Introduction
Out of all the people I have encountered over the years, I find Jewish people to probably be the most difficult to reach for the Messiah. We seem to be living in a day when some Christians are being stumbled by objections by Jewish people. Furthermore, I also see atheists appealing to Jewish objections to Christianity. So I think this is a worthwhile topic. By the way, in my previous post, I gave a few reasons (there are many more), for why I think Jesus is qualified to be called the “Messiah.”
I know it is easy for many Christians to forget that the Gospel is still “To the Jew First” (Romans 1:16). Grammatically, the entire verse is in the present tense. There are three verbs: unashamed, is and believes. All are in the present tense. The gospel is, not was, but is the power of God, it is to all who believe, and it is to the Jew first. (1)
I want to go over some of the objections that I have heard and still hear from Jewish people. I will provide some tips and resource that may help:
Objections: #1: The Incarnation and Trinity Issue
While I have heard several objections from Jewish people it is important to remember that there are many Jewish people who are not overly religious. Hence, they are not Orthodox in practice and belief. But for the ones who are Orthodox, they have spent some time learning from counter-missionary organizations like Jews for Judaism and Outreach Judaism. Hence, they are familiar with Christian/Messianic arguments and tend to be ready to give their own apologetic as to why we are wrong about our claims about Jesus being the Jewish Messiah.
One thing that is one of the biggest stumbling blocks to belief in Jesus as the Messiah is the incarnation issue.The study of the Godhead is an enormous task. A study of the Trinune nature of God or the divinity of Jesus/ making a case for a divine Messiah go hand in hand with each other. My advice is to take the time and do a long study of the topic. If you want to do this superficially, you will pay the price. One of the best resources on this topic is my friend John Metzger’s Discovering the Mystery of the Unity of God (over 900 pages). For Orthodox Jewish and some conservative Jewish people as well, the idea of God becoming a man is just an impossibility and it goes against their strict monotheism. Hence, God is noncorporeal and that settles it! Many Jewish people assume the entire belief in Jesus’ deity is a Christian invention that developed much later in church history. Hence, for Jewish people, Christian theological concepts like the incarnation, the virgin birth, the Trinity, etc. are totally foreign to both Judaism and the Jewish Scriptures (The Old Testament).
I always cite evidence that the early Christian community resisted idolatry and was not corrupted by Hellenism. And we can give extensive answers to the charge that we are not committing Idolatry and Violating the 2nd commandment. But we have to remember that we are trying to provide a response to paradigms that have been long established in Jewish thought. The paradigm that the Messiah is not God and that the Trinity is something that is a pagan idea is firmly entrenched in Jewish people’s mindsets.
In the end, you may need to just stick with the Tanakh (the Old Testament) and show there is a case for the plurality in the Godhead. But in order to do this you will need some linguistic/hermeneutical skills or rely on those who have done the hard work to provide resources to the Church (see the Metzger book or other resources). And remember, both the incarnation and the Trinity are revealed truths. What was implicit in the Old Testament becomes more explicit in the New Testament. But you may say “But the Jewish Scriptures was what Paul and Apostles appealed to when they witnessed to Jews.” True! However, what text were they using? The Greek Septuagint ( “LXX”, or “Greek Old Testament”) is an ancient translation of the Hebrew Bible, or The Masoretic Text which is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible? Most Jewish people don’t have a high regard for the Septuagint. So now you need to explain why the Septuagint is valid translation.
Messianic Expectations and Maimonides
Another problem in discussing messianism with Jewish people is that the most dominant messianic expectation is one put forth byMoses Maimonides (1138- 1204), who was a medieval Jewish philosopher. His writings are considered to be foundational to Jewish thought and study. Maimonides asserted that since God is incorporeal, this means that God assumes no physical form. Therefore, God is Eternal, above time, Infinite, and beyond space. Maimonides also stated that God cannot be born, and cannot die. For Maimonides, the Messiah will be born of human parents, nor be a demi-god who possess supernatural qualities. Furthermore, for Maimonides, it is clear he was writing in response to Christianity. Here are some of the things he said about the Messiah that are still at the forefront of the minds of Jewish people. The Messiah will:
- Restore the throne of David
- Rebuild the Temple (He will rebuild the Temple and re-establish its worship)
- Gather the exiles (He will bring about the political and spiritual redemption of the Jewish people by bringing them back to Israel and restoring Jerusalem)
- Be a descendent of David
- He does not have to perform signs or wonders
One response to the orthodoxy of Maimonides is The Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides’ Thirteen Principles Reappraised by Marc B. Shapiro.
