Paul misquotes Hosea and distorts the words of the prophet. Hosea is speaking to the northern kingdom of Israel -- which was destroyed about 700 years before Jesus supposedly lived. Hosea tells them that Jews who desert G-d and follow false gods are risking eternal death. "they continue to sin, and they have made for themselves a molten image from their silver according to their pattern, deities, all of it the work of craftsmen. . ." Hosea 13:2. This has nothing to do with Jesus -- who died and didn't even defeat his own death. G-d clearly says, through Hosea, that there is no savior but Him (including Jesus). "And I am the L-rd your G-d from the land of Egypt, and gods besides Me you should not know, and there is no savior but Me." Hosea 13:4. The sins of the northern kingdom of Israel during Hosea's lifetime were terrible -- idolatry and deserting G-d for Ba'al. G-d said if they did not repent then G-d would punish them with troubles as sharp as labor pains. They could repent -- and G-d would forgive. But if they remain in their sins G-d will not save them from death. G-d desires the repentance of the sinner who rejects Him for idolatry. "From the clutches of the grave I would ransom them, from death I would redeem them." Hosea 13:14. Hosea 13:14 actually refutes Christianity. You don't need Jesus to "die for your sins." G-d will accept sincere repentance. Continue reading: "Return, O Israel, to the L-rd your G-d, for you have stumbled in your iniquity. Take words with yourselves and return to the L-rd. Say, "You shall forgive all iniquity and teach us [the] good [way], and let us render [for] bulls [the offering of] our lips." Hosea 4:2 - 3. Prayer. Sincere repentance. Not sacrifice. Yet again we have the Christian bible misusing a biblical passage out of context to make it seem to fit Jesus.
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This claim that Hosea is speaking of Jesus is indeed found in Matthew 2:14 -- but it is not supported by Bamidbar / Numbers 24 or Hosea 11:1 -- both of which are both speaking of the Jewish people (Israel). And both speak of leaving Egypt -- not a flight "to" Egypt. Bamidbar / Numbers 24: "Balaam saw that it pleased the L-rd to bless Israel. . . How goodly are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel! G-d, Who has brought them out of Egypt with the strength of His loftiness " Bamidbar / Numbers 24:1 - 8. "For, when Israel was young, I loved him, and from Egypt I called My son." Hosea 11:1. The Jewish people (Israel). Not Jesus. All it takes to debunk the claim in the Christian bible (and the list maker) is to actually read the passages! Matthew 2:14 - 15 says "When he rose, he took the young Child and His mother by night, and departed into Egypt, 15 and remained there until the death of Herod, to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet, “Out of Egypt I have called My Son.”" This is misusing and distorting the words of the T'nach -- the bible. When Matthew claims that when Jesus left Egypt he fulfilled Out of Egypt I called My son (Hosea 11:1). Matthew does not reference the beginning of Hosea's verse which reads, "For, when Israel was young, I loved him." Hosea calls Israel, not Jesus, G-d's son. Hosea is not making a prediction about anyone but remembering Israels exodus from Egyptian slavery at the hand of G-d so long before. . . Hosea goes on to say that this son of G-d is not so righteous after all. "The more they called to them, the more they went away from them; to the Baalim they would slaughter sacrifices, and to the graven images they would burn incense." Hosea 11:2) The son of G-d from verse 1 (the Jewish people) sacrificed to the Baalim, and burnt incense to graven images. . . Notice the plural usage? Not one person -- but one people -- the Jewish people. If Jesus is the son in verse 1 he is also the son in verse 2-- so is Jesus a personification of idol worship? Cherry picking verses and taking them out of context does NOT make a prophecy! Hosea goes on to say "He shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria is his king, for they have refused to repent." Hosea 11:5 Was Jesus ever ruled by Assyria? Nope. This is not about Jesus! Missionaries do a cut-and-paste job, taking things out of context -- using types and shadows and ignoring the p'shat (plain meaning). Yet prophecy is based on p'shat -- plain meaning! A principle of the Talmud that Rashi quotes several times states that אֵין מִקְרָא יוֹצֵא מִידֵי פְשׁוּטוֹ -- in English this would be "A verse cannot depart from its plain meaning." (Treatise Shabbat 63a, Treatise Y'vamot 11b, 24a; quoted by Rashi at B'réshıt / Genesis 15:10, 37:19, Sh'mot / Exodus 12:2). Israel restored??? During Jesus' lifetime the Romans ran Judah (Israel) as a puppet state. The Romans crucified at least 50,000 and perhaps as many as 200,000 Jews in Judah. The Romans put abominations (idols) in the Temple. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem (for the most part), the Temple and eventually the country itself -- exiling the Jewish people in 135 CE and renaming it "Palestine" after the ancient Jewish enemy: the Philistines. So tell me exactly how Jesus fulfilled a prophecy to restore Israel? Neither John 18:37 or Romans 11:25-27 make a claim that Jesus restored Israel. What does Hoshea / Hosea 3:4 -5 say? "For the children of Israel shall remain for many days, having neither king, nor prince, nor sacrifice, nor pillar, nor ephod nor teraphim. Afterwards shall the children of Israel return, and seek the L-rd their G-d and David their king, and they shall come trembling to the L-rd and to His goodness at the end of days." Hoshea / Hosea 3:4 -5. The Jews still have no king. Jews still have no prince. Jews still have no sacrifice (the Temple having been destroyed in 68 CE). Sacrifices did remain until that time -- 35 to 40 years after Jesus' supposed death. Jews still have no "pillar" Jews still have no אֵפוֹד / ephod: holding the אוּרִים וְתֻמִּים / Urim and Tummim. The kohein gadol (high priest) wore an אֵפוֹד (ephod) -- it looked like an apron. Inside the apron was the אוּרִים וְתֻמִּים / Urim and Tummim -- a piece of parchment which had G-d’s holiest name (the Tetragrammaton). This paper was placed inside the high priest's breastplate (choshen), between the two folds. On it was a breast plate (חֹשֶׁן) which had a pouch inlaid with 12 precious stones engraved with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. The pouch held the אוּרִים וְתֻמִּים (unim and thummim). Because the Urim was an oracle the breast piece was called "the breast piece of decision" (חֹשֶׁן הַמִּשְׁפָּט). None of this happened in the time of Jesus, and 2000+ years later we are still waiting. Jesus was not a Davidic king -- and had no right to the throne. The last Davidic king ruled 600 years before Jesus. . . Who is Hosea? He lived during the reign of Yarav'am (Jeroboam) around 2800 years ago. He was a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel (not the southern kingdom of Judah where Jesus supposedly lived). The first three chapters of the book of Hosea discuss Hosea’s “marriage." G-d told Hoshea to marry a prostitute and have children with her, the result being that others will question their paternity. Hoshea married a prostitute named Gomer and had three children with her, two sons and a daughter. Chapters four through thirteen are warnings to the northern kingdom to return to G-d or face destruction. The final chapter, fourteen, promises restoration. Israel, the northern kingdom, had been gone about 600 years before Jesus' supposed birth -- and he did nothing to restore it. Yet another claim that a biblical passage is "fulfilled" by Jesus which, upon even a cursory view, falls apart with a simple reading. In 1948 the modern state of Israel was created -- out of the ashes of the Holocaust where half of the world's Jewish population perished in "Christian" countries. The modern state is not the messianic state -- there is no Davidic king and the prophecies of Hosea have yet to occur. Daniel 10 is speaking of the angel Gabriel, not the messiah. Daniel had a vision (visions / dreams are not literal -- they are DREAMS meant to relay a message and are not literal). "I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold a man clad in linen, and his loins were girded with a girdle of gold studded with jewels. And his body was like tarshish, and his face was like the appearance of lightning, and his eyes were like firebrands, and his arms and his legs were like the appearance of brandished copper, and the sound of his words was like the voice of a multitude.And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, but the men who were with me did not see the vision, , ,:" Daniel 10: 5- 7. VISION. Gabriel is the one who has given Daniel earlier visions, so it is logical to infer that this is again