The Southern Watchman

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March 28, 1905

Jewish Formalism

EGW

By the Babylonish captivity the Israelites were effectually cured of the worship of graven images. During the centuries that followed, they suffered from the oppression of heathen foes, until the conviction became fixed that their prosperity depended upon their obedience to the law of God. But with too many of the people, obedience was not prompted by love. The motive was selfish. They rendered outward service to God as the means of attaining to national greatness. They did not become the light of the world, but shut themselves away from the world in order to escape temptation to idolatry. SW March 28, 1905, par. 1

In the instruction given through Moses, God had placed restrictions upon their association with idolaters; but this teaching had been misinterpreted. It was intended to prevent them from conforming to the practice of the heathen. But it was used to build up a wall of separation between Israel and all other nations. The Jews looked upon Jerusalem as their heaven, and they were actually jealous lest the Lord should show mercy to the Gentiles. SW March 28, 1905, par. 2

After their return from Babylon, much attention was given by the Jewish leaders to religious instruction. All over the country, synagogues were erected, in which the law was expounded by the priests and scribes. And schools were established, wherein were to be taught not only the arts and sciences, but also the principles of righteousness. But these agencies became corrupted. During the captivity, many of the people had received heathen ideas and customs, and these were brought into their religious service. In many things they conformed to the practices of idolaters. SW March 28, 1905, par. 3

As they departed from God, the Jews in a great degree lost sight of the teaching of the ritual service. This service had been instituted by Christ himself. In every part it was a symbol of him; and it had been full of vitality and spiritual beauty. But the Jews lost the spiritual life from their ceremonies, and clung to the dead forms. They trusted to the sacrifices and ordinances themselves, instead of trusting him to whom they pointed. In order to supply the place of that which they had lost, the priests and rabbis multiplied requirements of their own; and the more rigid they became, the less they manifested the love of God. They measured their holiness by the multiplicity of their ceremonies, while their hearts were filled with pride and hypocrisy. SW March 28, 1905, par. 4

Those who desired to serve God, and who tried to observe the rabbinical precepts, toiled under a heavy burden. They found it impossible to obey all the minute and burdensome injunctions made by man, and hence they could find no rest from the accusings of a troubled conscience. Thus Satan worked to discourage the people, to lower their conception of the character of God, and to bring the faith of Israel into contempt. He hoped to establish the claim put forth when he rebelled in heaven,—that the requirements of God were unjust, and could not be obeyed. Even Israel, he declared, was unable to keep the law. SW March 28, 1905, par. 5

While the Jews desired the advent of the Messiah, they had no true conception of his mission. They sought, not redemption from sin, but deliverance from the Romans. They looked for the Messiah to come as a conqueror, to break the oppressor's power and exalt Israel to universal dominion. Thus the way was prepared for them to reject the Saviour. SW March 28, 1905, par. 6

At the time of the birth of Christ the Jewish nation was chafing under the rule of her foreign masters, and racked with internal strife. The Jews had been permitted to maintain the form of a separate government; but nothing could disguise the fact that they were under the Roman yoke, or reconcile them to the restriction of their power. SW March 28, 1905, par. 7

The Romans claimed the right of appointing and removing the high priest, and the office was often secured by fraud, bribery, and even murder. Thus the priesthood became more and more corrupt. Yet the priests still possessed great power, and they employed it for selfish and mercenary ends. The people were subjected to their merciless demands, and were also heavily taxed by the Romans. This state of affairs caused widespread discontent. Popular outbreaks were frequent. Greed and violence, distrust and spiritual apathy, were eating out the very heart of the nation. SW March 28, 1905, par. 8

Hatred of the Romans, and national and spiritual pride, led the Jews still to adhere rigorously to their forms of worship. The priests tried to maintain a reputation for sanctity by scrupulous attention to the ceremonies of religion. The people, in their darkness and oppression, and the rulers, thirsting for power, longed for the coming of One who would vanquish their enemies and restore the kingdom to Israel. They had studied the prophecies, but without spiritual insight. Thus they overlooked those scriptures that point to the humiliation of Christ's first advent, and misapplied those that speak of the glory of his second coming. Pride obscured their vision. They interpreted prophecy in accordance with their selfish desires. SW March 28, 1905, par. 9

The Jewish nation had been preserved as a witness that Christ was to be born of the seed of Abraham and of David's line; yet they knew not that his coming was now at hand. In the temple the morning and evening sacrifice daily pointed to the Lamb of God; yet even here was no preparation to receive him. The priests and teachers of the nation knew not that the greatest event of the ages was about to take place. They rehearsed their meaningless prayers, and performed the rites of worship to be seen by men, but in their strife for riches and worldly honor they were not prepared for the revelation of the Messiah. The same indifference pervaded the land of Israel. Hearts selfish and world-engrossed were untouched by the joy that thrilled all heaven. Only a few were longing to behold the Unseen. To these heaven's embassy was sent. SW March 28, 1905, par. 10

Mrs. E. G. White