change - فريق اللاهوت الدفاعي

Observance of the Sabbath has been the hallmark of the Jewish people, separating us from other nations and identifying us with the covenant of God. Since Christianity changed the Sabbath, Christianity is obviously not for the Jewish people.

5.32. Observance of the Sabbath has been the hallmark of the Jewish people, separating us from other nations and identifying us with the covenant of God. Since Christianity changed the Sabbath, Christianity is obviously not for the Jewish people.

Hundreds of years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, when the official “church” had separated itself from its biblical roots, Christendom did, indeed, change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. But that has absolutely nothing to do with the teachings of the New Testament, which is why it is common for Messianic Jews today to hold worship service on Saturday rather than Sunday and to celebrate Shabbat with newfound meaning through the teaching and example of the Messiah. As for Gentile Christians setting aside Sunday as a special day of rest and worship, what is wrong with this?

Without question, traditional Jews have led the way in Sabbath observance for many centuries, and they are to be commended for it. No one has developed more beautiful traditions or made more sacrifices to honor this day than observant Jews. This is in keeping with my position that Judaism is the greatest religion man has ever made, in many ways a living faith but still one that has not obtained what it has sought (see vol. 5, 6.7–6.8). “I can testify about them,” Paul wrote of his own people who had rejected the Messiah, “that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge” (Rom. 10:2) and that they “pursued a law of righteousness” without attaining righteousness (Rom. 9:31). And even when rebuking the hypocritical leaders among our people, Yeshua referred to their punctilious observance of certain laws (e.g., Matt. 23:23). So, often with good motives and at times with mixed motives, traditional Jews have faithfully observed the Sabbath for hundreds and hundreds of years, just as they have sought to observe many other Torah commandments. This is certainly praiseworthy, even though their very best efforts still fall short of obtaining righteousness. I would also point out that God promised that he would preserve the Jewish people as a people, regardless of our sins or shortcomings (see Jer. 31:35–37), and so, even in our dispersion from the Land—an ongoing sign of judgment—God has been at work in our midst to preserve us as a people. (It has often been stated that it is not so much that the Jews kept the Sabbath as much as it is that the Sabbath has kept the Jews.)

But the objection here is not focused on Jewish observance of the Sabbath, something we discuss at some length elsewhere in this volume and in volume 5 (see 5.29; vol. 5, 6.3), critiquing some of the traditions that developed over the centuries. Rather, this objection claims that “Christianity” changed the Sabbath and that, therefore, “Christianity” is not for the Jewish people. Is there any truth to this?

If by “Christianity” you mean the religion of the Tanakh and the New Covenant Scriptures, the religion of Yeshua and his emissaries, the answer is absolutely, categorically “No.” As we demonstrated at length, above (5.28), Yeshua did not abolish the observance of the Sabbath (or change it to another day). To the contrary, he exposed faulty human traditions that took away from the meaning of the Sabbath and instead opened up the deepest, most spiritual aspects of the Sabbath. We also demonstrated that Paul himself was a Sabbath-observant Jew (5.29) and that he too did not teach Jewish believers in the Messiah to abandon the practice of the Sabbath. (At the same time, he did not require Gentile believers to observe the Sabbath, nor would he allow an issue to be made over this.) In keeping with this, for several hundred years after the New Testament period, despite the increasing hostility of the Rabbinic community and the increasing Gentilization of the church, there were Jewish believers in Yeshua who continued to observe the Sabbath, just as many do today.

On the other hand, if by “Christianity” you mean the decisions and councils of later church leaders, hundreds of years after Jesus’ death and resurrection, then the answer is, “Yes,” Christendom did change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday—but there is no scriptural mandate for this decision, as has often been demonstrated. (See, in particular, Samuele Bacchiocci, From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity [Rome: Pontifical Gregorian Press, 1977], with interaction in D. A. Carson, ed., From Sabbath to Lord’s Day: A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Investigation [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982]. More recently, see Daniel Gruber’s treatment of this in The Separation of Church and Faith, Copernicus and the Jews, Volume 1 [Hanover, NH: Elijah Publishing, 2005].)

