Literary Skill

Did the Author of Scripture know how to write? Does He have the literary ability to make His point with clarity and with force?

Let us make a case study. God said very clearly that the Jewish people should observe the Sabbath. He said this in a commanding way and He repeated it many times promising reward for obedience and threatening punishment for disregarding His eternal sign (Exodus 16:29; 20:8; 23:12; 31:14; 34:21; 35:2; Leviticus 23:3; Numbers 15:35; Deuteronomy 5:12; Isaiah 56:2; 58:13; Jeremiah 17:21).

Upon reading this selection it will become obvious that the Author of Scripture knows how to get a point across to His readership. He knows how to make clear that Israel’s observance of the Sabbath is important to His heart.

This brings a question to mind. According to Christianity, practical observance of the Sabbath is not very important, to put it mildly. Belief in Jesus is the most important teaching of the Scriptures according to these churchmen. The salvation of all humanity rests on this belief as the missionaries would have us believe.

But in all of the Jewish Scripture there is not one clear directive to put our faith in a coming savior. There is not one clear sentence which states that our salvation depends upon our devotion to a Messiah.

Why? Why did the Author who obviously possessed the literary skill to tell us to observe the Sabbath suddenly become tongue-tied when it came to the supposed salvation of humanity? Instead of clear commanding words, this same Author could find no better way to communicate outside of some hints dropped between the mistranslated lines?

Is it perhaps because the missionary theology is not rooted in seeking to understand what the Author is trying to communicate? Is it perhaps because the theology of the Church uses the texts of God to further their own agenda and not His?

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal