Jeremiah Refutes the Rabbinic Narrative

We have shown previously that the rabbis  claim their own  rules were more important than the Laws of the Torah

http://tanakhemet.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/the-rabbis-epistle-to-hebrews.html

The rabbinic narrative makes the following claim:

“New and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved; the congregation of Israel said to the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Lord of the universe: I have imposed upon myself more restrictions than Thou hast imposed upon me, and I have observed them.’”

Jeremiah 32 makes a very interesting prophetic statement:

“35 And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to set apart their sons and their daughters unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into My mind, that they should do this abomination; to cause Judah to sin.”

Baal worship is of course forbidden, but the phrase “which I commanded them not”

is telling a story quite different to the wild claim of the rabbis. Not only is it independently forbidden, this phrase is also forbidding the making up of new laws even if they might have some “religious” content.

But the next step to this argument is quite chilling. The Babylonian exile was a result of the self-made laws and rituals of that era. It could be argued that the Roman destruction of the Temple was caused by the self-made laws of the late 2^nd Temple period. However, this is speculation and not proof. What we should take note of is the phrase
“which I commanded them not"

This phrase also appears elsewhere. it appears in the commentary of Ibn Ezra on Zechariah 7:5.
He writes that God did not command these fasts!   This is a wonderful comment from a leading Rabbi, who understands the Prophets as refuting the concept of added fasts!