The Three Stages of Creation (Bereishit)

  

The Three Stages of Creation (Bereishit) 

By Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

“And God said, let there be… And there was… and God saw that it was good.”

Thus unfolds the most revolutionary as well as the most influential account of creation in the history of the human spirit.

In Rashi’s commentary, he quotes Rabbi Isaac who questioned why the Torah should start with the story of creation at all.[1] Given that it is a book of law – the commandments that bind the children of Israel as a nation – it should have started with the first law given to the Israelites, which does not appear until the twelfth chapter of Exodus.

Rabbi Isaac’s own answer was that the Torah opens with the birth of the universe to justify the gift of the Land of Israel to the People of Israel. The Creator of the world is ipso facto owner and ruler of the world. His gift confers title. The claim of the Jewish people to the land is unlike that of any other nation. It does not flow from arbitrary facts of settlement, historical association, conquest or international agreement (though in the case of the present state of Israel, all four apply). It follows from something more profound: the word of God Himself – the God acknowledged, as it happens, by all three monotheisms: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. This is a political reading of the chapter. Let me suggest another (not incompatible, but additional) interpretation.

One of the most striking propositions of the Torah is that we are called on, as God’s image, to imitate God. “Be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy” (Leviticus 19:2):

The sages taught: “Just as God is called gracious, so you be gracious. Just as He is called merciful, so you be merciful. Just as He is called holy, so you be holy.” So too the prophets described the Almighty by all the various a tributes: long-suffering, abounding in kindness, righteous, upright, perfect, mighty and powerful and so on – to teach us that these qualities are good and right and that a human being should cultivate them, and thus imitate God as far as we can.[2]

Implicit in the first chapter of Genesis is thus a momentous challenge: Just as God is creative, so you be creative. In making man, God endowed one creature – the only one thus far known to science – with the capacity not merely to adapt to his environment, but to adapt his environment to him; to shape the world; to be active, not merely passive, in relation to the influences and circumstances that surround him:

The brute’s existence is an undignified one because it is a helpless existence. Human existence is a dignified one because it is a glorious, majestic, powerful existence…Man of old who could not fight disease and succumbed in multitudes to yellow fever or any other plague with degrading helplessness could not lay claim to dignity. Only the man who builds hospitals, discovers therapeutic techniques, and saves lives is blessed with dignity…Civilised man has gained limited control of nature and has become, in certain respects, her master, and with his mastery he has attained dignity as well. His mastery has made it possible for him to act in accordance with his responsibility.[3]

The first chapter of Genesis therefore contains a teaching. It tells us how to be creative – namely in three stages. The first is the stage of saying “Let there be.” The second is the stage of “and there was.” The third is the stage of seeing “that it is good.”

Even a cursory look at this model of creativity teaches us something profound and counter-intuitive: What is truly creative is not science or technology per se, but the word. That is what forms all being.

Indeed, what singles out Homo sapiens among other animals is the ability to speak. Targum Onkelos translates the last phrase of Genesis 2:7, “God formed man out of dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living creature,” as “and man became ruaĥ memallelah, a speaking spirit.” Because we can speak, we can think, and therefore imagine a world different from the one that currently exists.

Creation begins with the creative word, the idea, the vision, the dream. Language – and with it the ability to remember a distant past and conceptualise a distant future – lies at the heart of our uniqueness as the image of God. Just as God makes the natural world by words (“And God said…and there was”) so we make the human world by words, which is why Judaism takes words so seriously: “Life and death are in the power of the tongue,” says the book of Proverbs (18:21). Already at the opening of the Torah, at the very beginning of creation, is foreshadowed the Jewish doctrine of revelation: that God reveals Himself to humanity not in the sun, the stars, the wind or the storm but in and through words – sacred words that make us co-partners with God in the work of redemption.

“And God said, let there be…and there was” – is, the second stage of creation, is for us the most difficult. It is one thing to conceive an idea, another to execute it. “Between the imagination and the act falls the shadow.”[4] Between the intention and the fact, the dream and the reality, lies struggle, opposition, and the fallibility of the human will. It is all too easy, having tried and failed, to conclude that nothing ultimately can be achieved, that the world is as it is, and that all human endeavour is destined to end in failure.

This, however, is a Greek idea, not a Jewish one: that hubris ends in nemesis, that fate is inexorable and we must resign ourselves to it. Judaism holds the opposite, that though creation is difficult, laborious and fraught with setbacks, we are summoned to it as our essential human vocation: “It is not for you to complete the work,” said Rabbi Tarfon, “but neither are you free to desist from it.”[5] There is a lovely rabbinic phrase: maĥashva tova HaKadosh barukh Hu meztarfah lema’aseh.[6]

This is usually translated as “God considers a good intention as if it were the deed.” I translate it differently: “When a human being has a good intention, God joins in helping it become a deed,” meaning – He gives us the strength, if not now, then eventually, to turn it into achievement.

If the first stage in creation is imagination, the second is will. The sanctity of the human will is one of the most distinctive features of the Torah. There have been many philosophies – the generic name for them is determinisms – that maintain that the human will is an illusion. We are determined by other factors – genetically encoded instinct, economic or social forces, conditioned reflexes – and the idea that we are what we choose to be is a myth. Judaism is a protest in the name of human freedom and responsibility against determinism. We are not pre-programmed machines; we are persons, endowed with will. Just as God is free, so we are free, and the entire Torah is a call to humanity to exercise responsible freedom in creating a social world which honours the freedom of others. Will is the bridge from “Let there be” to “and there was.”

What, though, of the third stage: “And God saw that it was good”? This is the hardest of the three stages to understand. What does it mean to say that “God saw that it was good”? Surely, this is redundant. What does God make that is not good? Judaism is not Gnosticism, nor is it an Eastern mysticism. We do not believe that this created world of the senses is evil. To the contrary, we believe that it is the arena of blessing and good.

Perhaps this is what the phrase comes to teach us: that the religious life is not to be sought in retreat from the world and its conflicts into mystic rapture or nirvana. God wants us to be part of the world, fighting its battles, tasting its joy, celebrating its splendour. But there is more.

In the course of my work, I have visited prisons and centres for young offenders. Many of the people I met there were potentially good. They, like you and me, had dreams, hopes, ambitions, aspirations. They did not want to become criminals. Their tragedy was that often they came from dysfunctional families in difficult conditions. No one took the time to care for them, support them, teach them how to negotiate the world, how to achieve what they wanted through hard work and persuasion rather than violence and lawbreaking. They lacked a basic self-respect, a sense of their own worth. No one ever told them that they were good.

To see that someone is good and to say so is a creative act – one of the great creative acts. ere may be some few individuals who are inescapably evil, but they are few. Within almost all of us is something positive and unique, but which is all too easily injured, and which only grows when exposed to the sunlight of someone else’s recognition and praise. To see the good in others and let them see themselves in the mirror of our regard is to help someone grow to become the best they can be. “Greater,” says the Talmud, “is one who causes others to do good than one who does good himself.”[7] To help others become what they can be is to give birth to creativity in someone else’s soul. This is done not by criticism or negativity but by searching out the good in others, and helping them see it, recognise it, own it, and live it.

“And God saw that it was good” – this too is part of the work of creation, the subtlest and most beautiful of all. When we recognise the goodness in someone, we do more than create it, we help it to become creative. This is what God does for us, and what He calls us to do for others.

Shabbat Shalom,

———-

[1] Rashi 1:1

[2] Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot De’ot 1:6.

[3] Joseph B. Soloveitchik, The Lonely Man of Faith (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 16–17.

[4] T.S. Eliot, “The Hollow Men”, in T.S. Eliot, Collected Poems 1909–1962 (London: Faber and Faber, 1963), p92.

[5] Mishna, Avot 2:16.

[6] Tosefta, Pe’ah 1:4.

[7] Bava Batra 9a

SOURCE: The Three Stages of Creation (Bereishit 5779): http://eepurl.com/dJkzbL

How Missionaries Distort the Jewish Bible

So, this Meme is going around on Facebook, with the hashtag “No Need for Jesus,”

What, exactly, does Gd say about human sacrifice in the TaNaKH?

But first, some Christian Circular Reasoning

"So, this Meme is going around on Facebook, with the hashtag “No Need for Jesus,” (and even though that is not his original name), I am outraged by these insinuations!

I am going to respond to all seven of these false accusations against our Messiah one-by-one (as I have the time during my travels).

The first thing that I want to address is this notion that our Messiah was supposedly a “human sacrifice.”

When somebody is willing to die in order to uphold the Mosaic Law (Towrah), they are not offering themselves as a human sacrifice!

Some examples are, the prophet Daniel who refused to bow to another false deity, and he was threatened with death by the Lion's Den. Daniel was willing to die rather than to violate Towrah!

Another example is Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they refused to bow to the golden image of Nebuchadnezzar, and they too were threatened with being cast alive into a furnace. They were willing to die rather than violate Towrah!

During the Maccabean Revolt in 164 B.C. all those Jewish martyrs who were slaughtered in the days of Antiochus Ephiphanes (because they refused to violate the Mosaic Law) fall under the category of a law found in the Talmud.

In the Babylonian Talmud, (Makkot 23b-24a), it says:

“Three types of negative commandments fall under the yehareg ve’al ya’avor, meaning ‘One should let himself be killed rather than violate it.’”

These Towrah commands for which the Talmud states that we should be willing to die for rather than to violate are: murder, idolatry, and forbidden sexual relations.

This begs the question: “Which of these commandments did Yahuwshuwa allow himself to be killed for, rather than to violate them?”

To find out, please see this blog entitled:

Was Our Messiah a Human Sacrifice?

https://doubleportioninheritance.blogspot.com/…/was-yahuwsh…

Exodus 21:30 says that if the owner of an Ox kills a person, (and it has previously been known to hurt people), the Ox and it's owner must both die. The owner of the Ox may also pay money instead of his life for a RANSOM. Our Messiah did both! He offered up his life, and he also paid the Bride Price!

Exodus 21:30 If there be laid on him a sum of money, then he shall give for the RANSOM of his life whatsoever is laid upon him.

The “Ox” (the aleph, or first-born) is symbolic of Yisra'el, and they were known to kill all the prophets who were sent to them! Therefore, our Messiah (being the owner of the Ox) offered his life as a RANSOM!

Matthew 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a RANSOM for many.

Our Messiah was in fact, portraying the “twin goats” for Yom Kippur, as well as the “one-year old male lamb” for Passover (Exodus 12:5).

Not only that, but he was also portraying the “red heifer” for the cleansing of the altar (see Numbers 19). The red heifer was not killed inside the Temple! The red heifer is the only sacrifice that was done OUTSIDE THE CITY LIMITS OF JERUSALEM!

To understand fully what our Messiah did for us, we must understand that he was actually fulfilling all the sacrifices in the Abrahamic Covenant seen in Genesis 15:9 (a 3-year old heifer; a 3-year old she-goat; a 3-year old ram; a turtledove and a young pigeon).

Our Messiah came to CONFIRM THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT, see this blog entitled:

Who Confirms the Covenant of Daniel’s 70th Week?

https://doubleportioninheritance.blogspot.com/…/who-confirm…

Yes, it is true that the lamb in Leviticus 4:32 for a sin offering is a female (because Eve being female was the first to sin). However our Messiah fulfilled the pattern of the twin goats on Yom Kippur for Both Houses of Yisra'el.

The meme is not taking into account the ordinance for Yom Kippur in Leviticus 16, which uses twin goats.

According to the instructions in Leviticus 16, one goat is killed as a sin offering, and the other is “sent away into the wilderness,” called the scapegoat.

The Hebrew word for the twin goats in Leviticus 16:7 is “sayir,” which literally means “a he-goat.” The Hebrew word for “scapegoat,” is “azazel,” the root-word being “az,” (a she-goat). However, it is obvious that since the priest had to cast lots to determine which goat was killed and which one was sent away, both goats had to be the same gender, which would be male.

Our Messiah, Yahuwshuwa, fulfilled the pattern of the Yom Kippur Twin Goats forty days before he began his ministry on Yom Kippur (see Luke 4). His cousin John (a Levite) was the legitimate High Priest that year in the eyes of the Father, (while Caiaphas was an impostor).

So, yes, as the sin offering, he was indeed brought before the High Priest (his cousin John) according to Deuteronomy 12:13-14!

It is important to understand that there are two altars in Jerusalem:

1.) The one in the Temple.

2.) The one where Abraham offered up his son, Isaac at the base of the Mount of Olives (this is where Messiah was sacrificed at the place of the Skull!)

John was the one who “selected” the Yom Kippur goat when he announced, “Behold the Lamb, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29-36)

At his baptism, he was portraying the role of the “Yom Kippur” sacrificial goat who would later die for the sins of Both Houses of Yisra’el. Baptism is a metaphor for death (see Romans 6:3-4). Immediately following his baptism, he was “sent into the wilderness” as the scapegoat for the Lost Sheep of the House of Yisra’el (the exiles).

Not only was he portraying himself as the Yom Kippur twin goats at his baptism, but he was also cleansing himself in preparation to be the High Priest (Melchizedek) after his 40-day fast in the wilderness (see Leviticus 16:4).

When he read the Isaiah 61 scroll in Luke 4, he was announcing himself as “Messiah” (the anointed one) and as the “High Priest” who “declared the acceptable year of YHWH.” Only the High Priest could “declare the acceptable year of YHWH” on Yom Kippur (see Numbers chapter 10).

The role of the High Priest was being transferred from the sons of Aaron, back to the original High Priest, Melchizedek when John the Baptist declared “I am not worthy to unloose his shoe-strap” (this is an allusion to the Levirate Marriage in Deuteronomy 25:5-10).

Our Messiah was the perfect sin offering that had no defect (symbolic of sin) according to Leviticus 22:22-25. His body was broken for us because his body was also symbolic of “Bread from heaven.”

Wheat must be broken, beaten, and finely milled before it can be made into bread. The stripes and the piercings on his body are seen on Unleavened Bread at Passover (Isaiah 53:5; Zechariah 12:10).

Our Messiah was killed as the Passover Lamb, which is not a sin offering! The Passover Lamb is a SUBSTITUTE FOR THE FIRST-BORN SONS!

Our Messiah fulfilled all the sacrifices of the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 15:9 in ONE FELL SWOOP!

To understand fully, how our Messiah portrayed the role of the Yom Kippur Twin Goats as well as the High Priest at the beginning of his ministry, see these two blogs below:

Messiah’s Forty Days of Fasting Leading Up to Yom Kippur!

https://doubleportioninheritance.blogspot.com/…/messiahs-fo…

The Yom Kippur Twin Goats Fulfilled in Messiah

https://doubleportioninheritance.blogspot.com/…/twin-goats-…"

Source: Maria Merola Wold June 22 at 9:53 AM

G-d hates human sacrifices.

The Christian idea of the messiah is that Jesus was the blood sacrifice that saves everyone from his or her sin. But who, exactly, died on that cross? If it was Jesus-the-god, that would mean that Gd can die. But how can Gd die? If it was only Jesus-the-human, then all Christians are left with is a human sacrifice. What, exactly, does Gd say about human sacrifice in the TaNaKH?

In Deuteronomy, Gd calls human sacrifice something that Gd hates; an abomination to Gd.

Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou inquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise. Thou shalt not do so unto the Etrnl thy Gd: for every abomination to the Etrnl, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. [Deuteronomy 12:30-31]

In Jeremiah, Gd tells us that Human sacrifice is so horrible a concept, that it did not even come into Gd's mind.

Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spoke it, neither came it into my mind: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Etrnl, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but The Valley of Slaughter. [Jeremiah 19:4-6]

Similarly, in Psalm 106 and in Ezekiel 16:

Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, And shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan: and the land was polluted with blood. [Psalm 106:37-38]

Moreover thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them to be devoured. Is this of thy whoredoms a small matter?  [Ezekiel 16:20]

Some Christians might claim that Gd seemed to want human sacrifices, because Gd appeared to demand one from Abraham, when He commanded the sacrifice of Isaac. This is a misreading of the biblical text in Genesis. When one reads this section carefully, one sees something quite different.

Most Jewish biblical commentators interpret this incident as a test of Abraham's loyalty: Gd wanted to see if he would actually kill Isaac, his own son. However, a number of Jewish commentators from the medieval era, and many in the modern era as well, read the text somewhat differently. The early rabbinic midrash 'Genesis Rabbah' imagines Gd as saying 'I never considered telling Abraham to slaughter Isaac.' Rabbi Yona Ibn Janach (Spain, 11th century) wrote that Gd demanded only a symbolic sacrifice. Rabbi Yosef Ibn Caspi (Spain, early 14th century) wrote that Abraham's imagination led him astray, making him believe that he had been commanded to sacrifice his son. Ibn Caspi writes 'How could Gd command such a revolting thing?'

Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz (Chief Rabbi of the British Empire), writes that child sacrifice was actually 'rife among the Semitic peoples,' and suggests that 'in that age, it was astounding that Abraham's Gd should have interposed to prevent the sacrifice, not that He should have asked for it.' Hertz interprets the Binding of Isaac as demonstrating that human sacrifice is abhorrent. 'Unlike the cruel heathen deities, it was the spiritual surrender alone that Gd required.'

Let's examine the text:

And it came to pass after these things, that Gd did test Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. [Genesis 22:1-2]

The text reads that Abraham should 'offer him there for a burnt offering'. It does not read that Gd told Abraham to kill him for a burnt offering!

The original Hebrew is actually even clearer on this issue. The Hebrew reads, 'v’ha-ah-ley-hu sham l’o-lah.' It translates as, 'Raise him up there FOR a sacrifice.' The text does not say that Gd demanded Isaac to BE a sacrifice, but rather only that he should be raised up for one.

Furthermore, a close reading of the text tells us that this was a test, and that Abraham did not pass it. What is the test to which Abraham is being put? Gd wants Abraham to tell Gd, 'NO! I WON’T DO IT!' Abraham had just defended people he did not know in Sodom and Gemorrah. So Gd's test of Abraham is whether or not he would defend his own family as vigorously as he had defended strangers. Like many of us, he did not. He flunked. Many of us, for example, will talk sweetly to a voice on the phone, get off the phone, and then speak disrespectfully to our kids or our spouse, treating others, even strangers, better than we treat those we love.

