--to read through the Torah over a year,
--and to read a corresponding passage from the Prophets.
Q: Is that what Jesus would have known?
In Galatians 4, we find Paul using Sarah and Hagar’s story in his discussion, and then pulling in Isaiah 54 at the end. It is thought that he did this because these passages were already linked in people’s minds, having been read together regularly in the synagogue."
Q: Is that what Jesus would have known?
A: Yes and no.
The Torah and Prophets were read each week, but the current liturgy was developed around 400 years later in synagogues in Babylon.
Before that, an older, earlier tradition existed that was largely unknown to scholars until about a century ago. discovery of the “triennial” tradition of reading the Torah was a surprise to Jewish scholars, who had been following an annual liturgy for 1500 years.
It had been developed by rabbis in Babylon, while the older triennial tradition persisted in Israel, Egypt and northern Africa until the annual cycle became universal around 1100 AD.
In the annual tradition, the preassigned readings from the Prophets usually focused on Israel’s past, connecting the events in the Torah with other historical accounts in Scripture.
In the earlier tradition, however, the readings focused on the future, on God’s promised messianic reign over the world. Every week, synagogues were listening to God’s word and asking how God’s redemptive plans would come to pass.
Q: What did this sound like?
In the annual tradition, the preassigned readings from the Prophets usually focused on Israel’s past, connecting the events in the Torah with other historical accounts in Scripture.
In the earlier tradition, however, the readings focused on the future, on God’s promised messianic reign over the world. Every week, synagogues were listening to God’s word and asking how God’s redemptive plans would come to pass.
Q: What did this sound like?
A: When Genesis 1 was read, the traditional Haftarah was Isaiah 65:17-25:
“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind…
The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord. (Isaiah 65:17, 25)
--Notice how this passage begins by echoing the words of Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and then ends with a wonderful promise of the New Creation.
“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind…
The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
and dust will be the serpent’s food.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord. (Isaiah 65:17, 25)
--Notice how this passage begins by echoing the words of Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and then ends with a wonderful promise of the New Creation.
--As the ancient readers meditated on the beginning of history, they would think ahead to God’s vision of a redeemed earth.
In Galatians 4, we find Paul using Sarah and Hagar’s story in his discussion, and then pulling in Isaiah 54 at the end. It is thought that he did this because these passages were already linked in people’s minds, having been read together regularly in the synagogue."
Lois Tverberg
