Didache
B’reisheet: The God Who Created You
What if the Chasidic masters had a chance to read and interpret the Didache? Might they see a connection between this Chasidic two ways and the phrase “the God who made you”? While it’s certainly way beyond what the writers of the Didache had in mind, Chasidus often breathes new life into old texts even if it goes beyond the plain intended meaning.
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9-min
Yom Kippur and the Way of Death
Only through the study and contemplation of evil traits can we completely rid these qualities from our lives. If we don’t know how to recognize wrongdoing, we will not be able to purge it.
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7-min
The Little Apocalypse
While at first glance this chapter appears to be merely predicting future events surrounding Yeshua’s second coming, the material highlights the urgency that disciples must continue daily walking in the Way of Life and avoiding the Way of Death. The little apocalypse makes several allusions to previous material in the Didache.
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7-min
Appointing Leadership
The brevity and language with which the Didache delivers instructions about designating leaders in the community indicates that it is not introducing something new but rather alluding to an already existing structure. Judaism of the first century had a well-established system of overseers and administrators. The believing communities simply replicated an existing model.
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7-min
The Day of the Lord
In addition to meeting at the conclusion of the Sabbath in memory of the resurrection of the Master, it is possible that the community expected his return at this time. Jewish tradition states that Messiah will not come on the Sabbath because there is much work to do upon his arrival. Therefore, the first possible time for his appearance would be at Melaveh Malkah.
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10-min
Tithing Halachah for Gentile Believers
So why did the Didache direct its readers to give their gifts to prophets and teachers rather than to Levitical priests? We must remember that the Didache was written to Gentile believers in Messiah who lived in the Diaspora.
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6-min
Those Pesky Messiah-Peddlers
It is true today that everyone in a community needs to do their share. The community should be on guard not to overburden its members by continually providing for the needs of a few individuals who are fully capable of doing so themselves.
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6-min
Apostolic Gemara on the Words of the Master
These sayings of the Master laid down a principle that required disciples to receive agents of Yeshua who came in his name, offer them hospitality and sustenance, and heed their instruction. While hospitality and respect for teachers, prophets, and emissaries were important parts of discipleship, they could not be practiced without discretion and regulation. Hospitality exercised without discernment could quickly be abused
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5-min
Praying for the Ingathering
We must not confuse the Didache’s fervent petitions for the imminent inauguration of the Messianic Age as endorsing the idea of an escapism eschatology. The Didache firmly lays out the Way of Life with a call to all followers of Messiah to walk in the Torah daily.
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8-min
Sacred Dining: Pre-Meal Blessings for Community Gatherings
Although the blessings in the Didache are extensive, they do not contain any of the themes that we would expect to be present in a Eucharist ceremony. Namely, the text does not mention the suffering, death, or resurrection of Yeshua; sin, sacrifice, atonement, or forgiveness; the final Passover meal; or Yeshua’s blood, Yeshua’s body, the new covenant, or the phrase “in remembrance of me.”
7-min
Pray as the Lord Commanded
The Master’s rulings on prayer are much the same as they are for fasting. We are not to make an ostentatious show of our prayer life. Furthermore, the hypocrites that Yeshua criticized as those who “heap up empty words” were Gentiles, not Jews. It is hypocrisy and showmanship that the Didache urges us to avoid, not traditional Jewish prayer, worship, or liturgy.
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7-min
Instructions Concerning Immersion
The instructions are completely devoid of theological or mystical teachings about being born again or the death of Messiah. They read more like a section out of the Mishnah than from one of Paul’s epistles.
5-min
Do Not Be Led Astray
The Didache begins chapter 6 with a warning against false teachers who lead people away from God and the Way of Life. This is a continuation of the exhortation at the end of 5.2: “Children, may you be rescued from all of these!” All that has been taught so far is to be carefully guarded, and new Gentile disciples are to watch out for those who would lead them astray from the Way of Life.
5-min
The Way of Death
In chapter 5 the Didache, as it continues the Two Ways section, turns from illustrating the Way of Life to expounding the Way of Death. What is striking is the stark contrast between the amount of space it gives to the Way of Death and that given to the Way of Life.
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6-min
A Different Kind of Hypocrite
By commanding us to hate “hypocrisy,” the Didache warns us not to perform good deeds for the sake of receiving praise from men. Rather, we should observe the commandments because they are God’s will and, through their performance, we bring godliness into this world and honor to his name.
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5-min
The Characteristics of Humility
According to Judaism, one of the biggest aspects of humility is learning from others and constantly refining oneself. The Didache gives us a six-step program to help us progress on the path of humility and mold our image more into the likeness of Messiah.
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8-min
The Selfless Yoke
To love God with all our heart requires curbing our desires, which include arrogance and maliciousness. To love God with all our life requires that we die to ourselves and live to serve God only. A hypocrite lives to serve himself and receive praise. In turn, a hypocrite does not love God with all his life.
7-min
The Two Ways
All disciples of Messiah have a choice: the way of life or the way of death. A biblical worldview supports the fact that life is about choices. The path we choose each day will ultimately determine our destiny. Not only is life full of choices, but it is also a progressive journey that never stops.
7-min
The Didache and Chasidus: The Long but Short Way
What the Didache and Chasidus both teach us about the two ways is that it takes hard work to reach our full spiritual potential. The choice is ever before us and as disciples of Yeshua we must choose the more difficult path, for it is only on it that we will reach the destination of the kingdom.
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9-min
The Idolatry of the Vessel: The Didache and Misplaced Worship
For us who live in the modern world, it's often easy to skip over prohibitions on idolatry like this because we think these kinds of things don't exist anymore. To be sure, idol worship is still around, but it is indeed not as in style as it was in the days of the apostles.
6-min
Five Levels of Love: The Didache and Loving Your Neighbor as Yourself
At any rate, this should encourage us as followers of the Master to keep striving to higher levels of love and not be complacent with the lower rungs. If we will be known by our love may it be of the highest quality.
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10-min
The Way of Life: A Scholarly Book Review
Unbeknownst to me one Didache scholar, Daniel Nessim, had written a full review of The Way of Life. Nessim is a Messianic Jew who is currently working on his doctoral thesis on the Didache. I have read some of his papers before, but I eagerly await to see his full work.
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4-min
A Buddhist Didache? The Way of Life in Chinese
The Didache was widely used and circulated during the early years of the church. So much so that it was even used in a document to introduce Chinese people to Yeshua in the seventh century.
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9-min
The Fruit of the Ground: The Rabbis and the Didache on Gentile Tithing Obligations
Why did the Didache direct its readers to give their gifts to prophets and teachers rather than to Levitical priests? We should remember that the Didache was written to Gentile believers in Messiah who lived in the Diaspora. The laws of trumah in the Torah apply only within the land of Israel.
8-min
Out of Zion: Teaching on the Didache at the Bram Center
The way I can tell what people thought of the material was when the Q and A began. The attendees asked very sophisticated questions. The kind of questions where I could tell they had been paying attention, internalizing what I was saying, and imagining the implications that the Didache’s teachings would have upon the community.
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5-min
Three Kinds of People
In the Didache and the teachings of the Master, our love for God is displayed in our love for our fellow. Indeed, the sages interpret “with all your soul” as a willingness to give up our lives (m.Brachot 9:5). In the Didache, “love your neighbor as yourself” becomes “love your neighbor more than yourself.”
6-min