Is There One Messianic Expectation?
The problem with talking to many Jewish people is that the only messianic expectation is the one put forth by Rabbinic Judaism which came into being after the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD. So the problem with this is that we dont’ get a broader understanding of what the messianic expectations were pre-70 AD/before the time of Jesus. Before 70 CE, messianic figures could go by a variety of names such as Son of David, Son of God, Son of Man, the Prophet, Elect One, Prince, Branch, Root, Scepter, Star, Chosen One, Coming One, and so forth. It is when we study the entire history of messianism that we get a much broader understanding of the topic. To see more on this, see our posts:
Is Jesus the Messiah? An Outline on Jewish Messianism
Handling a Rabbi’s Objection: Is Jesus the Jewish Messiah?
Handling an Objection: “Jesus is Just One of Several Messianic Figures in the First Century”
Messianic Hopes and Messianic Figures In Late Antiquity/Craig Evans
Messianic Prophecy
When I was a new Christian I was exposed to popular apologetic works. Messianic prophecy has always been one of the main ways Christian use to show Jesus is the Messiah. The problem is that many of these works treat the topic in an overly superficial fashion. The more I have taught on this topic, the more I realize that one of the first steps is to learn the hermeneutics of prophecy. To simply say some prophecies are about the first coming of the Messiah and others are about the return of the Messiah takes greater clarification. Some of the pertinent questions are the following: Are we sure that when the prophets spoke, they knew for sure about the timetable? Did they know or not know that centuries would come and go between their initial prediction and its actual fulfillment? Are some of the messianic promises gradually being fulfilled or are partially fulfilled and will be completely fulfilled one day? What about typology? These things are important since we see that both Christianity and Judaism have had to make adjustments in their thinking about messianism.
Remember, even in the time of Jesus, we see that the disciples were confused about what the role of Jesus was. And after he rose from the dead, they still thought he would establish the Davidic Kingdom. Jesus says that “ If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.”- John 5: 46. Can you show exegetically where Moses wrote about Jesus? The best resource on this topic is Jesus the Messiah: Tracing the Promises, Expectations, and Coming of Israel’s King.
See more here:
Why Study Messianic Prophecy? Tips in Studying Messianic Prophecy
Evidential Apologetics: Three Kinds of Messianic Prophecy
What About an Atoning Messiah?
For the disciple of Jesus, His death is a “ransom” (Mark 10:45), “reconciliation” (Rom. 5:10; 2 Cor. 5:18–20; Col. 1:22), and “redemption” (Rom. 3:24; 8:23; Eph. 1:7, 14; Col. 1:14; Heb. 9:12–15). Jesus is also called the “Suffering Servant” (Acts 3:13; 8:32ff), and the “Lamb of God” (John 1:29, 36; Acts 8:32; 1 Peter 1:19). While the Christian community takes these truths for granted, the majority of the Jewish community asserts that the death of Jesus automatically annulled the possibility of Him being the promised Messiah of Israel. Christians tend to cite Isaiah 52:13-53 and Psalm 22 as a slam dunk for a suffering/atoning Messiah. But Rabbinic Judaism sees the Isaiah texts (and for that matter most of the Servant Songs) as being about Israel. Also, no man can atone for anyone else! The gist is that the Suffering Messiah concept eventually made its way into Judaism. I have written more about this here Atonement and the Suffering Messiah in Judaism
But speaking from experience, in order for Christians to cite Isaiah 52-53 correctly, they will need some knowledge of Hebrew. A more recent resource on this topic is The Gospel According to Isaiah 53: Encountering the Suffering Servant in Jewish and Christian Theology [Darrell Bock, Mitch Glaser. Another good online resource is The Atonement in Isaiah’s Fourth Servant Song (Isaiah 52:13-53:12) by Peter J. Gentry (just scroll down to the bottom)
