Discussing the Didache - Chapter 2

[insaneinthebrain]

Well, since I found the first part of this discussion (http://www.christianforums.com/t1141775-discussing-the-didache-chapter-1.html) on page 3, I figured it may be about time to open chapter 2 for discussion. ;)

The text:
CHAPTER 2
1 But the second commandment of the teaching is this.
2 Thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not corrupt youth; thou shalt not commit fornication; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not use soothsaying; thou shalt not practise sorcery; thou shalt not kill a child by abortion, neither shalt thou slay it when born; thou shalt not covet the goods of thy neighbour;

3 thou shalt not commit perjury; thou shalt not bear false witness; thou shalt not speak evil; thou shalt not bear malice;

4 thou shalt not be double-minded or double-tongued, for to be double tongued is the snare of death.

5 Thy speech shall not be false or empty, but concerned with action.

6 Thou shalt not be covetous, or rapacious, or hypocritical, or malicious, or proud; thou shalt not take up an evil design against thy neighbour;

7 thou shalt not hate any man, but some thou shalt confute, concerning some thou shalt pray, and some thou shalt love beyond thine own soul.

Enjoy!

[insaneinthebrain]

My copy of The Didache: Its Jewish Sources and Its Place in Early Judaism and Christianity showed up today, so I'm hoping to be able to contribute to these discussions sometime soon...

[koilias]

5 Thy speech shall not be false or empty, but concerned with action.
What a line!

What in the world does it mean?
...Wow.

How can words themselves have "action"???

[koilias]

My copy of The Didache: Its Jewish Sources and Its Place in Early Judaism and Christianity showed up today, so I'm hoping to be able to contribute to these discussions sometime soon...
...Hey, that means that mine is soon arriving! ;)

[koilias]

1 But the second commandment of the teaching is this. ...Woah! I just noticed this...What is the second commandment of the teaching? In Chapter 1 we read:

2 Now the path of life is this -- first, (1) thou shalt love the God who made thee, (2) thy neighbour as thyself, and (3) all things that thou wouldest not should be done unto thee, do not thou unto another.

...So then we read a list of commandments to the end of chapter one that almost all pertain to our dealings with our neighbor (number 2 above).

But then we read this:

2:1 But the second commandment of the teaching is this.

...Wait a sec! Didn't we just "deal" with this commandment???? But then you notice an interesting thing. All the commandments that are listed in Chapter 2 are stated in the NEGATIVE FORM "Thou Shalt Not". So the "second commandment" is number 3 above, not number 2.

...THIS MEANS THAT NO. 1 (LOVE HASHEM) AND NO. 2 (LOVE THY NEIGHBOR) ARE ONE COMMANDMENT!!! Note that all the commandments in chapter one are stated in positive form (except for one case of "Refrain from..."). The Didache writer has a purpose in stating No. 3 (the Golden Rule) in negative form, he sees nos. 1 and 2 as ONE positive command to love, and he sees the Golden Rule as the negative form of it (to not hate).

...So we can revise our outline of the Didache as follows:

**********************************************************************
I. There are two ways--Life and Death

....A) What is the Way of Life?


........1) THE POSITIVE COMMAND:
........... Love HaShem thy G-d with all thy heart, mind & soul
............AND Love thy neighbor as thyself, which means:

............(a) Bless them that curse you, and pray for your enemies.
............(b) Fast on behalf of those that persecute you.
............(c) Love them that hate you.
............(d) Abstain from fleshly and worldly lusts.
............(e) Turn the other cheek.
............(f) Go the second mile.
............(g) If a man take away thy cloak, give him thy coat also.
............(h) If a man take from thee what is thine, ask not for it.
............(i) Give to every one that asketh of thee, and ask not again.

........2) THE NEGATIVE COMMAND:
.............The "Golden Rule" in negative form
..............("all things that thou wouldest not should be done unto thee,
...............do not thou unto another") which means:
............(a) Thou shalt not kill
............(b) thou shalt not commit adultery
............(c) thou shalt not corrupt youth
............etc. (all of the commands stated in negative form)

[talmidim]

koilias,

Good eye. I had an interesting revelation about loving my neighbor. I spent the day wondering how I could best worship my Creator and the likeness and image of my Creator...

This is going to be an interesting study!

[By Grace]

thou shalt not kill a child by abortion, neither shalt thou slay it when born;
Does it actually say "abortion"? (not in English, obviously) I didn't realize that was possible back then. I thought it was a fairly recent phenomenon.

[insaneinthebrain]

Does it actually say "abortion"? (not in English, obviously) I didn't realize that was possible back then. I thought it was a fairly recent phenomenon.
Well, according to another translation (http://www.pseudepigrapha.com/LostBooks/didache.html):
you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is born.However, I'm almost positive this is a question best answered by koilias. ;)

[koilias]

Well I couldn't find a Greek version, but I'm pretty sure it says "abortion" as we understand it from the discussions of it in certain websites (http://www.bibleteacher.org/Dm118_7.htm). Abortion was outlawed from the Tenach in ancient days. The Didache is simply the earliest Christian document listing it.

What I do know is that in ancient Rome, abortion and child exposure was quite common, but the Jews were known to raise all their children to the warped disdain of certain Roman writers.

