MUST READ

The Messiahs – 6 – Was Jesus the Nazarene the Messiah?

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Image from ratiochristi.org

[Since we have resurrected the whole series on the origins of the messiah idea, this is revived from its December 9, 2013 first posting.

 

Finally, the pièce de résistance!  The question is answered by James D. Tabor in his usual ‘it’s-not-that-simple’ way, because it has to be qualified first.  This whole chapter that we have featured in 6 parts is only one of the many mind-boggling chapters of this MUST READ/MUST HAVE book, Restoring Abrahamic Faith. In fact, with all the controversial statements this author makes in chapter after chapter, it is no wonder that our Messianic teacher who called this book “demonic” and warned others about it,  as well as  Christian friends to whom we have given copies have difficulty getting past the Introduction or if they have, are not convinced of the compelling arguments for a back-to-basics Biblical Faith consistently advocated by its author.  

 

Since this is the “book-end” of this series, here are earlier related posts:

 

Like any Truth-claim that a seeker is confronted with, it is not only incumbent but wise to check it out for oneself. This website simply provides “another side” to the usual reading of the Bible.  Hopefully, visitors to this website who continue to read through all the articles are getting into the good habit of checking out and confirming for themselves the teachings here especially if it runs counter to what they have been taught.  Reformatted and highlights added.–Admin1.]

 

——————————————-

 

 

 Millions of Christians press this question upon Jews and other non-Christians—-

do you believe that Jesus is the Messiah? 

 

It may sound like a simple question, however, it is not so easily addressed as one might imagine, given 1900 years of Christian history.

 

Maybe this is also the wrong question.  A more effective query might be:

 

Did Jesus fulfill what all the Prophets declare the Davidic King will accomplish?  

 

The answer to that question is clearly “no.”

Christians and Jews should be able to agree on the doctrine of the Messiah if they will stay with the clear prophetic teaching of the Scriptures.

 

When a descendant of David

  • appears in the world,
  • regather the Tribes of Israel,
  • disarms the nations of the world,
  • restores the Temple with the Presence of YHVH,
  • and sets up a world-wide government
  • in which the TORAH is taught to all nations
  • —-surely all can agree that such a one is the long awaited Messiah ben David. 

 

If that one turns out to be Jesus the Nazarene, then so be it.  If not, even the most die-hard Christian believer will have to rework his or her messianic faith.  No Jew would object, if Jesus did somehow “return” and concretely fulfil the Biblical tasks of Messiah.  They simply consider such a possibility as highly unlikely.

What Jews have historically had problems with when it comes to Jesus as Messiah, are the declarations that—

  • he has already fulfilled his messianic role,
  • that his rule is over a spiritual Kingdom in heaven,
  • and that he is to be worshipped as God.
  • If one then adds to these ideas the notion that the TORAH is abrogated
  • and that the Jewish people have lost their covenant with God

—it is not hard to imagine why Jews have rejected Christianity and resisted conversion, forced or otherwise.

The standard Christian view of “Christ” does not reflect the view of the Messiah that one finds in the Hebrew Prophets.

 

The typical Christian evangelistic message is that

  • one must “accept Christ”
  • in order to be forgiven of sins
  • and go to heaven.
  • All who fail to “receive” Christ in this way,
  • even if they have never heard of him,
  • are doomed to eternal Hell.

Such ideas, no matter how familiar to Christian ears, have nothing to do with knowing and following the TORAH in the way that the historical Jesus advocated.

Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God and upheld the Prophetic vision of the Messiah;

while, in contrast, the later Christian Church proclaimed “Jesus” as heavenly Savior, as God the Son, and totally ignored his message and his TORAH based teachings.

As Rudolf Bultman so well put it,

 

“the Proclaimer

[of the Kingdom of God]

became the Proclaimed.”

Accordingly, to confess Jesus as Messiah has little connection with the original Hebrew expectation of what the Messiah is all about.  Millions who mouth that phrase, and somehow think they are “saved” while others are damned to Hell, have not the slightest understanding of Jesus as a Jew, nor of the Prophetic vision of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God for which he lived and died.  So, what is the point of such confessions?  The Jews have rightly rejected the whole pagan Christian agenda in this regard.

Jesus taught the same WAY of Salvation

as that found in TORAH and Prophets—

heartfelt repentance of sins,

turning directly to YHVH God in faith,

forgiveness and salvation through  His grace,

and obedience to all the commandments of TORAH  (Matthew 5:17-20; Luke 18:9-14).

 

He constantly proclaimed the Prophetic vision of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God.

The only legitimate message “in his name” is the one he preached: 

God’s love for sinners,

repentance and forgiveness of sins,

obedience to TORAH,

the call to be a suffering servant,

and the good news of the coming Kingdom.

Image from www.quora.com

Image from www.quora.com

My friend and teacher, the late David Horowitz, often remarked that both Christians and Jews will likely be surprised by the Messiah.  In other words, he will probably not conform to anyone’s expectations.  I rather think he is right.

Christians are sure “Jesus is the Messiah,” but the question is, what do they mean by “Jesus?”  It is certain that the “Jesus” of popular Christian imagination and dogma is not the Messiah.

The problem between Christians and Jews is really not Jesus, and whether or not he will turn out to be the Messiah.  The problem is that Christianity denies the pillars of the BIBLICAL FAITH:

  • God,
  • TORAH,
  • and Israel.

If one counters by charging that Jews have rejected “Jesus,” it must be asked—-which Jesus have they rejected?  Surely they were correct to reject the only Jesus known to them, the Hellenized God-Man of the Christian Church.  One thing is certain, when the Messiah comes, whoever he turns out to be, he will uphold these essential teachings of Scripture.

 

Can we do anything less?

A Sinaite's Sabbath Liturgy

A Sinaite's Liturgy – 4th Sabbath of March

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KINDLE THE SABBATH LIGHTS
 
Blessed are You, Creator God,
whose very first words were
“let there be light”
Whose Light shone before there ever was a sun,
who designed heavenly luminaries
for visual pleasure and for guidance.
In Your theophanies on earth,
You manifested as a burning bush,
a pillar of fire, a shekinah glory cloud.
 
We light our Sabbath candles
to symbolize the true source of enlightenment.
Your Torah
which is ‘a lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path.’
Living Your Torah
enables us to be luminaries in a darkened world.
We thank You, Giver of the Torah,
for Israel, Your light to the nations,
for redirecting our vision to finally see Your Light,
for illuminating our lives so that by obedience to Your Torah,
 we might become reflectors of Your Light.
 

As gentiles drawn to You, Your Torah, Your Sabbath day.
 we kindle the Sabbath lights,
seeking Your blessings upon our
fellowship, family, and food;
may the joy of knowing You
pervade the atmosphere of this home,
this place of meeting which is our Sabbath sanctuary
Amen.
 
Immandytomko.wordpress.comage from

Immandytomko.wordpress.comage from


 

O YHWH,
Creator, Lord, and Master,
There is no God but You.

 

We don’t see you, 
we don’t hear your voice, 
we don’t feel your Presence,
but we acknowledge Your Existence,
for your CREATION is a magnificent testimony to an awesome Designer.

 

Had we never rediscovered Your Revelation on Sinai,
through which we see You, hear Your voice, feel Your Presence,
we would still be worshipping other gods of men’s creation,
feeling unnecessary guilt and helplessness in ‘original sin’,
relying on another proclaimed Savior’s perfect obedience to substitute for ours,
proclaiming a name other than Yours, O YHWH,
living by grace and not by Your Torah,
 
We thank You,
O YHWH,
 God of Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov,
 God of Israel,  God of Sinaites,
for Your true Sabbath day,
which Israel was commanded to remember and observe,
which we have learned from your Torah
to remember and to observe.
 
Image from thetribulationtimes.wordpress.com

Image from thetribulationtimes.wordpress.com

[Music from the Seventh Day Adventist Hymnody, Revised Lyrics]

Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy, honor the day,

Remember the LORD of the Sabbath wholly, this is His Day;

We’re blest to learn all the truths He has to say,

Keeping His Sabbath holy, and walk His Way.

 

The people in bondage He liberated — from the Pharaoh’s hand,

They labored and toiled everyday in slavery, while in Egypt’s land,

How long they waited to hear their God’s command,

‘Passover is your freedom to the Promised Land’.

 

With manna from heaven and water pouring — from out of the Rock,

such daily provisions through desert wandering, they had no lack,

They learned to cease and desist enough to rest,

from their daily strivings, they passed the test.

 

Creator of all that exist, we see You — in this world You made,

In six days You spoke “let there be” existence — all foundations laid,

And on the seventh, we still hear what You said,

“Keep the Sabbath holy” —  in Rest, You led.  

Keeping the Sabbath holy, in You we rest!

 
Image from www.essex1.com

Image from www.essex1.com


For countless joys that have blessed our days,

family, friends, good fortune, and more,

even those disguised as trials and failures,
we raise our glasses filled with the fruit of the vine,
 a drink for health, a drink for joy, a drink to LIFE, L’CHAIM!

 

 For nourishment of body and refreshment of soul,
all these come from Your providential care;
as we partake of this bread we share,
we remember Your miracle manna and water from the Rock,
that nourished Your people for 40 years in the wilderness.
You are the Creator Who filled nature with so much variety of sustenance.
Blessed are You, Creator God, for blessing us with our daily bread.
Image from www.decalsforthewall.com

Image from www.decalsforthewall.com

O YHWH, God of our families,

 we ask Thee to remember
the names of our loved ones;
grant them peace, mercy, and grace,
and continued protection
throughout their life on this earth.
May they be worthy
to be added to your Book of Life:
Parents; Siblings
Spouse; Sons; Daughters; Grandchildren
Extended family: Children’s Spouses
Beloved friends.
 
Image from www.allhlwines.com

Image from www.allhlwines.com

Image from www.hebroots.com

Image from www.hebroots.com

 

 HAVDALAH

 
Adonai Elohim YHWH,
LORD of the Sabbath,
How truly privileged we are to spend this day
basking in Your Presence among us,
savoring the joy of knowing You,
and enjoying our fellowship with one another.
 
We have partaken of Your goodness,
kindness, and benevolence in granting us
by your Divine Providence,
life, health, family, opportunity,
and specially your blueprint for living,
Your Torah, our Tree of Life.
We have delighted in Your sanctuary in time,
truly a fitting memorial to You,
the God of Creation.
As we bid farewell to Your Queen of days,
We look forward to next Friday’s sundown,
when we welcome on erev
another cherished time with You.
May You grant us many more Sabbaths during our sojourning on earth,
and when we enter our final Sabbath and be granted rest from our earthly strivings,
having chosen You as our God
and obeyed your command to live according to Your Torah,
may our names be written in Your Book of Life,
that we may reap the blessings from having heeded Your Words 
to “choose life”
Amen.
 
Image from www.datehookup.com

Image from www.datehookup.com

 

Shabbat Shalom!

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A Sinaite's Sabbath Liturgy

A Sinaite's Musical Liturgy – 3rd Sabbath of March

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[A ‘musical Sabbath’ — as we have often explained, our hymn background comes from our former Christian worship tradition; we have committed to memory music and lyrics.  However, our beliefs are no longer in sync with the lyrics so we have taken the liberty of revising them, but still adapting their music.  For those familiar with the original Christian lyrics, the rewrites might sound awkward, even forced, but it’s always a matter of getting used to something different, if not a variation of the familiar.   For the hymns that were compatible with Torah, we left the lyrics as originally written. If you don’t know the music, just recite the lyrics.–Admin1.] 

 

 

 

KINDLE THE SABBATH LIGHTS

 

 

Be Thou my Vision

[Original Lyrics]

1.  Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy Presence my Light.
 
2.  Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me Lord;
Thou my great Father and I Thy true child;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
 
3.  Be Thou my battle shield, sword for the fight;
Be Thou my dignity, Thou my delight;
Thou my soul’s shelter, Thou my high tower,
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
 
4. Riches I need not, nor man’s empty praise;
Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
 
5.  High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
 
Image from 2sojourn.weebly.com

Image from 2sojourn.weebly.com

Give to our God Immortal Praise 

 

[Christian hymn, revised stanzas 3-8]

 
1.  Give to our God immortal praise
mercy and truth are all His ways,
wonders of grace to Him belong,
repeat His mercies with your song.
 
2.  Give to the Lord of lords renown,
the King of kings with glory crown
His mercies ever shall endure,
When lords and kings are known no more.
 
3.  He built the earth, He spread the sky
and fixed the starry lights on high;
 bird, beast and fish and all inhabitants on earth,
know their Creator from their birth.
 
4.  He fills the sun with life-nurturing light,
He bids the moon — “adorn the night,”
Visual wonders in the galaxies above,
Signs of our great Creator’s love.
 
5.  Israel freed from the Pharaoh’s hand,
walked through the sea and desert land,
Manna they ate, and drank the water from a rock,
Quail for their meat, they had no lack.
 
6.  Land He had promised to Patriarchs before,
Abraham,  Isaac, and one more,
Jacob whose ‘name’ was later changed to Isra-EL,
 ‘name’ on his sons and 12 tribes fell.
 
7.  YAH saw the Gentiles oblivious to sin,
needing His Torah’s work within,
Chose He a people who would lead them to The WAY,
TORAH for gentiles, to this day.
 
8.  If all would hear, heed His Words of Life,
Live His Torah, The Tree of Life 
 Make known His Name, and teach life-giving truths to all,
Then not one soul need ever fall.
 
 

 BLESSINGS

 

[ “In His Time” – Revised Lyrics]

 

Image from www.judaicawebstore.com

Image from www.judaicawebstore.com

Bless this bread, bless this wine,

Bless our fellowship today

it’s Your Time,

Sabbath keepers all are we,
Torah life for all to see,
Oh how truly blessed to be,
In Your Time. 

Bless the men, bless the wives,

Bless our children,

they’re Your gifts to our lives,

Lord we bless You everyday,
Lord of Sabbath, that we may
be so full of joy today,
In Your Time.
How can we not meet this day,
It’s Your Time.
 
[Take time to name your family members:  parents, husbands, wives, sons, daughters, in-laws, grandchildren, friends.]
 

 
SABBATH MEAL
 
 
 
Preparation for  TORAH STUDY
[Original tune:  “Joyful, Joyful we adore thee” – revised lyrics]
Image from extinctmag.wordpress.com

Image from extinctmag.wordpress.com

1.  God has spoken by His Prophets,

spoken His unchanging Word,
Each from age to age proclaiming
 God is One, He’s Only One!
He’s the Alpha, He’s the Omega,
There is no other God but He,
He is present, past and future,
He alone is First and Last.
 
2.  First there’s Moses, then there’s Samuel,
and the major prophets three,
Jeremiah and Isaiah, Ezekiel
who all could ‘see’!
Minor prophets– no less important—
Amos, Hosea, Nahum and . . .
Micah, Jonah, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zacari-ah!
 
3.  Malachi and Obadiah,
Joel, Habakkuk, there’s more—
Others who were not included
in TNK’s great hall of fame.
What’s important is God’s message,
Who they were, God knows their names,
Praise Yahuwah for His prophets,
Those whose words we hear today. 
 
 
 
Image from certainsoundministry.com

Image from certainsoundministry.com

HAVDALAH

 

 

Aaronic Blessing
 
The Lord bless you and keep you,
The Lord lift His countenance upon you,
And give you peace, and give you peace,
The Lord make His face to shine upon you,
And be gracious unto you, be gracious,
The Lord be gracious, gracious unto you.
Amen, amen, amen,
ah——–men, amen,
ah——–men, amen.
 
 
 
 
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DAILY POSTS

Yo searchers, need help? – March 2015

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Image from cedarstation.wordpress.com

Image from cedarstation.wordpress.com

03/31/15  “where can you buy ted neeley souvenirs?”  –  Most likely in any live concert or reshowing of the stage musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Although what kind of ‘souvenir’ could you possibly find, except posters of Ted Neeley as JCS.  Here’s the reason this searcher landed on this website:  “Superstar” – Confessions of an Idolater

 

03/31/15  “jesus crucifixion pictures images” – Please refer to the entry below.

 

03/31/15 “jesus crucified” – 

 

03/30/15  “how long did abraham leave?”  –“leave” of “live”?  His lifetime occupied 13 chapters of Genesis:

 

03/28/15  “serpent” – 


 03/27/15 “picture of jacob reconciling with esau”  –  Genesis/Bereshith 33: “I have plenty, my brother, let what is yours remain yours. “

 

 03/26/15  “spanish family tree project example” – We have not featured family tree images in Spanish but google is full of them in all languages. This search led us to http://kursiakar.biz/spanish/spanish-family-tree-project-example.html

 

03/25/15  “vengful god vs loving god” –

03/25/15 “jesus crucified images” – One of the best images we’ve chosen to use is in this post: A Rabbi analyzes the Crucifixion

 

03/24/15 “deuteronomy clean and unclean animals” – Deuteronomy/Davarim 14: “3 You are not to eat any abominable-thing!”

 

03/23/15  “judaism symbols”

03/21/15  “shabbat shalom trees” – What in the world are “shabbat shalom trees”? A little bit of figuring out makes us think it’s the images or illustrations of family tree which we have regularly used in the portion of “BLESSINGS”.   All those come from where else, ever reliable google of course, just enter “images for family tree.”  Here’s a sample:

Image from www.familyholiday.ne

Image from www.familyholiday.ne

 

03/20/15 “jewish symbols” – 

Must Read – 6 – Robert Shoen/The Torah and the Law; Jewish symbols

 

03/20/16 “the shema in english wall art” –  Presumably what this searcher means is ‘Shema in English’ and inscripted on a wall art; here’s one sample from hundreds of google images:

Image from www.jerusalemperspective.com

Image from www.jerusalemperspective.com

 

03/20/15 “sarah abraham’s wife” – 

 

 

03/20/15  “crucifixion” – 

A Rabbi analyzes the Crucifixion

 

03/18/15 “why was it necessary to record aaron’s death?numbers 20:27-29” –  

 

03/17/15 “torah and the brazen serpent” – Numbers/Bamidbar 21: The Brazen Serpent: ” it shall be: whoever has been bitten and then sees it, will live.”

 

 03/17/15 “baby mose” –  Exodus/Shemoth 1:15-22 – When is it ‘alright’ to tell a lie?

 

03/16/15  “psalm 86:15″ – But You O YHWH, are the Merciful and Compassionate God, Slow to Anger, Abundant in Kindness and Truth.  

 
We usually teach that the Psalms are the inspired writings of men on which doctrine should not be based; however, this statement is based on the self-description of YHWH Himself, to a privileged chosen mediator Moses. in Exodus 34:6: 
 
And YHWH passed before his face and called out:  YHWH YHWH God, showing mercy, showing favor, long-suffering in anger, abundant in loyalty and faithfulness, keeping loyalty to the thousandth (generation), bearing iniquity, rebellion and sin, , yet not clearing, clearing (the guilty) calling-to-account the iniquity of the fathers upon sons and upon sons’ sons, to the third and fourth (generation)!
 

 03/15/15 “numbers 20:27-29 why was it necessary to record aaron’s death” – 

Here’s what the commentary says about Aaron:  

A national mourning for their first High Priest.

In later Jewish thought, Aaron is the ideal peace-maker; and Hillel bids every man to be a ‘disciple of Aaron, loving peace and pursuing peace, loving his fellowmen and bringing them near to the Torah’.

 

 

03/15/15  “fire and  “brimstone”  – Genesis/Bereshith 19: “But YHWH rained down brimstone and fire upon Sedom and Amora, coming from YHVH, from the heavens”

 

03/15/15  “of prophecy in israel are veiled in obscurity? discuss” –  Q&A: “Israel prophecy” – “veiled in obscurity”?