Furthermore, an established tenet in Talmudic times is that there is a splitting of the Messiah in two: Messiah ben Yossef who is also referred to as Mashiach ben Ephrayim, the descendant of Ephrayim will serve as a precursor to Messiah ben David. His role is political in nature since he will wage war against the forces that oppose Israel. In other words, Messiah ben Yossef is supposed to prepare Israel for its final redemption. The prophecy of Zech. 12:10 is applied to Messiah ben Yossef in that he is killed and that it will be followed by a time of great calamities and tests for Israel. Shortly after these tribulations upon Israel, Messiah ben David will come and avenge the death of Messiah ben Yossef, resurrect him, and inaugurate the Messianic era of everlasting peace.(2)
What is interesting is that R. Saadiah Gaon elaborated on the role of Messiah ben Yossef by starting that this sequence of events is contingent. In other words, Messiah ben Yossef will not have to appear before Messiah be David if the spiritual condition of Israel is up to par.(3)
This is why it says in the Talmud, “If they [the people of Israel] are worthy of [the Messiah] he will come ‘with the clouds of heaven’ [Dan 7:13] ;if they are not worthy, ‘lowly and riding upon a donkey’ [Zech. 9:9]” (b. Sanhedrin 98a). (4)
Conclusion:
Believe it or not, I have barely scratched the surface on all the Jewish objections to the Christian faith. The most well-known Messianic apologist at the present time is Dr. Michael Brown. Dr. Brown has a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literatures from New York University. He has debated many rabbis on shows such as Phil Donahue, and Faith Under Fire. Dr. Brown is a Jewish believer in Jesus and is visiting professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Fuller Theological Seminary. His website is at http://askdrbrown.org.
Sources
1. This section was taken from JEWISH EVANGELISM AND DISCIPLESHIP, Article 3 of 13: GOD’S UNCHANGEABLE PLAN by Sam Nadler at http://messianicassociation.org/ezine14-sam.God%27sUnchangeable%20Plan.htm?vm=r&s=1
2. Jacob Immanuel Schochet. Mashiach: The Principle of Mashiach and the Messianic Era in Jewish Law and Tradition. New York: S.I.E. 1992, 93-101.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
The Torah/Old Testament was not written to be confusing, as that would be counterproductive for those living by it and that would defy logic. ‘It was written to be understood.’ The opposite of this statement is ‘It was written to be confusing’. Read the Christian New Testament objectively. Read the Torah/Old Testament objectively. After reading both objectively, determine which is a ‘fit’ for Isaiah 53, keeping a ‘score’ card and without ‘interpreting’ neither. is Isaiah 53, of the two viewpoints, describing Yeshua or is it describing the Jewish people as a whole? I have done this. At face value, without ‘interpreting’ Isaiah 53 describes Yeshua and Not the Jewish people.
There are a few simple questions with simple answers. If you cannot get past them, no way you going anywhere with your New Testament that tries to prove itself by itself. First sort out this:
Isaiah 42:8 “I am יהוה, that is My Name, and My esteem I do not give to another, nor My praise to idols.
Judge: Where did you get the idea that I have a son by the name of “Jesus” or “Yahshua?
Deuteronomy 4:35 “You have been shown it, to know that יהוה Himself is Elohim; there is no one beside Him.
Isaiah 43:11 “I, I am יהוה, and besides Me there is no saviour.
Hosea 13:4 “But I am יהוה your Elohim since the land of Mitsrayim, and an Elohim besides Me you shall not know, for there is no Saviour besides Me.
Exodus 9:14 “….there is no one like Me in all the earth.”
Isaiah 45:21 “Declare and bring near, let them even take counsel together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has declared it from that time? Is it not I, יהוה? And there is no mighty one besides Me, a righteous Ěl and a Saviour, there is none besides Me.
Isaiah 45:22 “Turn to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am Ěl, and there is none else.
2Samuel 7:22 … For there is none like You, and there is no Elohim but You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
1Chronicles 17:20 “O יהוה, there is none like You, nor is there any Elohim besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
Isaiah 45:5 ‘I am יהוה, and there is none else – there is no Elohim besides Me. I gird you, though you have not known Me,
Isaiah 45:18 For thus said יהוה, Creator of the heavens, He is Elohim, Former of earth and its Maker, He established it, He did not create it to be empty, He formed it to be inhabited: “I am יהוה, and there is none else.
