAL
scattered ISRAELITES (Israelites in the practices Yeshua the Messiah so vehemently
nations) had little or no access to. This explains denounced. The powerful Judean Sanhedrin and
the “advantage” of which Paul was speaking. It the many subsidiary councils also evolved
is important to note that we are talking about during this time which OFTEN clashed with the
JUDEAN ISRAELITES here -- NOT just those Messiah and his disciples. This centralized form

The Judeans of the New Testament