 

03/14/15   “elokiim”  – This is from the commentary in Genesis/Bere’shith 1: “At the beginning of God’s creating the heavens and the  earth” – 

 

God. Heb. Elohim. The existence of the Deity is throughout Scripture assumed: it is not a matter for argument or doubt.  Elohim is the general designation of the Divine Being in the Bible, as the fountain and source of all things.  Elohim is a plural form, which is often used in Hebrew to denote plenitude or might.  Here it indicates that God comprehends and unifies all the forces of eternity and infinity.

 

 

03/13/15  “origins of prophecy in israel are veiled in obscurity.discuss” – Q&A: “Israel prophecy” – “veiled in obscurity”?

 

03/12/15 “rabbi younger aish” – We have a few ‘Q&A’ and ‘Ask the Rabbi’ posts featuring Rabbi Younger of aish. com; but if you’re interested in his writings, please go directly to aish.com.

 

03/12/15  “origins of prophecy are veilled in obscurity” discuss – Q&A: “Israel prophecy” – “veiled in obscurity”?

 

03/12/15   “shabbat images” –  Please go to https://sinai6000.net/site-map/ and scroll down to the category “A Sinaite’s Liturgy” which features a year of Sabbath celebrations complete with images specially chosen from what is available on the internet.

 

03/12/15  “aaron’s rod that budded” – 

03/11/15 “half devil and angel nephilim” –  Q&A: “If there are no fallen angels, then explain the ‘Nephilim’ in the narrative account of the Flood.”

 

03/11/15  – “origins of prophecy in israel was veiled in obscurity.discuss”    – Q&A: “Israel prophecy” – “veiled in obscurity”?

 

03/11/15  “divinity question:why was the origins of prophecy in israel veiled in obscurity??” – Q&A: “Israel prophecy” – “veiled in obscurity”?


 03/10/15  “serpent” – 

 Prooftext 1b – Genesis 3:15 – Who is the “serpent”?

03/10/15 ” family like branches on a tree ” – Please go to any of the Sabbath Liturgies (we have all year round) and go to the BLESSINGS part where a family tree image is often illustrated. We choose these images from the internet though google connections.  Most recent sample is this:

family-tree-cartoon

Image from www.dreamstime.com

 

 

 

 03/08/15  “illustrated spotted lamb jacob” – Genesis/Bereshith 30: Battle for Babies and Battle of the Wits

 

03/08/15   “god calling abraham” –  Genesis/Bereshith 12: ” All the clans of the soil will find blessing through you! “

 

03/07/15  “jesus crucified images” –  A Rabbi analyzes the Crucifixion

03/06/15  “origins. of prophecy veileid in its obscurity discuss’ – Q&A: “Israel prophecy” – “veiled in obscurity”?

03/06/15  “fire brimstone” – 

 

03/06/15   “was moses god vengeful or loving” – “Angry, vengeful God” of OT vs. “Merciful loving God” of NT

 

03/06/15   “yaakov and esav” 

03/05/15   “115 gods of ancient egypt”   – 

 

03/05/15  “ted neeley jesus” – “Superstar” – Confessions of an Idolater

03/04/15 “the five books of moses everett fox pdf” 

03/04/15  “ya’akov and his sons” – 

 

03/04/15  “serpent” – Prooftext 1b – Genesis 3:15 – Who is the “serpent”?

03/01/15  “sanai confession page 2015″ – We have quite a few posts for this searcher, take our pick”

 

Image from www.slu.edu

Image from www.slu.edu

03/01/15  For starters, we’re going along with “National Nutrition Month” and reminding our  webvisitors about the “Maker’s Diet” based on Leviticus 11 (for meat-eaters) and Genesis 3 for Vegetarians/Vegans.

 

Here’s our contribution to human health:

[Not that anybody would  care to know but it doesn’t hurt to gain knowledge about many things we take for granted.  We mouth the days of the week and the months of the year, hardly giving a thought to who or what these divisions of time have been named after, who named them, and why.  So what, who cares, does it matter?  Well, if you ever end up answering the 64M$ question, you’ll wish you had done some homework on trivia.   So here’s a link to explain the why’s and who’s in the Gregorian calendar:  

http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/pagandaymonth/

 

March—Mars’ month

Middle English March(e)Anglo-French March(e)/Old English Martius/Latin/Martius “of Mars”/Latin Marti(s) “Mars” + -us (adj. suffix)/Latin Martius mensis “month of Mars”

Martius has always had 31 days. March was the original beginning of the year, and the time for the resumption of war.  Mars is the Roman god of war. He is identified with the Greek god Ares.

 

Now, what about the biblical calendar, what month are we currently in?  February 20 was the first day of the month of Adar.  For a backgrounder, here’s a post that explains what the month means to the Jewish people:  http://www.chabad.org/holidays/purim/article_cdo/aid/2863908/jewish/9-Things-You-Probably-Didnt-Know-About-the-Month-of-Adar.htm

And in this day and age, cause-oriented people and organizations, March has become the month for reminders; just like February was Love Month and Heart Heath Month, March is Fire Prevention Month.—Admin1]

 

Who knew?

 

marchrcmonthhorizontal-hires1

 

 

Who knew?

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Image from www.pinterest.com

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Fire Prevention Month 2014

A Sinaite's Sabbath Liturgy

A Sinaite's Liturgy – 2nd Sabbath of March

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[At the culmination of creation week, the Sabbath which was modeled as a day of cessation from work by the Creator Himself — was chosen as the ‘sign of the Covenant’ between Israel and the Creator/Revelator on Sinai Who declared His Name as YHWH.  

 

After featuring prayers from world religions on the first Sabbath of March, this time we feature the Jewish prayer tradition.  Selections below are from The Jewish Prayer Book and My People’s Prayer Book and The Expanded ArtScroll SIDDUR.  Translation is by Everett Fox, The Five Books of Moses.

 

Please bear in mind — we declare the Name of YHWH in this website as a sign of reverence and awe for the God we love and worship; so even if these prayers are from traditional Jewish prayerful expressions which avoid the Tetragrammaton Name, it is important to us that we name the God to Whom these Sabbath prayers are lovingly directed by His chosen. The language has also been modernized from archaic expressions “Thy, Thee, Thou, reignest, etc.”—Admin1.]
 
Image from www.kibitzspot.com

Image from www.kibitzspot.com

KINDLE THE SABBATH LIGHTS

 

Blessed are You, YHWH our God,  King of the universe,

who has sanctified us by Your  commandments,

and commanded us to kindle the Sabbath lights.

 

 

Exodus/Shemoth 31:12-13, 16-17

YHWH said to Moshe:  And you, speak to the Children of Israel, saying:
However: my Sabbaths you are to keep! 

For it is a sign

between me and you,

throughout your generations,

to know that I, YHWH, hallow you. 

 

 The Children of Israel are to keep the Sabbath,

to make the Sabbath-observance throughout their generations

as a covenant for the ages;

 between me and the Children of Israel, 

a sign it is, for the ages,

for in six days YHWH made the heavens and the earth,

but on the seventh day he ceased and paused-for-breath.

  
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Image from fineartamerica.com

“Come, my friend, to meet the bride;

let us welcome the presence of the Sabbath.”

“Observe” and “Remember the Sabbath day,”

the only God caused us to hear in a single utterance:

the LORD [YHWH] is One,

and His name is One to His renown and His glory and His praise.

 

Come, let us go to meet the Sabbath,

for it is a well-spring of blessing;

from the beginning from of old it was ordained—

last in production, first in thought.

 

Come in peace, thou crown of thy husband,

with rejoicing and with cheerfulness, in the midst of the faithful of the chosen people:

come O bride, come , O bride.

Come my friend to meet the bride; let us welcome the presence of the Sabbath. 

Leader:  Bless the LORD [YHWH] who is to be blessed.

 

ALL:  Blessed, praised, glorified, exalted and extolled 

be the name of the supreme King of kings,

the Holy One, blessed be He, who is the first and the last,

and beside Him there is no God.  

Extol Him that rides upon the heavens by His name YAH,

and rejoice before Him.  

His name is exalted above all blessing and praise.  

Blessed be His Name, whose glorious kingdom is for ever and ever.

 Let the Name of the Lord  [YHWH] be blessed

from this time forth and forevermore.

 

Leader and All:  Blessed is the LORD [YHWH]  who is to be blessed for ever and ever.

 

Blessed are You O LORD [YHWH] our God, King of the universe,

who at Your word brings on the evening twilight,

with wisdom opens the gates of the heavens,

and with understanding changes times and varies the seasons,

and arranges the stars in their watches in the sky,

according to Your will.  

You create day and night; You roll away the light from before the darkness,

and the darkness from before the light;

You make the day to pass and the night to approach, You divide the day from the night,

the LORD [YHWH] of hosts is Your name; a God living and enduring continually,

may You reign over us for ever and ever.

 Blessed are You, O LORD [YHWH] who brings on the evening twilight. 

With everlasting love You have loved the house of Israel, Your people;

a Law and commandments, statutes and judgments have You taught us.

Therefore. O LORD [YHWH] our God,

when we lie down and when we rise up we will meditate on Your statutes:

yea,  we will rejoice in the words of Your Law and in Your commandments for ever; 

for they are our life and the length of our days

and we will meditate on them day and night.  

And may You never take away Your  love from us.

Blessed are You, O LORD [YHWH] who loves Your people Israel.

 

BLESSINGS

 

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Image from www.kibitzspot.com

Blessed are You, YHWH, our God, King of the universe,

Who creates the fruit of the vine.

Blessed are You, YHWH, our God, King of the universe,

Who creates species of nourishment: 

the fruit of the tree, the fruit of the ground,

through Whose word everything came to be.

Blessed are You, YHWH our God, King of the universe,

who feeds the entire world in Your goodness—-

with love, kindness, and mercy.  

You give food to all people, because Your kindness lasts forever.

May the Merciful God let us inherit the Shabbat of the World to Come,

which will be a complete rest day forever.

 

FAMILY BLESSINGS

 

The Way of the Righteous Man

 

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,

Nor stands in the path of sinners,

Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the Law of YHWH,

And in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,

That brings forth its fruit in its season,

Whose leaf also shall not wither; 

And whatever he does shall prosper. . . .

