West Wing Midterms: President Josiah OWNED by God!
July 31, 2015
The West Wing was a political drama TV series [created by Aaron Sorkin] that ran from September 1999 to May 2006 and had 156 episodes over the course of its 7 seasons.
This 4-minute West Wing video clip below is from season 2, episode 3 called the midterms. Democratic President Josiah Bartlet is played by Martin Sheen. Dr. Jenna Jacobs is played by Claire Yarlett who represents Dr. Laura Schlesinger.
I’m now using this blistering video clip from the West Wing TV series that taunts God to train christians to be disciples for Christ! When Satan gives you lemons, make lemonade.
Definition of “owned” from the Urban Dictionary
“v. owned, 0wned, pwned, 0wn3d, pwn3d, own3d.
v. tr.
To be made a fool of; To make a fool of; To confound or prove wrong; embarrassing someone: Being embarrassed.
Originated as a term used by hackers to describe gaining possession of a [computer] system, having hacked a box and got root [access] they basically control it as much as if it was theirs, thus it could be considered owned by them”
verb (used with object)
1. to reproach in a sarcastic, insulting, or jeering manner; mock.
2. to provoke by taunts; twit.
noun
3. an insulting gibe or sarcasm; scornful reproach or challenge.
4. Obsolete. an object of insulting gibes or scornful reproaches.
British Dictionary definitions for taunt
verb (transitive)
1. to provoke or deride with mockery, contempt, or criticism
2. to tease; tantalize
noun
3. a jeering remark
4. (archaic) the object of mockery
The relevant time concerning the mixed threads or cloths question that Josiah asks Dr. Jacobs is from about 2 minutes:48 seconds to 2 minutes:55 seconds into the video. If you noticed, Josiah doesn’t actually quote scripture about the different threads, but he comes on very strong and confident, so most people simply assume he’s correct.
After you read the verses, you will see why no scriptures are mentioned because it exposes the lie in the video!
Here are Josiah’s 18 words verbatim: “Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads?”
Here are the only relevant verses in the bible I could find that matched the description in the midterms video.
Deuteronomy 22:11 [KJV]
Thou shalt not wear a garment of divers [many] sorts, as of woollen and linen [flax] together.
Leviticus 19:19 [KJV]
Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender [breed] with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee.
The words “garment” and “garments” are used 170 times in the bible. I have painstakingly checked all 170 usages in many different versions and none of them mention burning, torturing, or killing anybody for any reason at any time at any location for wearing any garment with 2 different kinds of threads.
BUSTED!
Garment used 170 times in the bible
Furthermore:
- I checked the word “wool” and its derivatives: used 20 times in the entire bible, but no mention of burning, torture or death
- I checked the word “linen” and its derivatives: used 90 times in the entire bible, but no mention of burning, torture or death
- I checked the word “flax” and its derivatives: used 10 times in the entire bible, but no mention of burning, torture or death
- That’s: 170 times for garment: 90 times for linen; 10 times for flax and 20 times for wool for a total of 290 verses [in the KJV] that do not mention burning, torturing or killing anybody!
Matthew 22:29
Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.What an appropriate verse for Josiah!
Let’s take a deeper look to see what kind of garment we are talking about.
Leviticus 19:19 – Lamsa bible from 5th century Aramaic text
You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a diverse kind;
you shall not sow your field with mixed seed; neither shall you wear a mantle
made of mixed materials.
The word “garment” in Leviticus 19:19 in the 5th century Aramaic text is translated mantle!
British Dictionary definitions for mantle
noun
1. (archaic) a loose wrap or cloak
2. such a garment regarded as a symbol of someone’s power or authority: he assumed his father’s mantle
[from apostolic bible – Greek O.T. & N.T.]
Word Definition [ Thayer’s | Strong’s ]
Thayer’s Definition
a garment (of any sort)
garments, i.e. the cloak or mantle and the tunic
the upper garment, the cloak or mantle
A Greek translation of the old testament coded to the Strong’s numbering system also agrees with the Aramaic text’s wording of mantle instead of garment. All mantles are garments, but not all garments are mantles. That’s the difference.
Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary says that mantles were worn by high priests, prophets, kings, and rich men. That makes more sense.
Here’s something else very important to consider:
If the garments in the verses in Deuteronomy & Leviticus applied to all the Israelites, then proverbs 31:13 would be a contradiction, which obviously can’t be the case. So this again supports the fact that the garment mentioned in the old testament law is the mantle, reserved for kings, priests, and prophets, and not an ordinary item of clothing for the common man.
Proverbs 31
10 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
13 She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands.
The wool and flax that the virtuous woman uses for making general clothing then are for her husband and family. Only the flax [linen] would be used for making the mantle, which is reserved for the priests. Now we have biblical harmony once again and no contradictions.
We need to also make an important distinction: in verse 13, just because 2 different materials are mentioned doesn’t mean that they have to be used in the same garment. The virtuous woman simply has those two materials in her possession to make garments out of, with each garment being made out of only one or the other material, but not both in the same garment.
Ezekiel 44
15 But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to offer unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord God:
16 They shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister unto me, and they shall keep my charge.
17 And it shall come to pass, that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come upon them, whiles they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.
18 They shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins; they shall not gird themselves with any thing that causeth sweat.
Everybody knows how hot wool clothing can be. I went on a 3 week trip to Israel many years ago, and in the summer, depending where you are located, it can be in the 80’s and humid, or it can be over 100 degrees and very dry. In either type of climate, wearing wool clothing would make anybody sweat, which would contradict the commandment in Ezekiel to the priests.