There is limited evidence that some of Yeshua’s early followers celebrated his resurrection, which took place on a Sunday, in early morning gatherings for prayer or worship on that day.⁴⁸⁷ But we must not see that through the lens of later church practice, since there was not a five-day work week in that culture, and so Jewish believers who continued to observe the Sabbath did not set aside Sunday as an additional day of worship (or change their Saturday observance to Sunday). At most, they added another time of worship and prayer to their weekly schedule on Sunday mornings (or, possibly, evenings). But, to repeat: These Jewish followers of Yeshua did not change the Sabbath to Sunday.

Eventually, due to the massive influx of Gentiles into Messiah’s community, followed by the institutionalizing of the church and the eventual severing of some of its biblical and Jewish roots, it was decreed in the fourth century that the Sabbath had now been changed to Sunday, but this was not what Yeshua taught, and it is not found anywhere in the New Testament.

Is it wrong, then, for Gentile Christians around the world to worship on Sunday and to set this day aside as a Sabbath to the Lord? Certainly not, since the seventh-day Sabbath was something specifically given as a sign to Israel (see, e.g., Ezek. 20:12–21), although some groups, such as Seventh Day Adventists (or many Messianic Jews), would argue that since the seventh-day Sabbath was instituted at creation (Gen. 2:1–3), given to Israel before Sinai (Exod. 16:22–30), offered to Gentiles through the prophets (Isa. 56:4–7), and spoken of in the still-to-come millennial kingdom (Isa. 66:22–24), it should be observed by all.

This much is sure: There is no question that observance of the Sabbath was strongly emphasized in the Hebrew Scriptures, beginning with God’s “Sabbath rest” after creation, and continuing through the rest of the Torah, historical books, and prophets. Yeshua emphasized it as well! But, to repeat, if you as a traditional Jew believe that the seventh-day Sabbath was specifically given to the Jewish people, why should it be an issue to you if Christians around the world from a Gentile background set aside Sunday as a day of Sabbath rest and worship of the Lord? How does this disprove the Messiahship of Jesus?

As for Jewish believers in Jesus who feel no obligation to observe the seventh-day Sabbath, numerous perspectives and convictions exist: some Messianic Jews would argue that these other believers are missing out on a divine blessing; others would argue that they are falling short of their covenantal obligations as Jews; certain others would argue that, to the contrary, with the coming of Messiah, their relationship to the Torah has changed and they are no longer under its obligation (e.g., there is no death penalty today for failure to keep the Sabbath); others would argue that many of them should be treated as though they were Gentiles (the Rabbinic term for Jews who were not raised in traditional homes is tinoq shenishbah, a child that was born in captivity) for whom the Sabbath has different significance, since they were not raised in observant homes; yet others would argue that engaging in ministry to and for the Lord is the best expression of the Sabbath, and still others would argue that they have now entered into the meaning of Sabbath through Yeshua, and that is greater than the day itself. (You will find almost as much diversity in beliefs about this subject among Jewish believers in Jesus as you will among Jews who do not believe in him—ranging from the most nontraditional to the most traditional—although it could be argued that Messianic Jewish congregations take the Sabbath more seriously than their Reform or Conservative Jewish counterparts.)⁴⁸⁸

On the other hand, if you are a traditional Jew and you come to faith in Yeshua as Messiah, you will step forward into an even greater experience of Sabbath rest, something that transcends just one day a week. As for your weekly Sabbath observance, you will probably keep some of your old traditions while casting off others and adding some new expressions before the Lord. For good reason Yeshua said,

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28–30

In him we find ultimate Sabbath rest (see Heb. 4:8–11)

⁴⁸⁷See the relevant studies in Carson, From Sabbath to Lord’s Day; cf. also J. C. Laansma, “Lord’s Day,” in Ralph P. Martin and Peter H. Davids, eds., Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Developments (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1997), 679–87, with further bibliography. Laansma notes that, “From a very early point, at least some believers recognized the ‘first day of the week’ as a special day for the celebration of the Eucharist.… There is no indication in the NT evidence that the day displaced or rivaled the sabbath, that it was a day of rest, that it had anything to do with the Fourth Commandment or that it involved any sort of transfer theology. If the NT evidence for it gives any explanation for the fact of the day’s observance and of its significance, it is in the resurrection” (683).