[koilias]

An interesting factoid I came across online (http://www.op.org/domcentral/study/aumann/cs/cs02.htm). The Didache was lost to us for a while, and discovered in 1873:





Finally, the Didache (mentioned previously) was discovered in 1873 by the Greek Archbishop Bryennios in the library of the Hospital of the Holy Sepulchre in Constantinople. The codex also contained two letters of St. Clement of Rome and the Letter of Barnabas. The author is unknown, as is the date of composition of the Didache. The presumption is that it was composed by a person of authority in the Church in either Syria or Palestine, but while some historians place the date of composition between the years 50 and 70, others place it anywhere from 70 to 100. The doctrine contained in the Didache is eminently liturgical and sacramental and in that sense served well as a catechesis for the reception of baptism. There is also a distinction made between the precepts and the counsels and a reference to Christian perfection, although there is no attempt to classify Christians into vocations or states of life. The Church is seen as a community of saints and one enters the community through baptism, but within that community everything converges on the Eucharist. And since the term "Christian" appears in the Didache, some historians have conjectured that the work was composed at Antioch, where the followers of Christ were first called Christians.




What I find quite notable about chapter two is that all the commandments are taken from the Torah. They go beyond the Acts 15 injunctions. Yet the Didache was written for all Christians...This is proof that the church from its earliest times expected all the Torah commands that pertained to "love thy neighbor as thyself" as incumbent upon all its members upon baptism, and then some.

[debi b]

Does it actually say "abortion"? (not in English, obviously) I didn't realize that was possible back then. I thought it was a fairly recent phenomenon.

It is my understanding that abortion was indeed known to exist during this time frame, and the child exposure had to do with leaving a child to die that was of an unwanted sex (mostly female).

[insaneinthebrain]

The Didache in Greek (http://www.didache-garrow.info/didtexts/Greek%20Did.pdf)

[By Grace]

Can someone tell me how to pronounce "Didache"?

TIA,

[koilias]

Can someone tell me how to pronounce "Didache"?

TIA,
di-da-KHAY

[koilias]

The Didache in Greek (http://www.didache-garrow.info/didtexts/Greek%20Did.pdf)
Thanks Justin!

Yes it says: ouk phonevseis teknon en fthora

You shall not murder a child in "decay/destruction of flesh".

But that word "fthora" (decay) is also known to have a secondary specific use to refer to miscarriage and abortion.

[koilias]

My copy of The Didache: Its Jewish Sources and Its Place in Early Judaism and Christianity showed up today, so I'm hoping to be able to contribute to these discussions sometime soon...
Hey, mine came in today!!:clap: :clap: :thumbsup:

...Reading up on the "Double Love Commandment" (Love HaShem; Love your neighbor), p. 156 ;)

[insaneinthebrain]

Hey, mine came in today!!:clap: :clap: :thumbsup:

...Reading up on the "Double Love Commandment" (Love HaShem; Love your neighbor), p. 156 ;)I'm planning to read a little tonight. You'd be amazed at all the books I own that I haven't gotten around to reading. :sorry:

Of course, my copy of Rashbam's Exodus commentary arrived today, so that's sure to distract me...

(end thread derailment)

[koilias]

(end thread derailment)He, he, I'm not derailling the thread when I reveal the contents of Van de Sandth and Flusser's book am I?

...Boy this book is amazing! Confirms some of what I've been saying (but that's cause Notley taught me well). Anyway, Flusser ties the "Double Love Commandment" and the Golden Rule to the "narrow gate" in Matthew 7 masterfully! He argues that the Didache and the Sermon on the Mount are drawing from the same reservoir of Hassidic adaptations of the "Two Ways" pre-Essene doctrine.

Note Matthew 7:12 "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them (the golden rule), for this is the Law and the Prophets. 13 " Enter by the narrow gate; for wide the gate and broad [is] the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. [i]14 Because narrow the gate and difficult [is] the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."


What is the "narrow gate"? Why, the "way which leads to life"..."The Way of Life"! And what is the Way of Life? Well, how does the Didache open?:) :

[i]Now the Way of Life is this -- first, thou shalt love the God who made thee, thy neighbour as thyself, and all things that thou wouldest not should be done unto thee, do not thou unto another.

So you see, Matthew 7:13-14 are actually directly related to verse 12! It is defining the Golden Rule as the "Narrow Gate"/"Way of Life"!:)

[koilias]

Because narrow the gate and difficult [is] the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it."....[i]Now the Way of Life is this -- first, thou shalt love the God who made thee, thy neighbour as thyself, and all things that thou wouldest not should be done unto thee, do not thou unto another.
Boy did I just learn how hard it is to stay on the Way of Life! The way is difficult indeed!

Those who are following the proceedings in Bro Charles's thread know what I'm talking about...How difficult it is to bridle the tongue! If only I had this Didache lesson fresh in my mind!!

Anyway, in convicting me big time, the Ruakh haKodesh let me realize the tremendous insight contained in this statement by Yacob:

Yacob 2:8 If you really fulfill [the] royal law ("k'lal gadol"--Do unto others as you would have them do unto you) according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the Torah as transgressors. 10 For whoever shall keep the whole Torah, and yet stumble in one [point,] he is guilty of all.


What is the "whole Torah"? This statement is concluding Yacob's thought on the Golden Rule (k'lal gadol). The K'lal Gadol is the "whole Torah"!


A gentile once asked Hillel to "Teach me the whole Torah while I stand on one foot"...And how did Hillel respond? "What is hateful to you, do not do unto another...now go study the rest (for it is all commentary)".


Therefore, if you violate one point of the Torah, you also break the command "Love thy neighbor as thyself" and thus you break the entire Torah!