Non-Jewish Children are Sub-Human
Yebamoth 98a. All gentile children are animals.
Abodah Zarah 36b. Gentile girls are in a state of niddah (filth) from birth.
Abodah Zarah 22a-22b . Gentiles prefer sex with cows.
Yebamoth 63a. Declares that agriculture is the lowest of occupations.
Yebamoth 59b. A woman who had intercourse with a beast is eligible to marry a Jewish priest. A woman who has sex with a demon is also eligible to marry a Jewish priest.
Hagigah 27a. States that no rabbi can ever go to hell.
What seems to be the most absurd to any individual who does not claim to be of a status to clarify what the bible says or doesn’t say regarding Jesus as the messiah is the issue of translation, context and sequence. The original text of the Old Testament is neither ambiguous, fluid, purposely parsed or intentionally incomplete. For example the original term used regarding the mother of the messiah is correctly translated as young woman not virgin. And the words used in the Old Testament remain the same throughout and thus would carry the same translation and meaning. Altering the translation or meaning of these terms depending on the desired use of the verse is perhaps useful but without merit. And finally to pick and choose verses from Isiah without showing those verses in the entire context of the book of Isiah is not only incorrect, but borders on out and out fraud. Just as placing breaks in the original text as done by the early Christian Church to separate passages to infer that the subject of the passages changes is clearly done to eliminate the clear reference being that of Israel, not a messianic figure. And finally the convenient notion that Jesus will fulfill the majority of the messianic requirements set forth in the Old Testament during his second coming has no basis in the Old Testament. As is the notion that the messiah will be anything other than a great leader. Read and understand the bible in its original form before the Council Of Nicaea made there know edits and read and understand it in the sequence it was written. Starting from the New Testament and then sequencing, translating and parsing the Old Testament to reinforce a desired interpretation is simply that. It is not the work of a biblical scholar nor someone seeking the truth.
http://www.accordingtothescriptures.org/prophecy/353prophecies.html
Jews say that the Apostle Paul misquoted or intentionlly distorted Isaiah 59:20.
Excerpt from orthodox Jewish author Asher Norman’s must-read book, “Twenty-Six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus”:
(The prophet) Isaiah said that God would send a redeemer (the Messiah ben David) to the Jewish People when the Jewish People turn from their willful sins. Isaiah’s distinction between intentional and unintentional sin corresponds to the fact that animal sacrifices could only be brought in the Temple to redeem unintentional sin. The author of the Epistle of Romans in the Christian Bible mistranslated Isaiah 59:20 and falsely inserted an additional phrase in the text to support Christian theology that Jesus supposedly “took away sin.” Significantly, the Christian Old Testament (NKJV) translation does not support the Romans translation.
Romans 11:26, the Christian Bible (NKJV):
“A deliverer will come out of Zion [Israel] and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob…when I take away their sins.” —Paul citing Isaiah 59:20
Isaiah 59:20, the Christian Bible (NKJV):
“A redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob.”
Isaiah 59:20, the Jewish Bible (Stone Edition):
“A redeemer will come to Zion, and to those of Jacob who repent from willful sin.”
Analysis: The author of Romans dropped Isaiah’s distinction between willful sin and unintentional sin because Jesus supposedly redeemed all sin. Romans and the “Old Testament” translation of Isaiah 59 therefore ignore this important distinction.
Jews have proof that Jesus was not the Messiah of Daniel 9:25-26
Copied or adapted from orthodox Jewish author, Asher Norman’s must-read book, “Twenty-Six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus”:
Isaiah 53 is one of the two principle proof-texts for the Christian belief that the Messiah (ben David) is supposed to die. The other one is Daniel 9:25. This passage in the Jewish Bible speaks about an anointed (messiah) who is “cut off”. Christians say that “cut off” means the messiah is supposed to die. Christians also argue that Daniel chapter 9 proves that “the messiah” had to come before the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed and that only Jesus fits Daniel’s time criteria.
