Actually, no, the line of priests were not cut off by Yeshua's time. Consider His cousin's genealogy. Sure, there was corruption at the Temple, by all accounts, regarding who was appointed to officiate during that Era. However, the promise of unceasing Levitical service is paired with the unbreakable promise of the reign of Mashiach in Jeremiah 33.
Also, I don't exactly mean to mock the notion of moon sighting as the Sanhedrin is said to be planning to start taking witnesses again. I more am opposed to people thinking it is right for everyone to be doing what is right in their own eyes.
As for blossoming rods, signs are for Rebels, as such. If anyone has a question about the legitimacy of a High Priest, how do we approach the matter? Surely there are Torah ways of establishing wrongdoing, but the idea of always starting from a position of guilty until proven innocent is not one of them. They claim to have record of those qualified to serve as Priests. Would any of you have reasonable case to refute those claims, and an appropriate way to bring the case, or do we all just get to decide for ourselves who is legitimate and who isn't? No, if anyone did have a concern, it would have to be dealt with properly. For that is the way of Righteousness. Our Messiah was declared illegitimate through unrighteous means. Let us not be guilty of operating in similar prejudice as the murderers of Messiah. Even if there were a case, we must do justice justly.
Would it not be injustice to follow those who still reject Him? Would that not be a slap in the face to Him?
In regards to "the Sanhedrin" sighting the moon, and everyone doing whatever is right in their own eyes, as you stated above, while nothing is wrong with sighting the moon, it's obviously a command in Torah, but their traditions about their methods for beginning their months are all wrong and they even acknowledge that, hence the change that MIGHT come from them, some day, but even then they are planning a change from one false tradition to another. They are still NOT moving towards the truth. I haven't looked at their plans in years, it's been that long they've been talking about taking witnesses again, but last I checked they were talking about moving from calculations only from conjunction to observing the first visible crescent as the sign of the new month. They are only considering this move because of the movement among the Karaite Jews (another sect of blind, unbelieving Jews with their own man-made traditions) and the Messianics and Christians who follow them. Masses of people of different religious leanings (modern day Babylon) are lining up with their tithes and offerings and the Orthodox are wanting to be right there with the offering plate.
Watching for signs in the moon to tell us when to begin the month is scriptural. It's not "the Sanhedrin's" sighting the moon that makes observing signs in the moon correct for determining the beginning of a month, it's the fact that YHUH commanded it that makes it correct. Just as we are not just doing whatever is right in our own eyes when we do this, so also we are not just doing whatever is right in our own eyes when we correctly apply Genesis 1:14 and Psalm 104:19 and use the moon to count to seven from the New Moon to find the Sabbath day, rather than the Gregorian Roman Catholic week which does not use the moon to count days or dates of appointed times in the Bible, as Genesis 1:14 and Psalm 104:19 requires. Those are 2 key scriptures a Jewish rabbi is not likely to point you towards to explain why we should use the moon for months and appointed times, as Judaism teaches. Which should give you pause, because they are stronger and more clear witnesses and arguments for it than any other explanation they give. So why do they skirt around these verses can establish a case on using the moon for months? Well, because if they point you to those verses you may notice they also instruct using the moon for days (Sabbath is a day) and for appointed times (Sabbath is an appointed time). You might notice the moon has signs for the weekly Sabbaths, too, not just the New Moon and other appointed times. The Roman Catholic Gregorian week of Sunday-Saturday or Monday-Sunday (depending on which are of the world you live in) would be a good example of doing what's right in one's own eyes.
According to Scripture, Hosea 2:11 and Lamentations 2:6, the Sabbaths were forgotten by Israel, including Judah, when they went into exile with the destruction of the Temple. That means all that junk about the Jews NEVER forgetting when the Sabbath was, that it was always on Saturday, is a lie. Are we supposed to believe them, or Hosea 2:11 and Lamentations 2:6? Let Aluhym be found true, and every man a liar.
I agree with you, Jacobhaivri, that we need to do justice justly. We should not start with a position of guilty, but right off the bat the "Jewish" description of this Sanhedrin and this leader, describes a group of people who do not accept Yahusha as the Messiah and have not repented of deeds and traditions of their fathers who killed Him. There's the guilt. Confession of that sin and other sins (teaching traditions of men instead of Torah) and repentance must happen before there can be forgiveness and cleansing from those sins. Only then are they innocent. Even then, the role of High Priest is not up for grabs. Genealogy and obedience to Jewish traditions are not the qualifications YHUH would use to choose people for such an important role, either. A record recorded by those who continue to reject our Messiah, supposedly qualifying priests who do not believe in Messiah, is null and void. They (the Jewish Sanhedrin) have parameters for qualification that are not in line with Messiah's. I love Judah, okay, the repentant ones, but there are those who are still of the seed of their fathers, those who killed Messiah, and have not been born again or grafted back into the tree yet through faith in Messiah Yahusha. Not that they won't, not that it won't be just a remnant that does, but it's not happened in the Sanhedrin yet. They can't get that high in the Jewish hierarchy without bowing the knee to Baal in order to get there.