⁴⁸⁸See David J. Rudolph, “Messianic Jews and Christian Theology: Restoring an Historical Voice to the Contemporary Discussion,” Pro Ecclesia 14.1 (2005): 58–84.

Brown, M. L. (2007). Answering Jewish objections to Jesus, Volume 4: New Testament objections. (269). Grand Rapids, Mich.; Baker Books.

How can we explain Matthew’s apparent misquotation of Micah 5:2? MATTHEW 2:6

MATTHEW 2:6—How can we explain Matthew’s apparent misquotation of Micah 5:2?

PROBLEM: Matthew 2:6 quotes Micah 5:2. However, the words Matthew uses are different than those used by Micah.

SOLUTION: Although Matthew seems to have changed some of the words from the passage in Micah, there is no real deviation in the meaning of the text. Matthew, in some instances, seems to have paraphrased.

First, Matthew inserts the phrase “land of Judah” for the word “Ephrathah.” This does not really change the meaning of the verse. There is no difference between the land of Judah and Ephrathah, except one is more specific than the other. In fact, Ephrathah refers to Bethlehem in the Micah passage, and Bethlehem is located in the land of Judah. However, this does not change the basic meaning of this verse. He is speaking of the same area of land. Interestingly, when Herod asked the chief priests and the scribes where the child was to be born, they said, “in Bethlehem of Judea” (Matt. 2:5, nasb).

Second, Matthew describes the land of Judah as “not the least” but Micah states that it is “little.” Here, Matthew may be saying that since the Messiah is to come from this region, it is by no means least among the other areas of land in Judah. The phrase in Micah only says that Bethlehem is too little or small, as compared to the other areas of land in Judah. The verse does not say it is the least among them, only very little. Matthew is saying the same thing in different words, namely, that Bethlehem is little in size, but by no means the least in significance, since the Messiah was born there.

Finally, Matthew uses the phrase “who will shepherd My people Israel” and Micah does not. Micah 5:2 recognizes that there will be a ruler in Israel, and Matthew recognizes this as well. However, the phrase that is not mentioned in Micah is actually taken from 2 Samuel 5:2. The combining of verses does not take away what is being said, but it strengthens the point that the author is making. There are other instances where an author combines one Scripture with another. For example, Matthew 27:9–10 combines some of Zechariah 11:12–13 with Jeremiah 19:2, 11 and 32:6–9. Also, Mark 1:2–3 combines some of Isaiah 40:3 with Malachi 3:1. Only the first passage is mentioned, since it is the main passage being cited.

In brief, Matthew is not misrepresenting any information in his quotation of Micah 5:2 and 2 Samuel 5:2. Matthew’s quote is still accurate even though he paraphrases part of it and combines another portion of Scripture with it.

^[1]

^[1]Geisler, N. L., & Howe, T. A. (1992). When critics ask : A popular handbook on Bible difficulties (327). Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books.

If Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, why don’t more Jews believe in him? | Brown, M. L

If Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, why don’t more Jews believe in him?

Actually, there are tens of thousands of Jews who have believed and do believe in him. The problem is that most Jews have not bothered to check into the facts about Jesus, and the only Jesus most of them know is either the baby Jesus of Christmas, an emaciated figure hanging on a cross in churches, or the Jesus of the Crusades and Inquisitions. The question is, Why don’t you believe Jesus is the Messiah? Do you really know who he is?

I encourage you to consider the following points.

1. Most Jews have never seriously studied the issue. Many of those who have decided to find out who Jesus is have been quite surprised by what they have learned. The greatest scholars and scientists in the world once believed the earth was flat—until firsthand investigation and discovery altered their outlook. It’s the exact same thing with Jews who honestly investigate the Messianic claims of Jesus. Everything changes—to put it mildly.