Most Christians don’t realize this, but in the Jewish Bible there are many messiahs mentioned. A messiah is anyone who has been anointed with oil into the service of God. Therefore, every Jewish king, high priest, and prophet in the Jewish Bible was a messiah. The messiah who is prophesied to restore the nation of Israel, sit on the throne of David, and bring peace to the world is referred to as the “Messiah ben David”.
In the Christian Bible, the Hebrew word “mashiach” is always correctly translated “anointed” except in Daniel 9, where it is translated “messiah” twice. Why is this? Jews believe that the Christian Bible fails to translate mashiach as “anointed” in this chapter in order to mislead the reader into believing that there is only one messiah in the Jewish Bible! In addition, in the Christian Bible the word “messiah” is capitalized to create the misimpression that it is about Jesus! There are no capital letters in Hebrew, therefore by capitalizing the “M” in messiah, Christian translators inserted their theology into the text.
The Jewish view of Daniel chapter Nine:
In this chapter, Daniel prophesies about two messiahs and two discrete time periods. Daniel’s first time period is a time when a messiah (anointed) would allow the Jews to return to Israel and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Daniel’s second time period described a time when the rebuilt Temple would again be destroyed and a different messiah (anointed) would be “cut off” (“koras” in Hebrew). Daniel used a poetic technique and referred to these two time periods in terms of “weeks” by which he meant “weeks of years.” To Daniel, a week meant seven years. Daniel’s first time period was seven weeks (of years), which equates to forty-nine years. Daniel said this time period would commence from “the emergence of the word” (davar in Hebrew) by an anointed “prince” who would allow the Jews (in exile in Babylonia), to return to Jerusalem. This anointed prince was Daniel’s first messiah.
Daniel then prophesied about a second time period of sixty-two weeks (of years), which equates to four hundred and thirty-four years. He said that a second messiah (anointed) would suffer koras (be cut off), and the “people of the prince” would destroy the Temple.
Daniel 9:25-26, Jewish Bible (Stone Edition):
“Know therefore and comprehend: from the emergence of the word [davar in Hebrew] to return and build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince there shall be seven weeks; [this semicolon separates the first time period and the first messiah from the second time period and the second messiah] and for sixty-two weeks it will be rebuilt, street and moat, but in troubled times.” Then, after the sixty-two weeks, the anointed one [messiah] will be cut off and will exist no longer; the people of the prince will come and will destroy the city and the Sanctuary…”
Daniel 9:25-26, Christian Bible (New King James Version):
“Know therefore and understand that from the going forth of the command [properly translated: the word] to restore and build [properly translated: return and build] Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince [properly translated: the prince, not Messiah the Prince] there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; [properly translated: a semi-colon exists after the seven weeks] the street shall be built again, and the wall, [properly translated: street and moat, not street and wall] even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself; [properly translated: will exist no longer] and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.”
Analysis: What an important Semi-Colon (‘atnach)!
By removing one lowly semi-colon, Christian apologists use an incorrect start date for Daniel’s prophecy! Daniel began his prophecy with the “emergence” of a word” (davar in Hebrew). Ezra the prophet used this word to identify the event that would begin this period (see below). Daniel prophesied in Daniel chapter nine that a messiah would be “cut off and exist no longer.” Christian translators replaced “exist no longer” with, “but not for Himself,” because Jesus, who is supposed to be “God”, cannot “exist no longer”.
The deliberate removal of the semi-colon, allows Christians to create the false impression that there is only one time period of sixty-nine weeks (seven weeks plus sixty-two weeks) instead of two time periods, one of seven weeks and one of sixty-two weeks. Christian translators and apologists allege that Daniel wrote the number “sixty-nine” as “seven plus sixty-two” instead of simply saying “sixty-nine” weeks. This is a forced reading, and can be shown as false by the next verse in Daniel chapter 9, which again refers to sixty-two weeks, not to the so-called “total” of sixty-nine weeks. The passage states, “And after the sixty-two weeks…” Therefore, the second sixty-two week period refers to a second time period.
So there are no capital letters in original Hebrew, but there are semicolons? Sounds like you trust Asher and his book rather than God and His book.
There are, in fact, different size letters used in the original texts. An honest person will do sincere research instead of having blind faith in a fallible man’s biased and presumptuous writings.
