No Evidence.

Renowned Talmudic scholar, Daniel Boyarin, in his latest book, The Jewish Gospels (speaking of Isaiah 53, on pg.152) states:

"I cannot overstate the extent to which the interpretation of this passage has anchored the conventional view of Judaism's relationship to Messianism. It has been generally assumed by modern folks that Jews have always given the passage a metaphorical reading, understanding the suffering servant to refer to the People of Israel, and that it was the Christians who changed and distorted its meaning to make it refer to Jesus. Quite to the contrary, we now know that many Jewish authorities, maybe even most, until nearly the modern period have read Isaiah 53 as being about the Messiah; until the last few centuries, the allegorical reading was a minority position." He continues, "Aside from one very important - but absolutely unique - notice in Origen's Contra Celsum, there is no evidence at all that any late ancient Jews read Isaiah 52-53 as referring to anyone but the Messiah."

Purchase Daniel Boyarin's The Jewish Gospels here.
Read the 53rd chapter of Isaiah here.
Watch The Mysterious Prophecy of Isaiah 53 video here.

Dwell

"And for the house of Israel there shall be no more a briar to prick or a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the L-rd G-D. Thus says the L-rd G-D: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and manifest My holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall dwell in their own land that I gave to my servant Yakov. And they shall dwell securely in it, and they shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall dwell securely, when I execute judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I Am the L-RD their G-d." ~ Yehezkel 28:24-26

Face to face

The Malakh of HaShem found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And He said, "Hagar, maid of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai." The Malakh of HaShem said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit to her." The Malakh of HaShem also said to her, "I will so greatly multiply your descendants that they cannot be numbered for multitude." And the Malakh of HaShem said to her, "Behold, you are with child, and shall bear a son; you shall call his name Ishmael; because HaShem has given heed to your affliction. He shall be a wild ass of a man, his hand against every man and every man's hand against him; and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen." So she called the name of HaShem who spoke to her, "You are El who sees me"; for she said, "Have I really seen G-d and remained alive after seeing Him?" – Genesis 16:7-13

Then Yakov was left alone; and a Man wrestled with him until the breaking of day. Now when he saw that he did not prevail against Him, He touched the socket of his hip; and the socket of Yakov's hip was out of joint as He wrestled with him. And He said, "Let me go, for the day breaks." But he said, "I will not let you go unless You bless me!" So He said to him, "What is your name?" And he said, "Yakov." And He said, "your name will no longer be called Yakov, but Yisrael; for you struggled with G-d  and with men, and have prevailed." Then Yakov asked Him, saying, "Tell me Your name, I pray." And He said, "Why is it that you ask about My name?" And He blessed him there. And Yacov called the name of the place Peniel (Face of G-d): "For I have seen G-d face to face, and my life is preserved."  - Genesis 32:24-30

Raise Your Hand.

This is what the L-RD G-D said, "Look, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles and raise my sign to all the people. They will bring your sons, carrying them close and they will lift up your daughters upon their shoulders and carry them. Kings will be your caring fathers and queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down their faces at the sight of you and lick the dust from your feet. Then you will all know that I AM the L-RD. Those who wait for Me will not be ashamed." ~ Isaiah 49:22-23

Yeshayahu 49:22,23 graphically illustrates how the nations will, because of a miracle (nes) that is raised before them by the hand of G-d, carry Israel back to her land – and humbly nurture the People of G-d in that place. Then, and this is important, "you will all know that I Am the L-RD”. Who is “you”? “You” refers to Israel, of course. When will Israel know who the L-rd is? We can see from the sequence - only after this event takes place is His identity revealed. After G-d raises a miracle in the sight of the nations, they will be motivated to care for the Jewish People, carrying them back to their land. After which, they, Israel, will know who the L-rd truly is. Since the nations have, in effect, been carrying Israel back to her land for decades, are we to believe that the sign raised by the hand of G-d to the nations is Messiah Yeshua? I certainly believe so. But is there more to this prophecy? The humility described here on the part of the nations is rarely seen today. Is there yet another miracle G-d will work before gentile eyes? One that will humble them even more? One that will make the truth of G-d's plan for world redemption an inescapable reality for all? Or have the nations simply missed what was already shown to them? I believe that there may be more shown to the nations. With the current state of world markets and global turmoil, it would be absolutely nothing for G-d to raise His hand and unleash a series of eye-opening events. Perhaps this "hand raising" is a multi-faceted revelation spanning an unknown number of years. At any rate, there are already gentiles who would love nothing more than to humble themselves and assist Am Yisrael any way that they could. Many have been for decades.

Mishkan Among Us

"Seeing in his spirit of prophecy that the time would come when the משכן, 'Mishkan' (the Sanctuary) would cease to exist and the Shekinah would dwell no more in Israel's midst, Moses was anxious to know by what means the sins of his people would then be expiated. The Almighty vouchsafed the information that He would choose a righteous man from their midst, and make him a משכן (pledge) for them, and through him their sins would be forgiven." - Exodus Rabba 35

Revealed in Ruth

"The fourteenth verse in the second chapter of Ruth is thus explained. 'Come thou hither' is the prediction of Messiah's kingdom. 'Dip the morsel in the vinegar,' foretells the agony through which Messiah will pass, as it is written in Isaiah (cap. 51), 'He was wounded for our sins, He was bruised for our transgressions.' 'And she set herself beside the reapers' predicts the temporary departure of Messiah's kingdom. 'And he reached her a parched corn' means the restoration of His kingdom." - Midrash Ruth 5

Bible Quiz

I'm so proud of my 8 year old daughter, Shalom. She's really taken to the scriptures in recent months - and it's been her idea! We've read to her since birth, but lately I've been finding her somewhere reading scripture alone or she'll ask me a random question about something she's recently read. So awesome! It's a very important (and happy) time for me as her dad and I really couldn't be more proud of my little cupcake... er, future scholar.

