A Jew Looks at Jesus and the Bible

In the New Testament book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 20, the Apostle Paul says, Unto the Jews I come as a Jew, that I might convert the Jews. To those who believe in the law, the Torah, I come like one who follows the law, that When the missionaries approach us, they come as Jews, quoting from the Bible. It is both interesting and instructive to carefully examine a few of their proofs. For almost 2,000 years, Christians have been trying to convince the Jews that they are right. After all, Jesus was a Jew, and it seems strange that his own people refuse to accept him. One of the favorite ploys of the missionaries is to attempt to use the Jewish Bible to prove that Jesus was the Messiah of the Jews. It takes a lot of nerve for outsiders to tell us how to interpret our Bible, written in our language. Jews also know how to read the Bible. It was originally given in Hebrew, which is our language. When the Christians translated the Bible, they often slandered their translations to suit their own purposes. A close look at the original Hebrew is enough to destroy a good portion of missionaries' proofs. In many cases, we do not even have to go to the original Hebrew. Merely taking the passages in context does away with all their proof. Let us look at a few examples. Missionaries claim that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of the Messiah being born in Bethlehem. They base this on a verse from the book of Micah, chapter 5, verse 1, But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, which are little among the thousands of Judah, out of you shall one come forth unto me to be a ruler in Israel. Both the book of Matthew, chapter 2, verse 6, and John 7, verse 43 attempt to use this as proof that Jesus was the Messiah. Of course, this does not prove anything since thousands of children were born in Bethlehem. Furthermore, if this is really speaking of Jesus, why was he never accepted as a ruler in Israel? The verse continues to say in Micah chapter 5, verse 4, And there shall be peace. This means to say that the Messiah will bring peace to the world, as we find elsewhere in the Bible in Isaiah chapter 2, verse 4. If this is speaking of Jesus, why did he not succeed in bringing peace to the world? He himself said that he is not coming to bring peace but the sword in Matthew chapter 10, verse 34. But if this verse, Micah chapter 5, verse 1, is actually speaking of the true Messiah, then it is really referring to a descendant of King David. Since David came from Bethlehem, as we see in 1 Samuel chapter 17, verse 12, the Bible speaks of Bethlehem as the Messiah's place of origin. The true Messiah, who Jews are still waiting for, will be a ruler and will bring lasting peace to the world. Missionaries claim that Jesus fulfilled a prophecy that the Messiah would be born of a virgin. They attempt to prove this from a verse which even many contemporary Christian editions of the Bible translate to read in Isaiah chapter 7, verse 14, Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign, behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son, and call his name Immanuel. The idea of gods and demigods being born of virgins occurs in many places in pagan mythology. When Matthew in chapter 1, verse 23 quoted this passage and translated it into the Greek of the New Testament, his anxiety to prove a point led him to actually mistranslate the passage. He translated the Hebrew word Alma, which actually means young woman, as virgin. Thus we suddenly have an instant prediction of the virgin birth of the Messiah. But the proper Hebrew word for virgin is Betula, and Alma is never translated as virgin. More honest recent Christian Bible translations, such as the Revised Standard Version, the Jerusalem Bible, and the New English Bible have corrected this original error. Furthermore, there is absolutely no evidence that this prophecy speaks of the Messiah at all. It was directed at King Ahaz, and according to most biblical commentators, speaks of the birth of King Hezekiah, rather than the Messiah. Missionaries claim that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of being a prophet like Moses. God said in the Bible in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 18, I will raise up a prophet among their brethren, like unto you, Moses. What this verse means in context is that any prophet must be similar in qualifications to Moses, i.e. Jewish and a scholar, righteous, and of the highest personal character. But John chapter 1, verse 45, and the book of Acts chapter 3, verse 22, and 737 take this quote out of context, claiming that this verse refers to Jesus and gives him the right to contradict the Torah of Moses. However, this is an obvious distortion, since the Bible openly states that there would never be another prophet like Moses. This is in Deuteronomy chapter 34, verse 10, where it states, and there shall not arise a prophet in Israel like unto Moses. God himself attested to Moses, as we find in Exodus chapter 19, verse 9, and God said to Moses, Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak to you, and may believe in you forever. At Mount Sinai, God attested to the prophecy of Moses by publicly speaking to him in the presence of millions of people. He never did the same for Jesus. Indeed, there is no evidence that Jesus was a prophet at all in Jewish terms. The Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 22, that one of the signs of a true prophet is when his prophecy comes true exactly. There is no evidence that Jesus fulfilled this condition. See John chapter 9, verse 29. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the original passage of Deuteronomy 18, verse 18 speaks of the Messiah at all. The verse merely states that future prophets of Israel, in general, would share Moses' saintly qualities. Missionaries claim that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of living a sinless life. They base this on Isaiah chapter 53, verse 9, which states, And they made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich his tomb. Although he had done no violence, neither was there any deceit in his mouth. This is the famous suffering servant passage in Isaiah. Some commentators indeed state that this passage is speaking of the Messiah. Others, however, say that it is speaking of the entire Jewish people. A careful reading of the entire passage may well convince you that it is speaking of the six million Jews who were killed by Hitler. Other commentators say that it is speaking of the prophet Isaiah himself. In any case, it cannot be proven that this passage is speaking of the Messiah at all. Furthermore, Jesus himself was far from being sinless, as the gospel claims. Speaking to the entire Jewish people, God commanded us to keep the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments. Since God himself gave this commandment, no one can abrogate it. Yet, the gospel records that Jesus violated the Sabbath. As expected, the people's reaction was one of outrage. The gospel records that the people said, in John chapter 9, verse 16, This fellow is no man of God. He does not keep the Sabbath. They realize that miracles alone do not give anyone the right to go against God. As God himself warned in the Bible in Deuteronomy chapter 13, verse 2, Only the gullible and superstitious are taken in by miracles and magic alone. Beyond this, the gospel records many instances where Jesus claimed to be God. In John chapter 10, verse 30, 14, verse 9, 16, verse 15. If so, from the Jewish point of view, he was guilty of idolatry, one of the worst possible sins. Missionaries claim that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy that the Messiah would be killed by crucifixion. They quote a Bible verse, which correctly translated reads in chapter 22 of the book For dogs have encompassed me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. And like a lion, they are at my hands and feet. Like a lion, in Hebrew, is ka'ari. The fundamentalist Christian interpreters actually change the spelling of the word from ka'ari to kari. If one then totally ignores Hebrew grammar, one can twist this to mean he gouged me. Then, as in the King James version, they make this verse read, They pierced my hands and my feet. However, this bears no relation to the original meaning of the verse in Hebrew. Even with the change in the spelling, it is a forced translation, or should I say mistranslation. This is but one more example of the lengths that missionaries go to prove they are right. Furthermore, there is absolutely no evidence that this psalm, chapter 22, is speaking about the Messiah. From the opening verse, it would seem that King David, the author of this psalm, was actually speaking of himself. Missionaries claim that Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of dying for our sin. The Bible says in Isaiah 53, chapter 11, He shall see the travail of his soul, who by his knowledge did justify the righteous one to the many and their iniquity he did bear. We are again in the famous suffering servant passage. Missionaries claim that it teaches that our sins can only be forgiven through Jesus. This is a basic Christian doctrine. However, the Bible clearly states in Deuteronomy chapter 24, 16, The Father shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers. Every man shall die for his own sin. Every man is responsible for his own actions. And he himself must make them good. This is a most basic theme repeated over and over in the Bible. According to the commentaries who say that the suffering servant is the Messiah, or the prophet Isaiah, a more precise translation would indicate that he did not suffer to atone for our sins, but suffered because of our sins. The Messiah's mission is to perfect mankind. The more we sin, the more difficult we make his task. Thus, our sins will cause the Messiah a great anguish. According to the commentators who contend that the suffering servant is the entire Jewish people, it is not very far-fetched to say that the prophet is speaking of the 6 million Jews who died for the sins of mankind. Missionaries lay great stress on the fact that the Bible prescribes blood as atonement in Leviticus chapter 17 verse 11. They therefore claim that without the shedding of Jesus' blood, there can be no remission of sins. This is from the book of Hebrews chapter 9 verse 22. However, there is no place where the Bible says that blood is the only means of atonement. Furthermore, a close reading of the chapters on sacrifices show that the sacrificial blood was only prescribed for a small category of transgressions. There is only one way of atonement, however, repeated again and again in the Bible. This is repentance, or tshuva in Hebrew. We see this in Ezekiel chapter 33 verse 11 and verse 19. Jeremiah 36 verse 3 also speaks about it. The prophet Hosea chapter 14 verse 3 says, Take with you words and return to God. The main way back to God is through words of prayer. The sacrificial blood might have helped in some cases, but the most important part of atonement was always repentance and prayer. It is not overly difficult to approach God, but it does involve effort on the part of the individual. There are many other proofs offered by the missionaries. Every one is as twisted as those we previously presented. But to refute each one would require an entire book. The main thing is that a clear reading of the Jewish Bible offers absolutely no support to the proofs of Christianity. In most cases, all you need is a good translation, or better still, the Hebrew original, and all those proofs fall away. Many contemporary Christian scholars admit as much. However, the missionaries never mention the most important prophecies concerning the Messiah that Jesus did not fulfill. The main task of the Messiah was to bring the world back to God and to abolish all war, suffering, and injustice from the world. Clearly, Jesus did not accomplish this. In order to get around this failure on the part of Jesus, Christians invented the doctrine of the second coming. In Hebrews chapter 9 verse 29 and Peter chapter 3, all the prophecies that Jesus did not fulfill the first time are supposed to be taken care of on the second time around. However, the Bible offers absolutely no evidence to support the Christian doctrine of the second coming. Anything that they can twist to prove that Jesus was the Messiah is exploited to the fullest. All the embarrassing prophecies that he did not fulfill are swept under the rug of a second coming. The prophecies that Jesus is said to have fulfilled are, for the most part, trivial. It really does not make much difference in God's plan if the Messiah is born in Bethlehem or conceived by a virgin. His really important mission is to perfect the world. This Jesus failed to do. Jesus, therefore, was not the Messiah of the Jewish tradition. We still await the true Messiah who will accomplish all this in his first attempt.