Keep in mind that back in the days of the old testament, they had no relief from the heat and/or humidity by air conditioning or electric fans.
So once again, the translation of mantle that is specifically designed for priests instead of a generic garment makes more sense.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary [for Leviticus 19:19]
Neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee—Although this precept, like the other two with which it is associated, was in all probability designed to root out some superstition, it seems to have had a further meaning. The law, it is to be observed, did not prohibit the Israelites wearing many different kinds of cloths together, but only the two specified; and the observations and researches of modern science have proved that “wool, when combined with linen, increases its power of passing off the electricity from the body. In hot climates, it brings on malignant fevers and exhausts the strength; and when passing off from the body, it meets with the heated air, inflames and excoriates like a blister” [Whitlaw]. (See Eze 44:17, 18).
Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers
“Not only is it forbidden to weave woollen and flaxen threads together into one material to make wearing apparel of it, but according to the administrators of the law during the second Temple, an Israelite must not mend a woollen garment with a flaxen thread, and vice versa”.
This supports the Aramaic and Greek texts that the garment was a mantle, which is reserved for priests.
Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee; for, as Josephus (l) says, none but the priests were allowed to wear such a garment, and with which the Misnah (m) agrees;
noun, plural Mishnayoth, Mishnayot, Mishnayos
1. the collection of oral laws compiled about a.d. 200 by Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi and forming the basic part of the Talmud.
2. an article or section of this collection.
So three different bible commentaries, the mishnah, Josephus, the great early church historian, 2 ancient biblical manuscripts, plus several other bible verses are all in agreement that the garment spoken of in Leviticus & Deuteronomy is a mantle for priests.
Leviticus 6:10
And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.
No mention of wool here because that was forbidden by old testament law.
However, if somebody was infected by leprosy and it contaminated their clothing, then they were commanded to burn the items of clothing [and not the person!] to destroy the leprosy in the cloth and prevent it from spreading, which makes sense, since they didn’t know what caused it or how to cure it.
Leviticus 13 [amplified bible]
50 The priest shall examine the diseased article and shut it up for seven days.
51 He shall examine the disease on the seventh day; if [it] is spread in the garment, or in the article, whatever service it may be used for, the disease is a rotting or corroding leprosy; it is unclean.
52 He shall burn the garment, whether diseased in warp or woof, in wool or linen, or anything made of skin; for it is a rotting or corroding leprosy, to be burned in the fire.
Here is yet another reason for the commandment of not mixing 2 different kinds of threads in the priest’s mantle.
Look at page 112 in Manners and customs of the bible [#203 mixed cloth] by Rev. James m. Freeman. A complete guide to the origin and significance of our time-honored biblical tradition.
“This was in opposition to the Zabian priests, who wore robes of woolen and linen, perhaps hoping thereby to have the benefit of some lucky conjunction of planets, which would bring a blessing on their sheep and their flax.
It is said that the pious Jews would not sew a garment of woolen and flax thread, and if one saw an Israelite wearing a garment of mixed cloth, it was lawful to him to fall upon him and tear the forbidden garment to pieces.”
Once again, the pieces of the puzzle of the mixed threads in the West Wing video fit together perfectly.
Google books verifies this as well. Zabian priests clothing was made of wool & linen [see end of page]
[An introduction to the Old Testament: critical, historical and theological, containing a discussion of the most important questions belonging to the several books, Volume 1]
So now we know that the West Wing Midterms video lied by implication, it totally fabricated, the idea that the bible says to burn somebody to death because they wore a garment with 2 different kinds of cloth or threads.
So what else is wrong?
The clear implication is that the old testament laws directly apply to us in the first place.
Who are the books of the old testament written directly to?
Leviticus 1
1 And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,
2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.
Deuteronomy 1:1
These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain over against the Red sea, between Paran, and Tophel, and Laban, and Hazeroth, and Dizahab.
I Corinthians 10:32
Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God:These are the 3 great classifications of people. The church of God did not come into existence until the age of grace on the day of Pentecost in 28AD, so the old testament & gospels were written directly to Israel, before the church of God existed.
Romans 3:19
Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
The Israelites during the time of Leviticus & Deuteronomy were under the bondage of the old testament Mosaic law [the law of Moses]. We are not because grace and truth came by the life and works of Jesus Christ.
Galatians 3
23 But before faith came [the faith of Jesus Christ], we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster [the law].
26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Romans 15:4
For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
“Aforetime” refers to the period of time before the day of Pentecost in 28AD, which was the first day of the age of grace, which we are now living in.
Acts 21:20
And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law:
This is why so many times we are brought under the bondage of the old testament laws again, because there are too many religious folks who put the laws of the old testament [that was already fulfilled by Jesus Christ] above the grace of God in which we live today.
Therefore, the old testament and gospels were written for our learning, but not directly to us, so no person since 28AD is required or even obligated to carry out the verses in Deuteronomy & Leviticus!
So this West Wing midterms video is based on several ungodly things:
- Lies: Satan often adds words to God’s word in order to corrupt it and teach wrong doctrines that drive people away from God.
- Taunts: evil religious leaders often tempted and taunted Jesus & others with contempt for God and his word
- Legalism: the devil uses legalism to put people under the bondage of the old testament laws that Jesus Christ already freed us from
- Ignorance: President Josiah obviously didn’t do his homework, yet pretended to be the biblical authority! This leads us to the next one…
- Hypocrisy: Jesus Christ called some very wicked religious leaders hypocrites many times throughout the gospels
From the West Wing video, President Josiah Bartlet’s question “Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads?” implies that the bible commands this be done, but he is obviously gravely mistaken.