2. If most religious Jews learn anything about Jesus in their traditional studies, it is quite biased and negative. ²² Thus, they do not entertain even the possibility of the messiahship of Jesus.

3. Many so-called Christians have committed atrocities against Jews in the name of Jesus, helping to drive Jews away from their true Messiah. (See below, 2.7, for more on this, along with my book Our Hands Are Stained with Blood.)

4. These same Christians have often put forth a distorted picture of Jesus that bears little resemblance to the real Messiah who walked the earth two thousand years ago. Can Jews be blamed for thinking that Christians worshiped idols when the churches were filled with worshipers bowing before large, beautiful statues depicting Jesus as a babe in his mother’s lap?

5. There is often great pressure on those Jews—especially religious Jews—who put their faith in Jesus the Messiah. Some succumb to the fear, the pressure, the intimidation, the separation, and the loneliness, and they deny with their lips what they know to be true in their hearts.

6. Traditional Jewish teaching gives a slanted portrayal of who the Messiah is and what he will do. Since the description is faulty, people are looking in the wrong direction for the wrong person. No wonder relatively few have found him.

7. Once a learned Jew does believe in Yeshua, he is discredited, and so his name is virtually removed from the rolls of history. It’s almost as if such people ceased to exist. (Do you remember reading the novel Animal Farm in school? Revisionist history goes on to this day—even in traditional Jewish circles.) The story of Max Wertheimer provides one case in point. In the last century, Wertheimer came to the States as an Orthodox Jew, but over the course of time, he became a Reform Jew and was ordained a rabbi upon graduating from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati in 1889. (He also received a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati the same year.) He then served as the greatly loved rabbi of B’Nai Yeshurun synagogue in Dayton, Ohio, for the next ten years. When he became a fervent believer in Jesus, however, pastoring a church as well, his name was literally removed from the rolls of the school—a school of alleged tolerance at that. Why was his name dropped? According to Alfred A. Isaacs, cited in the November 25, 1955, edition of the National Jewish Post, Wertheimer was disowned by Hebrew Union College solely because of his Christian faith. ²³ And to think, this happened in a “liberal” Reform Jewish institution!

8. Although this may be hard for you to accept, because our leadership rejected Jesus the Messiah when he came, God judged us as a people (just as he judged us as a people for rejecting his law and his prophets in previous generations), and as a result, our hearts have become especially hardened toward the concept of Jesus as Messiah. ²⁴ Paul explained this in his important letter to the believers in Rome: “What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, as it is written: ‘God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day’ ” (Rom. 11:7–8; the quote here is taken from Deut. 29:4 in our Torah and Isa. 29:10 in our Prophets).

If you stop to think about it, isn’t it strange that as a people we have almost totally lost sight of the fact that Jesus-Yeshua is one of us, actually, the most influential Jew ever to walk the earth? ²⁵ Yet most of us think of him as if he were some fair-skinned, blue-eyed European. The good news is that Israel’s hardening was only partial: There have always been Jews who followed Jesus the Messiah, and in the end, our people will turn back to him on a national scale. Paul explains this a few verses later:

I do not want you [Gentiles] to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

Romans 11:25–27; the quote is taken from Isaiah 59:20–21; 27:9; and Jeremiah 31:33–34, all in our Prophets

Hopefully, you will be one of those Jews who is determined to find out the truth about the Messiah right now, determining to follow him at any cost. In the end, you must decide for yourself, and the bottom line question is one that only you can answer: Why don’t you believe Jesus is our promised Messiah?

What if more Jews—including your rabbi—did believe in him? Would you? Of course, that wouldn’t change the facts. Either Jesus is or is not the Messiah of Israel. Public opinion can’t affect the truth. But many times, when people find out that it’s okay to hold to a certain opinion, they come out of the closet.

