We know that Messiah will gather the nation
of Israel from the four corners of the world. We also know that gentiles
will join with Israel and worship the G-d of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob;
for Isaiah wrote, 'My House shall be called a House of Prayer for all peoples'.
But in the midst of this we note
that not all worship G-d and that preparations for war will be made. Ezekiel
wrote of a time when Israel would be dwelling in peace and safety in unwalled
villages, without bars or gate (Ez. 38). And in the 'latter days', armies
from the north would descend upon Israel and would be utterly defeated
by the L-rd.
Therefore, the expectation of universal peace
through Messiah is shown to be at variance with the prophecies in scripture.
Universal peace will not occur until this 'final battle' and G-d makes
a new heaven and a new earth.
(BF)
. . .So, if the Messiah were to do this mechanically, and by forcing it on humanity, then men would no longer be free, or even men. They would be like dancing puppets, that go limp or dance only when animated. Will the messiah 'force' everyone to be good? If everyone were only turned into a puppet like this, then Jewish history (and all history) would be meaningless. Instead, Yeshua used words like 'leaven' and 'seed' to suggest the way the kingdom of G-d will come, and slowly infiltrate the rest of society, and change it.
(RP)
32. It's been 2000 years. How much longer do we have to wait?
In fact, this question is applicable to both Jews and Christians. Jews have been waiting for the advent of the messiah longer than Christians have been waiting for his return.
(BF)
In the Talmud (Sanhedrin 97a) there is a note which says, 'It was taught in the school of Elijah, the world will last for six thousand years: two thousand years in chaos, two thousand years with Torah, and two thousand years will be the days of the Messiah'. If this is correct, then Yeshua came at exactly the right time.
(RP)
When Yeshua's talmidim asked him this very
question, that is, if he was going to restore the kingdom of Israel right
then, at that very time, he answered with a mashal. A farmer went out to
plant, he said. But before the crop could come in, an enemy went and planted
weeds in the same field. What should be done? Should the farmer destroy
the field, and count the whole crop as a loss? No, said Yeshua. He
would wait until harvest time; and then it would be easy enough to separate
out the weeds from the crop.
Thus, the weeds were allowed to continue,
for the present. Likewise, sin and unrighteousness are allowed to continue,
for the present. It will be easy enough to separate the two at the time
of judgement. In the meantime, the righteous are to be allowed to 'grow'
to their fulfillment.
(RP)
33. Doesn't Isaiah 53 really refer to Israel?
'And his grave was set among the wicked, and with the
rich, in his death. . . ' (Is. 53:9).
But when did Israel die? Surely it is not a Jewish belief that Israel will
die, is it?
(AP)
That this does not apply to Israel is clear when you read all of Isaiah:
'How the faithful city
has become a whore! She that was
full of justice, righteousness lodged in her--but
now murderers!
(Is. 1:21)
'For the vineyard of
the L-rd of Hosts is the House of Israel,
and the people of Judah are his pleasant
planting; he expected
justice, but saw bloodshed; rightousness,
but heard a cry!'
(Is. 5:7)
'Ah, you who make iniquitous
decrees, who write oppressive
statutes, to turn aside the needy from
justice and to rob the
poor of my people of their right, that
widows may be your spoil,
and that you may make the orphans your
prey! What will you
do on the day of punishment, in the
calamity that will come
from far away? To whom will you flee
for help, and where will
you leave all your wealth. . .'
(Is. 10:1-3)
'The way of peace
you do not know, and there is no justice
in their paths. Their roads they
have made crooked; no one who
walks in them knows peace. Therefore
justice is far from us, and
righteousness does not reach us;
we wait for light, and lo! there
is darkness; and for brightness,
but we walk in gloom. We grope
like the blind along a wall, groping
like those who have no eyes;
we stumble at noon as in the twilight,
among the vigorous as
though we were dead.'
(Is. 59:8-10)
Thus, to Isaiah, Israel does not qualify as one who has 'done no injustice and spoken no falsehood' (verse 9).
(BF)
'Yet it was OUR sickness that HE was bearing,
OUR suffering that HE endured'.
Who is the prophet speaking of here?
Who is the OUR and the HE?
Aren't there two different entities here?
'WE accounted HIM plagued,
Smitten and afflicted by G-d.
But HE was wounded because of
OUR sins,
Crushed because of OUR iniquities.
HE bore the chastisement that
made US whole,
And by HIS bruises WE were healed.'
Two entities.
'WE all went astray like sheep,
Each going his own way;
And the L-rd visited upon
HIM
The guilt of all of US'.
No innocence here. Whose guilt is it that is 'visited' upon 'HIM'?
Is. 53:11 is also the only place in scripture where the phrase, 'My righteous servant' is used. Others are called, 'My servant', but not 'My righteous servant'. A righteous servant must be holy. Who is this righteous servant?
(RP)
34. This is still just your Christian interpretation.
This is also the way a lot of Jewish interpreters have seen it. Consider, for example, the following:
Rabbi Don Yitzchak Abarbanel, circa 1500, stated
The first question
is to ascertain of whom this
refers; for the . . . Nazarenes expound
it of the man who
was crucified in Jerusalem at the end
of the Second Temple
. . . Yochanan ben Uzziel interpreted
it in the Targum of the
future messiah; but this is also the
opinion of the learned men
in the MAJORITY (emphasis added) of
the midrashim.
(Note that R. Abarbanel did not himself, however,
ascribe to this view).
The Musaf prayer for the Day of Atonement, composed by R. Eliezer Kalir circa 700 C.E. reads, in part:
Messiah our Righteousness
is departed from us. . . He hath
borne the yoke of our iniquities, and our
transgression, and
was wounded becauase of our transgression.
