BR comments at conclusion of article.
with thanks to Rabbi Michael
Skobac, Jews
for Judaism
One of the most common questions we receive at Aish.com is:
"Why don't Jews believe in Jesus?" Let's understand why ―
not in order to disparage other religions, but rather to
clarify the Jewish position.
Jews do not accept Jesus as the messiah because:
- Jesus did not fulfill the messianic prophecies.
- Jesus did not embody the personal qualifications of the
Messiah.
- Biblical verses "referring" to Jesus are
mistranslations.
- Jewish belief is based on national revelation.
But first, some background: What exactly is the Messiah?
The word "Messiah" is an English rendering of the Hebrew
word Mashiach, which means "anointed." It usually
refers to a person initiated into God's service by being
anointed with oil. (Exodus 29:7, 1-Kings 1:39, 2-Kings 9:3)
1. Jesus Did Not Fulfill the Messianic
Prophecies
What is the Messiah supposed to accomplish? One of the
central themes of biblical prophecy is the promise of a
future age of perfection characterized by universal peace
and recognition of God. (Isaiah 2:1-4, 32:15-18, 60:15-18;
Zephaniah 3:9; Hosea 2:20-22; Amos 9:13-15; Micah 4:1-4;
Zechariah 8:23, 14:9; Jeremiah 31:33-34)
Specifically, the Bible says he will:
- Build the Third Temple (Ezekiel 37:26-28).
- Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Isaiah
43:5-6).
- Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred,
oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man
learn war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4)
- Spread universal knowledge of the God of Israel, which
will unite humanity as one. As it says: "God will be King
over all the world ― on that day, God will be One and His
Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9).
If an individual fails to fulfill even one of these
conditions, then he cannot be the Messiah.
Because no one has ever fulfilled the Bible's description
of this future King, Jews still await the coming of the
Messiah. All past Messianic claimants, including Jesus of
Nazareth, Bar Cochba and Shabbtai Tzvi have been rejected.
Christians counter that Jesus will fulfill these in the Second Coming. Jewish sources show that
the Messiah will fulfill the prophecies outright; in the
Bible no concept of a second coming exists.
____________________
2) Jesus Did Not Embody the Personal
Qualifications of Messiah
A. Messiah as Prophet
The Messiah will become the greatest prophet in history,
second only to Moses. (Targum - Isaiah 11:2; Maimonides -
Yad Teshuva 9:2)
Prophecy can only exist in Israel when the land is
inhabited by a majority of world Jewry, a situation which
has not existed since 300 BCE. During the time of Ezra, when
the majority of Jews remained in Babylon, prophecy ended
upon the death of the last prophets ― Haggai, Zechariah and
Malachi.
Jesus appeared on the scene approximately 350 years after
prophecy had ended, and thus could not be a prophet.
B. Descendent of David
Many prophetic passages speak of a descendant of King David
who will rule Israel during the age of perfection. (Isaiah
11:1-9; Jeremiah 23:5-6, 30:7-10, 33:14-16; Ezekiel
34:11-31, 37:21-28; Hosea 3:4-5)
The Messiah must be descended on his father's side from
King David (see Genesis 49:10, Isaiah 11:1, Jeremiah 23:5,
33:17; Ezekiel 34:23-24). According to the Christian claim
that Jesus was the product of a virgin birth, he had no
father ― and thus could not have possibly fulfilled the
messianic requirement of being descended on his father's
side from King David. (1)
According to Jewish sources, the Messiah will be born of
human parents and possess normal physical attributes like
other people. He will not be a demi-god, (2) nor will he
possess supernatural qualities.
C. Torah Observance
The Messiah will lead the Jewish people to full Torah
observance. The Torah states that all mitzvot remain binding
forever, and anyone coming to change the Torah is
immediately identified as a false prophet. (Deut. 13:1-4)
Throughout the New Testament, Jesus contradicts the Torah
and states that its commandments are no longer applicable.
For example, John 9:14 records that Jesus made a paste in
violation of Shabbat, which caused the Pharisees to say
(verse 16), "He does not observe Shabbat!"
____________________
3) Mistranslated Verses "Referring" to
Jesus
Biblical verses can only be understood by studying the
original Hebrew text ― which reveals many discrepancies in
the Christian translation.