Any who are sincere: Research Dr. Ivan Panin’s work on the mathematical analysis of both the old and new testament. Numbers can’t be twisted like this guy and Asher are twisting words.
Did Christian Translators distort and alter Isaiah 53 to conform to Christian Theology?
Jews say that Isaiah 53 refers to Israel, the nation, as the Suffering Servant. Christians say the chapter is referring to Jesus. Let’s compare the Jewish and Christians Bibles on this passage. Did Christian translators alter the original Hebrew to make the passage conform to Christian theology, creating a “messianic prophecy” out of a chapter that no Jew had ever considered messianic?
Isaiah 53:2-5:
The Jewish Bible:
“…he had neither form nor grandeur…he was despised and isolated from men, a man of pains and accustomed to illness. As one from whom we would hide our faces; he was despised, and we had no regard for him. But in truth, it was our ills that he bore, and our pains that he carried-but we had regarded him diseased, stricken by God, and afflicted. He was pained by our rebellious sins and oppressed through our iniquities…”
The Christian Bible (NJV):
“He has [instead of had] no form or comeliness…He is [instead of was] despised and rejected [instead of isolated] by men. A man of sorrows [instead of pains] and acquainted with grief [instead of accustomed to illness]. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. Surely he has borne our griefs [instead of ills] and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed him stricken, [instead of diseased] smitten by God, and afflicted, but he was wounded for our transgressions.”
Analysis:
Isaiah referred to an event that had already occurred and therefore used the past tense. Christian translators manipulated the text by changing the tense to the present tense to apply it to Jesus. Christian translators avoided the problem that Jesus was never reported to have suffered from “illness or disease” by mistranslating these words as “sorrows and grief.” This manipulation of the text shifted the meaning of Isaiah’s words to support Christian theology.
—Asher Norman, orthodox Jewish author,
“Twenty-Six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus”
Why was Matthew unaware of the Messianic prophecy that the Messiah needed to Die?
If you read Matthew’s Gospel, it is full of messianic prophecies that Jesus allegedly (according to Matthew) fulfilled. If a “dying Messiah” was part of Jewish messianic prophecy, why did Jesus’ disciples act oblivious to it? In particular, if Matthew was such an expert on messianic prophecies, why wasn’t he aware that the messiah would need to die?
Excerpt from, “Twenty-Six Reasons why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus”:
According to Mark, Luke, and Matthew, Jesus said that it was necessary for him to “die and rise again on the third day to fulfill Jewish “prophecy”. Unfortunately for Jesus’ credibility, there is no such prophecy in the Jewish Bible.
Mark 8:31-33
Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
Luke 18:31-34
Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. 32 For he will be handed over to the Gentiles; and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon. 33 After they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again.” 34 But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.
Matthew 16:21-23
From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”
Analysis:
Peter should have answered: “Praise God! You must be the Messiah ben David who is prophesied to die and rise again on the third day!” Instead, the disciples’ response was total ignorance and dismay, which proves that at the time of Jesus there was no concept that the Messiah ben David must die. Clearly, Peter and the disciples never heard about such a prophecy. It is particularly significant that Matthew had no such concept because his Gospel is filled with dozens of other invented messianic prophecies that Jesus supposedly did fulfill. These verses directly contradict the current Christian missionary argument that Isaiah’s chapter 53 was believed by Jews in biblical times to be a prophecy about the death of the messiah, but “the rabbis” later changed the interpretation to oppose Christian theology.
—orthodox Jewish author, Asher Norman in
“Twenty-Six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus”
Malachi was the last Jewish prophet and therefore represented God’s last communication to the Jewish people through the mouth of a prophet. This may be compared to a final “deathbed” statement to one’s family and friends. At such a moment, a wise person says what they consider most important. What was God’s final message to the Jewish People through His final prophet Malachi?
“Remember the Torah of Moses, which I commanded him at Horeb [Sinai] for all of Israel—[its] decrees and [its] statutes.” Malachi 3:22
Christian theology requires one to believe that the very next thing God did after sending Malachi to remind the Jewish People to keep the commandments was to send Jesus to tell the Jewish people not to keep his commandments. This cannot be possible if God is logical and consistent.