For YHWH knows the way of the righteous. 

 

A Woman of Valor

 

Who can find a capable wife? Her value is far beyond that of pearls.

Her husband trusts her from his heart, and she will prove a great asset to him.

She works to bring him good, not harm, all the days of her life. . . .

Clothed with strength and dignity, she can laugh at the days to come.

When she opens her mouth, she speaks wisely; 

on her tongue is loving instruction.

She watches how things go in her house,

not eating the bread of idleness.

Her children arise; they make her happy;

Her husband too, as he praises her:

“Many women have done wonderful things,

but you surpass them all!”

Charm can lie, beauty can vanish,

but a woman who fears YHWH should be praised.

Give her a share in what she produces;

let her works speak her praises at the city gates. 
Image from rlst2500-fall2014.blogspot.com

Image from rlst2500-fall2014.blogspot.com

Sons:  May YHWH make you like Ephraim and Menashe: (name them)
 

Daughters:  May YHWH make you like Sara, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah: (name them)

 
 
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Image from messianicpublications.com

HAVDALAH

 

Blessed be the Lord [YHWH]  by day;  blessed be the Lord [YHWH] by night; 

Blessed be the Lord [YHWH] when we lie down; blessed be the Lord [YHWH]  when we rise up. 

For in Your hand are the souls of the living and the dead, as it is said.

In Your hands is the soul of every living thing, and the spirit of all human flesh.

Into Your hand I commend my spirit; 

You have redeemed me, O YHWH God of truth.

Our God who are in heaven, assert the unity of Your Name, 

and establish Your kingdom continually, and reign over us for ever and ever.

May our eyes behold, our hearts rejoice, and our souls be glad in Your true salvation, 

when it shall be said unto Zion, Your God reigns.

The Lord [YHWH]  reigns; the Lord [YHWH] has reigned; the Lord [YHWH] shall reign forever and ever:

for the kingdom is Yours, and to everlasting You will reign in glory; 

for we have no king but You.

Blessed are You, O YHWH the King, 

who constantly in Your glory will reign over us

and over all Your works forever and ever.  
 

deuteronomy-6-verse-4maxresdefault

 Shabbat Shalom!

NSB@S6K

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DISCOURSE

Discourse: Sinaite to Christian Pastor – 16

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[This is the final post in this series DISCOURSE between Sinaite VAN and Church Elder  “CE” (not named).  The reason this became “final”, i.e., CE no longer responded, is most likely because of the concluding conviction here . . . “there is no turning back”.    On that statement, VAN rested his case and on his conviction, he rested. This reposting of VAN’s  “apologetics for Sinai 6000” is our way of paying tribute to this admirable man of faith, who just like the rest of us, loved the God he kept seeking to know more of for  all his life, way into his senior years.  Little did he realize, just as all Sinaites did, that the way to the One True God was getting back on the old pathway leading to the Revelator on Sinai.  And so he, just a we did, joined the Gentiles among  the “mixed multitude” who today stand before Biblical Sinai  to reply to YHWH, “yes we will . . . .!”—Admin1.]

 

———

 

 

Dear  “HE”—

​This is about​ the difference​s​ between the “TNK​/Hebrew Scriptures​” and  ​Christian ​”​Old Testament​”​ which was one of the topics you clearly explained in Discourse: Christian Elder to Sinaite – 10,  reproduced hereunder:

First, a quick reply on you inquiry regarding the discrepancy on the number of books in the Hebrew and Christian Bible: I am sure that in your studies you have also noticed how the Hebrew Old Testament grouped together several books that Christian Bible kept apart. The Hebrew canon grouped the 12 Minor Prophets into a single book. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah, as well as the dual books of Kings and Chronicles were united in a single book as well. The 24 books in it are but the equivalent of the 39 in the Christian Bibles. I hope you were also able to notice the interesting symmetry found in the Christian arrangement of the OT books:

[Admin1:  Sorry, we lost the image originally posted, we will try to retrieve it.]

 

 

​Thank you for the chart pointing out the perfect symmetry in the rearrangement of the Hebrew TNK’ into the Christian version retitled​ ‘Old Testament’.

 

 

As you pointed out, the discrepancy in the number of books is accounted for because the Hebrew canon of the original 24 was not only re-arranged but expanded as well, with some books split into two: Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra-Nehemiah.  Ultimately, the same books in the HS 24 are all accounted for in OT 39, at least in the Protestant/Evangelical Bibles which do not include the apocryphal books in the Catholic Bible.

 

However, consider these points :

  • Why change borrowed original scriptures of another people? 
  • Is not the borrower obligated to be faithful in representing what is borrowed ‘as is’?
  • Unless the original is found to be wanting, imperfect, needing improvement . . .  but even so, isn’t it an insult to the Jews who are the custodians of the Sinai revelation?

 

Question:  Should man dare to improve on God’s original revelation?

More related questions/answers from our website posts:

 

1.  When the originators of the 2-part Christian Bible decided to tack on the Hebrew Scriptures to the NT, did they ask permission from the people whose Sacred Scriptures happen to reflect their national history? 

2.   If they did and were given permission, did they ask permission to not only rearrange the books in the original canon but also expand them by splitting them up in two parts?  As far as we know, this happened in the translation from Hebrew to Greek, when the Septuagint was produced. It was a simple matter of scroll size, the longer books had to be split to fit the scroll, or so Robert Alter explains in his book Ancient Israel.  

 

Understandably, at first the OT was based on the Latin (Vulgate) which was based on the Greek Septuagint, hence it was twice removed from the original Hebrew.  That’s why the early English translations/versions had to be revised over and over and for later translations of the many varied versions we now have; to their credit, modern translators went to the original Hebrew TNK instead of  the Greek Septuagint. 

3.  Is it proper to claim as ‘foundational’, the scriptures of a people, and yet teach that it is obsolete by calling it “old” and no longer applicable because new and updated scriptures have superseded it, justified by the Christian view of ‘progressive revelation’, i.e., from Genesis to Revelation?

 

 

4.  Is it acceptable in literary and religious practice to borrow an original text but transform it in subtle ways (mistranslation, wrong translation, intentional or not) and use it to bolster the theology of a later religion?

 

 

5.  Should not the people of God know best how to categorize their scriptures so that if they determine they have 3 major divisions and assign specific books to each, there must be good reason for such organization? 

 

Samples:

Take the 3 major prophets, should it not remain as 3—Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel?  Why should the Christian Old Testament add Daniel as a 4th ‘major’ prophet when his gift was merely one of interpreting dreams, just like Joseph; certainly not the gift of prophecy? 

 

And when you read the background on how the books of the TNK were decided upon by the Jewish sages/scholars, Daniel almost did not make it into the canon, just like other apocryphal books, and so it was relegated to ‘inspired’ writings of Ketuviim.  A major prophet, Daniel was not, at least not to the Jewish sages who decided on its canonicity.

 

 

 

6.  Does a later religion such as Christianity have the right to tamper with the borrowed original text, particularly in the matter of translation which requires accuracy and faithfulness to the original meaning in Hebrew? It is understandable that certain words have no equivalent in English, but the closest synonym, even made-up phrases approximating the original should be the next recourse, not outright change in meaning.  

 

Glaring example is Psalm 2, “Kiss the Son” when the original is “arm yourself with purity” or “yearn for purity” .  

Ditto with Isaiah 9:6 —we have a post clarifying this,

Q&A: Who is the Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9:6.

7.   When the God of Israel gives warning regarding adding and subtracting to His Torah as early as the last book Deuteronomy, should that warning be violated?  The custodians of the Torah, the people of the Book, Israel, took that warning seriously.   The subsequent books in  Neviim and Ketuviim  were records (historical narratives or inspired writings) of how they obeyed or failed to obey Torah.  Should not a later gentile religion that borrows Israel’s ‘Scripture’ follow Israel’s lead? 

 

 

There’s more but let’s stop here.

 

 

What right does any person or organization or religion have to do what Christianity did with the TNK, the Hebrew Scriptures, progressive revelation notwithstanding?  Can you imagine the consequences if Christianity or any other world religion for that matter did exactly the same to the Sacred Scriptures of the Islamic faith?  

 

 

Honestly,  I would have no problem at all with the New Testament and all its doctrines; every religion is entitled to its core beliefs.  As long as NT stands on its own, by itself, who will dare or bother to  question its claims?

 

 

 

There are Christian bibles that have only the New Testament, perhaps that is the way it should be, a stand-alone-Testament to the development of historical Christianity, from its 4 gospels to to its last book of Revelation.  Definitely it is true to its title, “New”!

 

 

What makes the Christian bible questionable, not only to us Sinaites but most likely to the Jews, is its tracing its roots to the Hebrew Scriptures and Judaism and yet it departs from its foundation in so many ways.  To add insult to injury (specially to the chosen people from whom it borrows ‘foundational scriptures’), Paul of Tarsus who does claim to have studied under Gamaliel spins off from his Torah foundations and all but discredit his people, his nation, and the God of Israel.  From his epistles originate most of Christianity’s doctrines.  

 

 

We have done extensive studies on the origins and historical development of our former faith;  our re-education on both OT and NT made us re-think the religion we were born in and embraced for decades of our lives.  In the end, it really was not a tough decision to leave it behind and to return to the ‘roots’ claimed by that faith, that was the bigger eye-opener for us.  

 

 

Our website has many posts explaining our journey back to the Sinai Revelation.

As you will conclude from our collective testimony,  

there is no turning back for us . . .

not for the others and definitely . . . 

not for me. 