Gabriel. . . There is absolutely nothing to even infer that the one in the vision was a messiah, let alone "the" messiah. Daniel has fasted for several days and he has a vision that only he sees. . . the men with him do not see what he sees. The men with him were the prophets Chaggai (Haggai), Zechariah and Malachi per the Talmud, Megillah 3a. They did not see what Daniel saw. Prophecy is direct communication from G-d or an angel of G-d (via dreams and / or visions for all prophets with the exception of Moses with whom G-d communicated directly) with a message for the current (then living) generation. A prophet always understands the meaning of the vision or dream. Daniel did not understand the meaning of the visions that he saw. His visions had to be explained to him by an angel. Thus Daniel's visions were from G-d (via an angel) but were not prophecy -- because a prophet always understands how to interpret a prophecy. So what would we call the visions of Daniel which are recorded in the Hebrew Bible in Ketuvim (Writings)? רֽוּחַ הַקּֽוֹדֶשׁ / Ru'aḥ hakodesh -- often mistranslated as "holy spirit" (translated it would be a spirit of the holiness), but it means divinely inspired by G-d. A person so inspired is still their own person and physically is not impacted in any way. A prophet receiving prophecy is physically impacted by it (with the exception of Moses). Experiencing prophecy was physically exhausting: their limbs would tremble, they became weak and would lose control of their senses. In this state they would receive prophecy and they would immediately comprehend its meaning: "And a great, dark dread fell over him." (B'reshit / Genesis 15:12). The Rambam lists eleven levels of prophecy -- and the first two are not really prophecy at all, but are rather stepping stones to prophecy -- רֽוּחַ הַקּֽוֹדֶשׁ / ru'aḥ hakodesh, a spirit of holiness... This applies to Daniel in the vision recorded in the Book of Daniel. רֽוּחַ הַקּֽוֹדֶשׁ / Ru'aḥ hakodesh is what we refer to as being divinely inspired by G-d. The Orthodox Union puts it this way: "However, while they are all degrees of prophecy, not all of these levels necessarily qualified one to be considered a prophet. The lowest two are merely steps on the way to attaining that status.... Imagine a person who goes to medical school and earns an MD but he does not go on have a residency or take his medical board exams. Such a person is a "doctor" but not a doctor.) Just as a prophet could receive more than one form of prophecy during their tenures, they could also receive prophecies on different levels... "The first degree of prophecy is the divine inspiration that a person might receive encouraging him in some noble endeavor. This influence is called "ruach Elohim," "the spirit of G-d." When it comes to people affected by this phenomenon, Scripture commonly uses such expressions as "the spirit of G-d rested on so-and-so," or "G-d was with so-and-so." The Judges, who led the nation before any kings of Israel were anointed, typically enjoyed this level of divine attention. (See, for example, Judges 2:18, 11:29, 14:19, et al.)... "David, Solomon and Daniel belong in the category of people motivated by ruach hakodesh rather than among such full-fledged prophets as Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel..." Other examples of this type of inspired holiness would be King David who wrote the psalms speaking from his heart, his thoughts, his words. He was not prophesying. This is also true for King Solomon who wrote of wisdom he wrote from his heart, his thoughts, his wisdom, his words... Thus the Book of Daniel is not prophecy -- although the question as to whether Daniel himself (a great man) was a prophet is debated by our sages. But back to the claim at hand: Daniel 10. Daniel describes a glorious man in his vision: "behold a man clad in linen, and his loins were girded with a girdle of gold studded with jewels. And his body was like tarshish, and his face was like the appearance of lightning, and his eyes were like firebrands, and his arms and his legs were like the appearance of brandished copper, and the sound of his words was like the voice of a multitude." Daniel 10:5-6. Rashi says: "Our Sages of blessed memory explained in Tractate Hullin (9lb): “His body was two thousand parasangs large, like the measurement of the sea named Tarshish, and that is the sea of Africa (the Mediterranean).”" Huge. Who is this being that Daniel sees in a vision? Not Jesus. It is the angel Gabriel. Daniel falls asleep and in his dream / vision the angel Gabriel tells him he is loved. The angel will explain what will happen to the Jewish people in the messianic era. The angel is not a man -- Daniel 10 says he was "like the image of the sons of man." Daniel 10:16. LIKE THE IMAGE of the SONS (plural) OF MAN (son of man = human). We are told again that the angel is LIKE a human (but isn't a human). "he one having the appearance like that of a man " Daniel 10:18. THE APPEARANCE LIKE. . .a MAN. We know this is Gabriel and not Jesus because the angel tells Daniel that he will "return to battle with the prince of Persia; then I shall leave, and behold the prince of Greece is coming." RETURN to battle Persia. Jesus had nothing to do with Persia. Jesus had nothing to do with the Greek Empire either. Jesus didn't live until the Roman Empire, much later. . . Gabriel, as the protector of Israel, had to "battle" to protect the Jews in Persian and Greek oppression (most likely allegorical). . Gabriel is the guardian angel of Israel (the Jewish people) and the one in the vision speaks of doing battle with Persia and then Greece, being helped by Michael (the other angel who protects Israel). Michael as a sar, which means “prince” or “minister.” In stories meant to make a moral point (midrash aggadot) Michael the “prince of kindness (chessed) and water” and Gabriel is “the prince of severity (gevurah) and fire.” . Some missionaries will state that Gabriel was a pre-human Jesus. Based on what fact in the T'nach (bible) pray tell? Gabriel is a servant of G-d, an angel -- which means "messenger." The Hebrew word is מַלְאָךְ -- mal'ach. It means "messenger" -- angels relay G-d's messages, they do nothing "on their own." "Bless the L-rd, His angels, those mighty in strength, who perform His word, to hearken to the voice of His word." T'hillim / Psalm 103:20. Angels do everything by G-d's command - they always do what G-d commands them to do and are always ready to hear what He has to command. If Jesus were G-d (G-d forbid) then he could not be an angel. The one in Daniel's vision was there to relay information to Daniel -- the angel was not Jesus. Daniel 9 is not about the messianic age. Many Christians think that there could only be one messiah -- and they think that messiah was Jesus, who will one day return (second coming) to fulfill the messianic prophecies he didn't fulfill the first time. . . The Christian definition of the messiah (khristos (χριστος) aka "christ" is the Greek word for messiah) is the savior of the world, a divine being. In reality the term "messiah / מָשִׁיחַ / moshiach / messiah) is used thirty nine times in the T'nach to describe various people who are "anointed ones" (which is what the word means. Messiahs are normal human beings. Aaron, Moses' brother, was a messiah. Kings David and Solomon were messiahs. They were all humans born of human mothers and fathers who were anointed per G-d's instructions (or who inherited the anointing in an uncontested line). There were numerous messiahs 2000 years ago (Jesus was not one of them). The priests of the Temple, including the high priest himself, were messiahs. אגריפס / Herod Agrippa II ()28 CE - 92 CE) was a messiah -- an anointed king. . . Does Daniel 9 speaks of two messiahs -- one who gives the word to rebuild Jerusalem nearly 500 years before the second messiah of the vision may appear. . . I say "may" because all negative visions can be avoided -- their purpose is to act as a warning. . . . In Daniel 9 the first messiah comes after 49 years (7 shavuim): after the destruction of the Temple a ruler will come and give the order to rebuild Jerusalem: "Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets (shavuim), and fir sixty-two shavuim (weeks / septets) it will be rebuilt, street and moat but in troubled times." Daniel 9:25. The first messiah is the subject of the seven shavuim (49 years). This messiah is Cyrus the Great of Persia. He was the king who gave the order to rebuild Jerusalem. Then there will be 62 shavuim (434 years) in which the Second Temple will stand -- a time for the Jews have nearly 500 years to return to observance and avoid a second exile. At the end of the 62 shavuim if the Jews do not end their sinful ways and return to G-d the Second Temple will be destroyed and the Jews will again face exile. A second messiah (an evil man) will be יִכָּרֵ֥ת / y'kareit.-- which means "and cut off" -- as in the person being cut off (excommunicated if you will) from G-d and the Jewish people. cut off (not killed) at this time. So, yes, this took place 2000 years ago -- and the second messiah was cut off (not killed) 2000 years ago -- and "no" this was not Jesus. Possibly the second, evil, messiah who was cut off (a term only used to speak of evil people) was אגריפס / Herod Agrippa II ()28 CE - 92 CE). "Now after the death of Herod, king of Chalcis, Claudius set Agrippa, the son of Agrippa, over his uncle’s kingdom" Josephus, Wars of the Jews chapter 12. So Agrippa II was the "king of the Jews" -- a puppet king of the Romans -- alive at the time the Temple was destroyed (Jesus had been dead about 35 - 40 years).. At the beginning of the Jewish war in 66 CE, Agrippa II barely escaped Jerusalem. The Jews threw both him and his sister, Berenice, out of the city. During the Jewish-Roman war of 66-73 CE Agrippa supported the Romans -- celebrating their victories with drunken parties that sometimes lasted for weeks. Definitely יִכָּרֵ֥ת / y'kareit -- cut off" -- as in the person being cut off (excommunicated if you will) from G-d and the Jewish people. cut off from the Jewish people! This claim has a kernel of a truth: it did happen 2000 years ago. There was a messiah (it wasn't Jesus). This messiah was not killed, he was spiritually cut off from G-d and the Jewish people. . . Daniel 9 has nothing to do with “the” messiah or the messianic age. David was a messiah. Aaron was a messiah. Saul was a messiah. Cyrus was a messiah. Solomon was a messiah. . . none of them were “the” messiah. There are two messiahs (plural) in Daniel 9 -- neither of which was "the" messiah. This is not a messianic prophecy. (Actually the book of Daniel is not prophecy at all -- it is found in Ketuvim, Writings, in the T'nach). From the Artscroll Stone Edition T'nach translation: "In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus of the offspring of Media, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, 9:2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, contemplated the calculations, the number of years about which the word of HaShem had come to the prophet Jeremiah, to complete the seventy years since the ruin of Jerusalem. 9:3. I set my face toward the L-rd, G-d, to beseech (with) prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. . . 9:21. I was still speaking in prayer, when the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, was lifted in flight approaching me, at about the time of the afternoon offering. 9:22. He made me understand and spoke with me. He said: Daniel, I have gone forth now to teach you understanding. 9:23. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to relate it for you are beloved. Contemplate this matter and gain understanding in your vision. 9:24. Seventy septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to anoint the Holy of Holies. 9:25. Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) and for sixty-two septets (וְשָׁבֻעִ֞ים / v'shavuim) it will be rebuilt, street and moat, but in troubled times. 9:26. Then, after the sixty-two septets (הַשָּׁבֻעִים֙ / ha-shavuim) , the anointed one (messiah) will be cut off and will exist no longer; the people of the prince will come and destroy the city and the Sanctuary; but his end will be (to be swept away as) in a flood. Then, until the end of the war, desolation is decreed. 9:27. He will forge a strong covenant with the great ones for one septet (shavuim); but for half of that septet (שָׁב֣וּעַ / shavua) he will abolish sacrifice and meal-offering and the mute abominations will be upon soaring heights until extermination. as decreed will pour down upon the mute (abomination). Footnotes: 9:1 This is Darius the Mede, not Darius the Persian whose parents were King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. According to the Talmud, this vision took place in the seventieth year after Nebuchadnezzar's subjugation of Jeconiah, eighteen years before the destruction of the Temple. 9:2 See Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 29:10. 9:24 Literally "seventy weeks," this phrase refers to seventy times seven years, or 490 years. This refers to the seventy years of exile that have passed from the Destruction of the First Temple until this vision and the entire 420 year period of the Second Temple (Rashi). 9:25. The "septets" (shavuim) refer to full seven-year periods. The prince of this verse is Cyrus, who gave permission to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. He ascended to the throne fifty-two years (seven full septets plus three years) after the exile had begun. From then until the second destruction of Jerusalem was 438 years, or sixty-two septets and four years (Rashi). 9:26. I.e. Agrippa, the last Jewish king, at the end of the Second Temple Era. After his death, the prince of this verse, the Roman Titus, would command the destruction of the Temple, which will not be rebuilt until after the War of Gog and Magog, in Messianic times (Rashi). 9:27. The Roman emperor would make a treaty with the Jewish nation for seven years; but for the second half of that term the Romans would violate that covenant and impede the Temple service. The "mute abomination," i.e., a temple of idolatry, was erected by the emperor Hadrian on the Temple Mount (Rashi).
The word in Daniel 9:26 is יִכָּרֵ֥ת / y'kareit.and it means "and cut off" -- as in the person being cut off (excommunicated if you will) from G-d and the Jewish people. "Any person who touches the corpse of a human being who has died, and does not have himself sprinkled, וְנִכְרְתָ֛ה / shall be cut off [spiritually] from Israel if he defiles G-d's Tabernacle (Mishkahn -- Portable Temple)." Bamidbar / Numbers 19:13. Read down to verse 20: "If a person is unclean and does not purify himself, and then defiles G-d's sanctuary [by entering it], that person וְנִכְרְתָ֛ה / shall be cut off [spiritually] from the community. As long as the purification water has not been sprinkled on him, he shall remain unclean." Bamidbar / Numbers 19:20.. The person is cut off spiritually until they have been purified with the mikveh and ritually cleaned. . . they are not killed. The term only refers to a person who willfully goes against G-d -- definitely a "sinner." It is never used to speak of an innocent person -- so unless missionaries want to say that Jesus was a horrible person whom G-d "cut off" they should reconsider applying this chapter to him! A person who is cut off may return to G-d at any time by making t'shuvah -- literally returning to G-d. It is up to the person to reestablish the connection. . . Read the Rambam's Mishneh Torah regarding the laws of T'shuvah: "If a person violates [sins punishable by] kareit or execution by the court and repents, Teshuvah and Yom Kippur have a tentative effect and the sufferings which come upon him complete the atonement. He will never achieve complete atonement until he endures suffering for concerning these [sins, T'hillim / Psalms 89:33] states: "I will punish their transgression with a rod."" Mishneh Torah, Sefer Madda, T'shuvah Chapter 1. Punishable by kareit OR execution. They are not the same thing. A person who is cut off and does not repent may not have eternal life. Thus it isn't physical death that the term describes, but immortal death. The Rambam writes in chapter 8 of Mishneh Torah, Sefer Madda, T'shuvah: "The reward of the righteous (after death) is that they will merit this pleasure and take part in this good. The retribution of the wicked is that they will not merit this life. Rather, they will be cut off and die." (not the body, but the soul). "Whoever does not merit this life is [truly] dead and will not live forever. Rather, he will be cut off in his wickedness and perish as a beast. This is the intent of the meaning of the term kareit in the Torah as [Bamidbar / Numbers 15:31] states: "That soul shall surely תִּכָּרֵ֛ת / t'kareit / be cut off." Mishneh Torah, Sefer Madda, T'shuvah 8 So, no, in Daniel 9:26 the word יִכָּרֵ֥ת / y'kareit does not mean that this second messiah will be killed 2000 years ago. It means that an evil person was so horrid he was cut off spiritually from G-d, risking his immortal soul unless he repented and returned to G-d. Part 1 of the claim is false -- the person is not killed -- and the missionaries do not inform their readers that the term applies to evil people who have done something horrible enough to risk their immortality. . . Likewise, no one can die for the sins of another person. This is totally unbiblical. And while Hebrews 2:9 may say that Jesus' died for everyone -- this is pagan and not in any way supported by the T'nach (bible). The bible tells us clearly that no one can die for our sins. We are each responsible for our own actions. Read D'varim / Deuteronomy 24:16 "Fathers shall not die [through the testimony] of their sons, and sons shall not die [through the testimony] of their fathers, since [in any case] every man shall die for his sins." "But the sons of the assassins he did not execute, as it is written in the book of the Torah of Moses, which the L-rd commanded saying: "Fathers shall not be put to death for sons, nor shall sons be put to death for fathers, but each man shall be put to death for his own sin."" M'lachim Beith / 2 Kings 14:6. Then read Bamidbar / Numbers 35:33 "And you shall not corrupt the land in which you live, for the blood corrupts the land, and the blood which is shed in the land cannot be atoned for except through the blood of the one who shed it." Thus Jesus' blood could not atone for anything -- human blood corrupts the land! Read D'varim / Deuteronomy 24:16 "Fathers shall not be put to death because of sons, nor shall sons be put to death because of fathers; each man shall be put to death for his own transgression." and M'lachim Beit / 2 Kings 14:6 "But the sons of the assassins he did not execute, as it is written in the book of the Torah of Moses, which the Lord commanded saying: "Fathers shall not be put to death for sons, nor shall sons be put to death for fathers, but each man shall be put to death for his own sin." and Yirmiyahu / Jeremiah 31:29 [30 in Christian Bibles] "But each man shall die for his iniquity; whoever eats the unripe grapes- his teeth shall be set on edge." Along with these read Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 18 and T'hillim / Psalm Ps 49:7 -- all state clearly that we are responsible for our own sins, no one can die for your sins and human blood (sacrifice) is forbidden -- human blood corrupts the land. Part 2 of the claim is false: no one can die for the sins of another. That concept distorts the entire purpose of human existence: if you do something wrong and don't learn from it -- if you do not face the consequences of your actions -- then where is the spiritual growth? From the Artscroll Stone Edition T'nach translation: "In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus of the offspring of Media, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, 9:2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, contemplated the calculations, the number of years about which the word of HaShem had come to the prophet Jeremiah, to complete the seventy years since the ruin of Jerusalem. 9:3. I set my face toward the L-rd, G-d, to beseech (with) prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. . . 9:21. I was still speaking in prayer, when the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, was lifted in flight approaching me, at about the time of the afternoon offering. 9:22. He made me understand and spoke with me. He said: Daniel, I have gone forth now to teach you understanding. 9:23. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to relate it for you are beloved. Contemplate this matter and gain understanding in your vision. 9:24. Seventy septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to anoint the Holy of Holies. 9:25. Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) and for sixty-two septets (וְשָׁבֻעִ֞ים / v'shavuim) it will be rebuilt, street and moat, but in troubled times. 9:26. Then, after the sixty-two septets (הַשָּׁבֻעִים֙ / ha-shavuim) , the anointed one (messiah) will be cut off and will exist no longer; the people of the prince will come and destroy the city and the Sanctuary; but his end will be (to be swept away as) in a flood. Then, until the end of the war, desolation is decreed. 9:27. He will forge a strong covenant with the great ones for one septet (shavuim); but for half of that septet (שָׁב֣וּעַ / shavua) he will abolish sacrifice and meal-offering and the mute abominations will be upon soaring heights until extermination. as decreed will pour down upon the mute (abomination). Footnotes: 9:1 This is Darius the Mede, not Darius the Persian whose parents were King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. According to the Talmud, this vision took place in the seventieth year after Nebuchadnezzar's subjugation of Jeconiah, eighteen years before the destruction of the Temple. 9:2 See Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 29:10. 9:24 Literally "seventy weeks," this phrase refers to seventy times seven years, or 490 years. This refers to the seventy years of exile that have passed from the Destruction of the First Temple until this vision and the entire 420 year period of the Second Temple (Rashi). 9:25. The "septets" (shavuim) refer to full seven-year periods. The prince of this verse is Cyrus, who gave permission to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. He ascended to the throne fifty-two years (seven full septets plus three years) after the exile had begun. From then until the second destruction of Jerusalem was 438 years, or sixty-two septets and four years (Rashi). 9:26. I.e. Agrippa, the last Jewish king, at the end of the Second Temple Era. After his death, the prince of this verse, the Roman Titus, would command the destruction of the Temple, which will not be rebuilt until after the War of Gog and Magog, in Messianic times (Rashi). 9:27. The Roman emperor would make a treaty with the Jewish nation for seven years; but for the second half of that term the Romans would violate that covenant and impede the Temple service. The "mute abomination," i.e., a temple of idolatry, was erected by the emperor Hadrian on the Temple Mount (Rashi). Daniel 9:26 does not say that a messiah will be killed. Daniel 9 is not about "the" messiah either. There are two "messiahs" (anointed ones) mentioned in this Daniel 9 The first messiah is Cyrus -- the Babylonian Emperor -- who gave the word to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. Ezra: 1:1 - 2: "And in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia, at the completion of the word of the L-rd from the mouth of Jeremiah, the L-rd aroused the Spirit of Cyrus, the king of Persia, and he issued a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also in writing, saying: "So said Cyrus, the king of Persia, 'All the kingdoms of the earth the L-rd G-d of the heavens delivered to me, and He commanded me to build Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judea.." Y'shayahu / Isaiah 44:28, 45:1 G-d "says of Cyrus, "He is My shepherd, and all My desire he shall fulfill," and to say of Jerusalem, "It shall be built, and the Temple shall be founded." . . . So said the L-rd לִמְשִׁיחוֹ֮ / to His messiah, to Cyrus, whose right hand I held, to flatten nations before him, and the loins of kings I will loosen, to open portals before him, and gates shall not be closed." His messiah. Cyrus. Then hundreds of years pass -- and Daniel foresees the destruction of the Second Temple and the Jews again exiled -- and the appearance of an evil messiah who will be part of that destruction. . . Neither of these messiahs was Jesus -- and one was "the" messiah. It is this second messiah, the one who indeed had to be alive at the time of the Temple's destruction (Jesus had been dead at least 40 years) -- but it does not mean he was killed. Daniel 9:26: "Then, after the sixty-two septets (הַשָּׁבֻעִים֙ / ha-shavuim) , an anointed one (messiah) will be cut off and will exist no longer; the people of the prince will come and destroy the city and the Sanctuary; but his end will be (to be swept away as) in a flood. Then, until the end of the war, desolation is decreed." Remember that Hebrew is based on root words? The root for this word is כָּרַת. Most root words are three letters -- vowels, prefixes and suffixes create new words using the "starting" word and sometimes joining two words together to form a new word -- they all, at the heart, have the meaning of the root word. A prefix may change it to add prepositions For example ו / vav as a prefix to a word can add "and he" or "and" to a word. ל / lamed as a prefix means "to" or "for" -- in Hebrew the word מֶלֶךְ / melech means king. If you add a ל / lamed prefix the word is לְמֶלֶךְ / l'melech (to a king). Words created from "roots" are similar -- they all contain the basic meaning of the core word -- just a variation on it. Realizing that consider the root of יִכָּרֵ֥ת / y'kareit which is the word from the root כָּרַת - kareit. The root word, כָּרַת - kareit, can be used to speak of someone being killed whereas the descending word יִכָּרֵ֥ת / y'kareit does not refer to a physical death, but to being "cut off" (excommunicated if you will) from G-d. But here is the thing -- and the very reason Christians should never, ever want to associate Daniel 9 with Jesus. . . Whatever iteration of the word כָּרַת - kareit or words created from it - only