FIRST CENTURY TEACHING TECHNIQUES: AGGADAH AND
HALAKHAH
If believers were to define “walk” they might
come up with a number of possible explanations.
Some might be close to the original intent, but Paul has a specific
understanding in mind when he tells believers to “Walk in a manner worthy of the Lord.” Paul’s understanding, and that of the John
and the other apostles, is rooted in the teaching techniques of the rabbis.
In biblical first century Israel, the two primary
rabbinical teaching techniques were known as “Aggadah” and “Halakhah”. Although most believers have probably never
heard these words before, any person who has read the New Testament gospel
accounts and the epistles has been exposed to both teaching techniques. Before we discuss "Halakah", which means "to walk", let's briefly discuss "Aggadah."
Aggadah is a form of teaching that frequently
used analogies to illustrate a truth about God in order to teach the audience a moral
principle. Aggadah teaching can sound
like this,
“A man had two
sons. The younger of them said to his
father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me,”
(Luke 15:11). Aggadah can also sound like this,
“The kingdom of
heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy
came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away,”
(Matt 13:24).
Parables
are a common form of aggadah where an easy to remember story is employed to
teach a moral lesson. Aggadah can end
with examples such as, “If you then,
being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will
your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!” (Matt 7:11), and like, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now will not God bring about
justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night,” (Luke 18:6).
It is easy to understand why parables were a
popular form of aggadah teaching among the rabbis. A parable offers an easy to remember story with
a lesson that can be recalled and applied.
Jesus was the Master of this form of teaching. Depending on how they are counted, scholars
have identified between 31-57 parables recorded in the gospel accounts. Outside of scripture, there are over 1500 parables
that exist in the rabbinical literature of the Talmud and Midrash including 300
parables that use animals.[1] Many rabbinic parables contain themes common
to the parables of Jesus such as kings, weddings, and feasts. Study of the rabbinic parables can sometimes
offer light to understanding the words of Jesus. Here is one parable example I recently read,
“And
Solomon too said in his wisdom, 'Let thy garments be always white; and let not
thy head lack ointment.' (Eccel 9:8). R. Johanan b. Zakkai said: This may be
compared to a king who summoned his servants to a banquet without appointing a
time. The wise ones adorned themselves and sat at the door of the palace.
['for,'] said they. 'is anything lacking in a royal palace?' The fools went about their work, saying, 'can
there be a banquet without preparations'?
Suddenly the king desired [the presence of] his servants: the wise
entered adorned, while the fools entered soiled. The king rejoiced at the wise
but was angry with the fools. 'Those who adorned themselves for the
banquet,' ordered he, 'let them sit, eat and drink. But those who did not adorn
themselves for the banquet, let them stand and watch.'” (Talmud – b. Shabbat
153b)
In
the parable above, the king summoned his servants to a banquet, but did not
tell the people when the banquet would occur.
Those who were wise prepared themselves for the banquet believing that
nothing was lacking in preparation in a king’s palace. Those who were fools believed that some
activity of preparation would precede the banquet which would give them time to
prepare. As it turned out, the wise were
correct and the fool was forced to enter unprepared. As a result, the wise sat down at the banquet
to eat and drink, while the fool had to stand and watch, as it is written, “In that place there will be gnashing of
teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the
kingdom of God, but you yourselves being thrown out. And they will come from east and west and
from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God,”
(Luke 13:28-29).
The rabbinic parable above reminds us of
Jesus’ parable of the king who gave a wedding feast, “But when the king come in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man
there who was not dressed in wedding clothes and he said to him, ‘Friend,
how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was
speechless. Then the king said to the
servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in
that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth,” (Matt 22:12-13).
When reading Jesus’ parable of the man not
dressed in wedding clothes, I have often wondered why the king was so harsh
since we perceive that the man came in a hurry and did not have time to
dress. However, when we overlay the
parable of Jesus on top of the parable from rabbinic literature, we understand
that the man had not prepared himself in advance for such an occasion and was
considered a fool by the king. The moral
of Jesus’ parable is that His return will come quickly, “just like a thief in the night” (1 Thes 5:2), and a believer must prepare in advance for the
return of Jesus, “as long as it is day; night
is coming when no one can work,” (John
9:4).
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