 

 

 

VAN@S6K

 

[In loving memory, with utmost respect,

the Sinai 6000 Core Community]

 

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DISCOURSE

Discourse: Sinaite to Christian Pastor – 15

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[Still working on all the points raised by Christian Elder in 

Discourse: Christian Elder to Sinaite – 10,  Sinaite VAN counters more claims for the divinity of Jesus and the veracity of the New Testament Scriptures.  As outsiders listening in a discussion between elders, there is much to gain.  Will any side ever win the argument?  That is not the point of the discourse, so what is?    In the process of a former Christian explaining his views to his Christian colleague-friend-minister,  hopefully the other learns to respect the ‘whys’ of his change in direction. Indeed, try to understand what makes one turn away from a religion in which he has served the God he thought he knew devotedly, sincerely, with all his heart, soul and substance for almost 7 decades of his life? —Admin1.]

 

 —————-

 

Hello  again “HE” —

 

I hope you don’t feel that I am bombarding you with so many emails all at one time.  I wanted to address all the points you raised in your long email  and since I resorted to chopping up all the topics into separate ‘sends’, I feel I’m making more progress this way, by finishing each topic and sending it off.

 

 

This one is about  the people of Nineveh to whom the prophet Jonah was sent with a mission:  to call the people to repent and change their ways.  

 

 

Here is that portion of your long email:

 

“You mentioned before on why only fasting and repentance was required by God of the people in the city Nineveh.

 

Can we not consider the simple fact that Nineveh was a pagan nation and does not have the Mosaic laws and regulations for sacrifices of atonement required by God from the Israelites?

 

What else could God possibly require of them that is within the range of their current understanding of appeasing God’s displeasure?”

Thank you for that well thought out answer;  good application of hermeneutics, in fact it made me pause and rethink the point I was trying to make, so I am restating the same point with more clarifications.  

 

 

First, it is not only on the city of Nineveh that simple repentance (outwardly demonstrated by fasting) was required for the forgiveness of sin.  I agree with you that Nineveh was —

  • not in a privileged position as Israel, 
  • not informed about the One True God, 
  • not educated in the requirements of Torah, 

—and therefore, very possibly, the requirement of fasting/repentance might have been reduced to meet them at their level of spirituality and understanding.  

 

 

But let us take a look at Torah-informed-educated-privileged-chosen Israel and YHWH’s requirements for them.  

 

 

Just like you when I was a Christian, I made the same connections between the whole sacrificial system at the Sanctuary/Temple and the life and sacrificial death of Jesus.  Only after closer reading of the Hebrew Scriptures did I realize that I failed to read one keyword:  “UNintentional” which is connected with the word ‘sin’.  Missing “unintentional sin” is understandable, what with so many detailed instructions regarding the temple “offerings” related to specifics about feasts to be observed/celebrated.  

 

 

Understandable  . . . but inexcusable and should not happen if one is seriously and carefully studying TORAH to check what was originally commanded by YHWH the LawGiver.

 

 

I never even thought about sin being unintentional, I always thought it was intentional; why else would it be considered ‘sin’?  

 

 

When does a person sin unintentionally? Let us think up a few scenarios related to our times:

  • Homicide—justifiable taking of life:  killing someone in self-defense, running over someone while driving and killing him, soldiers slaying the enemy, and similar cases.
  • False witness:  Gentiles who covered up locations of Jews under the Nazi regime, lied about hiding them. Not revealing the truth to save lives is often justifiable intentional sin.
  • Sex slavery: women caught in prostitution against their will, etc.

If I had more time I could think up more cases, but these suffice. Yes, there is unintentional sin.  

 

 

How does YHWH the LawGiver who is just and merciful, react to unintentional sin?  He provides a way to approach Him through offerings of all kinds (Leviticus lists them).

 

 

Now, what about intentional sin? 

 

 

YHWH provides only one way:  repentance. 

 

 

We understand repentance to mean turning 180 degrees around from a sinning pattern or even one sin committed intentionally.  

 

 

Yom Kippur is the second to the last feast in Leviticus 23; the day of atonement.  We learn from the Jewish teachers that the 10 days between Yom Teruah (feast of trumpets) is observed this way:  

 

  • 9 days prior to Yom Kippur, we settle our horizontal relationships — ask forgiveness from those we have wronged, right the wrongs we have done, seek reconciliation with those we have been estranged from, etc.   
  • Then the 10th day is Yom Kippur, we deal with YHWH our God.  

What sins against Him could we possibly set right? Perhaps if we’ve been idolatrous, uttered His Holy Name in vain, worship another God and not Him, then we repent (turn away) from such sins against Him.  But what if we have behaved rightly according to Commandments 1-3 and keep the Sabbath?

 

 

Realistically,  most of our sinning relate to people. The ratio of 9 for fellowmen and 1 for God is lopsided, don’t you think?  The message to us, it seems, is how we relate to God ultimately depends on how we relate to the “other” in our midst.  

 

 

In fact, once we have settled the first 3 commandments relating to God and we observe His Sabbath to obey the 4th, and we do honor our parents, commandment 6-10 address all horizontal relationships.  

 

 

Our core group have discussed this crucial point:   if you live all by yourself in some isolated island, God would not give you commandments 5-10;  why?  Who is there to murder, commit adultery with, bear false witness against and to whom, etc.

 

 

So back to Israel, the chosen.  They bear the brunt of divine judgment because they know better but failed to comply.  What was required of individual Israelites for intentional sin?  Repentance.  As a nation, however, there is the offering of two goats, one which is set free and one on whom the sins of the nation are symbolically placed, and therefore offered as a sacrifice but still, the ceremonial gesture means nothing without true repentance.  This is why Isaiah the major prophet opens with words of frustration from an angry God about the uselessness of Temple sacrifices when offerers do not live righteously according to Torah.

 

 

Now back to Nineveh, the Torah-ignorant people.  What was required of them?  Same thing, repentance.  

 

 

We could say that they should have been required to do sacrifices and offerings, since their evil was ‘unintentional’ ?  That would have been more difficult for Jonah to accomplish, to get the Ninevites to offer sacrifices but come to think of it,  as idolatrous pagans they probably were already doing that to their gods, that is why the One True God was angry with them. Yet our gracious God YHWH requires from them and all humanity the same thing:  simple act of repentance.  

 

 

More coming,

 

 

VAN@S6K

AIbEiAIAAABDCNPkvrXuucmdeSILdmNhcmRfcGhvdG8qKGJkZTc0YTk3NmUxMGM4OTAzZjk5MDhkMjdkZDI2ODQ3OTliYmQ2MDkwAe5UdNp0lvYvCf8bjAFEJOY_fdsj

 

 

 

 

Next: Discourse: Sinaite to Christian Elder – 15

 

DISCOURSE

Discourse: Sinaite to Christian Pastor – 14

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Dear “HE”,

 

 

This is still related to the topic of Psalm 2 which you cited as “prooftext”,  i.e.,  OT verses that point to Jesus in NT.  [Discourse: Christian Elder to Sinaite – 10]

 

You also cited Psalms 110: 

 

“Recall that even the Jewish leaders themselves were muted by the Lord Jesus in one time that He asked them of the meaning of Psalms 110:1.

Luke 20:41-44 narrates the story:

Then Jesus said, “Why do people say that the Christ is the Son of David? In the book of Psalms, David himself says:

 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,

‘Sit by me at my right side, until I put your enemies

under your control.”’

David calls the Christ ‘Lord,’ so how can the Christ be his son?”

In confining yourself to the notion of a purely human Messiah, aren’t you also taking the very position of the Jewish leaders silenced by the Lord Jesus himself?”

I cannot tackle Psalms 110 without first explaining what I consider as “the very words of God.”

 

Actually we have a post that explains our position:
IN HIS NAME – Where in What Bible is His Word? – 3
 
To save myself from explaining, here’s an excerpt from that post:

 

Here’s a short version of “the shrinking of a Sinaite’s Bible.”  
    • As Christian/Messianics, we believed the Christian Bible is God’s Word; every word of it, we were taught, was God-breathed, Holy Spirit-inspired; that God used men as His mouthpieces.  So every writer in both the Old and New Testaments spoke for God.  
    • Other articles in this website explain when and what we discovered about the questionability of New Testament books. Totally convinced that the NT is not the Word of God but the word of men, we turned to what it claims to be its foundational scriptures —the “Old” Testament.
    • The “Old Testament” in the Christian Bible, we found out, was not an accurate version of the Hebrew Scriptures so we got several different translations of the Tanach, Tanakh, TNK and started over. 
    • By the time we finished pouring over the 22 books of the Hebrew Scriptures, we reached a definite conclusion.
    • The first five books of TNK, specifically the Torah [the T in TNK] contains all that humans need to know about the requirements of the Creator God Who revealed Himself first to Israel.  Requirements for what? Relationships! First, man’s relationship with God, and second, man’s relationship with his fellowmen. And, let us not neglect, one’s relationship to oneself, as in — how do I protect my body from disease, what to eat, what to do when I get sick, and so on.  YHWH did not leave out instructions affecting any aspect man’s living on this earth for his own good.
    • It is ALL in the Torah, as given to the handpicked mediator who was prepared for this role: Moses.  We have mentioned this much in other articles — that the rest of the TNK, Nevi’im or the Prophets, and Ketuvi’im or the Writings, all center on what has already been given in Torah. 
    • The prophets in Nevi’im who keep saying “Thus saith the LORD” warn Israel about its failure to live Torah and gives prophecies about future events affecting Israel as well as the nations.  
    • The Writings in Ketuvi’im are inspired books that still refer back to the Torah, or elaborate on its teachings, or narrate stories about men and women of faith, or that reflect on YHWH’s attributes. None of them contradict what has already been revealed on the Torah. YHWH gives a warning in the last book of the Torah about adding or subtracting from it. 

 So where is God’s Word in What Bible? 

Answer:  The Torah, in the Hebrew ​Scriptures, the TNK.​

Already, as you can see, we are at odds on the very basis of our arguments; simply put, who says what?  If God said it, no problem. If man said it, that’s merely his opinion.  With this in mind, we expect to disagree on prooftexts.

 

————————

 

 

Now, to Psalms 110.

 

If you read Psalms as the ‘very words of God’, your conclusion is not only understandable but predictable. 

However,  please consider this:

​Psalm 110 belongs to Ketuviim.  Inspired writings of men.  

