Do you find it a bit odd that this, the first claim on the list of 365 supposed prophecies Jesus fulfilled tied to Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah is chapter 23? What happened to the first twenty-two chapters? Jeremiah (יִרְמְיָהוּ / Y'rmiyahu) lived nearly 2600 years ago on תשעה באב / Tisha B'Av -- the 9th of Av. This date is one of the saddest in Jewish history. In 1313 BCE the spies, sent by Moses on a reconnaissance mission to see what it would take to conquer the land. . . they returned on the 8th of Av saying it was unconquerable. That night, the 9th of Av, the people cry in despair, and G-d is angered in their lack of faith in Him (He gave them the land) said "You weep for nothing now, but in the future you will have a reason to weep on this date." Because of this lack of faith that generation was not allowed to enter the land. . .. and in the future the 9th of Av was a day of horror for the Jewish people. Solomon's Temple was destroyed on the 9th of Av (423 BCE). In 68 CE the Romans destroyed the second Temple, also on the 9th of Av. The Jewish revolt against the Romans, led by Bar Kochba, failed in a final battle at Betar on the 9th of Av, 133 CE. On the 9th of Av in 1290 CE the English expelled the Jews. On the 9th of Av in 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain. Germany declared war on Russia on the 9th of Av, 1914. On the 9th of Av -- Tisha B'Av 1942, -- the first trainload of Jews arrived at Treblinka Concentration Camp, and sent to the gas chambers. Truly the saddest day of the Jewish calendar -- and the day on which the prophet Jeremiah was born. . . The Book of Lamentations, אֵיכָ֣ה . Eicah, was Jeremiah's sad prophecies about the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem and the subsequent exile of our nation, forms the centerpiece of the Tisha B’Av mourning. It is read in public on the eve of Tisha B’Av and then again the next day. Jeremiah was a kohein (priest, of the tribe of Levi). His father was the prophet and High-Priest Hilkiah. Jeremiah was descended from Joshua and Rachav (Megilla 14b). Prophecy is direct communication from G-d in the form of dreams or visions (with the exception of Moses who communicated without their benefit). In the case of Jeremiah, G-d appeared to him in the days of King Yoshiyahu (Josiah) of Judah and he prophesied through the reign of King Zedekiah, whom the Babylonians appoint their own puppet king. G-d said to Jeremiah: "When I had not yet formed you in the womb, I knew you, and when you had not yet emerged from the womb, I had appointed you; a prophet to the nations I made you." Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 1:5. Zedekiah is weak and ambitious -- a dangerous combination. He rebels against his Babylonian bosses which results in the Babylonian emperor Nebuchadnezzar orders a siege of Jerusalem. Jeremiah warns the Jews to return to G-d. He writes a warning which is in the T'nach (bible) -- the Book of Lamentations,. He predicted in great detail the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem. . . Indeed, for forty years Jeremiah's prophecies fall on deaf ears. He is even beaten and thrown into prison for his efforts! For two years the Babylonians attack Jerusalem. . . Two years into the siege the Jews are starved into submission. Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed. Yet the list maker ignores Jeremiah, his time frame and even his true prophecies and skips to chapter 23! 2600 years ago -- 600 years before Jesus' supposed birth -- Jeremiah tells of the evil kings of Judah who are destroying the Jewish people through their actions. The people are scattered into exile -- but G-d tells Jeremiah that He will "visit upon you the evil of your deeds, says the L-rd." Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 23:2. Jeremiah then says that there will come a time when the Jewish people will be returned from exile -- and a king from the line of David (the messiah) will rule over them. This wasn't Jesus. The Jewish people were not exiled in the lifetime of Jesus. The second Temple still stood in the lifetime of Jesus. Jesus was never a king, ruling over the Jewish people. Ergo the list maker has listed a true messianic prophecy -- but one that clearly Jesus did not fulfill. "And I will set up shepherds over them and they shall pasture them, and they shall no longer fear nor shall they be dismayed, nor shall [any of them] be missing, says the L-rd.?" Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 23:4. Jesus supposedly lived at a time when Jews did fear -- the opposite of the words of Jeremiah. The Romans crucified at least 50,000 Jews. It was a time of great fear and turmoil -- the opposite of Jeremiah's prophecy. . . "Behold, days are coming, says the L-rd, when I will set up of David a righteous shoot, and he shall reign a king and prosper, and he shall perform judgment and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name that he shall be called, The L-rd is our righteousness." Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 23:5-6.J
Missionaries often ignore context. Go down to line 8 you'll read "But, "As the L-rd lives, Who brought up and Who brought the seed of the house of Israel from the north land and from all the lands where I have driven them, and they shall dwell on their land." The T'nach makes it clear that the Messiah (moshiach ben David -- the messiah son of David) must be descended on his father's side from King David (see B'reshit / Genesis 49:10, Y'shayahu / Isaiah 11:1, Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 23:5, 33:17; Yechezkel / Ezekiel 34:23-24). If the virgin birth story was true, and Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus then Jesus did not even have the most basic right to even try to be the messiah. "And a shoot shall spring forth from the stem of Jesse, and a twig shall sprout from his roots." Y'shayahu / Isaiah 11:1. "Behold, days are coming, says the L-rd, when I will set up of David a righteous shoot / צֶ֣מַח, and he shall reign a king and prosper, and he shall perform judgment and righteousness in the land." Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 23:5. "In those days and in that time I will cause to grow for David a shoot (plant / צֶ֣מַח) of righteousness, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land." Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 33:15. סופי Jesus did not bring the Jews back to Israel -- indeed within 100 years of his death the Romans exiled the Jews and renamed Judah "Palestine" after the ancient Jewish enemy, the Philistines. What of Luke 23:31? This supposed prophetic fulfillment of Jeremiah 23 is part of the text on John the Baptist baptizing Jesus. Luke gives a lineage for Jesus which includes King David, but Luke makes a big mistake. He bypasses Solomon and states that this lineage was through David’s son Nathan. Nathan is not the son G-d promises in Shmuel 2 / 2 Samuel 7 will build G-d’s house (the Temple) and through whom the throne will be established. This person was David’s son Solomon, not his son Nathan. The Jewish bible is clear that the messiah must be a physical offspring of both David and Solomon on their father's side (paternally). That throws Jesus out completely if one believes the "virgin birth" story. (Actually, even if Joseph were Jesus' biological father he would not be qualified to be a messiah -- but simple fact was that he never WAS a king / messiah per the stories in the Christian bible). Ergo Luke 3:23 = 31 disqualifies Jesus from fulfilling this prophecy, rather than “proving” it.
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