Proverbs 21:3...
"To do what is right and just
Is more pleasing to Jehovah than a sacrifice."
Oh the Jews were sacrificing at the Temple way after that was written.
Jesus and the Baptist were acting to cut off the money from the Temple, a political action.
I believe that you have the wrong take on that verse OB....The Pharisees were devoid of mercy but totally legalistic about performance, especially in the sight of men....God said he would rather have mercy motivated by love and compassion, than ritual performed by rote, and devoid of love. Not political.
Pharisees? No.
The Priesthood, the Levite Priesthood..... not all Pharisees were Levites.
Jesus and John were mostly acting against the Temple Priesthood, the Jewish leaders. Political
John, like Jesus, had nothing good to say about the hypocritical Pharisees, which is why he said the above. The "coming wrath" was from God, and Jesus and John B informed them that the axe was already at the base of the tree, ready to cut it down if they failed to produce the fruits of repentance....they saw no need of repentance, so the axe fell when God abandoned them. (Matthew 23:37-39) Not political.
Pharisees?
The Priests...... The Jewish leaders.
The coming wrath was to be from the working people........ the Jewish peasantry. (There was no middle class) and of course the uprisings commenced not that many years later.
But John was cutting off funding from the Temple.
Political.
Do you remember that John the Baptist referred to Jesus as the "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world"? What were the animal sacrifices in Israel designed to do? Wasn't it to mitigate sins committed...to obtain a temporary forgiveness? If Christ took away the sin, bore the world's sin in his own body, then there was no basis for the sacrifice of animals left. He has fulfilled the Law as he said. (Matthew 5:17)
I'm not a Christian, and don't accept every word that's written. I'm a Deist and HJ student and you may have seen my thread about Gospel contradictions.
John the Baptist was offering cleansing and redemption for nothing, which is probably why the people flocked to him.
No wonder Antipas was instructed to go out and bring him in. (That wasn't the Roman Prefect's responsibility)
Hebrews 10:1-4...
"For since the Law has a shadow of the good things to come, but not the very substance of the things, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered year after year, make those who approach perfect. 2 Otherwise, would not the sacrifices have stopped being offered, because those rendering sacred service once cleansed would have no consciousness of sins anymore? 3 On the contrary, these sacrifices are a reminder of sins year after year, 4 for it is not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take sins away."
You quoted Paul......... he wasn't there.
The temporary blood sacrifices were a constant reminder of the need for a permanent sacrifice to end the need for animals to be offered in atonement.It was never meant to be a permanent arrangement.
The Temple and all about it provided funding for the Levite classes, the leaders
Israel today is a political nation, not a religious one. It makes alliances with foreign nations to secure its defense.....ancient Israel depended on God to protect them....when they sought out alliances with foreign nations, he withdrew from them for their lack of faith and allowed them to be defeated.
The "nation" that has existed for 70 years is not the Israel that God is blessing. He chose another nation...one who could obey him willingly. (Galatians 6:16; Acts 15:14) If you think the warring and the bloodshed are an indication of God's blessing, then I think you need to read the Hebrew scriptures again....
(Isaiah 1:15)
You're quoting Paul again.....
I'm not a Christian.
I can acknowledge that you believe all of the bible, but I do not.