16 “Let no one, then, judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a feast, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths,”
For Doing or not doing? Or Both? If we look at this verse in the context of the time and culture it was written in we may have an idea. The Pharisees and Sadducee were of the ruling class religiously, socially and economically. After captive Israyl left Babylon the calendar was altered and so were the Feast Days of YHWH, so if an individual did not keep a Feast Day according to what the Pharisees said they could be killed…. The prophet Zecharyah was killed over this very matter and Yahshua Himself mentioned the murder; 16 “Let no one, then, judge you in eating or in drinking, or in respect of a feast, or of a new moon, or of sabbaths,”
17 “which are a shadow of the coming things, and the body [is] of the Christ;”
Coming things, and this translation is true the konie Greek. What coming things? The prophecies of YHWH or the “shadow”, the 7 Feast Days are prophetic shadow pictures, the first 3 of the Messiah’s work as a Lamb, the last 4 of His return as a Lion.
18 “let no one beguile you of your prize, delighting in humble-mindedness and [in] worship of the messengers, intruding into the things he hath not seen, being vainly puffed up by the mind of his flesh,”
Are prophecies about the Messiah things of the flesh?
I want to focus on 20-23, as to see context. Shaul/Paul, in nearly all his thoughts talks about a topic and then goes on to explain, he uses an advanced style of writing as his (worldly) education was beyond that of the other NT writers.
20 If, then, ye did die with the Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances?
So he is saying if your dead to the world why would you subject yourself to its (the worlds) ordinances. To think he is saying if your dead to the world then why would you subject yourself to Feast Days of YHWH would make no sense, for the 7[SUP]th[/SUP] day Sabbath and the Feast Days of YHWH are not worldly, they are from YHWH, but Paul explains it further.
21 thou may not touch, nor taste, nor handle
The pharisees had a law (man made) in which you could not eat meat and cheese together, or even within 4 hours of each other. Now this is not in YHWH's Law. The origin, from which they made their own law does however come from YHWH's Law; as it says “don't boil a baby goat in its mothers milk” (3 times) (the local pagans had this as a religious practice YHWH did not want His people to partake in these evil pagan practices) the pharisees using something called "midrashic interpretation" the pharisees looked at it and said well since it says this three times it must meant three different things. SO THEY MADE UP THEIR OWN LAW, that was completely disconnected from Scripture, is not a part of Scripture and enforced it as Law. SO Paul’s context, customs and understanding is much different from our modern day perspective.
22 which are all for destruction with the using, after the commands and teachings of men,
So here very clearly he states "after the commandments of men", now if you read from 16-20 you see he stays on topic, and 20 says basically if your dead to the world why do what the world tells you to do? So we can see he is still on this topic from v16. In this verse 22, he says "which are all for destruction", how does Sabbath lead to destruction and it would also have to be a "commandment of men" if there is any commandment that is the farthest thing possible from being a "commandment of men" it is the Sabbath, it was from creation and it shows the AUTHORITY of the Creator, the mark of the Creator, as He rested on the 7[SUP]th[/SUP] day of creation. Also tying a "commandment of men" to destruction Romans 8:13, "For if you live according to the commandments of men, you will die; but if, through the Spirit, you put to death; put an end to, the evildoing of mankind, you will live."
23 which are, indeed, having a matter of wisdom in will-worship, and humble-mindedness, and neglecting of body — not in any honor, unto a satisfying of the flesh.
The act of pleasing the pharisees by following their Talmud/heir man made laws, would be “after the commandments and teachings of men v22” and “a satisfying of the flesh v23.”
For the pharisees would have a problem if you did things according to YHWH's instruction and not their Talmud/man made law, called the “ORAL LAW”, and this is shown in the Scriptures: MATT 15, 23, mark 7:7-9, etc If you kept the Sabbath NOT according to the Talmud but according to the Scriptures the Pharisees would have a problem.
Matt 12:10 & 12, "And, behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. Then they asked Him, saying; Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath Days?--so that they might accuse Him."And how much more valuable is a man than a sheep? Therefore, it is Lawful to do righteousness on the Sabbath."
The "Rabbis" also made their own holidays, Haunnaka and Rosh Hashanna and more. when they left Babylon they even changed the names of the moons (months), and Rosh hashanna even changes the time of the new year from the 1[SUP]st[/SUP] month to the 7[SUP]th[/SUP] month, this is clearly a “commandments and ordinances of men”. The calendar YHWH created is YHWH's calendar, the one who created it created the heavens and the earth, thus it is calculated by the heavens, the moon in this case. Our current calendar is the Gregorian calendar, which is an updated version of the Babylonian calendar. YHWH said the days end and begin at sunset, not the "Rabbis/Pharisees/Etc." Since the Pharisees/"Rabbis" made up their own, times/ways to keep their own made up "feast days", if you did not submit to the Pharisees they would seek to have you brought to trial, beat, imprisoned, or even killed you for not honoring their non-Scriptural days based in man’s tradition. The Talmud tells a story of Zacharyah, father of John the baptist, and OT prophet, disagreeing and wanting to follow YHWH Feast Days according to the Scriptures, and the head Pharisees told him, on threat of death, to appear in public on a Scriptural Feast Day in a way that the man can not honor YHWH as prescribed in the Scriptures, thus commanding him to disobey YHWH. They killed him for seeking to honor YHWH, His way and not their man made religious tradition. Yahshua spoke of this, but many have no clue of the history behind it;
Mat 23:35, "so that on you should come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Heḇel to the blood of Zeḵaryah, son of Bereḵyah, whom you murdered between the Dwelling Place and the altar."
2Chron 24:20-21, "Then the Spirit of the Most High came upon Zeḵaryah son of Yehoyaḏa the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus said the Most High, ‘Why are you transgressing the commands of יהוה, and do not prosper? Because you have forsaken יהוה, He has forsaken you. And they conspired against him, and at the command of the sovereign they stoned him with stones in the courtyard of the House of יהוה."
Rosh Hashanah (New Year)
Rosh Hashanah occurs on the first and second days of Tishri (the 7th moon or month, YHWH's year starts in the 1st month). In Hebrew, Rosh Hashanah means, literally, "head of the year" or "first of the year." Rosh Hashanah is commonly known as the Jewish New Year.
How does the year start in the 7th month? According to the Scriptures and YHWH's calendar the year starts in the 1st month, Abib.
Chanukkah
On the 25th of Kislev are the days of Chanukkah, which are eight... these were appointed a Festival with Hallel [prayers of praise] and thanksgiving. -Shabbat 21b, Babylonian Talmud
Tu B'Shevat
There are four new years... the first of Shevat is the new year for trees according to the ruling of Beit Shammai; Beit Hillel, however, places it on the fifteenth of that month. -Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:1
Purim
Is one of the most joyous and fun holidays on the Jewish calendar. It commemorates a time when the Jewish people living in Persia were saved from extermination.
Tisha B'Av
Five misfortunes befell our fathers... on the ninth of Av....On the ninth of Av it was decreed that our fathers should not enter the [Promised] Land, the Temple was destroyed the first and second time, Bethar was captured and the city [Jerusalem] was ploughed up. -Mishnah Ta'anit 4:6
Feasts that YHWH says should be kept for all generations are promoted in the NT:
1 Corinthians 5:7-8, "Therefore, purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new batch, since you are unleavened. For truly Yahshua our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the Feast, not with bold leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth."
keep the Feast is word #1858. heortazo, Heortazo: I keep a feast, Part of Speech: Verb, Transliteration: heortazo, Phonetic Spelling: (heh-or-tad'-zo)
Short Definition: I keep a feast, Definition: I take part in a festival, keep a feast