Just like the prayers and Sabbath liturgies we post on our website; inspired writings from the heart, based on knowledge of YHWH through His Torah . . . the Psalms were the same, some written by David, and others by unknown worshippers of Israel’s God.  One cannot categorize these writings as “the very words of God‘ on which doctrine is to be educed.

The organizers of the canon of the Hebrew Scriptures did their job well; let us respect their work, they know better than anyone else, since their scriptures not only reflect their relationship with their God but virtually recount the history of their people as well. 

ArtScroll Tanach’s commentary on Psalm 110 is very sparse, attributing authorship to “an unnamed psalmist, possibly one of David’s soldiers” who “composed this psalm about his king (Ibn Ezra:Radak)”.  

​Expectedly, the wording from a Hebrew translation is a bit different but it is consistent with the admiring lofty superlative attributions of a subject-soldier for his beloved king. The language of the Psalms is poetic, and therefore use metaphor, hyperbole, and other figures of speech.

Are we supposed to pounce on this psalm and turn it into a prooftext to add to all others to show OT prefigurement of NT Jesus Christ? That is what has been done, in effect to show evidence that Christianity’s claims are true.

 

​Words of men inspired by God are still words of men.  Words of God put on record as Moses did will either have to be believed or denied. 

​So, I’m sorry, “HE”, Psalm 110 is not acceptable proof to me that it is referring to Jesus Christ.  I can understand, however, why it is chosen as a prooftext. 
​Like your other verses you have cited, I have a problem making the connection​ with Jesus in the gospel verse you cited:
​

Luke 20:41-44 

Then Jesus said, “Why do people say that the Christ is the Son of David? In the book of Psalms, David himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit by me at my right side, until I put your enemies under your control.”’ 

David calls the Christ ‘Lord,’ so how can the Christ be his son?”

 

​Our ‘disconnect’ is well-demonstrated in this prooftext. I am actually confused!  There is a lot to be clarified in the short verse, I don’t even know where to begin.  

 

 

First, I get it, that “Christ” having come later in history, is supposed to be the son of David.  But just the choice of words alone is confusing.  “Christ” is the Greek of the Hebrew word mashiach or ‘messiah’.  So who is the ‘son of David’ — Jesus or the anticipated Jewish ‘messiah’?  In Christian thinking, Jesus is the Christ, the expected Messiah.  To the Jews, the Jewish messiah has not yet come because there are conditions that identify him when he does come, and remember, the Jews do expect a messiah that is human, not divine. We agree with that view.
 

 

​After the first sentence in red, our color coding for NT, the next sentence is an actual quote from Psalms 110, color-coded Israel blue.   The first “the Lord” is who? And the second “the Lord” is who?  In Christian designation, the first is God the Father? and the second is God the Son?
 

 

​A good way to resolve our differences is to go to the original source — the Hebrew Scriptures, and check out how Jewish translators render this psalm and check out Jewish interpretation of the verses, since it IS their scripture.

​Who wrote it? David? or someone else? 

 

 

 In ArtScroll Tanach, the title of the Psalm is: “Regarding David,* a psalm.  The asterisk * points to the footnote: “An unnamed psalmist, possibly one of David’s soldiers, composed this psalm about his king, whom he calls “my master” (Ibn Ezra; Radak).  ​

 

Second, who is the first “the Lord” and the second “the Lord”?  This is the problem with substitutions for the tetragrammaton Name YHWH.  Usually Christian translations use all caps “the LORD” for divinity, with the understanding it’s a substitute for YHWH.  ArtScroll prefers to use “HASHEM” which is Hebrew for “the Name”.  Still, ArtScroll’s translation makes it clear who is who (we insert YHWH where the Name belongs):

 
 1  “The word of HASHEM [YHWH} to my master, “Wait at My right, 
until I make your enemies a stool for your feet.”  
2  HASHEM [YHWH] will dispatch the staff of your strength from Zion, rule amid your enemies!  
3   Your people volunteer on the day of your campaign, because of your majestic sanctity from the inception of [your reign], you retain the dewlike freshness of your youth.*  
4  HASHEM [YHWH] has sworn and will not relent! “You shall be a priest forever, because you are a king of righteousness!”  
5  The Lord [YHWH] is at your right; He crushes kings on the day of His anger.  
6  He will judge the corpse-filled nations, He will crush the leader of the mighty land. 
7  From a river along the way He shall drink –therefore he may proudly lift his head.

 

​ArtScroll commentary:  
 “Davids legendary power came through Divine favor earned through his righteousness.”
 
On vs. 3:  “When you do battle, your nation will be loyal to you, because you retained the pure because you retained the unselfish character of your humble shepherd youth (Meiri).​

​On vs. 4 says:  “A Jewish king should be like a priest, drawing God’s people closer to His service.  Indeed it is the duty of everyone to sanctify himself and be an example​ of loyal service to God.as He said to the children of Israel before giving the Ten Commandments, “You shall be to me a kingdom of priests” meaning that the entire nation, not merely the priests, was commanded to dedicate itself to God’s service. Furthermore, both the priests and the members of the royal family had a special obligation to serve God and uphold justice (See Deuteronomy 17:12, II Samuel 8:18, Jeremiah 21:12).

 

 

 

VAN@S6K
AIbEiAIAAABDCNPkvrXuucmdeSILdmNhcmRfcGhvdG8qKGJkZTc0YTk3NmUxMGM4OTAzZjk5MDhkMjdkZDI2ODQ3OTliYmQ2MDkwAe5UdNp0lvYvCf8bjAFEJOY_fdsj

Next:  Discourse: Sinaite to Christian Elder – 14
DISCOURSE

Discourse: Sinaite to Christian Pastor – 13

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[Sinaite VAN begins with “this will be short” but don’t be fooled by the shortness of his counter-argument . . . do not miss the discussion of Psalm 2 which is referred to in a link, and which is pasted  after his “short” reply.  It is worth the reread and review and re-interpretation and re-understanding of that simple psalm which has been so misused and misapplied!  Enough said.—Admin1]
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Greetings “HE” —-

 

This will be short. 

 

I simply wish to address another “prooftext” you had cited in your email [posted in  Discourse: Christian Elder to Sinaite – 10]  about Jesus being prefigured in the Old Testament.

 

 

As you must have already noted, I do not consider the first part of the Christian Bible, the “Old Testament” as an accurate rendering of the Hebrew Scriptures known as TNK, an acronym for Torah, Neviim and Ketuvim. 

 

 

The reason is, there are many mistranslated verses, specially those that are presented as “prooftexts” that Jesus is not only prefigured but is himself —
  • the Jewish Messiah,
  • the Rock,
  • the Shepherd,  
  • Creator in Genesis
  • and the Revelator on Sinai,
  • and the God of Israel

— among many other claims.

 

 

 

Anyone who lives later could claim such titles attributed only to YHWH, the God of Israel.  

 

 

As far as we understand, the historical Jesus did not actually claim to be God Himself.  In fact a careful reading of  the synoptic gospels will show that Jesus made no such claims (unless a redactor inserted them).   It is only the gospel of John in its opening verses echoing the opening verses of Genesis that does make such bold claims .   And later there’s Paul who never met Jesus who completes the metamorphosis from man to God.

 

 

Christian theologians came up with the perfect justification for this and it is called ‘progressive revelation’.  

 

To me and my core community of Sinaites, we acknowledge there is progressive revelation from Genesis to Deuteronomy but we take seriously the warning there, that no one should add nor subtract thenceforth.  

 

The New Testament Book of Revelation tacks on the same warning, as the last book of its canon.  

 

Whose word are we to believe, the John of Revelation or YHWH, Revelator on Sinai who gave His manual for humanity in the Torah?

You cited Psalm 2 as a prooftext of OT prefiguring Jesus in NT.  Here is one post on our website that fully explains Psalm 2; the link is: https://sinai6000.net/psalm-212-kiss-the-son-vs-do-reverence-in-purity/  

 

 

 

VAN@S6K

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Next:  Discourse: Sinaite to Christian Elder – 13

Psalm 2:12 “Kiss the Son” vs. “Yearn for purity . . . serve the Lord YHWH with fear”

 

[This was first posted June 2,2014. It is being reposted here to counter the claim in Discourse: Christian Elder to Sinaite – 10 that this psalm is one of the many ‘prooftexts’ in the Christian Old Testament that Jesus is being referred to here as the “son”.  The color coding here should not get confusing; we use red for “caution” in the Christian “Old Testament” and use Israel blue for Hebrew translation of their TNK, Tanach, Tanakh.  With this color coding, you—reader—are ever made aware of where you’re treading, on the Christian translation of “Old” Testament or the Hebrew translation of their Hebrew Scriptures.—Admin1.]

 

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Psalm 2 is a good case study for comparing Christian versions/translations with the Hebrew rendering of specific verses or words.

 

Now . . . which version/translation are we going to believe?  

  • The Hebrew Scriptures say it like it is in the original;
  • the Christian Old Testament says it in a totally different way.

Why?

 

Simply capitalizing certain words such as —

  • “son” (“Son”),
  • “anointed” (“Anointed”),
  • “Thou”/“Thy”/”Thine”/”Thee” —-
  • referring to the antecedent “Son” and “Anointed” and “King.”

Now who could this capitalized “Son” “Anointed” and “King” possibly be?

 

In effect, by such subtle changes of the original Hebrew text, the Christocentric NT-oriented reader is already programmed to jump to a foregone conclusion:

 

“AHA! these verses are referring to who else????

Jesus!”  So add this psalm to the other ‘prooftexts’ that Jesus was indeed prefigured in the TNK.

 

As former Christocentric believers ourselves, we used the same ‘OT/NT’ lenses or mental-eyeglasses and read it the same way as all Christians do. Remember the ”NT baggage” we keep saying to leave behind if you will seriously read the Hebrew Scriptures?  Not the Christian Old Testament, please, but any of the Jewish translations of their TNK.

 

Why does a major world religion—

  • borrow the scriptures of the chosen people,
  • append it to theirs as a prequel,
  • but does not leave it as it is in the original
  • and instead tamper with words
  • with subtle changes such as capitalization
  • and worse, outright change of original words
  • and hence, influence the reading
  • and re-interpretation of its original meaning?  