We should not follow those who are too blind to see Messiah Yahusha in Torah. Like Saul/Paul, they must have a conversion, have the scales come off their eyes before they will see clearly enough to steer anyone away from the ditch when interpreting Torah. When we follow the unbelieving Jew, or any unbeliever for that matter, we are basically saying they can see but we are blind. If you are blind, you need Yahusha to open your eyes, not an unbeliever. Only He can open the eyes of the blind. If you choose a teacher who professes faith in Messiah and claims to keep His commandments, but follows the teachings/yeast of the unbelieving Jewish religious leaders, you are about to wind up in the ditch if you are not there already.
I don't see where Scripture says the line of priests were cut off, either, but if I missed that one, educate me. The term, "cut off", in the Bible, often refers to exile, death, or separation, like being cut off from the community of Israel, so you could say that was the case for all of Judah, including Levi, when the Temple and Jerusalem were destroyed by the Romans and they were all forced into exile. Like you said, Jeremiah 33 promises all this to be restored, though. The question is: W
hen, how, and under whose authority? Obviously, YHUH was dealing with the religious leaders at that time, for all the sins Yahusha, Moses, and the Writings and the Prophets had warned them about in advance. Where does Scripture say Yahusha (Shiloh) will take back the scepter from Judah (Genesis 49:10), and then give it to Levi or Judah at some future point? It doesn't. He said He would restore SOME of Levi back into the priesthood, but never did He say there would be a HIGH priest anointed after Yahusha was anointed in this role. He keeps the scepter. He certainly would never command us to obey an authority that does not recognize His authority. That would be a two-headed monster. You can't obey two masters, two heads.
There is reference to a future Temple in Ezekiel, and Levite kohen having a role in that Temple, but not in offering the animals they killed or the role of the High Priest, they lost such roles and it was given more specifically to the Zadokite priests in the line of Levi, but still not the role of High Priest. Even then, the role of High Priest, for those of us who believe in Messiah Yahusha and what the Tanakh and New Testament have to say about Him, we understand Him to be our High Priest. Any man rising up claiming to be the "Annointed High Priest" of Zadok, or appointed in that position by men, would be usurping Messiah Yahusha's authority, givenYahusha by the Father, YaHUaH. That's a dangerous place to be, salvation wise. Wouldn't that be called an anti-Messiah? Yikes!
I really have trouble accepting that Yahusha would have under Him in His House/Kingdom a chosen priest/servant of any sort, Kohen HaGadol or not, that does not recognize Yahusha's authority as Head Priest, Head of the Nation, Head of the Body. Who would hire a servant that would not recognize him as "the boss?" The Scriptures are clear He chooses those who call on His name, who believe in His name, His profess His name, who don't reject Him, who point others to HIM. IF there was an individual serving as a priest very long who would not accept His authority, I can't imagine this individual would continue to have such an honorable position very long or live a long life or have a peaceful death. I don't imagine they would be someone we would want to obey. Since Yahusha is the only Way to the Father, the Father does not instruct us to follow one who does not follow Yahusha. Such a person would be unclean, unforgiven, and their prayers and offerings would be an abomination to YHUH.
Yahusha told his disciples, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6
Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, set your minds on Yahusha, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. Hebrews 3:1
...It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Yahusha, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 6:19-20
Hebrews 7 goes on to explain the Melchizedek priesthood and states that Yahusha's position in the priesthood is PERMANENT, not temporary. (Psalm 110:4, Hebrews 6:20-23, Revelation 1:6) The Melchizedek priesthood was one from the beginning, without end or beginning, one of both king AND priest, not one or the other, as with the Levitical. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob operated in this priesthood, as did Abel, Noah, Shem, and many of the kings, prophets, and judges in Israel who offered to YHUH, without having descended from Levi or the line of the Kohen. Yahusha brought a return to that priesthood, as YHUH intended for Israel in Exodus 19:6 when He stated His original intention was for Israel to be a KINGdom of PRIESTS. He's restoring that which was in the beginning. Our fathers, previously mentioned, who offered to YHUH outside of the Levitical priesthood, were not doing what was right in their own eyes, but what was right in YHUH's eyes, according to Torah. If it's a concept found in Scripture, with more than one Scriptural witness, it's established. Yahusha's role as High Priest is not a new concept only found in the New Testament, it was prophesied in the Tanakh.
I saw in another post on another topic, Jacobhaivri, that you said you were a Jew, and referred to others as Gentiles. Are you a believer in the New Testament, do you believe Yahusha to be THE Messiah of Israel, do you believe the Book of Hebrews, that Yahusha is our High Priest? If not, that would explain why have taken the stance you have. There was a time I studied the Torah from a Jewish Rabbinical perspective, and because of that, I was beginning to expect the modern Sanhedrin then in the making to be given the authority by YHUH to judge Israel and the nations. However, I looked ahead and saw where that road was leading, it was leading my brothers and sisters who once confessed faith in Messiah Yahusha to reject Him and/or YHUH's commandments for traditions of men. They were rejecting the Master of the Sabbath, the One who led them to seek after the Torah and the Sabbath in the first place. I started looking at Messiah's words again, and suddenly I saw all His warnings to not follow those who will lead them into the ditch. Lack of belief in Messiah and His warnings leads to that ditch. We should not follow sheep who do not know He is The Good Shepherd, they do not recognize His voice, they may turn out to be goats or wolves.
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