“Twenty-Six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus”
Jewish author, Asher Norman
There is no concept in the Jewish Bible that “faith in the messiah” is relevant to salvation in the World to Come. The weakness in the Christian position is that there is not one verse in the Jewish Bible that says or implies that “believing in the messiah” is in any way related to personal salvation. The Christian Bible (the New Testament) is the only source for this non-Jewish concept. The salvation program for the Jewish People is to love God, fear God, and to keep his commandments. This is the Jewish way to “choose (eternal) life”. The Torah (the first five books of the Jewish Bible) imposes the consequences of kores (premature death, childlessness, and/or separation from God in the World to Come) on a Jew (but not a Gentile) for worshipping Jesus as a deity, which constitutes idolatry.
Excerpt from, “Twenty-Six Reasons Why Jews Don’t Believe in Jesus”, by Jewish author, Asher Norman.
What is a poor layperson/non-Bible scholar to do??
Here is our dilemma: Every Christian Old Testament Bible scholar, pastor, and priest on the planet says that the Old Testament prophesies the birth and death of Jesus of Nazareth as the Jewish Messiah ben David. However, every (non-messianic) Jewish “Old Testament” scholar and rabbi adamantly states that there is not one single prophesy in the Hebrew Bible about Jesus.
So who are we poor ignorant saps to believe?
In lieu of spending the next 10 years becoming a fluent Hebrew-speaking Old Testament scholar yourself, I would suggest using some good ol’ common sense. Who is more likely to be correct:
Jewish sages and rabbis who have spent their entire lives immersed in Jewish culture, the Jewish Faith, the Hebrew language, and the Hebrew Bible—for the last 2,000 years— or, seminary graduates from Christian Bible colleges in Dallas, Texas and Lynchburg, Virginia?
Sorry, Christian scholars, but using good ol’ common sense, I have to go with the Jewish scholars. And Jewish scholars say that Christian translators deliberately mistranslated and distorted the Hebrew Bible to say things in the Christian Bible that is never said in the original Hebrew—for the purpose of inventing prophesies into which they can “shoehorn” Jesus! I will give you examples below.
Dear Sir:
Respectfully, your comment on Isaiah 53 is challenged. Perhaps the two best commentaries [analysis] are:
Uri Yosef
Messiah Truth
The Jewishhome.org
scroll down to Suffering Servants
[or google search Uri Yosef/ Suffering Servants/Isaiah 53]
R Moshe Shulman
Judaismsanswer.com
Isaiah 53
In addition, as you and your readers are well aware, the Resurrection is another important factor that cannot be ignored. Therefore, if you please forgive me; I want to offer a self advertisement. Recently, my 912 page text on the Resurrection [including an 85 page bibliography] was released.
The Resurrection: A Critical Inquiry is a scholarly work that refutes Jesus’s purported physical, bodily resurrection and those writings in support of it. This book is compelling, relevant and current for those readers seeking scholarly refutations
of that resurrection. This in-depth work presents the reader with 113 issues. Altogether one hundred twenty contradictions and 217 speculations are examined. Topics include cutting edge research in astronomy, geophysics, criminology and the rules of evidence, the social sciences and cognitive psychology.
I encourage you and your readership to respond to the issues that it raises
1 Pt 3:15
Thank you!
As one who is considered a blasphemer by both sides I’m going to weigh in. In terms of my beliefs, I am very similar to the RANBAN. I conduct myself otherwise as an orthodox, and while I believe Yeshua is the moshiac, what I believe vs christianity is so different it simply cannot be considered one and the same. Let’s examine a few key problems with Christianity. First, the “Jesus” you seem to believe in (inspired by the writings of paul, which is another issue) simply cannot be the moshiac for a couple reasons, plus the fact that the sounds in that name didn’t all exist until around 1500 ce. First, the claim that “Jesus the god suffered and died to set you free from the law!”. No. The moshiac, and the Yeshua I believe in, is a law abiding Jewish rabbi that when he returns will lead the nation back to FULL Torah observance. Sacrificial system and all. Trying to insist that Jesus abolished the bulk of the law is where you are going to lose Jews and it is where your faith falls apart. Without Torah you have no tanach. Without tanach you have no ” new testament”. With only a “new testament” which is the place most denominations are, you have zero validity. The second issue is the immaculate conception. Again, no. Moshiac MUST be in the kingly line of David. Simply being adopted by his father puts him in line of nothing. Virgin birth=disqualified. But Christians are going to cite the passage in Isaiah about the virgin giving birth….my response his to go read the full passage and explain to me how that is actually a messianic prophecy. It is not. Even if you can translate alhma as virgin…doesn’t matter. It is in a context which does not make it messianic. Therefore, that belief defeats you.