When the test is first put before Abraham, the day before he actually takes the knife, preparing to kill his own son, Gd speaks to him directly:

And it came to pass after these things, that Gd did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And He said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. [Genesis 22:1-2]

Please not that it is Gd speaking directly to Abraham, and not an angel of Gd. However, after he takes hold of the knife, it is only an Angel of Gd who speaks to Abraham:

And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the Angel of the Etrnl called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. [Genesis 22:10-11]

And then later it is still only an Angel of Gd who speaks to Abraham:

And the Angel of the Etrnl called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time… [Genesis 22:15]

As a matter of fact, Gd never spoke directly to Abraham again. From the very moment that Abraham demonstrated his willingness to actually kill his son, Gd never again spoke directly to Abraham.

Note also that the promises of the Angel of Gd to Abraham are nothing new, they are only reiterating what Gd, directly, had already promised to him (cf. Gen. 12:2, 12:3, 12:7, 13:15, 13:16, 13:17, 15:1, 15:5, 15:7, 15:14, 15:18, 17:2, 17:4, 17:6, 17:8, 17:16). It is as if Gd was saying to the Angel, 'I am through with him. Pat him on the head because he thinks he did right, remind him of his reward for his previous faith, but I am done with him!'

You see, Gd had already told Abraham His covenant would go through Isaac. Gd wanted Abraham to say, 'Wait a minute, You, Gd, are now going against Your own word!' Gd knows that we are always closer to those we will argue with, than with those we will not.

When person does wrong, who are you more likely to admonish: someone you know, or someone you do not know?

Gd wants us to be that close to Gd. Gd wants us to be like Abraham, who was willing to argue with Gd regarding strangers in Sodom and Gemorrah. Gd wants us to be as close to Gd as Moses was, indicated by the fact that Moses argued with Gd -- repeatedly -- on behalf of the People of Israel. Gd wants us to be like Job, who felt so close to Gd that he could argue with Gd for justice. We can argue with Gd like true close friends can argue with each other, because Gd is truly our Closest Friend. Abraham flunked Gd's test, and so Gd never spoke to Abraham directly again.

Note also the true meaning of the word, 'Israel,' which is 'One who wrestles with Gd.' We are not to be blind followers (the word 'Christian' means 'follower of the Christ’), and we are not to merely submit to Gd ('Islam' means 'voluntary submission to Gd.' A Muslim is one who submits to Gd).

We Jews are to be wrestlers with Gd, like True Friends can do with each other. THAT is how close Gd wants us to be with Him.
Source: http://www.whatjewsbelieve.org/explanation4.html

Response to Christians Who Argue that the Church Replaced Israel

Rabbi Tovia Singer Responds to Christians Who Argue that the Church Replaced Israel

Source: https://outreachjudaism.org/  http://www.toviasinger.tv/

Christian, what are you going to say to G-d of Israel when your god Jesus doesn’t return?

Worshiper of Jesus, Christian/Messianic, what are you going to say when you stand before G-d after the false man-god Jesus whom you worship and to whom you pray doesn’t appear? What are you going to say to your Maker when you knew all along (and I am merely reminding you here now) that worshiping anyone or anything other than Him is a grave sin and betrayal? How will you justify your worship of a mortal creature to whom billions bow their knees? Will you deny that you knew that He has warned you that He was neither a man nor a son of man (Numbers 23:19), that He had no visible form and that He can’t be compared to anything He created? Will you try to defend yourself that you only followed your leaders or will you admit to G-d your sin of idolatry? Will you appeal to the polished literary character from the pages of your New Testament? Will you tell G-d that Jesus paid for your sins by his blood when He explicitly warned that He doesn’t approve of human sacrifices (Leviticus 18:21 and Deuteronomy 12:31) and that no man can punished for the sins of another (Ezekiel 18:20)? Will you point to the [Greek] Testament in your defense and claim it to be the “word of G-d”? Will you claim that you have put your faith in Jesus, Paul, apostles, the church scribes, church fathers, pastors and evangelists? Will you attempt to boldly walk into the Holy of Holies as the author of Hebrews exhorts you to do (Hebrews 10:19) and demand to be allowed in since you placed your trust in a “son of man”, despite the fact that G-d has told us in Numbers 23:19 not to do just that? What will come out of your mouth? Do you know?

The Bible already knows what you are going to say. Indeed, it gives us a glimpse of your very words and it tells us in the Jewish scriptures, the writings that you call “the Old Testament”, the words all of the nations will utter before the G-d of Israel in the end of days:

“To you (Hashem) shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: “Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit. Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!” (Jeremiah 16:19-20)

Today, however, the choice is still yours. Today, you can still either choose to continue worshiping Jesus as you god, to proclaim him as your “lord and savior” or you can choose to discard your idolatry and turn to the living G-d of Israel and Him alone. Make no mistake – you DO have a choice whom you will serve – if a man Jesus whom Christianity has deified to seat him on G-d’s throne is your ba’al (Hebrew word for “lord”), serve him. But if the G-d of Israel is the L-rd, then you know what you need to do. If you choose idolatry over the Living G-d of Israel, do not think that there is safety in the great numbers among the nations that Christianity and other religions can boast. As G-d said:

“Before Him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing. To whom, then, will you compare G-d? What image will you compare him to?” (Isaiah 40:17-18)

Source: https://dailyminyan.com/2014/12/15/christian-what-are-you-going-to-say-to-g-d-of-israel-when-your-god-jesus-doesnt-return/

A KNOCK-OUT PUNCH:THE "LAST AND FINAL SACRIFICE" TAKES THE TEN-COUNT

A reposting of Uri Yosef’s THE "LAST AND FINAL SACRIFICE" TAKES THE TEN-COUNT after a Christian apologist made this comment recently. May it be a light to anyone seeking the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

“The reason Jews as a whole haven't embraced Jesus Christ as Messiah is partly because of hard hearts, and partly because Jesus came to die for our sins. It was foreseen by God the Father that He would be rejected, per Isaiah 53 - which Jews have NEVER been able to "explain" - which then paved the way for His once-for-all sacrifice for sin.”

A KNOCK-OUT PUNCH:THE "LAST AND FINAL SACRIFICE" TAKES THE TEN-COUNT

Professor Uri Yosef 

I. INTRODUCTION

Christian missionaries claim that those who do not accept Jesus as their lord and

savior, which includes the Jewish people, are doomed to burn in “hell” because

they cannot have their sins forgiven by God. This claim is rationalized with the

allegation that, in Biblical times, the only way to bring about the remission of sins

was via the blood of a certain animal. This animal had to be brought to the priest

to be slaughtered at the altar in the Sanctuary, first while in the portable

Sanctuary and later in the Temple, as a sacrificial offering. According to this

claim, since there has been no Temple standing in Jerusalem since the year 70

C.E., valid sacrificial offerings can no longer be made and, therefore, the only

way for Jews to have their sins forgiven is through the blood shed by Jesus in his

"sacrificial" death on the cross. In other words, the claim is that the blood of

Jesus, who was allegedly sacrificed by God (the "Father") as a demonstration of

his great love for mankind,

has once and for all removed the stain of “Original

Sin" from those who follow Jesus (the "Son"). This act of love by God allegedly

made Jesus the "last and final sacrifice" forever.

There are two main aspects to the claim that Jesus was "the last and final

sacrifice". The first concerns the suitability of Jesus and his death as a sacrificial

offering for the remission of sins. The second aspect, which was investigated in

another essay, concerns the need for blood in the atonement process.

This essay examines the suitability of Jesus and the manner in which he died as

a sacrificial offering for the remission of sins.

II. THE CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE VERSUS THE SPECIFICATIONS IN THE HEBREW BIBLE

The process for testing this claim by Christian missionaries consists of

contrasting the requirements concerning sacrificial offerings, as specified in the

Hebrew Bible, against the accounts in the New Testament that describe the

death of Jesus on the cross as a sacrificial offering. As part of this analysis, it is

important to bear in mind the following two conditions that existed during the life

of Jesus, at the time of his death, and for several decades following his death:

 The Second Temple was still standing in Jerusalem

 The Hebrew Bible was the Scripture in force

The salient issue to be addressed, and answered, is:

According to the requirements set forth in the Hebrew Bible, was Jesus a valid sacrificial

offering, and was his death by crucifixion an acceptable process, for remission of sins?

The analytical phase of the testing process identifies ten elements for which the

respective accounts in the New Testament are compared with the specifications

provided in the Hebrew Bible, primarily in the Torah.

One

According to the accounts in the New Testament, Jesus was crucified by

Roman soldiers:

John 19:18,23(KJV) – (18) Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either

side one, and Jesus in the midst.

(23) Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made

four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam,

woven from the top throughout. [See also Matthew 27:35; Mark 15:24; Luke 23:33.]

According to the Levitical Law of Sacrifice in the Torah, the animal brought as

a sin sacrifice had to be slaughtered by the person who offered it:

Leviticus 4:27-29 - (27) And if any one person from among the common people sins

unwittingly, by performing one of the commandments of the Lord which may not be

done, and incurs guilt; (28) Or if his sin, which he has committed, is made known to

him, then he shall bring his sacrifice, an unblemished female goat, for his sin which he

has sinned. (29) And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and he

shall slaughter the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering.

Two

According to the Levitical Law of Sacrifice in the Torah, some of the blood of

the (sin) sacrifice had to be rubbed by the priest with his finger on the horns of

the altar in the Temple, and the rest had to be poured out at the base of the

sacrificial altar. The fat of the sacrifice had to be removed and burnt:

Leviticus 4:30-31 - (30) And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger, and

put [it] upon the horns of the altar [used] for the burnt offering; and [then] he shall

pour out all of [the rest of] its blood at the base of the altar. (31) And he shall remove

all of its fat, as was removed the fat from the sacrificial peace offerings; and the priest

shall burn it upon the altar for a pleasant fragrance to the Lord; and [thus] shall the

priest make an atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.