 

There is an agenda:

  •  the NT cannot stand on its own,
  • it needs the Hebrew Scriptures in Christian dress,
  • then retitled the “Old Testament”
  • to suggest passé, obsolete, done away with, not for ‘us’ in the ‘new dispensation’
  • yet use OT for convenience when a prooftext is needed to bolster the teaching that Jesus is prefigured all over the Hebrew Scriptures.

Confused?

 

A reader was surprised at our claim that the Jews do not read the “Old Testament”—

 

R: “O really? but that is their Bible!”

S6K: “No, that is not, and they don’t call their Scriptures “bible”, that is a Christian designation of its Scriptures; the Jews, the Rabbis, Israel has the Hebrew Scriptures called the “TNK,” “Tanach,” “Tanakh.”

R:  “Same book!”

S6K:  “Not at all, a world of difference!!!  Check it out for yourself.”

 

Prooftext?  Read the translations presented below.

 

One more note:  we’ve inserted the Name of the God of Israel, the God in TNK, the Revelator on Sinai, His Name is YHWH.  This is why it is important to use the Name of the One True God, that way there is no confusion.  Using substitutes and titles like “LORD” even in CAPS to indicate the Tetragrammaton (as translators themselves explain in their preface), and in the case of the ArtScroll, substituting HaShem or The Name, is not enough. It opens up a can of worms in the receptor/reader’s understanding.  The reader has his own belief system in his own God, if the name of his God is not YHWH, then ‘God’ and ‘Lord’ could be applied to his God. 

 

The avoidance of using the Name has led to a free-for-all application to any person’s God, and that is why such a psalm as this and other wrongly translated words in the “Old Testament” are so easily used as “prooftexts” to show the Christian God-man was not only in the Old Testament, but as our former messianic teacher asserts, Jesus/Yeshua is YHWH himself.

Doesn’t that border on blasphemy?

 

Here are 4 versions of Psalm 2:

 

  • King James Version [KJV],
  • New American Standard Version [NASB],
  • ArtScroll the Stone Tanach [AST], and
  • the translation from Chabad.org.
The phrases/words/letters to focus on are highlighted.

 

Christian Translations [in RED, for CAUTION]

 

[KJV]  Psalm 2

 1Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?

2The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,

3Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.

4He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.

5Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.

6Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

7I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.

8Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.

9Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.

10Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.

11Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.

12Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

 

 

[NASB] Psalm 2:  The Reign of the LORD’s Anointed

1  WHY are the nations in an uproar,  And the peoples devising a vain thing?

2  The kings of the earth take their stand, And the rulers take counsel together

Against the LORD and against His Anointed:

3  Let us tear their fetters apart, And cast away their cords from us!”

4  He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.

5  Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury:

6  “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.”

7  “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD:

He said to Me, “Thou art My Son 

Today I have begotten Thee.

8  ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance

And the very ends of the earth as Thy possession.

9  ‘Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron,

Thou shalt shatter them like earthenware.'”

10  Now therefore,O kings, show discernment;

Take warning, O judges of the earth.

11  Worship the LORD with reverence, And rejoice with trembling.

12  Do homage to the Son, lest He become angry, and you perish in the way,

For His wrath may soon be kindled.

How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!

  

Jewish/Hebrew Bible Translations

Chabad.org/The Complete Jewish Bible-  Psalm 2

 

1. Why have nations gathered and [why do] kingdoms think vain things? א. לָמָּה רָגְשׁוּ גוֹיִם וּלְאֻמִּים יֶהְגּוּ רִיק:
2. Kings of a land stand up, and nobles take counsel together against the Lord [YHWH] and against His anointed? ב. יִתְיַצְּבוּ | מַלְכֵי אֶרֶץ וְרוֹזְנִים נוֹסְדוּ יָחַד עַל יְהֹוָה וְעַל מְשִׁיחוֹ:
3. “Let us break their bands and cast off their cords from us.” ג. נְנַתְּקָה אֶת מוֹסְרוֹתֵימוֹ וְנַשְׁלִיכָה מִמֶּנּוּ עֲבֹתֵימוֹ:
4. He Who dwells in Heaven laughs; the Lord [YHWH] mocks them. ד. יוֹשֵׁב בַּשָּׁמַיִם יִשְׂחָק אֲדֹנָי יִלְעַג לָמוֹ:
5. Then He speaks to them in His wrath; and He frightens them with His sore displeasure. ה. אָז יְדַבֵּר אֵלֵימוֹ בְאַפּוֹ וּבַחֲרוֹנוֹ יְבַהֲלֵמוֹ:
6. “But I have enthroned My king on Zion, My holy mount.” ו. וַאֲנִי נָסַכְתִּי מַלְכִּי עַל צִיּוֹן הַר קָדְשִׁי:
7. I will tell of the decree; The Lord [YHWH] said to me, “You are My son; this day have I begotten you. ז. אֲסַפְּרָה אֶל חֹק יְהֹוָה אָמַר אֵלַי בְּנִי אַתָּה אֲנִי הַיּוֹם יְלִדְתִּיךָ:
8. Request of Me, and I will make nations your inheritance, and the ends of the earth your possession. ח. שְׁאַל מִמֶּנִּי וְאֶתְּנָה גוֹיִם נַחֲלָתֶךָ וַאֲחֻזָּתְךָ אַפְסֵי אָרֶץ:
9. You shall break them with an iron rod; like a potter’s vessel you shall shatter them.” ט. תְּרֹעֵם בְּשֵׁבֶט בַּרְזֶל כִּכְלִי יוֹצֵר תְּנַפְּצֵם:
10. And now, [you] kings, be wise; be admonished, [you] judges of the earth. י. וְעַתָּה מְלָכִים הַשְׂכִּילוּ הִוָּסְרוּ שֹׁפְטֵי אָרֶץ:
11. Serve the Lord [YHWH] with fear, and rejoice with quaking. יא. עִבְדוּ אֶת יְהֹוָה בְּיִרְאָה וְגִילוּ בִּרְעָדָה:
12. Arm yourselves with purity lest He become angry and you perish in the way, for in a moment His wrath will be kindled; the praises of all who take refuge in Him.
 

[AST]  Psalm 2

1  Why do nations gather, and regimes talk in vain?

2  The kings of the earth take their stand and the princes conspire secretly, against HaShem [YHWH]and against His anointed:

3  “Let us cut their cords and let us cast off their ropes from ourselves.”

4  He Who sits in heaven will laugh, the Lord will mock them.

5  Then He will speak to them in His anger, and in His wrath He will terrify them.

6  “I Myself have anointed My king, over Zion, My holy mountain!”

7  I am obliged to proclaim that HaShem [YHWH] said to me, “You are My son, I have begotten you this day.

8  Ask of Me and I will make nations your inheritance, and the ends of the earth your possession.

9  You will smash them with an iron rod; you will shatter them like a potter’s vessel.

10  And now, O kings, be wise; be disciplined, O judges of the earth.

11  Serve HaShem [YHWH] with awe that you may rejoice when there is trembling.

12  Yearn for purity, lest He grow wrathful and your way be doomed, for in a brief moment His anger will blaze; praiseworthy are all who trust in Him.

 

Did you notice which words are capitalized in the Hebrew translations?  “My” and “His” and “He” referring to YHWH, not the ‘son’ or ‘king’ or ‘you’ or ‘him’ referring to king David.

 

Here’s a thorough mind-boggling, actually discombobulating discussion of what has been done to this simple Psalm!

  http://thejewishhome.org/counter/Psa2.pdf

 NSB@S6K

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DISCOURSE

Discourse – Sinaite to Christian Pastor -12

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[The next couple of discourses are installments of Sinaite VAN’s answer to the many points raised in Discourse #11 by “CP”.  Are readers learning anything from this exchange?  You should!  Here are two equals, church leaders, evangelists, both biblically educated (in the New Testament) though the Sinaite went farther in his “Old Testament” reorientation by studying the original Hebrew Scriptures minus Christian retranslation and reinterpretation. —Admin1]

 

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Dear “CP” —

 

Greetings in the Name of the One True God, YHWH, God of Israel, Revelator on Sinai, the Name I and my core community Sinai 6000, declare as the God we embrace and worship.

 

I was in a quandary as to how to respond to your last reply [Discourse: Christian Elder to Sinaite – 10], mainly because it was quite lengthy and tackled a lot of topics. 

 

In our past exchanges we had presented our individual views on each and all those varied subjects and understandably, you had opted to take it all up in one long email.  I do appreciate the time and effort it took for you to write almost a treatise, an apologetics of sorts that took over 6 pages on legal size paper.  Forgive me for the delay in responding; it is taking me a while to read and reflect on each of your counter-arguments.  

 

I will not attempt to take up all the points you raised in one long reply; instead I will take up one topic at a time.  I hope this is alright with you.  If we were discussing this face to face, I am sure it will take us hours, perhaps days, if not many meetings and still, most likely, still not see eye to eye, and that is alright for friends who continue to respect one another’s differing faith choice and yet remain open to understanding ‘why’ and ‘how’ we have arrived at our individual convictions..

 

At the outset, may I be frank about the glaring problem in our letter-exchange.  We are presenting the justification for our arguments based on  two different sources:
  •  I defend my stand based  solely on the Hebrew translation of the TNK,
  • while you defend your stand from the Christian Bible (Christian translation of the Old Testament and the New Testament).

If we were basing our arguments on the basis of the same Scriptures, then it would simply be a matter of discussing the context (historical, cultural, literary).  Still, this whole effort at explaining our views to one another is not wasted, since our discourse is open to others in the website.  Discourse is a good teaching tool; open-minded readers learn from each side.

For starters, I will return to the one topic that has been the problem for me that led me to my quest for more truth based on the Hebrew Scriptures:  the claim that ‘Jesus is the Paschal Lamb’.  With the Christian feast of Easter coming up once more, timed almost with the Jewish/biblical celebration of the feast of Passover, this second of seven feasts commanded in Leviticus 23 is actually easy to check out (the first being the weekly Sabbath).  