A. Virgin Birth
The Christian idea of a virgin birth is derived from the
verse in Isaiah 7:14 describing an "alma" as giving
birth. The word "alma" has always meant a young
woman, but Christian theologians came centuries later and
translated it as "virgin." This accords Jesus' birth with
the first century pagan idea of mortals being impregnated by
gods.
B. Suffering Servant
Christianity claims that Isaiah chapter 53 refers to Jesus, as
the "suffering servant."
In actuality, Isaiah 53 directly follows the theme of
chapter 52, describing the exile and redemption of the
Jewish people. The prophecies are written in the singular
form because the Jews ("Israel") are regarded as one unit.
Throughout Jewish scripture, Israel is repeatedly called, in
the singular, the "Servant of God" (see Isaiah 43:8). In
fact, Isaiah states no less than 11 times in the chapters
prior to 53 that the Servant of God is Israel.
When read correctly, Isaiah 53 clearly [and ironically]
refers to the Jewish people being "bruised, crushed and as
sheep brought to slaughter" at the hands of the nations of
the world. These descriptions are used throughout Jewish
scripture to graphically describe the suffering of the
Jewish people (see Psalm 44).
Isaiah 53 concludes that when the Jewish people are
redeemed, the nations will recognize and accept
responsibility for the inordinate suffering and death of the
Jews.
______________________
4) Jewish Belief is Based Solely on
National Revelation
Throughout history, thousands of religions have been
started by individuals, attempting to convince people that
he or she is God's true prophet. But personal revelation is
an extremely weak basis for a religion because one can never
know if it is indeed true. Since others did not hear God
speak to this person, they have to take his word for it.
Even if the individual claiming personal revelation performs
miracles, they do not prove he is a genuine prophet. All the
miracles show ― assuming they are genuine ― is that he has
certain powers. It has nothing to do with his claim of
prophecy.
Judaism, unique among all of the world's major religions,
does not rely on "claims of miracles" as the basis for its
religion. In fact, the Bible says that God sometimes grants
the power of "miracles" to charlatans, in order to test
Jewish loyalty to the Torah (Deut. 13:4).
Of the thousands of religions in human history, only
Judaism bases its belief on national revelation ― i.e. God
speaking to the entire nation. If God is going to start a
religion, it makes sense He'll tell everyone, not just one
person.
Maimonides states (Foundations of Torah, ch. 8):
The Jews did not believe in Moses, our teacher,
because of the miracles he performed. Whenever anyone's
belief is based on seeing miracles, he has lingering
doubts, because it is possible the miracles were performed
through magic or sorcery. All of the miracles performed by
Moses in the desert were because they were necessary, and
not as proof of his prophecy.
What then was the basis of [Jewish] belief? The
Revelation at Mount Sinai, which we saw with our own
eyes and heard with our own ears, not dependent on the
testimony of others... as it says, "Face to face, God
spoke with you..." The Torah also states: "God did not
make this covenant with our fathers, but with us ― who
are all here alive today." (Deut. 5:3)
Judaism is not miracles. It is the personal eyewitness
experience of every man, woman and child, standing at Mount
Sinai 3,300 years ago.
For further reading: "Did God
Speak at Mount Sinai?"
Waiting for the Messiah
The world is in desperate need of Messianic redemption. To
the extent that we are aware of the problems of society, is
the extent we will yearn for redemption. As the Talmud says,
one of the first questions asked of a Jew on Judgment Day
is: "Did you yearn for the arrival of the Messiah?"
How can we hasten the coming of the Messiah? The best way
is to love all humanity generously, to keep the mitzvot of
the Torah (as best we can), and to encourage others to do so
as well.
Despite the gloom, the world does seem headed toward
redemption. One apparent sign is that the Jewish people have
returned to the Land of Israel and made it bloom again.
Additionally, a major movement is afoot of young Jews
returning to Torah tradition.
The Messiah can come any day, and it all depends on our
actions. God is ready when we are. For as King David says:
"Redemption will come today ― if you hearken to His voice."