He beareth our
sins on his shoulder, that he may find pardon
for our iniquities.
We shall be healed by his wound. . .
Rabbi Yepheth ben 'All (tenth century) noted:
The expression
'My servant' is applied to Messiah as it
is applied to his ancestor in the verse, 'I have
sworn to David
My servant'.
Rabbi Moshe LeSheich (Al Shech), a disciple of Joseph Caro, said:
Our Rabbis of
blessed memory with one voice accept and
affirm the opinion that the prophet is speaking
of King Messiah.
And we ourselves shall also adhere to the
same view.
Rabbi Moshe Kohen Ibn Crispin (Cordova and Toledo, circa 1350):
I am pleased
to interpret it in accordance with our Rabbis,
of the King Messiah, and will be careful,
in so far as I am able,
to adhere to the literal sense; thus,
perhaps, I will be free
from the fancied and far-fetched interpretations
of which
others have been guilty.
Maimonides himself, in his letter to R. Jacob Alfajumi, said:
Likewise Isaiah
said that he (Messiah) would appear without
acknowledging a father or mother: 'He grew
up before him as
a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground'
(Is. 53:2)
Rabbi Naphtali ben Asher Altschuler (circa 1650):
I will go on
to explain these verses of our own Messiah,
who, G-d willing, will come speedily in our
own days. I am
surprised that Rashi and R. David Kimchi have
not, with
the Targums, applied it to the Messiah likewise.
And so on. Thus, while none of these authorities accepted Yeshua as the messiah, nonetheless, the words 'majority', 'with one voice', 'in accordance with our rabbis', etc., all suggest that this was not merely the CHRISTIAN interpretation.
(RP)
35. But isn't the messiah supposed to reign as a king? Where in Judaism do you find the idea of a messiah who suffers and dies?
In some Jewish thinking, just as Moses was
unable to enter the promised land, so the messiah would be unable to complete
his work and finish building the messianic kingdom. Therafter he would
be succeeded by a second messiah, messiah ben David, who would finish the
work. (This first messiah would then be named, messiah ben Joseph).
Christianity resolves this dilema by having the same first messiah simply
return again, ie, coming twice. The first time he arrives as a sufferer.
Examine the following:
The Patriarchs
of the world (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob)
will in the future arise in the month of Nisan (the
month of
Passover) and will say to him: 'Ephraim, our true
Messiah!
Though we are your fathers, you are greater than
we, for you
have suffered on account of the sins of our children,
and cruel
chastisements have come on you . . . and you sat
in darkness and
your eyes saw no light, and you skin stuck to your
bones, and
your body dried up like wood, and your eyes became
weary from
fasting, and your strength was like a potshard.
And all of this was
because of the sins of our children. . .
Pesikta Rabbati
'And the land
shall mourn' (Zech. 12:12) What is the reason
for this? R. Dosa and the rabbis disagree about
it. R. Dosa says,
'(They will mourn) over the Messiah who will be
killed.', and
the rabbis say, '(They will mourn) over the
Evil Inclination[i.e.
man's desire to sin] which will be killed
(in the day of Messiah). . . '
Sukkah 52a
(When He created
King Messiah) , the Holy One. . . began
to tell him the nature of his task,
and He said to him, 'Those
who are with you in your generation, their
sins are going
to force you into a yoke of iron, and
they will tear at you like a
calf whose sight is grown weak, and they will
choke your
spirit with the yoke, and on account of their
sins
your tongue will stick to the roof of your
mouth.
Will you agree to this?'
. . .
he said to Him, 'King of the World! I accept
it with joy in my joy and happiness of heart,
in order
that not even a single one of those
who will live in my
day should die; and not only that those who
live in my
day should be saved, but also all the dead
who have
ever died from Adam until now. And not just
them,
but also the stillborn should live in those
days; and
not only the stillborn, but even everyone
to whom
You thought to give life, but whom You did
not create.
This is what I desire, this is what
I agree to!'
Pesikta Rabbati
Elijah of blessed
memory caresses his (messiah's)
head, holds it on his lap, and says to him, 'Accept
all
these sufferings and the verdict of the Holy One
who
causes you to suffer for the sins of Israel.' And
so it
was written, 'He was wounded for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities' (Is. 53:5)
Bet HaMidrash
(Mid. Konen)
So it can be seen that this isn't merely a
Christian interpretation, or something that was sought for and found later,
in order to justify the crucifixion, but rather, that it was (and has been)
a part and parcel of Jewish tradition about the Messiah all along.
Unfortunately, very seldom is there anyone
who will approach this chapter of Isaiah with an open mind. Far too often,
the approach taken is to assume, first off, that it will NOT refer to Yeshua;
anything, or anyone else, will be acceptable. A better approach would
be to stand back, take an objective look, abandon all previous opinions
and bias, and consider it as though it were fresh. Then make up your mind.
(RP)
36. But Isaiah
53 is only one of four 'servant' songs in Isaiah. Are you trying to say
that Yeshua is portrayed in ALL of them? How about Isaiah 42:1-4?
37. So what
about Isaiah 49:1-6? You mean to say that this doesn't refer to Israel?
It even says, 'My servant, Israel'!
38. What about
Isaiah 50:4-9?
39.So how about the
last song? Remember that Isaiah 52:13 on,and Isaiah 53, really form one
cohesive whole(the chapter divisions were added in the middle ages). Is
Yeshua here, in all of this, too?
40. But you
misunderstand. What Isaiah is talking about is how the gentiles will see
the suffering they have caused Israel and repent of it, when they see Israel
glorified. This repentance will 'cure' them and make them whole again,
and right with G-d.