used to speak of the demise (whether by death or excommunication) of EVIL people. EVIL PEOPLE are כָּרַת - kareit. Any missionary associating this term with Jesus are ipso facto stating that Jesus was evil. Does Daniel speak of someone being killed (even an evil person)? No. Depending on how the root is used (various tenses for example) it can be connected with killing. An example of an iteration meaning killed / cut off see Shmuel Alef / 1 Samuel 20:15: "And you shall not discontinue your kindness from my household forever, and not even when the L-rd תַכְרִ֧ת / cuts off David's enemies, each man from upon the face of the earth." Killed. The word in Daniel 9 however, is יִכָּרֵ֥ת / y'kareit ("binyan" in Hebrew). "yikaret" is the 3rd-person, masculine, singular conjugation of the root verb כָּרַת - kareit -- in the future tense in the niph'al stem, which is the reflexive passive verb construct. Cut off, not killed. The Hebrew is יִכָּרֵ֥ת / y'kareit which can not be translated as "killed." It means to be cut off by G-d, not men. You are so evil you are removed (excised / excommunicated) from G-d. There is another big problem in most Christian mistranslations of Daniel 9:26: A proper translation says: "an anointed one (messiah) will be cut off and will exist no longer." Since Christians believe Jesus was resurrected and still exists in some form this sentence won't "work." Jesus exist no longer? Not acceptable! Ergo they change the meaning. Completely. Most Christian translations have he will be cut off “but not for himself" -- as if the messiah in question is innocent and is cut down because of others. This is not what the passage says. The Hebrew is וְאֵ֣ין לֹ֑ו / v'ayn Lo and it means "he'll have nothing," or possibly "he is nothing." He is nothing. He "won't be." He will not exist (having been spiritually cut off from G-d). . . Being nothing is very different from a mistranslation that says the person was cut off “but not for himself." Daniel's evil messiah is so horrible he will be יִכָּרֵ֥ת / y'kareit (cut off by G-d, not men -- not killed, but removed from G-d by G-d) and וְאֵ֣ין לֹ֑ו / v'ayn Lo -- there's nothing to him. . . One can see why it is not properly translated -- no Christian would point to Daniel 9:26 and say it is about Jesus if they realized the very messiah they want to claim was Jesus was evil, cut off by G-d and "exists no longer." Missionaries often ask: if the messiah in Daniel 9 wasn't Jesus "who was it?" It surprises them to learn there were many messiahs 2000 years ago. The term relates to one who was properly anointed -- or one who inherited their anointment (to inherit anointing the line had to be unbroken and uncontested. Since there had been no Davidic king for 600 years prior to Jesus the line was "broken" and thus the new messiah / king must be anointed. Jewish priests have continued in an unbroken line from Aaron and did not require personal anointing. Thus Jewish priests, in a sense, are "messiahs." With me? 2000 years ago King Agrippa (the coin is of him) was a messiah. Another "messiah" was the Roman Emperor Titus -- who destroyed the Temple. Obviously Titus was not a Jewish messiah -- but neither was Cyrus! A third possibility was a priest named Yannai. Both were pretty horrible people and either one might "fit" Daniel's claim of an evil messiah alive at the time in question. Rashi, the great Torah commentator, opined that the second, evil, messiah was King Agrippa. He reigned before the Temple's destruction, dying in 44 CE -- about 24 years prior to the Temple's destruction. It upsets missionaries no end that the identity of this second messiah isn't identified with certainty -- but it does not matter. The issue here is Daniel's message and vision -- which came to pass. For a good translation refer to the Artscroll Stone Edition T'nach translation: "In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus of the offspring of Media, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, 9:2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, contemplated the calculations, the number of years about which the word of HaShem had come to the prophet Jeremiah, to complete the seventy years since the ruin of Jerusalem. 9:3. I set my face toward the L-rd, G-d, to beseech (with) prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. . . 9:21. I was still speaking in prayer, when the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, was lifted in flight approaching me, at about the time of the afternoon offering. 9:22. He made me understand and spoke with me. He said: Daniel, I have gone forth now to teach you understanding. 9:23. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to relate it for you are beloved. Contemplate this matter and gain understanding in your vision. 9:24. Seventy septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to anoint the Holy of Holies. 9:25. Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) and for sixty-two septets (וְשָׁבֻעִ֞ים / v'shavuim) it will be rebuilt, street and moat, but in troubled times. 9:26. Then, after the sixty-two septets (הַשָּׁבֻעִים֙ / ha-shavuim) , the anointed one (messiah) will be cut off and will exist no longer; the people of the prince will come and destroy the city and the Sanctuary; but his end will be (to be swept away as) in a flood. Then, until the end of the war, desolation is decreed. 9:27. He will forge a strong covenant with the great ones for one septet (shavuim); but for half of that septet (שָׁב֣וּעַ / shavua) he will abolish sacrifice and meal-offering and the mute abominations will be upon soaring heights until extermination. as decreed will pour down upon the mute (abomination). Footnotes: 9:1 This is Darius the Mede, not Darius the Persian whose parents were King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. According to the Talmud, this vision took place in the seventieth year after Nebuchadnezzar's subjugation of Jeconiah, eighteen years before the destruction of the Temple. 9:2 See Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 29:10. 9:24 Literally "seventy weeks," this phrase refers to seventy times seven years, or 490 years. This refers to the seventy years of exile that have passed from the Destruction of the First Temple until this vision and the entire 420 year period of the Second Temple (Rashi). 9:25. The "septets" (shavuim) refer to full seven-year periods. The prince of this verse is Cyrus, who gave permission to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. He ascended to the throne fifty-two years (seven full septets plus three years) after the exile had begun. From then until the second destruction of Jerusalem was 438 years, or sixty-two septets and four years (Rashi). 9:26. I.e. Agrippa, the last Jewish king, at the end of the Second Temple Era. After his death, the prince of this verse, the Roman Titus, would command the destruction of the Temple, which will not be rebuilt until after the War of Gog and Magog, in Messianic times (Rashi). 9:27. The Roman emperor would make a treaty with the Jewish nation for seven years; but for the second half of that term the Romans would violate that covenant and impede the Temple service. The "mute abomination," i.e., a temple of idolatry, was erected by the emperor Hadrian on the Temple Mount (Rashi). If this is supposedly a prophecy that Jesus fulfilled -- the Temple was destroyed about 40 years after his death, not 483 years before his death. In other words: Jesus did not announce anything to anyone about the Temple being destroyed 483 years, to the exact day, after the decree to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. What of Daniel? Did he say 483 years from the decree to rebuild Jerusalem until the Temple's destruction. No. That is not what Daniel says. "Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets, and fir sixty-two septets it will be rebuilt, street and moat but in troubled times." Daniel 9:25. Not 483 years. Seven septets (shavuim) and sixty-two septets (shavuim). Daniel 9:26 says “after the sixty-two septets." Not sixty-nine (483 years). Sixty-two. The first seven are separated from the sixty-two both grammatically and in the text itself. Grammatically there is an etnach (like a semi-colon, a "stop") in Daniel 9:25 "Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim); (ETNACH / STOP) and for sixty-two septets (וְשָׁבֻעִ֞ים / v'shavuim) it will be rebuilt, street and moat, but in troubled times." The 1611 King James had the semi-colon, but later versions ignored it. This ignoring of the grammar is still happening. The NASB translation has "there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks" -- ignoring the stop after seven weeks. Some have a comma -- but not a "stop" as a semi-colon or period would show. . . If Daniel wanted to say sixty-nine he would have said sixty-nine. Daniel