Today I thought to quiz her. It was the first one so nothing too tricky - just a little messianic prophecy from Dani'el with a dash of the presence of HaShem. Y'know, kids stuff. Thing is, my 8 year old daughter figured out something in about 15 minutes that most Jewish scholars haven't in a lifetime. Did I go too easy? Better ramp it up - Bat Mitzvah is only 5 years away.

Ha Achor

In the previous post, Ha Ayin ("the eye"), we looked at a few of the amazing events in the lives of Avraham and Yakov. These were life-changing (and name changing) encounters with G-d. As we've seen, the text is clear that these instances are not like Enoch "walking" with G-d, Adam hearing the "voice of G-d walking", or G-d appearing as a pillar of cloud. Rather these are physical, tangible manifestations of Adonai where He ate, spoke plainly, and even wrestled - all without smoke, fire, lightning, sounds of rushing water, or wheels within wheels - as everyday as hanging out with the Creator of time-space can be. We, therefore, have every reason to believe that G-d is able to manifest Himself any way that he likes and, in times past, on multiple occasions, He chose to appear in bodily form. But don't take my word for it.

In today's post, Ha Achor ("the back"), we'll explore a few passages from the incredible life of Moshe. G-d seems to have genuinely enjoyed astounding Moshe with His amazing power. The miracles G-d wrought before Moshe's eyes are well-worn territory and fairly common knowledge, even among non-believers. But, with all that is commonly known and has been discussed for centuries concerning Moshe's life, it's surprising to still hear claims that G-d is completely incorporeal. As we'll see, this couldn't be further from the truth.

Ha Ayin

As I offered in yesterday's post, Ha Yamin ("the right hand"), G-d longs to be with us. He chose to fulfill that desire (and His plan for our redemption) by manifesting Himself physically, in our dimension and in our form. Today, I'd like to expand on that idea and show that His appearing in the form of a man in the Brit Chadasha, was not an isolated instance. There are a great many who are unable to accept the idea of G-d taking the form of a man, namely Yeshua of Nazareth, because of their understanding that G-d is simply unable to do so. Can you blame them? G-d has no body, right?  Even if He did, in Exodus 33:20, G-d tells Moshe that he couldn't see Him and live. What's going on here exactly? Let's look at some occurrences of G-d revealing Himself to men in the Tanakh and see what we find. I don't intend this to be exhaustive, but there are just a few passages I'd like to point out. We'll start with Avraham, as his seems a fitting beginning, only here, he is still Avram for a moment.

Pesach 5771

All scripture, being inspired by G-d, is beneficial for doctrine, correction and instruction in walking righteously before our G-d, that the man (or woman) of G-d would be perfect and completely equipped for all good works. 2 Tim. 3:16,17

When Shaul the Pharisee wrote this letter to Timothy, the Tanakh (Old Testament) was the only scripture the followers of Messiah Yeshua had. It would be decades before most would even hear about the writings contained in the Brit Chadasha (New Testament) and centuries before they would hold actual copies in their exceedingly thankful hands. In light of this, it is of utmost importance for us today, somewhat desensitized by centuries of readily available printed scriptures (at least, in the West) to remember that verses speaking of the Word being G-d breathed, etc. are actually referring to the writings contained in the Tanakh (not that these truths wouldn't apply to the entire Word eventually, just that they didn't at this time). Selah.

Living Blood

Once Kayin had killed Hevel, the voice of his brother's blood called to G-d from the ground.
G-d (mercifully) questioned Kayin concerning the disappearance of his brother. Kayin's response said it all. First, he lied, stating that he didn't know where Hevel was. Then he answered G-d with complete disrespect, asking sarcastically if Hevel's whereabouts were his responsibilty. The irony here is incredible - and directly to G-d's face! On top of that, he showed absolutely no remorse.

However, all of that is secondary to my questions.
How did Kayin know it was wrong to murder?
How was G-d just in punishing Kayin if he had not previously instructed him not to kill?
Why did G-d choose to put a mark on Kayin, warning of vengeance if any should take his life, rather than just allowing whatever might befall him?
Was Kayin preserved as an example?
If so, what was he an example of?
Could he possibly have had an agreement with G-d of which we're unaware?

Living Word

How did Kayin (Cain) and Hevel (Abel) know to offer sacrifices to G-d?
Hevel offered the firstborn of his flock. Why?
Were these sacrifices offered for sin?

In Genesis 4:6, G-d tells Kayin that he will be "accepted if he does well", but that "sin crouches at the door" if he doesn't "do well". This is a strange warning from G-d considering He hadn't yet given His instruction, isn't it? How would Kayin even know what sin was at that point in time?

Living Tree

G-d placed cherubim, fiery angels, to the East of Gan Eden to protect the Tree of Life from man - or, more than likely, to protect man from obtaining eternal life in his sinful condition - separated from G-d. This security system didn't consist only of angels, but also a "flaming sword" - lahet kherev. This flaming sword somehow extended (or turned) in all directions, which sounds like some type of force field. The Hebrew word, "lahet" can also mean flickering, hidden, or even, invisible. Incidentally, it's the same word used to describe the power used by Pharaoh's sorcerers in Exodus 7:11.

What do you think the nature of this security system or force field might have been?
What do you think would have happened to Adam had he touched it?

Living Sound

How did the voice of G-d walk (halak) in the Garden?
And what did it sound like?