Thus saith the LORD of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.
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Proverbs 25:2 It is the honour of the Almighty to conceal a thing; But the honour of kings is to search out a matter.
Super Bowl NFL Hall of Fame Reggie White "Minister of Defense"
"Reggie White knew there was more to life than watching grown men play children's games... how about you...?"
Watch this short video explaining the Jewish understanding of Isaiah 53.
—
ISAIAH 53… IN 53 SECONDS
Chosen People Ministries has focused on Isaiah 53 because it believes this passage is one of its most powerful proof-texts. When read out-of-context and mistranslated, Isaiah 53 gives the impression of a prophecy describing the suffering and death of the messiah, specifically Jesus dying for our sins.
This Christian interpretation is absolutely incorrect for several good reasons. Isaiah commonly uses familiar metaphors and often speaks of the people of Israel as a single individual referred to as the Servant of God. Moreover in nine previous passages, Isaiah identifies the Servant to be Israel, as we see in Isaiah 41:8 “Israel is my Servant…” and Isaiah 43:10 “You are My witnesses says the Lord, and My Servant whom I have chosen…”
Chapters 52-53 describe the reaction of the nations of the world when they witness the future and ultimate redemption of the Jewish people.
Initially, the nations viewed the Jewish people scornfully and considered them to be rejected by God and deserving of suffering and His divine punishment. Isaiah states that in the future, the nations will be shocked and dumbfounded when they witness God’s unexpected and glorious redemption of the Jewish people.
The nations will then contrast their new realization of Israel’s grandeur with their previous beliefs. Ultimately, they will conclude that the Jews were not rejected by God, but in fact, they suffered from the unjustified and disproportionate persecution inflicted upon them by the nations of the world.
To validate their biased misinterpretation, missionaries intentionally avoid mention of a critical fact. In Isaiah 53:5, they deliberately mistranslate the word “from” as“for”, andthereby claim that the Servant will suffer for the sins of the Jewish people. In fact, the verse says that the nations of the world will actually admit that Israel – the Servant of God – “was wounded from our transgressions, bruisedfrom our iniquities.” In the original Hebrew, the letter “מ – mem” which serves as the prefix to the words “transgressions” and “iniquities” means “from”, not “for.”Therefore, this verse cannot be read as supporting the Christian view that the Servant, namely Jesus, suffers for the sins of the world.
In fact, many Christian commentaries including the New English Bible: Oxford Study Edition, The New Interpreters Study Bible and The Harper Collins Study Bible agree with the Jewish interpretation of Isaiah 53. For example, the Oxford Study Edition states, “Israel, the servant of God, has suffered as a humiliated individual.”
The
Book of proverbs emphatically shows that one’s wisdom is dictated
by their ability to learn from mistakes, make corrections, and be
corrected, not the inability to make mistakes and/or be corrected.
Only fools are not subject to correction and reproof. Assemblies who
will continue to perpetuate blaspheme by using “the name”,
after knowledge of this clear evidence, represent the fool in
proverbs.
Blaspheme:
The Mishnah (Sanh. 7:5), rules that the death sentence by stoning
should be applied only in the case where the blasphemer had uttered
the *Tetragrammaton and two witnesses had warned him prior to the
transgression. In the Talmud, however, R. Meir extends this
punishment to cases where the blasphemer had used one of the
*attributes, i.e., substitute names of God (Sanh. 56a). The
accepted halakhah is that only the one who has uttered the
Tetragrammaton be sentenced to death by stoning; the offender who
pronounced the substitute names is only flogged (Maim., Yad, Avodat
Kokhavim, 2:7). In the court procedure (Sanh. 5:7 and Sanh. 60a) the
witnesses for the prosecution testified to the words of the
blasphemer by substituting the expressions "Yose shall strike
Yose" (yakkeh Yose et Yose). Toward the end of the hearing,
however, after the audience had been dismissed, the senior witness
was asked to repeat the exact words uttered by the blasphemer. Upon
their pronouncement (i.e., of the Tetragrammaton), the judges
stood up and rent their garments. The act expressed their profound
mourning at hearing the name of God profaned. The custom of tearing
one's clothes on hearing blasphemy is attested to in II Kings 18:37,
where it is told that Eliakim and his associates tore their garments
upon hearing the blasphemous words of the Assyrian warlord
*Rab-Shakeh (Sanh. 60a). It is codified in Shulḥan Arukh (YD
340:37) that whoever bears a blasphemy whether with the
Tetragrammaton or with attributes, in any language and from a Jew,
even from the mouth of a witness, must rend his garment. The second
and any successive witnesses only testified: "I have heard the
same words" (Sanh. 7:5); according to the opinion of *Abba Saul,
whoever utters the Tetragrammaton in public is excluded from the
world to come (Av. Zar. 18a). Besides the sacrilege of God,
vituperation against the king, God's anointed servant, was also
considered blasphemy (cf. Ex. 22:27 and I Kings 21:10). Gentiles,
too, are obliged to refrain from blasphemy since this is one of the
Seven *Noachide Laws (Sanh. 56a, 60a). Maimonides also classified as
blasphemy the erasure of God's name written on paper or engraved on
stone, etc., which was to be punished by flogging (Yad, Yesodei
ha-Torah 6:1–6). After Jewish courts were deprived of jurisdiction
in those cases where capital punishment was applied, excommunication
(see *ḥerem) was the usual sanction against a blasphemer (J.