Now let us examine some of the writings found in the undeniably Greek testament, namely romans-hebrews (other Jews, bear with me here. Get rid of these and the only thing we must debate is whether or not he was G-d….which he wasn’t). It is written throughout the tanach that anyone who attempts to add or subtract from the Torah is a false prophet. Now let’s look at the Hellenization and see where it comes from. Yeshua is quoted as saying the whole line about what comes out of a man defiling not what goes in. Saying that eliminates part of the law is the same as a christian saying the Isaiah prophecy means a virgin birth. He was pointing out that thoughts and words defile one more than food, the food gets digested and removed, but ones thoughts and words show the condition of their heart. That was never a license to eat pork or anything else forbidden. Neither was peters vision recorded in acts. All of this Hellenization and law negation comes from the writings of Paul. In acts we see which churches he had contact with, and one of the big ones was Ephesus. In 2 timothy (his last writing) in chapter one he laments over his churches rejecting him. Then in the revelation to John, funny it was given to him instead of the self proclaimed greatest “apostle” Yeshua commends the church of Ephesus for testing “one who claimed to be an apostle and found him to be a liar”. In romans Paul advocates lying in missionary work to win souls, we have him on record in acts and his letters lying to the Jerusalem council and the Sanhedrin (no he was not being charged for believing in resurrection. That was pure manipulation). His account of his conversion is not consistent. And there are only twelve apostles. While Paul is still killing the early messianic the replacement for Judas was already selected, Matthias. There is no room for Paul to be an apostle to begin with. He is the very false gospel he warns about trying to scare everyone away from the truth, and Yeshua confirms this. Nearly all christian doctrine is Pauline, therefore the very scriptures show Christianity is a lie.
Just to be clear: When you say RANBAN you mean Ramban (as in R. Nahmanides) and not Rambam?
The Orthodox aren’t well versed in what to look for in Moshiach because they studied Jews for Judaism; they are well versed because from infancy they are raised learning both their native language AND Hebrew. And by Hebrew, I mean they know the root words, numerical values of of those (and other) words, syntax, grammatic rules, along with the meanings of the Tanakh’s chapters and verses *in their proper context*. Together, this means they know well what qualifies someone to be Moshiach, a person who could come forth in any generation. Also, Exodus 20:3 states (KJV): “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.” The Hebrew translation of “before me” literally means “before my face.” Then there’s this, from Isaiah 43:10 (KJV): “Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.” And this (KJV) from Isaiah 45:51: “I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me.” Another, this from Isaiah 44:6: “Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his (Israel’s -ed.) redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.” One does not need not know Hebrew to see, in explicitly clear language, how G-d Himself is One – not a multiple of one that still equals one (explain that to your math professor), and definitely not a trinity (for this theology you should thank the Catholics, btw). To further eradicate any idea of Christianity, or any other pantheistic faiths, from the Jewish mind, there’s Deuteronomy 13:1 – 18. In sum, you presented the idea that Orthodox Jews are difficult or impossible to convert to Christianity because they consulted Jews for Judaism and also that they simply don’t know their own Torah. Wrong. However, from these passages alone, and there are more, you can plainly see that G-d is ONE, not 3 in one. For centuries, Jews have not needed Jews for Judaism to follow Him and Him alone but, instead, His own steadfast word. If you were not raised knowing Hebrew, studying Torah and the Tanakh in Hebrew, and have a couple of decades of this under your belt, you are simply not qualified, let alone trustworthy, to tell the Orthodox (or even me, a Conservative) Jews what the Bible means. Signed, a former Christian who has seen the Truth.
Very interesting article. There is a lot to witnessing to a Jewish person for Christ out of the Old Testament. I have personally found that the scripture passage that seems to be the most convincing to them is Isaiah 53.