 

The historical context of the original event is clear to both of us— we agree on the details of the requirements given for each household to be spared of the 10th plague, losing the firstborn; what we disagree on is the interpretation and symbolism extended beyond the original context, specifically that which is forced upon it by Christian teaching.  

 

My point from the very start has been:  this lamb is not an offering, not a sacrifice, but intended to challenge the gods of Egypt, 9 of which have already been reflected in the previous 9 plagues.  If you carefully read the Exodus narrative and the Leviticus text on ‘MY feasts’ or the feasts of YHWH, you will see the difference between the Passover and other feasts where offerings are commanded.
There appears to be confusion between the feast of Passover which is commanded on the 14th of Nisan, and the feast of Unleavened Bread which takes 7 days starting on the 15th of Nisan.  Even the later requirement when Israel’s male population are required to be at Jerusalem three times a year, it is the Feast of Unleavened Bread and not the Passover that is mentioned. This is crucial, since the Passover is a home-based celebration, not one where a lamb is to be offered in the Temple, not even as a synagogue gathering.  The Jewish Seder is family-centered, where the Haggadah allows children to ask the ‘why’ questions so that the next generation is educated on the purpose for celebrating the Passover.  Lamb is eaten as part of the meal or a lamb shank is symbolically present at the Seder meal. 

 

The confusion is most likely caused by translations, particularly Christian translations where a “holy convocation” (Christian translation) is substituted for “proclamation of holiness” (Hebrew translation).  “Holiness” is simply the state of being “set apart” whether it be a room, a day, an object, or time such as the Sabbath.  Set apart for what purpose?  In general, set apart in connection with God—Torah study, fellowship, prayer, etc. The same room, object, or time — when used for mundane or secular purposes is no longer considered “holy” or set apart.  The connection with God is what sets anything apart, i.e., “sacred” or “holy”.  

VAN@S6K
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Next:  Discourse – Sinaite to Christian Pastor -12

 

 

Postscript:
Here is a link that might help in understanding the Passover feast and the passover lamb:  http://noahide-ancient-path.co.uk/index.php/judaism-articles/judaism-v-christianity/2012/04/the-paschal-lamb-is-not-an-atonement/

Hereunder is the text:

 

The Paschal Lamb is not an atonement, it is an act of defiance!  

 

Exodus 8:22 (so much for Jesus as “the paschal lamb”).

 

“’What we will sacrifice to HaShem our L-rd is sacred to the Egyptians. Could we sacrifice the sacred animal of the Egyptians before their very eyes and not have them stone us?”

 

Moses clearly tells Pharaoh (and us) that the animal to be sacrificed by the Jews is sacred (e.g.,  a G-d) to the Egyptians. The paschal lamb (or sheep) has nothing whatsoever to do with atoning for sins.

 

We know that the Egyptian Kevatim would worship the Zodiac sign of the sheep (Aries). To this end, they banned the slaughter of sheep and despised sheep traders and shepherds (Ex.8:22,Bereshit 46:34 ) ….

 

It was for this very reason that we were commanded to slaughter the Paschal lamb, daubing its blood – in Egypt – on the doorways, in full view. This was to cleanse ourselves of those (idolatrous) views and to publicise the very opposite; in order to internalize the notion that the very act that they (Egypt) expect to bring our destruction ( ie. the slaughter of the gods) will save us from destruction;

 

‘And HaShem will pass over the door and not let the destroyer enter and smite your home.’(12:23)” [Moreh Nevuchim 3:46]

 

Rambam (circa 12th century in the “Guide to the Perplexed) said:  

 

Scripture tells us, according to the Version of Onkelos, that the Egyptians worshipped Aries, and therefore abstained from killing sheep, and held shepherds in contempt. Comp.

 

”Behold we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians,” etc. (Exod. viii. 26):”

 

For every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians” (Gen. Avi. 34).

 

Some sects among the Sabeans worshipped demons, and imagined that these assumed the form of goats, and called them therefore” goats” This worship was widespread.  

 

Comp.  

 

”And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto demons, after whom they have gone a whoring” (Lev. xvii. 7).

 

 For this reason those sects abstained from eating goats’ flesh. Most idolaters objected to killing cattle, holding this species of animals in great estimation. Therefore the people of Hodu [Indians] up to this day do not slaughter cattle even in those countries where other animals are slaughtered. In order to eradicate these false principles, the Law commands us to offer sacrifices only of these three kinds :

 

” Ye shall bring your offering of the cattle [viz.], of the herd and of the flock” (Lev. i. 2).

 

Thus the very act which is considered by the heathen as the greatest crime, is the means of approaching G-d, and obtaining His pardon for our sins. In this manner, evil principles, the diseases of the human soul, are cured by other principles which are diametrically opposite.

 

This is also the reason why we were commanded to kill a lamb on Passover, and to sprinkle the blood thereof outside on the gates. We had to free ourselves of evil doctrines and to proclaim the opposite, viz., that the very act which was then considered as being the cause of death would be the cause of deliverance from death.

 Comp.

 

”And HaShem will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come unto your houses to suite you” (Exod. idi. 23).

 Thus they were rewarded for performing openly a service every part of which was objected to by the idolaters.

 The Egyptians worshipped sheep / lambs and ergo the sacrifice of the lamb was an “in your face” to them (while showing a believe in HaShem that the Egyptians wouldn’t kill them for slaughtering the Egyptian “G-d.).

 An interesting bit of trivia about Passover:

 The astrological symbol of the month of Nisan (the month of Passover) is Aries, the ram (male sheep).

 Additional thoughts are found in Midrash Rabba, too.

 “You will find that when Israel were in Egypt, they served idols, which they were reluctant to abandon, for it says:

 

“They did not cast away the detestable things of their eyes” (Ezekiel 20:8).

 G-d then said to Moses:

 ‘As long as Israel worship Egyptian G-ds, they will not be redeemed; go and tell them to abandon their evil ways and to reject idolatry.’

 

This is what is meant by:

 

“Draw out and take your lambs” (12:21),

 

that is to say:   “Draw away your hands from idolatry and take for yourselves lambs, thereby slaying the gof Egypt and preparing the Passover.  Only through this will the L-rd pass over you.”

 

 Gee what a coincidence. And the very day for Passover, 15th of Nissan, is the apex of a lunar month. The ram-G-d of the Egyptians was to be slaughtered on the evening of the full-moon of its very own month.  How is that for HaShem having a great sense of humor?

 Rambam goes on to say that by slaughtering an Egyptian G-d (the lamb / sheep) the Israelites accomplished 3 things:

 1. They showed faith in HaShem – that HaShem was more powerful than the Egyptian G-ds and the Egyptians themselves (who would normally kill anyone who hurt their “G-ds.”).

 2. The Israelites proved themselves not to be idolaters.

  3. They (and HaShem) showed the Egyptians that their G-ds were false and powerless in the face of HaShem. The Talmud tells us that Torah decrees we select our sheep or ram  (cf. Shemot 12:5 which treats them identically) four days in before the sacrifice to re-enforce to the Egyptians just how powerless they were in the presence of HaShem.  It was most definitely “in your face.” As was smearing the blood of the sacrificed animals on the doorposts.  This was an outright affront no Egyptian could miss.

 Why would G-d command that we smear it on the OUTSIDE of the houses if the purpose were just for G-d to “see” it? (Shemot 12:13; ve-ra’iti et ha-dam). 

 Nope, Rebecca,  it HAD to be outside so the Egyptians would see it!  It gets even better.  

 Ibn Ezra tells us G-d commanded we roast the animal rather than cooking it in a pot or eating it raw, so the Egyptians would SMELL their G-d being cooked.   You see, in a pot you can cover it with a lid – but by roasting the smell would be unmistakable.

 IN YOUR FACE, not meek and mild. Most definitely. Not meek. Not an atonement – a DARE. A defiant act. And an act of infinite trust in G-d’s saving power.

 

Also see Genesis 46:34

 

34. You shall say, ‘Your servants have been owners of livestock from our youth until now, both we and our ancestors,’ so that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, because all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians.”

 (Rashi: shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians Because they (the sheep) are their gods).

 ” We know that the Egyptian Kevatim would worship the Zodiac sign of the sheep (Aries). To this end, they banned the slaughter of sheep and despised sheep traders and shepherds (Ex.8:22,Bereshit 46:34 ) ….

 

It was for this very reason that we were commanded to slaughter the Paschal lamb, daubing its blood – in Mitzrayin (Egypt)- on the doorways, in full view. This was to cleanse ourselves of those (idolatrous) views and to publicize the very opposite; in order to internalize the notion that the very act that they (Egypt) expect to bring our destruction ( ie. the slaughter of the G-ds) will save us from destruction;

 

‘And the L-rd will pass over the door and not let the destroyer enter and smite your home.’(12:23)” [Moreh Nevuchim 3:46] 
 
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 Tagged as: Jesus is NOT the Paschal Lamb!

{ 3 comments]

 

Terry Hayes April 4, 2012 at 1:26 pm

 

I would like to add another thought as well.

 

So many christians want to use the Passover to show power of the blood. But the power of salvation in the Pesach story was not in the blood of the lamb but in the obedience of the Israelite – The blood on the door was a sign that those inside obeyed the commandment of G-d – those who did not obey suffered the consequences of disobedience

 
 Sophiee Saguy June 15, 2012 at 5:18 pm
 
A beautiful synopsis — and the entire point!
 

MaApril 14, 2014 at 4:01 amPlease re-check your references,The sheep/ram was FIRST used as a sacrifice by Abraham. 

 

 

And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said , My father: and he said , Here am I, my son. And he said , Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
 

 

And Abraham said , My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together 
 

Genesis 22:13 KJV

 

And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked , and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. Sort results by: Book of the Bible | Most relevant search result
 

Genesis 15:9 KJV

 

And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old , and a she goat of three years old , and a ram of three years old , and a turtledove, and a young pigeon .