On the list I found three separate "prophecies" which were actually all the same claim -- that Jesus was a priest "like" Melchizedek. 7. Gen. 14:18...A priest after Melchizedek...Heb. 6:20 8. Gen. 14:18........A King also........Heb. 7:2 9. Gen. 14:18...The Last Supper foreshadowed...Mt. 26:26-29 Before I go into details there are some major problems with this claim. Christians say that Jesus was a Jew and the Jewish messiah. Jewish priests are from the tribe of Levi, through the line of Aaron (Moses' brother). This is an eternal priesthood per the bible (more on that in a minute). " an eternal [hereditary] priesthood for all generations." BSh'mot / Exodus 40:15. The priest in B'reshit / Genesis 14:18 was NOT a Jewish priest. He was the King of Salem and his priesthood pre-dated Abraham's covenant with G-d. For some reason missionaries often ignore chronological order! How could a non-Jewish priesthood have anything to do with a Jew? It couldn't -- the Jewish priesthood with the tribe of Levi through Aaron's heirs is eternal -- so the claim falls apart from the start. Secondly, the messiah must be of the tribe of Judah (not Levi). No Jewish priest can also be the rightful messiah (you can't belong to two tribes and the messiah must be from the tribe of Judah through David and Solomon. So now let's get to the details. A true transliteration from the Hebrew word transliterated as Melchizedek would be Malkhi-tzedek not Melchizedek. The Hebrew isוּמַלְכִּי־. Notice that straight line on the right? Hebrew is read from right to left. That first letter is called a vav. It looks like an English "L" (lower case) or "I." I'll show it in parenthesis: (וּ). The vav (which is the first letter here) means “and” – since when does a name begin with the word “and”? The next part of the word is מַלְכִּי־ (malkhi) which means “the king of” – so we have “and the king of” the next word is צֶ֙דֶק֙ (tzedek) which means just or righteous. So all Br'eshit / Genesis 14:18 says that the King of Salem is a king of righteousness. Later (in T'hillim / Psalm 110) King David is also called a malkhi tzedek -- a king of righteousness. #6 - 8 of the "365 prophecies about Jesus" claimed to be in the Jewish bible are all based on B'rsheit / Genesis 14:18 which says "Malkhi-tzedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine. He was a priest to G-d, the Most High." Number 6 on the list says:. Gen, 14:18...A priest after Melchizedek...Heb. 6:20; 7. Gen. 14:18........A King also........Heb. 7:2; 8. Gen. 14:18...The Last Supper foreshadowed...Mt. 26:26-29. Numbers 7, 8 and 9 on the list of supposed prophecies about Jesus in the T'nach all claim to be prophecies taken from Br'eshit / Genesis 14:18. Christian translations don't translate וּמַלְכִּי־צֶ֙דֶק֙ as "and a king of righteousness." Instead they transliterate the Hebrew. The average reader would assume that the transliteration is a name (Melchizedek). The usual translation of Genesis 14:18 in a Christian translation would read “Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine. He was a priest to G-d, the Most High.” The Christian bible (and thus the missionaries) claim that "Melchizedek" (which they use as if it were a name) was a priest with no heritage and thus may have been Jesus himself and that Jesus was a priest "like Melchizedek" thus somehow being a priest and king in one -- something totally NON-JEWISH. As I've already shown, וּמַלְכִּי־צֶ֙דֶק֙ is not a name -- it is a description (and a king of righteousness). Although the background of the King of Salem is not given in B'reshit / Genesis 14, we do know that Abram showed him respect. Why would anyone assume, as Hebrews 7:3 claims "Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever." Hebrews claims that the King of Salem had no geneaology -- but this claim is not supported in any way, shape or form. Hebrews 7 then tries to say that the Jewish priesthood of Aaron is done away with. It says "why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek,not in the order of Aaron? 12 For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed also." Hebrews 7:11. On whose authority? After all G-d tells the Jews that the Aaronic priesthood is ETERNAL and forever -- how can Hebrews come along and say that some earlier, non-Jewish priesthood can replace it? Who has the authority to ignore what G-d Himself has said? "G-d spoke to Moses saying. . . have Aaron put on the sacred vestments, and anoint him, thus sanctifying him as a priest to Me.. . . Bring forth Aaron's sons. . . anoint them, just as you anointed their father, so that they will be priests to Me. It will be done so that their anointing will make them an eternal [hereditary] priesthood for all generations.." Sh'mot / Exodus 40:1-15. How dare the anonymous author of Hebrews ignore the eternal promises of G-d Himself??? Hebrews 7 goes on to say "The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless" Hebrews 7:18 The Aaronic priesthood set aside??? One can only believe Hebrews 7 IF G-D LIES!!!! Because G-d tells us time and again that the Aaronic priesthood is ETERNAL. "You shall thus install Aaron and his sons [as priests, and this procedure] shall remain a law for all time." Sh'mot / Exodus 29:9 "'Pinchas (a son of Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest). . . I have given him My covenant