John 19:23-24 says "When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them,and for my clothing they cast lots.” Assume that this did happen as described. How does the claim that people sharing Jesus' clothes as a prophetic fulfillment one must yet again ask "what????" Have you given clothes to Goodwill? Ever made a bet? Maybe this is a messianic prophecy about you! Calling a line in a poem which says "They share my garments among themselves and cast lots for my raiment" (line 19) and saying it applies to only one person ever in the world, and that on top of that it is a prophecy about the messiah, is ridiculous. Have you ever taken clothes from another person -- or had someone take something from you (accidentally, by theft or even with your permission?). This line in the psalm is speaking about how David's enemies want to dethrone him and take his riches (the garments comment is analogy for David losing it all). . . If a person who ever takes clothes from another (hand me downs, a kid stealing a jacket from another on a playground) or gambles with someone else about "who gets what" are said to have "fulfilled" Psalm / T'hillim 22:19 (18 in Christian translations) it is too generic to be a messianic prophecy. This is not the kind of unique thing that would or could be something only the messiah could "fulfill." The real messianic prophecies are a bit harder to fulfill -- which is probably why Jesus fulfilled not even one. Here are a few of those messianic prophecies 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." Jesus was not the messiah. The gospels tell us that Jesus was beaten badly -- and his shirt was put back on his bloody body. Who on earth would want any clothing that must be filthy and soaked in blood? Read the Christian bible on the subject: "he (Pilate) had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified" Matthew 27:26 and Mark 15:15, 20 See also John 19:1. The image in this post is disturbing -- but it graphically illustrates that no one would have wanted Jesus' shirt, worn after his flogging. Why would the soldiers want to divide up these blood soaked garments? It makes no sense. . . It amazes me how many of these supposed prophetic fulfillment are so generic, so applicable to nearly every human being who ever lived that, anyone could consider these prophecies about Jesus. The mere fact that someone may have had their clothes taken, the new owner determined by a game of chance, is NOT unique and it is not the fulfillment of any prophecy, messianic or otherwise. T'hillim / Psalms are poems, primarily written by King David. This psalm, like so many of them, is autobiographical (written by King David about himself). The very first line of the poem says: "For the conductor, on the ayeleth hashachar, a song of (about) David." David has been speaking of how he has been surrounded by his enemies -- and how they attacked him like a pack of dogs, like a lion. . . they gloat over him, they take his things "They share my garments among themselves and cast lots for my raiment" (line 19), BUT, David is not dead. The psalm does not end there. The very next line says "But You, O L-rd, do not distance Yourself; my strength, hasten to my assistance." Yet missionaries will lead others to believe that the previous line is about a dead Jesus, and Romans taking his clothes. . . Yet David says (in line 20) that G-d does not distance Himself from David, G-d hastens to help David Unlike Jesus who said "“My G-d, my G-d, why have you forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46. Line 21 of the psalm actually says "Save my life force from the sword, my only one from the grip of the dog." The person in line 19 is NOT DEAD. He is asking G-d to save his physical life from the sword -- yet Jesus is supposedly dead, and his clothes being fought over by his killers. . . Some translations have "save my soul from the sword" and this can mislead non-Hebrew readers (even though it says "from the sword"). The Hebrew word is נַפְשִׁי / nafsho which translates to life force, not immortal soul. The words נַפְשׁוֹת nafshot (plural) or נֶֽפֶשׁ nefesh (singular) always refers to life force. Look up נַפְשׁוֹת in a translator (like Google Translate) and it is translated as "people" or "one's life." When you read the T'nach you'll see that even plants and animals possess a נֶֽפֶשׁ nefesh -- see B'reshit / Genesis 1:30 and 6:17 -- this is NOT the immortal soul. The immortal soul is from the ru'ah that G-d breathed into man (B'reshit / Genesis 2:7). Some translate נֶֽפֶשׁ nefesh as "the soul of the FLESH" -- meaning not the immortal soul, but (yet again) the "life force." Ergo David is speaking of G-d saving his PHYSICAL life in line 21 -- not his immortal soul. It is so important when considering a Christian "proof text" (a T'nach quote stated to be a prophecy Jesus fulfilled) to read that comment in context. Missionaries consistently take part of a sentence out of context to make it seem to fit Jesus. This will become even more apparent as we get farther into the list -- the list maker begins to add letters to references (e.g. 1 Chronicles 13a). This cuts a sentence literally in half -- because the second "half" does not fit Jesus. Ask yourself: if half a sentence is not applicable does that make the first half applicable? How is that in any way logical??? Yet again we have a claim of a prophecy Jesus' fulfilled which can (1) be applied to many people, (2) is not a unique claim (3) does not fit Jesus as the subsequent sentences speak of coming to the person's assistance (line 19) whereas Jesus dies unassisted and (4) the person asks G-d to save his physical life (Line 21) -- whereas Jesus is already dead at this point of the gospels. Lastly, ask yourself if it makes any sense that soldiers would fight over the bloody garments of a dead man?
1 Comment
frank morris
12/26/2015 07:33:55 pm
then he wasn't a perfect sacrifice, was he?
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