For further study: • Jews
for Judaism
• "The Real Messiah," by Rabbi Aryeh
Kaplan
• "Let's Get Biblical! Why Doesn't Judaism
Accept the Christian Messiah?," by Rabbi Tovia Singer
• "The Path of the Righteous Gentile," by
Chaim Clorfene and Yakov Rogalsky
FOOTNOTES
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(1) In response, it is claimed that Joseph adopted Jesus,
and passed on his genealogy via adoption. There are two
problems with this claim:
a) There is no biblical basis for the idea of a
father passing on his tribal line by adoption. A priest who
adopts a son from another tribe cannot make him a priest by
adoption.
b) Joseph could never pass on by adoption that which he
doesn't have. Because Joseph descended from Jeconiah
(Matthew 1:11) he fell under the curse of that king that
none of his descendants could ever sit as king upon the
throne of David. (Jeremiah 22:30; 36:30)
To answer this difficult problem, apologists claim that
Jesus traces himself back to King David through his mother
Mary, who allegedly descends from David, as shown in the
third chapter of Luke. There are four basic problems with
this claim:
a) There is no evidence that Mary descends from
David. The third chapter of Luke traces Joseph's genealogy,
not Mary's.
b) Even if Mary can trace herself back to David, that
doesn't help Jesus, since tribal affiliation goes only
through the father, not mother. Cf. Numbers 1:18; Ezra 2:59.
c) Even if family line could go through the mother, Mary was
not from a legitimate Messianic family. According to the
Bible, the Messiah must be a descendent of David through his
son Solomon (II Samuel 7:14; I Chronicles 17:11-14, 22:9-10,
28:4-6). The third chapter of Luke is irrelevant to this
discussion because it describes lineage of David's son
Nathan, not Solomon. (Luke 3:31)
d) Luke 3:27 lists Shealtiel and Zerubbabel in his
genealogy. These two also appear in Matthew 1:12 as
descendants of the cursed Jeconiah. If Mary descends from
them, it would also disqualify her from being a Messianic
progenitor.
(2) Maimonides devotes much of the "Guide for the
Perplexed" to the fundamental idea that God is incorporeal,
meaning that He assumes no physical form. God is Eternal,
above time. He is Infinite, beyond space. He cannot be born,
and cannot die. Saying that God assumes human form makes God
small, diminishing both His unity and His divinity. As the
Torah says: "God is not a mortal" (Numbers 23:19)
========================================
Short reply to Jewish objections to accepting Jesus as
Messiah :
There are other perfectly valid ways to define --and
conceive of-- the concept "Messiah." These do not exclude
the ways discussed above, although some regard the
traditional Orthodox definitions as parochial and therefore
of limited applicability. Still, Isaiah explicitly says that
Cyrus, good Zoroastrian that he was, was a Messiah, and who
am I to argue ?
Christians have their own interpretation. And are the
Biblical passages cited in the preceding article all that
cut and dried ? Biblical interpretation is not like
mathematics, with only one possible right answer in all
cases. I think that there usually is only one
right answer, but to insist that there is only one way to
think of the Messiah --one of maybe a dozen other issues in
scripture of which this can be said-- would be to err. It
may be entirely valid to say to Christians that their
current interpretation of Messiah could use some revision.
That would be a reasonable position to take. But to throw it
all out and say to Orthodox Jews that they are 100% right,
case closed, no discussion allowed, would be ridiculous, not
to mention conceited.
All of which begs important questions. How reliable are
Bible passages about Messiah ? All that rest on strictly
monotheistic premises are, it seems to me, questionable. See
Raphael Patai's The Hebrew Goddess. You can debate
the concept "Goddess" but what is meant in other vocabulary
is Holy Spirit, which is feminine in the OT / Hebrew Bible.
Messiah will do her bidding as well as Jehovah's.
Finally, concepts like Messiah are culturally defined as
much as anything else. Similarly for prophet, priest,
bishop, rabbi, etc. Granted, a Mormon prophet does not meet
the qualifications demanded by Jews or Catholics or
Baptists, but to Mormons the head of their Church IS a
prophet, and there is no argument possible on the matter.
Aren't there objective criteria ? There should be, it is my
position, but these criteria need to take into account, in
some way, valid cultural perspectives. So far few religious
orthodoxies of any kind make the effort.
Billy