of peace. . . . This shall imply a covenant of eternal priesthood to him and his descendants after him." Bamidbar / Numbers 25:11-13. So, did G-d lie to Aaron and his heirs, or did the anonymous author of Hebrews try to find a way to turn Jesus into a priest as well as a messiah even though he did not have the correct lineage for either position? "(for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to G-d." Hebrews 7:19. The Christian bible refers to the Torah as "the law." Yet again the anonymous author of Hebrews is reversing the word of G-d. "The Torah (law) of the L-rd is perfect, restoring the soul; the testimony of the L-rd is faithful, making the simple one wise." T'hillim / Psalm 19:8. Should you believe G-d or the anonymous author of Hebrews (possibly Paul, but unknown)? Hebrews gets more wrong than the fact that the King of Salem had no parents and that the Aaronic priesthood was "done away with," or that the Torah is imperfect. . . It also says that Abraham brought tithes to the King of Salem as if this is somehow important. The problem is that Abraham did NOT bring the tithes. Abram did. Abram (not yet Abraham) who did not yet have a covenant with G-d. All of this pre-dates the first covenant (note the name "Abram" not Abraham). The Talmud tells us that the King of Salem was Shem, son of Noah. Shem and Ever (Noah's grandson) had a famous Yeshiva (school). Abraham was related (several generations removed and Shem was his g-g-g-grandfather. Jacob later spent 14 years at this school (all of this is in the Jewish oral tradition and can be ignored by those who wish -- it is just an interesting footnote). The Missionaries try to get around the issue that Jesus couldn't be both a priest and a king by saying The King of Salem was both a king and a priest. Well, duh! The King of Salem WAS NOT A JEW!!!! The King of Salem wasn't part of any Jewish covenant. Do Christians want to claim that Jesus was not a JEWISH king or priest (and thus not a Jewish messiah)? The only way anyone can call Jesus a priest "like Malki-Tzedek" is to say he was not a JEWISH king or priest -- because neither was the King of Salem! The term Malki-Tzedek is used (and similar terms, too) elsewhere in the Tanach. The Missionaries like to point to Psalm 110 and say it speaks of “Melchitzedek” (as if Psalm 110’s reference was to the same person as in Genesis) and that this person is called a priest. Wrong on all counts. Psalm 110 is about King David who was a righteous king (Malki-Tzedek). He is also called a kohein in the psalm which CAN mean priest, but doesn't always mean priest. The term is used to speak of rulers, and lay religious people not just priests. The Christian bible gets itself into trouble (Hebrews) by claiming "Melchitzedek" is the name of some mythical priest / king who had no father or mother (so had it had to be JESUS, right?). Hebrews goes on to say that Abraham tithed "Melchitzedek" so he had to be holier than Abraham. This ignores the fact that the King of Salem was the first one in this exchange and he honored Abram FIRST. B'reshit / Genesis 14:17 After he (Abram) returned from his victory over Chedorlaomer and his allied kings, the king of Sodom came out to greet him in Level Valley (now King's Valley). 14:18 Malkhi-tzedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine. He was a priest to G-d, the Most High. 14:19 He blessed [Abram], and said, 'Blessed be Abram to G-d Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth." Gee -- sure sounds to me as if the King of Salem is honoring Abram! As for 8. Gen. 14:18...The Last Supper foreshadowed...Mt. 26:26-29. . . The King of Salem bringing bread and wine to Abram foreshadows the last supper HOW exactly? Because there is food involved? Just do a search of how often people drink wine and eat bread in the Torah (" -- not one of them is a prophecy! "We have both straw and fodder for our donkeys and bread and wine for ourselves" Shoftim / Judges 19:19 not given as a prophecy of the last supper? It includes wine and bread! And let's not forget that the "last supper" was supposedly a Passover meal -- where eating bread is FORBIDDEN. On Passover one may only eat matzo (unleavened bread). . . Oops? There goes yet another supposed prophecy about Jesus in the T'nach, proven to be nothing of the sort!
3 Comments
1/9/2018 03:13:14 pm
Pardon. The post regarding Abraham and Melchizedek. Very good points. Why, in your opinion, would Abraham offer a tithe to a priest of any other God but Yahweh? The text itself indicates the king of Salem was both priest and king. If inconsistent with Judaism (and it is), to what heathen god was Abraham offering his obeisance to?
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1/9/2018 03:46:08 pm
Melchizedek is not a name -- it is a description (a king of righteousness). The person in B'reshit / Genesis is the King of Salem -- who we know through the oral tradition was Shem, son of Noah.
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David Kohn
10/3/2018 04:59:41 pm
i think you should include also that Shem angered Hashem when he(Shem) blessed Abraham prior to blessing Hashem. Shem forfeited the priesthood at that moment and it was given to Abraham. www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13541-shem
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