Maybe it would help you to know that many of us in Jewish work have spoken with Orthodox and even ultra-Orthodox Jews who have told us in private that they believe Jesus is the Messiah, but they are afraid to go public for fear of what could happen to them. Maybe if a number of these religious Jews—some of whom are rabbis—showed up one day on your doorstep and told you their views, it would get you to think seriously about the matter.

As we grow and mature—from infants to children to teens to adults—we find out that not everything we have been told is true. Sometimes we just have to learn for ourselves. And even as adults, we often have skewed perspectives on many things. Just look at what Democrats believe about Republicans (and vice versa) or what Palestinians believe about Israelis (and vice versa) or what Black Muslims believe about Jews (and vice versa). Our perspectives, opinions, and convictions are not always right—no matter how strenuously we argue for our position. Common sense tells us that all of us can’t be right about everything all the time.

Even on an interpersonal level, how often have you met someone only to find out that all the bad things you heard about that person were greatly exaggerated or false? It happens all the time. As for the matter at hand, I assure you in the strongest possible terms: As a Jew, most everything you have heard about Jesus has been untrue. You owe it to yourself to find out just who this Jesus really is—and I say this to you whether you are an ultra-Orthodox rabbi reading this book in secret or you are a thoroughly secular, wealthy Jewish businessman who was given this book by a friend.

This much is certain: We have carefully investigated the claims of Jesus and can testify firsthand that Yeshua is who he said he was. What do you say?

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²²The infamous Rabbinic collection of anti-Jesus fables, called Toledot Yeshu, is still studied in some ultra-Orthodox circles, although virtually all other Jewish scholars have long since repudiated the Toledot. These scurrilous writings, based in part on some Talmudic references, accusing Mary of fathering Jesus through a Roman soldier (or by rape), and portraying Jesus as an idolater, magician, and Israel’s arch-deceiver, were the primary source of information about Jesus for many traditional Jews, especially in the Middle Ages. Of course, as noted by the Oxford Dictionary of Jewish Religion, ed. Geoffrey Wigoder (New York: Oxford, 1997), 695, “the work is an expression of vulgar polemics written in reaction to the no less vulgar attacks on Judaism in popular Christian teaching and writing.” But as I have stated before, just as many Gentiles around the world have had a biased and inaccurate view of the Jewish people, so also have many Jews had a biased and inaccurate view of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. For a representative sampling from the Toledot, see the excellent study of Walter Riggans, Yeshua ben David: Why Do the Jewish People Reject Jesus as Their Messiah? (Crowborough, England: Marc, 1995), 127–32. Interested readers of this present volume would do well to read Riggans as well.

²³For more on this, see Nahum Brodt, “The Truth about the Rabbi,” in Would I? Would You?, ed. Henry and Marie Einspruch (Baltimore: Lederer, 1970), 8–10. For a fuller account of Wertheimer’s faith, see Jacob Gartenhaus, Famous Hebrew Christians (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979), 191–97.

²⁴This is not the first time in our history that God has hardened our hearts because we sinned against him. This is what God said to the prophet Isaiah more than twenty-five hundred years ago: “Go and tell this people: ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed” (Isa. 6:9–10). The prophet was actually called to a ministry of hardening his people’s hearts! It was as if God were saying, “Fine. If you want to be hard-hearted, refusing to believe me or obey me, I will give you over to your hardness and make you even harder.” This is exactly what has happened to us regarding the Messiah: When so many of our people refused to follow him, God gave us over to our unbelief and obduracy to the point that through the centuries, we have become especially resistant to Jesus.

²⁵This well-known, anonymous tribute to Jesus, known as “One Solitary Life,” puts things in perspective: “He was born in an obscure village. He worked in a carpenter shop until He was thirty. He then became an itinerant preacher. He never held an office. He never had a family or owned a house. He didn’t go to college. He had no credentials but himself. He was only thirty-three when the public turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trail. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth. He was laid in a borrowed grave. Nineteen centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life.”

^[1]Brown, M. L. (2000). Answering Jewish objections to Jesus, Volume 1: General and historical objections. (21). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books.