and What Was Not

Israel Before the Captivity and Judaism After

The gap between what YHWH gave and what the institution built

This document does not argue that the Jewish people abandoned YHWH or that the covenant was broken beyond repair. It documents something more specific and more verifiable, the gap between what YHWH actually commanded Israel and what the institutional tradition built after the Babylonian captivity. The commanded things and the not-commanded things are both in the historical record. The gap between...    see more >>

Its Origin, Its Sects, and the World Yeshua Was Born Into

A Greek Institution With a Greek Name, Not Commanded by YHWH

The Sanhedrin was the supreme governing body of Judaism at the time of Yeshua. It presided over his trial. It managed the Temple. It controlled access to the covenant community. Its decisions shaped the daily life of every Jewish person in Judea. Understanding what it was, where it came from, and what it produced is essential to understanding the world Yeshua was born into.

The name Sanhedrin is...    see more >>

How Cultural Survival Pressure Produced

the Institutions YHWH Did Not Command

From the Babylonian Captivity through Alexander to the Maccabean Crisis

The previous document in this series established what YHWH commanded and what was not commanded. This document examines why the not-commanded things were built. The Jewish people who developed the fence laws, the Aramaic script, the Sanhedrin, and the oral tradition were not acting randomly or rebelliously. They were responding to sustained external pressure that threatened to dissolve the covenant...    see more >>