specified seven septets (shavuim) and sixty-two septets (shavuim). The word to rebuild Jerusalem was given by Cyrus, the ruler of Persia, in 537 BCE (3387 AC). This is mentioned in the T'nach in Divrei Hayamim Beit / 2 Chronicles 36:22 -23 "And in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, at the completion of the word of the L-rd in the mouth of Jeremiah, the L-rd aroused the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia, and he issued a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying: "So said Cyrus the king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth has the L-rd G-d of the heavens delivered to me, and He commanded me to build Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judea. Who among you is of all His people, may the L-rd his G-d be with him, and he may ascend." We are told this again in Ezra 1:1 - 2: "And in the first year of Cyrus, the king of Persia, at the completion of the word of the L-rd from the mouth of Jeremiah, the L-rd aroused the Spirit of Cyrus, the king of Persia, and he issued a proclamation throughout his kingdom, and also in writing, saying: So said Cyrus, the king of Persia, 'All the kingdoms of the earth the L-rd G-d of the heavens delivered to me, and He commanded me to build Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judea." The Temple was destroyed in 68 CE. Since Cyrus gave the word to rebuild the Temple in 537 BCE this totals 605 years, not 483. Since these numbers don't fit the missionary narrative they ignore Cyrus and choose a different starting point. They a different starting point, that of a decree by Artaxerxes to Nehemiah mentioned i n Nechamiah / Nehemiah 2:1 - 8. This would be 445/444 BCE (3479/3480 AC). This date is incorrect -- but it is certainly closer in trying to "fit" the vision to Jesus. The problem is that the dates still don't fit Jesus. 445 BCE as a starting point + 68 CE (the date of the Temple's destruction) equals 513 years -- not 483. 483 years Oops. Add 483 to 444 (BCE) and you arrive at 37 CE. Jesus, if born in the year "zero" would have been 37 -- and he died at 33. Many Christians say Jesus was born in 4 BCE (this has to do with Herod who died in 4 BCE) -- and that would put Jesus at age 41 in the year 37 CE -- but again, he supposedly died at the age of 33! The dates don't work for Jesus even if you "pick" the latest possible starting date for 483 years. . . The claim that the dates fit Jesus are flat out wrong. How do we know that the starting point is Cyrus and not Artaxerxes ? Remember the prophet Isaiah? Y'shayahu / Isaiah 44:28. "Who says of Cyrus, "He is My shepherd, and all My desire he shall fulfill," and to say of Jerusalem, "It shall be built, and the Temple shall be founded." Y'shayahu / Isaiah 45:1. "So said HaShem to His messiah, to Cyrus, whose right hand I held, to flatten nations before him, and the loins of kings I will loosen, to open portals before him, and gates shall not be closed." G-d's messiah, Cyrus, (the first messiah mentioned in Daniel 9, will give the word "to say of Jerusalem, "It shall be built, and the Temple shall be founded." In verse Y'shayahu / Isaiah 44:28. Cyrus is clearly referenced as the person who is to deliver the edict to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. Also, in Y'shayahu / Isaiah 45:1 Cyrus is clearly called G-d's anointed (Messiah). Josephus, the first century historian, wrote: "In the first year of the reign of Cyrus which was the seventieth from the day that our people were removed out of their own land into Babylon, G-d commiserated the captivity and calamity of these poor people, according as he had foretold to them by Jeremiah the prophet, before the destruction of the city, that after they had served Nebuchadnezzar and his posterity, and after they had undergone that servitude seventy years, he would restore them again to the land of their fathers, and they should build their temple, and enjoy their ancient prosperity. And these things G-d did afford them; for he stirred up the mind of Cyrus, and made him write this throughout all Asia: "Thus said Cyrus the king: Since G-d Almighty has appointed me to be king of the habitable earth, I believe that he is that G-d which the nation of the Israelites worship; for indeed he foretold my name by the prophets, and that I should build him a house at Jerusalem, in the country of Judea." 2000 years ago we knew the starting point was Cyrus. Cyrus' edict - by secular accounts - was issued in 537 BCE, exactly 7 weeks (or 49 years) after Babylon's sack of Jerusalem. It's a perfect fit for Daniel 9. However, 62 or 63 weeks (or 414-421 years) after Cyrus puts us into the years 116-123 BCE, about 150 years before Jesus. Missionaries ignore Isaiah. They ignore Josephus. They can't accept Cyrus as the starting point even though it is IN the T'nach. It is just WAY too early to fit Jesus hence it must be ignored. But even ignoring Cyrus the dating does not fit Jesus' timeline -- definitely not "to the day" as the list maker claims! There is also a discrepancy between Jewish and secular dating (165 year variance) that should be considered. Some missionaries even made up (wholly fictional) a 360 day year. . . this never existed in Judaism. . . For a detailed analysis I suggest reading R' Moshe Shulman's excellent article on the Daniel 9 Chronology. The missionaries are right about one thing: this vision is about a messiah who died 2000 years ago. It is also about a messiah who lived 2500+ years ago. Daniel was sitting in exile -- and he was wondering when that exile would end. The vision he was given told him when the word to rebuild the Temple would be given (heralding the end of the exile) -- but warning if the Jews did not " terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to anoint the Holy of Holies" there would be an evil messiah who would bookend a second, much longer, exile. That second messiah would be "יִכָּרֵ֥ת / yikkarét / he will be cut off and will exist no longer; " The Hebrew here is כרת -- kareit and it is a spiritual punishment because it is carried out by G-d -- an excommunication of the soul. . . This word is not used to speak of human's killing another human (as in execution). A few messiahs of 2000 years ago could fit this description. Some opine that it was Agrippa or the high priest (kohein gadol) Yannai -- both of whom lost their positions in the time frame in question. In any case the claim that Jesus "fulfilled" a non-existent vision relating to 483 years let alone "to the exact day" is false. From the Artscroll Stone Edition T'nach translation: "In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus of the offspring of Media, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, 9:2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, contemplated the calculations, the number of years about which the word of HaShem had come to the prophet Jeremiah, to complete the seventy years since the ruin of Jerusalem. 9:3. I set my face toward the L-rd, G-d, to beseech (with) prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. . . 9:21. I was still speaking in prayer, when the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, was lifted in flight approaching me, at about the time of the afternoon offering. 9:22. He made me understand and spoke with me. He said: Daniel, I have gone forth now to teach you understanding. 9:23. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to relate it for you are beloved. Contemplate this matter and gain understanding in your vision. 9:24. Seventy septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to anoint the Holy of Holies. 9:25. Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) and for sixty-two septets (וְשָׁבֻעִ֞ים / v'shavuim) it will be rebuilt, street and moat, but in troubled times. 9:26. Then, after the sixty-two septets (הַשָּׁבֻעִים֙ / ha-shavuim) , the anointed one (messiah) will be cut off and will exist no longer; the people of the prince will come and destroy the city and the Sanctuary; but his end will be (to be swept away as) in a flood. Then, until the end of the war, desolation is decreed. 9:27. He will forge a strong covenant with the great ones for one septet (shavuim); but for half of that septet (שָׁב֣וּעַ / shavua) he will abolish sacrifice and meal-offering and the mute abominations will be upon soaring heights until extermination. as decreed will pour down upon the mute (abomination). Footnotes: 9:1 This is Darius the Mede, not Darius the Persian whose parents were King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. According to the Talmud, this vision took place in the seventieth year after Nebuchadnezzar's subjugation of Jeconiah, eighteen years before the destruction of the Temple. 9:2 See Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 29:10. 