 The New Testament is silent on what was done with the blood of Jesus and

with the fat of his body.

Three

According to the accounts in the New Testament, Jesus was beaten,

whipped, and dragged on the ground before being crucified:

Matthew 26:67(KJV) - Then did they spit in his face, and buffeted him; and others

smote him with the palms of their hands, [See also Mark 14:65; Luke 22:63; John 18:22.]

Matthew 27:26,30-31(KJV) – (26)Then released he Barabbas unto them: and when he

had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

(30) And they spit upon him, and took the reed, and smote him on the head. (31) And

after that they had mocked him, they took the robe off from him, and put his own

raiment on him, and led him away to crucify him. [See also Mark 15:15-20; John 19:1-3.]

According to the Torah, a sacrificial animal had to be without any physical

defects or blemishes:

Deuteronomy 17:1 - You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that

has in it a blemish or any bad thing, for that is an abomination to the Lord, your God.

Sidebar Note: As a born Jew, Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day following

his birth, a ritual that leaves a scar (Genesis 17:10-13; the “sign of the covenant”).

The circumcision of Jesus is mentioned in the New Testament (Luke 2:21), yet Paul

refers to circumcision as being tantamount to mutilation (Galatians 5:11-12;

Philippians 3:2).

Four

 According to the New Testament, Jesus was "the Lamb of God" whose bones

may not be broken [a reference to the Paschal Lamb of Exodus 12:46 and

Numbers 9:12]:

John 1:29(KJV) – The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold

the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

John 19:36(KJV) - For these things were done, that the scripture should be fulfilled, A

bone of him shall not be broken.

 According to the Torah, the Paschal Lamb was not offered for the removal of

sins. Rather, it was a festive, or commemorative, offering. Yom Kippur (the

Day of Atonement) would have been a more appropriate time for a sin

offering:

Numbers 29:11 - One young male goat for a sin offering, beside the sin offering of

atonement, and the continual burnt offering, and its meal offering, and their drink

offerings. [Yom Kippur – Individual sin offering]

Leviticus 16:15 - He shall then slaughter the he goat of the people's sin offering and

bring its blood inside the dividing curtain, and he shall do with its blood as he did with

the blood of the bull and sprinkle it upon the cover of the ark, and before the cover of

the ark. [Yom Kippur – Communal sin offering]

Five

 According to the Torah, the Paschal Lamb had to be slaughtered and its

blood used to place markings on the side-posts and lintels of the entrances to

the dwelling. Moreover, the meat had to be roasted and eaten, and whatever

was not consumed by the time the Israelites were to leave their homes, had

to be burnt and destroyed:

Exodus 12:6-10 - (6) And you shall keep it under watch until the fourteenth day of this

month; and the entire congregation of the community of Israel shall slaughter it at

dusk. (7) And they shall take [some] of its blood, and place it on the two doorposts and

on the lintel, on the houses in which they will eat it. (8) And they shall eat the meat in

that night, roasted over fire, and [with] unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall

eat it. (9) You shall not eat from it raw, nor boiled in water; but roasted over fire, its

head with its legs, and with its inner parts. (10) And you shall not leave any of it until

morning; and that which left over until the morning you shall burn in the fire.

 According to the accounts in the New Testament this was not done with

Jesus after his death. In fact, Jesus was buried.

Matthew 27:57-60(KJV) – (57) When the even was come, there came a rich man of

Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself was Jesus' disciple: (58) He went to

Pilate, and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be

delivered. (59) And when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen

cloth, (60) And laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he

rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre, and departed. [See also Mark 15:42-46;

Luke 23:50-53; John 19:38-42.]

Six

 According to the New Testament, the death of Jesus was a sacrificial offering

that expiated the sins of mankind for all times:

Hebrews 10:10,18(KJV) – (10) By the which will we are sanctified through the offering

of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

(18) Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. [See also

Romans 6:10; Hebrews 9:12.]

 According to the Torah, the Passover (sin) sacrifice, a male-goat, had to be

offered on an individual (per household) basis, not as a communal offering:

Numbers 28:22 - And one young male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for

you.

Seven

 According to the New Testament, the death and blood of Jesus took care of

(almost) all sins:

Hebrews 9:22(KJV) – And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and

without shedding of blood is no remission.

