Iyov / Job 19:23-27 does not predict the resurrection (anyone’s resurrection). Sometimes I wonder if the list maker bothered to read the very passages s/he holds up as prophecies fulfilled by Jesus! “Would then that my words be written; would that they were inscribed in a book! With an iron pen and lead, forever on the rock they should be hewn. But I know that my Redeemer lives, and the last on earth, He will endure. And after my skin, they have cut into this, and from my flesh I see judgment. That I see for myself, and my eyes have seen and not a stranger; my kidneys are consumed within me.” Possibly the listmaker is assuming that the phrase "my Redeemer lives, and the last on earth, He will endure." is a prophecy about Jesus, but Job (Iyov) never heard of Jesus (more on that in a minute) -- Job was speaking of G-d. Again, notice that the listmaker starts with line 23. Read line 22! "Why do you persecute me like G-d, and why are you not sated with my flesh?" Clearly line 23, like line 22, is speaking about G-d. G-d is not a human, he does not die and thus he never resurrects either. Plenty of pagan gods died and resurrected -- but the G-d of Israel is eternal. When Job says "my Redeemer lives, and the last on earth, He will endure." he is speaking of G-d Himself, not predicting Jesus or his resurrection. In the first place the book of Job (Iyov) is NOT prophetic. The Book of Job (Iyov) is found in כְּתוּבִים / Ketuvim in the T'nach (Jewish bible). The three parts of the T’nach are the תּוֹרָה / Torah (translation: instructions not law) -- the Five Books of Moses, נְבִיאִים / Nevi'im -- which translates to "Prophets," and lastly כְּתוּבִים / Ketuvim (Writings). Now, keep in mind that the Christian bible moves the books around willy nilly – ignoring the fact that the Prophets are prophetic while those in כְּתוּבִים / Ketuvim are NOT prophecy (but poetry, histories, stories) written under the influence of G-d, but not by Him directly or indirectly. The books in a T'nach are ordered differently than a Christian bible (they are either the five books of the Torah, direct prophecy, or the books of the Prophets and finally the works which are not prophetic, but were influenced by G-d (Ketuvim). By shifting books around and ignoring the lines between direct prophecy, indirect prophecy (visions and dreams) and non-prophetic many missionaries are misled. There are no prophecies in Job, and that includes Iyov / Job 19:23-27. It is located in כְּתוּבִים / Ketuvim and it is a story, most likely fictional. Our sages tell us that Moses wrote the book of Job based on ancient stories. The Malbim wrote that the main purpose of the Book of Job is to explain why the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper. Link for more details. Do you see anything in that passage even alluding to resurrection, let alone that the messiah will be resurrected? Me either. Resurrection (תְּחִיַּת הַמֵּתִים) is a part of Judaism, and indeed it is one of the Rambam’s 13 Principles of Judaism. "My corpses shall rise; awaken and sing, you who dwell in the dust, for a dew of lights is your dew, and [to the] earth You shall cast the slackers." Y'shayahu / Isaiah 26:19. The principle tells us that in the days of the messiah the righteous will be resurrected. This never happened with Jesus. . . (there is talk in the Christian bible that “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” Matthew 27:52-53 but there is zero proof that this ever happened. Remember that the Romans were in charge of Jerusalem and they were excellent record keepers. One might think they would notice zombies wandering around the city). The Christian bible states “if (Jesus) has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.” (1 Corinthians 15:14) which would make it appear that resurrection means Jesus’ resurrection makes him a a part of the triune god and worthy of worship. Yet the T’nach tells us that resurrection has already happened – and that in the time of the real messiah all of the righteous will be resurrected (it says nothing about the messiah dying and being resurrected. Indeed if the messiah dies prior to fulfilling the messianic prophecies he can’t be the messiah). . . There are three resurrections in the T’nach: The prophet Eliyahu (Elijah) prays and G-d raises a young boy from death (1 Kings 17:17-24); The prophet Elisha raises a boy whose birth he had prophesied (2 Kings 4:8-16 and 32-37); A dead man's body thrown into Elisha's tomb is resurrected when the body touches Elisha's bones (2 Kings 13:21). In other words, what many Christians see as the very reason for believing in Christianity (the resurrection of Jesus) is not unique to Jesus. Neither it is a messianic requirement for the messiah to be resurrected. The messiah IS required to resurrect the righteous dead (all of them) -- and this is something Jesus did not do. As shown above there are examples of Elijah and Elisha raising the dead in the T’nach – and we know that all the righteous will be resurrected in the messianic age. A Jew would say “so what?” to the resurrection of Jesus (if it ever happened). It does not prove he was the messiah, and it certainly doesn’t show he was part of G-d. So, no, this is another “dead at the start” prophecy to prove that Jesus was the messiah unless we want to say that Elijah and Elisha were messiahs before Jesus (since they resurrected people).
1 Comment
jose carlos seghiri pizarro
11/12/2015 04:47:34 pm
I share with you this excellent study about Job.
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