Mueller (ed.), Teshuvot Ge'onei Mizraḥ u-Ma'arav (1898), 27a,
responsum no. 103 by Amram Gaon).
Hebrew
letter VAV acts both as a consonant, W, or as a vowel, 'oo.' It can
act as a part of a word or as a prefix that means 'and.' In this
sense, VAV is like a connecting tissue, like a mirror where things
reflect and meet. Kabbalistically, its form denotes Divine light
streamlined downwards into the Creation.
Grammatically,
the morphology of the Tetragrammaton,
God's Name made of four letters, י-ה-ו-ה,
reflects fusion of different forms of the Hebrew verb 'to be.' It is
a very elusive word, because grammatically it is neither one of the
forms we know. It denotes future continuous tense, meaning that it is
an ever evolving Existence that brings everything into being. This
name is so elusive, and thus reflects so perfectly the prohibition to
utter His Name in vain, that we even don't know how it should be
pronounced correctly. All
the attempts in English literature to spell it as it is written, are
incorrect as they defy the grammar and the phonetics of Hebrew
language. Only
priests in the Temple knew to pronounce this Name correctly.
Therefore in Jewish tradition we do not even attempt to read this
Name, lest we misspell it, but replace it instead with the name
Ado-nai, which means literally My Lords. It is plural because it
reflects the idea that this name does not refer to God Himself (only
the Tetragrammaton Name does), but to His manifold manifestations in
the worlds.
"On a frequent basis we attach a meaning of a
word from the Bible based on our own language and culture to a word
that is not the meaning of the Hebrew word behind the translation.
From Meditation 8.30.11 "ezekials beating heart" –
Matisyahu
In
light of Rashi and other Jewish sages of old, the ISR and the RNKJV
version of scriptures are pagan/christian in their translation of Gen
18:3.
Anytime a
person is completely out of track and is worshipping demi-gods or
other humans instead of God, then it is our duty to enlighten him.
Gen 18:3 ויאמרH559 אדניH113 אםH518 נאH4994 מצאתיH4672 חןH2580 Nowhere is the Name of HaShem found in their justification making a deity in the form of a man.
THE RESTORATION OF THE NAME
The restoration of the Name of the Almighty to any translation of the Scriptures should require no justification. After all it was the Almighty himself who originally placed his name in the Scriptures at least 6823 times! It was human beings who decided, for reasons that made sense to them, to delete His Name and to replace it with something “more appropriate” in their view. This, in spite of the Creator’s own statement to and through Mosheh (Moses) that: “This is My Name forever, and this is My remembrance to all generations.” (Shemoth / Exodus 3:15, The Scriptures - 2009 Edition (ISR). The reference in this passage is to the Name which, in Hebrew, consists of four letters Yod, Hey, Waw, Hey, and which is frequently referred to as ‘The Tetragrammaton’. These letters are often brought across into English characters by the use of the four letters, Y-H-W-H (or as Y-H-V-H). This has been variously pronounced as _ _ _ _, _ _ _ _, _ _ _ _, etc. We have chosen not to enter the pronunciation debate, but rather give the Name exactly as it appears in the unpointed Hebrew text, i.e. *Picture*
While there has been some debate over what is the most accurate and precise pronunciation, three things are clear however: Firstly, the word Jehovah is definitely an erroneous pronunciation. This is so because it derives from a combination of the letters J-H-V-H and Hebrew vowel points belonging to
an altogether different word. Incidentally, the J was originally pronounced as a capital I (or Y), and thus the term Jehovah would have been read by early readers of the King James Version as Iehovah (or Yehovah).
Secondly, any one of the various attempts to pronounce the Name is infinitely superior to the actual removal of the Name, and its substitution by an altogether different term! Substitution by a ‘good’ term does not alter the fact that it is a substitution, a replacement word. Further, some of the terms traditionally substituted for the Name are actually the names of pagan deities! This is true, not only in English, but also in the other languages of the world!
Thirdly, in spite of the above facts, many translations perpetuate a “tradition”of substituting “LORD” or “GOD”, all in capital letters, for our heavenly Father’s chosen Name, i.e. *picture* Why? Many, and varied are the reasons which have been given, amongst both Christian and Jewish communities, for this serious error. Nevertheless, the fact remains that a translation purporting to be literal, yet resorting to the “device”, however well intentioned, of adding and subtracting from our heavenly Father’s own choice of Personal Name, would be doing a grave disservice to His cause. At best it would display ignorance, but at worst would show disrespect, or blatant disregard for the plain Word of the Almighty Himself!