 According to the Levitical Law of Sacrifice in the Torah, the sacrificial sin

offering brought atonement only for unintentional sins, except as noted in

Leviticus 5:1-6, 20-26[Leviticus 5:1-6, 6:1-7 in Christian Bibles]:

Numbers 15:27-31 - (27) And if a person sins inadvertently, then he shall offer a female

goat in its first year as a sin offering. (28) And the priest shall atone for the erring

person who sinned inadvertently before the Lord in order to make atonement on his

behalf; and it shall be forgiven him. (29) For the native born of the children of Israel

and the stranger who resides among them, one law shall apply to him who sins

inadvertently. (30) And the person who does anything presumptuously, whether he is a

native born or a stranger, that person blasphemes the Lord; and that person shall be

cut off from among his people. (31) Because he has scorned the word of the Lord, and

has violated his commandment; that person shall surely be cut off, for his iniquity is

upon him.

Eight

 According to the New Testament, the death of Jesus brought about the

remission of sins yet uncommitted, and of sins of those yet to be born:

Hebrews 10:18(KJV) – Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for

sin.

 According to the Levitical Law of Sacrifice in the Torah, sacrifices could bring

atonement only for sins committed prior to the offering of the sacrifice. No

sacrifice was provided for the atonement of sins committed after the sacrifice

was offered and, thus, no sacrifice can bring atonement for sins of people

born after it was offered. This includes both טּאתָחַ (haTAT)], a sin offering,

described in Leviticus 4:1-5:13, and שׁםָאָ (aSHAM), a guilt offering,

described in Leviticus 5:14-26. Had there been, among the listed sacrifices,

even one kind of sin or guilt offering that could bring atonement for future

sins, the person who would have offered that particular sacrifice would not

have had to do so again for the rest of his life. Moreover, Yom Kippur (the

Day of Atonement), which is ordained by the Torah as an annual Holy Day

(Leviticus 16:29-34), would have had to be celebrated by the Israelites only

the very first time after the giving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai, had they used one

of those "super" sacrificial offerings that could atone for sins of the future.

The claim by the author of Hebrews, that there are no more sin offerings

required following the death of Jesus, is false for other reasons as well:

 The Second Temple stood in Jerusalem for nearly 40 years following the death of

Jesus, during which time literally thousands of animals were offered as sacrifices

of all sorts, including sin and guilt offerings, as prescribed by the Torah.

 The Hebrew Bible contains prophecies about the building of the Third Temple in

the messianic era, and of the resumption of the sacrificial system at that time. All

the types of sacrificial offerings described in the Hebrew Bible will be made on the

sacrificial altar [חַ בֵּזְמִ (mizBE'ah)] in the Temple, including both the טּאתָחַ and

שׁםָאָ sacrificial offerings. In other words, the sacrificial system, which has been

in a state of suspension since the year 70 C.E., when the Romans destroyed the

Second Temple, will be completely restored in the messianic era:

Ezekiel 43:21-22 - And you shall take the bull of the sin offering, and he [the priest]

shall burn it at the edge of the Temple, outside the Sanctuary. (22) And on the

second day you shall offer an unblemished he-goat for a sin offering, and they [the

priests] shall purify the altar as they purified it with the bull. [See also: Isaiah 56:7;

Jeremiah 33:17-18; Ezekiel 40:39,46-47, 41:42, 42:13, 43:13,15,18-19,22,25-27,

44:27,29, 45:17,19,22-23,25, 46:20, 47:1; Zechariah 14:21.]

Nine

 According to the New Testament, God's "only begotten son" died on the cross

for the sins of mankind, and all who accept this belief are "saved" (i.e., get

salvation) and will go to heaven:

Romans 5:8-11(KJV) – (8) But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we

were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (9) Much more then, being now justified by his

blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. (10) For if, when we were enemies,

we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we

shall be saved by his life.(11) And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord

Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. [See also Acts 10:43;

1Corinthians 15:3; 1Peter 3:18.]

 The Hebrew Bible strictly prohibits (human) vicarious atonement, and

mandates that everyone is responsible for his or her own sins:

Deuteronomy 24:16 - Fathers shall not be put to death because of children, nor shall

children be put to death for fathers; each person shall be put to death for his own sin.

[See also Exodus 32:31-33; Numbers 35:33.]

Ten

 According to the New Testament, Jesus was "God manifest in the flesh" (this

would make it a human sacrifice):

Romans 8:3(KJV) - For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,

God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in

the flesh: [See also 1Timothy 3:16; 1John 4:2.]

 The Hebrew Bible strictly prohibits human sacrifices. The concept of human

sacrifices to a deity is foreign to Judaism. Human sacrifice is a pagan rite:

Leviticus 18:21 – And you shall not give any of your offspring to pass through the fire

for Molech, and shall not profane the name of your God; I am the Lord. [See also

Deuteronomy 18:10; Jeremiah 7:31, 19:32; Ezekiel 23:37-39.]

Source: http://thejewishhome.org/counter-index.html

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