John 4:4-26 is the story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman. John 4:26 is an answer to a question in John 4:25 “The woman said, “I know that Messiah is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.” John 4:25-26. Jesus may have thouht he was the messiah, but he was not the messiah or divine. Jews know that Jesus was not the messiah. For one, he did not have the correct parentage (no Davidic father), but far more important he did not fulfill the prophecies -- not one. . . Some of the prophecies are found in Yeshayahu / Isaiah 2:1-4; Tzefaniah / Zephaniah 3:9; Hoshea / Hosea 2:20-22; Amos 9:13-15; Yeshayahu / Isaiah 32:15-18, 60:15-18; Michah / Micah 4:1-4; Zechariah 8:23, 14:9; and Yirmiyahu / Jeremiah 31:33-34 (the renewed covenant between G-d and the Jews). Many of these prophetic passages speak of a descendant of King David who will rule Israel during the age of perfection. (Y'shayahu / Isaiah 11:1-9; Yirmiyahu / Jeremiah 23:5-6, 30:7-10, 33:14-16; Yechezkel / Ezekiel 34:11-31, 37:21-28; Hoshea / Hosea 3:4-5). Since every Jewish King and priest is a Messiah, by convention (an anointed one), we refer to this future anointed king as the Messiah. We will know the Messiah by seeing who the King of Israel is at the time of complete universal perfection when all the bible prophecies are fulfilled. If a person has the correct lineage but fails to complete even ONE of the prophecies, then he is not the messiah. . . So what are the real messianic prophecies? Here are a few with their sources listed: A. Build the Third Temple (Yechezkel / Ezekiel 37:26-28). B. Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Yeshayahu / Isaiah 43:5-6). C. Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Yeshayahu / Isaiah 2:4) D. Spread universal knowledge of the G-d of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "G-d will be King over all the world -- on that day, G-d will be One and His Name will be One" (Zechariah 14:9). If an individual fails to fulfill even one of these conditions, then he cannot be "The Messiah." Christians are taught that Jesus "died for your sins" -- but the Torah teaches that human sacrifice is forbidden. The Torah also teaches us that no one can atone for the sins of another -- each of us is responsible for his / her own sins. John 4 never mentions Jesus character -- wise or otherwise. Yet again the list maker is stating that a character trait is a prophetic fulfillment. Quite a few on the list of 365 supposed prophecise Jesus fufilled are tied by the list maker to his character: 27. Exodus 15:11...His Character-Holiness...Luke 1:35; Acts 4:27 29. Exodus 33:19...His Character-Merciful...Luke 1:72 131. Psalms 89:36-37...His character-Faithfulness...Rev. 1:5 135. Psalms 100:5...His character-Goodness...Matthew 19:16,17 146. Psalms 112:4...His character-Compassionate, Gracious, et al... Matthew 9;36 and so on. . . Character traits are not prophecies. Hopefully we all strive to be holy, merciful, faithful, good and compassionate -- and wise. All of these are excellent qualities, but none are unique to the messiah, and not one of them are messianic prophecies. They are character traits of the messiah -- but it is quote possible that a Davidic heir (which Jesus was not) can be wise, etc. and still not be the messiah. The passage in question is a messianic passage - but it must be read in context with the rest of the chapter. Y'shayahu / Isaiah 11:2 says: "And the spirit of the L-rd shall rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and heroism, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the L-rd"? Line 4 states "And he shall judge the poor justly, and he shall chastise with equity the humble of the earth, and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips he shall put the wicked to death." Jesus was never a judge, let alone "smite the earth" or put the wicked to death -- he never had any such power or authority. Line 6 "And a wolf shall live with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie with a kid; and a calf and a lion cub and a fatling [shall lie] together, and a small child shall lead them." Again, this peace -- where enemies get along in peace -- never happened in Jesus' lifetime. Missionaries will insist he will do that "next time" (second coming) -- but that simply means he failed to do it -- and that means he cannot be the messiah. THIS is a messianic prophecy -- and Jesus failed the test. Read this summary of chapter 11 from the Orthodox Union and ask yourself "did Jesus do ANY of this?" The answer is a resounding NO. "The righteous will surround the Moshiach (messiah). The strong will dwell in peace with the weak, rather than oppressing them. They are symbolized by the wolf and the lamb living together; there are those who take this literally rather than allegorically. There are many such metaphors in this chapter: the cow and the bear, the lion eating straw, children not fearing snakes, etc. The land will be as full of Torah knowledge as the sea is full of water. When the Moshiach is established, the nations will turn to him for guidance. They will honor him and live in peace with Israel. Then, G-d will stretch out His hand to gather the exiles from Assyria, Egypt, Ethiopia and elsewhere. G-d will gather the scattered Jews from “the four corners of the Earth.” The two Jewish nations, Israel and Judah, will be reconciled and reunited. (Israel is referred to as Ephraim, referring to the Tribe of their first king, Yaravam. According to Rashi, this verse also refers to the Moshiach ben David, from the Tribe of Judah, and the Moshiach ben Yosef, as Ephraim was a son of Joseph. Further explanation of the concept of two Messiahs is beyond the scope of this synopsis.) Together, the two Jewish nations will defeat their enemies. G-d will dry up rivers and seas, beating them into streams with paths in between, to serve as highways for all the Jews returning from exile, like the Red Sea when the Jews left Egypt."
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