9:24 Literally "seventy weeks," this phrase refers to seventy times seven years, or 490 years. This refers to the seventy years of exile that have passed from the Destruction of the First Temple until this vision and the entire 420 year period of the Second Temple (Rashi). 9:25. The "septets" (shavuim) refer to full seven-year periods. The prince of this verse is Cyrus, who gave permission to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. He ascended to the throne fifty-two years (seven full septets plus three years) after the exile had begun. From then until the second destruction of Jerusalem was 438 years, or sixty-two septets and four years (Rashi). 9:26. I.e. Agrippa, the last Jewish king, at the end of the Second Temple Era. After his death, the prince of this verse, the Roman Titus, would command the destruction of the Temple, which will not be rebuilt until after the War of Gog and Magog, in Messianic times (Rashi). 9:27. The Roman emperor would make a treaty with the Jewish nation for seven years; but for the second half of that term the Romans would violate that covenant and impede the Temple service. The "mute abomination," i.e., a temple of idolatry, was erected by the emperor Hadrian on the Temple Mount (Rashi). There is no claim that anyone would be holy. The "holy of holies" in this verse refers to the Temple, not to any person. "Seventy septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to anoint the קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים / kodesh ha-kodesh / Holy of Holies." Daniel 9:24. The Holy of Holies, as its name implies, was the most sacred part of the entire Temple. This was a room in the Temple. A real room. Daniel is speaking of a room, not a person. This has nothing to do with Jesus or any other person. The קֹדֶשׁ הַקֳּדָשִׁים / kodesh ha-kodesh / Holy of Holies was 20 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 40 cubits high. The floor, walls, and ceiling were gold. A rock was in the room. On the rock rested the אָרוֹן קׄדֶש / aron ha-kodesh -- the ark of the covenant. So, no -- this is not speaking of the messiah. The vision Daniel had was a warning -- indeed the Temple would be rebuilt (this was the Second Temple) -- but it would be built in troubled times. The Jews had 490 years in which to avoid a second, longer, exile if the turned to G-d. All negative visions of the future are warnings -- the negative can be avoided (this is why the warning is given). Between the rebuilding of the Temple by the Jews who returned from Babylonian Exile to the exile of the Jews by the Romans in the first century CE the Jewish people had an opportunity to avoid the second exile. If they did not listen to Daniel's warning the exile would happen. And it did happen. There are two "messiahs" (anointed ones) mentioned in this chapter. The first messiah is Cyrus -- the Babylonian Emperor -- who gave the word to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. The hundreds of years pass -- and Daniel foresees the destruction of the Second Temple and the Jews again exiled -- and the appearance of an evil messiah who will be part of that destruction. . . Neither of these messiahs was Jesus -- and one was "the" messiah. While most Christians think the word "messiah" only applies to one person (Jesus) the fact is that the word messiah” is used 39 times in the T’nach. It is not a rare word at all -- and it applies to a person who was properly anointed (or inherited an anointing) according to the laws of his / her country. Cyrus was a Babylonian emperor -- he was a messiah, but not a Jewish messiah. He was a proper king (one can assume anointed) by his country. 39 times -- yet Christian translations choose to use the word "messiah" only in Daniel 9 (some also in Psalm 20. . . The King James Version (KJV) has “the Messiah the Prince" in Daniel 9:25. . . The KJV puts the definite article "the" even though that word is not in the text. . . Why do you supposes they translate that word as "anointed one" in the other 30+ locations -- but choose "the messiah" here? It misleads -- whether by accident or purposely -- it misleads. Let me repeat that: “the messiah” does not appear in Daniel 9:25. There is no “the” in front of the word מָשִֽׁיחַ / moshiach / messiah / anointed one. Luke 1:35 has to do with the "holy ghost" (which does not exist) impregnating a married woman -- thus committing an act of adultery. In Luke 1:35 the angel is supposedly speaking to Mary and the angel is NOT speaking about Jesus. The angel is speaking of the “Holy Spirit” (part of the trinity, and again not biblical as there is only one G-d). If Mary was pregnant by anyone other than her husband, Joseph, her child had no tribal status and thus was not eligible to be a messiah -- let alone "the" messiah. . . but in any case Luke 1:35 has nothing to do with Daniel 9:24. Bottom line? Another false claim on the list of 365 supposed prophecies Jesus fulfilled -- Daniel is speaking of the holy of holies in the Temple -- not the messiah. From the Artscroll Stone Edition T'nach translation: "In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus of the offspring of Media, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, 9:2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, contemplated the calculations, the number of years about which the word of HaShem had come to the prophet Jeremiah, to complete the seventy years since the ruin of Jerusalem. 9:3. I set my face toward the L-rd, G-d, to beseech (with) prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. . . 9:21. I was still speaking in prayer, when the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, was lifted in flight approaching me, at about the time of the afternoon offering. 9:22. He made me understand and spoke with me. He said: Daniel, I have gone forth now to teach you understanding. 9:23. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to relate it for you are beloved. Contemplate this matter and gain understanding in your vision. 9:24. Seventy septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to anoint the Holy of Holies. 9:25. Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) and for sixty-two septets (וְשָׁבֻעִ֞ים / v'shavuim) it will be rebuilt, street and moat, but in troubled times. 9:26. Then, after the sixty-two septets (הַשָּׁבֻעִים֙ / ha-shavuim) , the anointed one (messiah) will be cut off and will exist no longer; the people of the prince will come and destroy the city and the Sanctuary; but his end will be (to be swept away as) in a flood. Then, until the end of the war, desolation is decreed. 9:27. He will forge a strong covenant with the great ones for one septet (shavuim); but for half of that septet (שָׁב֣וּעַ / shavua) he will abolish sacrifice and meal-offering and the mute abominations will be upon soaring heights until extermination. as decreed will pour down upon the mute (abomination). Footnotes: 9:1 This is Darius the Mede, not Darius the Persian whose parents were King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. According to the Talmud, this vision took place in the seventieth year after Nebuchadnezzar's subjugation of Jeconiah, eighteen years before the destruction of the Temple. 9:2 See Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 29:10. 9:24 Literally "seventy weeks," this phrase refers to seventy times seven years, or 490 years. This refers to the seventy years of exile that have passed from the Destruction of the First Temple until this vision and the entire 420 year period of the Second Temple (Rashi). 9:25. The "septets" (shavuim) refer to full seven-year periods. The prince of this verse is Cyrus, who gave permission to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. He ascended to the throne fifty-two years (seven full septets plus three years) after the exile had begun. From then until the second destruction of Jerusalem was 438 years, or sixty-two septets and four years (Rashi). 9:26. I.e. Agrippa, the last Jewish king, at the end of the Second Temple Era. After his death, the prince of this verse, the Roman Titus, would command the destruction of the Temple, which will not be rebuilt until after the War of Gog and Magog, in Messianic times (Rashi). 9:27. The Roman emperor would make a treaty with the Jewish nation for seven years; but for the second half of that term the Romans would violate that covenant and impede the Temple service. The "mute abomination," i.e., a temple of idolatry, was erected by the emperor Hadrian on the Temple Mount (Rashi). Daniel 9, along with Y'shayahu / Isaiah 53, is a missionary favorite. Unfortunately for most Christians their translations are often badly mangled. Daniel 9 speaks of two messiahs -- not one. Neither one is "the" messiah. The passage never uses the term "the" messiah. You would not know that if you rely on Christian translations -- many of whom say "the Messiah" (capital "m" too -- even though there are no capital letters in Hebrew). The King James Version (KJV) is guilty of this mistranslation. It puts the definite article "the" in front of the translation they chose for the Hebrew word מָשִֽׁיחַ / (moshiach. The KJV chose to translate מָשִֽׁיחַ / moshiach as "the messiah” in Daniel 9:25 although the Hebrew word for "the" does not appear at all (In Hebrew the word "the" is represented by the prefix ה / ha). Let me repeat that: “the messiah” does not appear in Daniel 9. There is no ה / ha /“the” in front of the word מָשִֽׁיחַ / moshiach / messiah / anointed one in Daniel 9. Knowing now that the King James has altered Daniel 9:25 to say “the Messiah” when it truly says “messiah” (or “anointed one”) – and that the KJV uses the word “messiah” in Daniel 9, but not in the other 37 locations in appears in the T’nach (Jewish bible) one can begin to see how translators are liars (whether they mean to be or not). Let’s just look at a few Christian translations for Daniel 9:
Interesting enough NIV translation uses "the Anointed One" in this chapter, whereas The Message uses "the Anointed Leader" in Daniel 9. Note the capitalization and the use of the word "the" even though they do not use the word "messiah." The Message does use the word "Messiah" (capital "m") three times in Psalm 2 -- using "the Messiah" in one of the three times it uses that word in the psalm. None of these Christian translations use the word “messiah” in the other 37 locations (39 in all) the term actually is found in the T’nach (bible). This selective translation (mistranslation?) misleads their innocent readers in "seeing" Jesus in the passages -- and not in the 37 other instances where the term clearly references other people (primarily priests). The list maker seems to be claiming that Jesus made an end to sins, thus "fulfilling" Daniel 9. The passage does not say that anyone will end sin. It says that the Jewish people have a time frame (given in the chapter) in which to stop sinning and avoid a second exile. It is a WARNING. Let's start at the beginning. The Jews have been exiled to Babylon. Daniel is in exile with them. It is first year of the reign of Darius the Mede, son of Ahasuerus, in the Chaldæan empire (521 BCE). Daniel is among the Jews who have been exiled to Babylon -- and he wants to calculate when this exile will end and the Jews will return to Judah (Israel). "In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, contemplated the calculations, the number of the years that the word of the L-rd had come to Jeremiah the prophet, since the destruction of Jerusalem seventy years." Daniel 9:2. It was 597 BCE, 76 years earlier, when King Jeconiah of Judah had been deposed and sent into exile. Thus more than 70 years had already passed from the start of the exile itself -- so was Jeremiah speaking about the length of the exile or did the 70 years stand for something slightly different? Here are the words of Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 29:10: "For so said the L-rd: For at the completion of seventy years of Babylon I will remember you, and I will fulfill My good word toward you, to restore you to this place." The date of Jeconiah's exile was too early -- and Daniel is in exile six years past that date, wondering when the "70 years" began and when his exile will end. Those are not the 70 years. . . The 70 years began with the completion of the Second Temple -- 586 BCE -- exactly 70 years after the destruction of the First Temple by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BCE. But that had not happened yet for Daniel -- so he was unable to compute the date for the start of his vision -- the return of the Jews from Babylonian exile. In his vision he sees that a messiah (not "the") will give the word to rebuild Jerusalem and let the Jews return to Israel (Judah). The term “messiah” is used 39 times in the T’nach. It means “anointed one” and it refers to kings and priests. Not all "messiahs" are Jews -- the term simply means one who has been anointed (even occasionally used to mean "appointed" without an actually anointing). Jewish anointing is very specific -- for kings and priests -- but even the Queen of England is a messiah -- she was properly anointed according to the laws of her people. There are two messiahs in Daniel 9 and it is quite possible that neither one was Jewish, let alone the Jewish messiah. The first messiah gave the word to rebuild Jerusalem. This first messiah was Cyrus the Great of Persia. He was the king who gave the order to rebuild Jerusalem. In Daniel's vision he learns that from the time the word is given to rebuild Jerusalem the Jews have nearly 500 years to return to observance and avoid a second exile. This vision is a warning. IF the Jews stop sinning and return to G-d they can avoid a second exile. IF. If the Jews do not then they will be exiled again -- and this will be marked by the arrival of a second messiah -- an evil messiah. A man so evil that he will be כרת / kareit -- cut off. The term כרת / kareit means someone who has done something so evil that he is cut off from G-d and from the Jewish people. What of the claimed fulfillment passage -- Galatians 1:3-5? In it the statement is made that Jesus "gave himself for our sins." This has nothing to do with Daniel 9 -- and the T'nach makes it clear time and time and time again that no one can die for your sins or "remove" your sins. We are each responsible for our own actions. Read D'varim / Deuteronomy 24:16 "Fathers shall not die [through the testimony] of their sons, and sons shall not die [through the testimony] of their fathers, since [in any case] every man shall die for his sins." When man repents, G-d forgives. Read Bamidbar / Numbers 35:33 "And you shall not corrupt the land in which you live, for the blood corrupts the land, and the blood which is shed in the land cannot be atoned for except through the blood of the one who shed it." Thus Jesus' blood could not atone for anything -- human blood corrupts the land! No, Galatians is wrong -- Jesus (nor anyone) could "give" himself for your sins -- only you can atone for your sins. For your edification, here is the Artscroll Stone Edition T'nach translation: "In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus of the offspring of Media, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, 9:2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, contemplated the calculations, the number of years about which the word of HaShem had come to the prophet Jeremiah, to complete the seventy years since the ruin of Jerusalem. 9:3. I set my face toward the L-rd, G-d, to beseech (with) prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. . . 9:21. I was still speaking in prayer, when the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, was lifted in flight approaching me, at about the time of the afternoon offering. 9:22. He made me understand and spoke with me. He said: Daniel, I have gone forth now to teach you understanding. 9:23. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to relate it for you are beloved. Contemplate this matter and gain understanding in your vision. 9:24. Seventy septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to anoint the Holy of Holies. 9:25. Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) and for sixty-two septets (וְשָׁבֻעִ֞ים / v'shavuim) it will be rebuilt, street and moat, but in troubled times. 9:26. Then, after the sixty-two septets (הַשָּׁבֻעִים֙ / ha-shavuim) , the anointed one (messiah) will be cut off and will exist no longer; the people of the prince will come and destroy the city and the Sanctuary; but his end will be (to be swept away as) in a flood. Then, until the end of the war, desolation is decreed. 9:27. He will forge a strong covenant with the great ones for one septet (shavuim); but for half of that septet (שָׁב֣וּעַ / shavua) he will abolish sacrifice and meal-offering and the mute abominations will be upon soaring heights until extermination. as decreed will pour down upon the mute (abomination). Footnotes: 9:1 This is Darius the Mede, not Darius the Persian whose parents were King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. According to the Talmud, this vision took place in the seventieth year after Nebuchadnezzar's subjugation of Jeconiah, eighteen years before the destruction of the Temple. 9:2 See From the Artscroll Stone Edition T'nach translation: "In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus of the offspring of Media, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, 9:2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, contemplated the calculations, the number of years about which the word of HaShem had come to the prophet Jeremiah, to complete the seventy years since the ruin of Jerusalem. 9:3. I set my face toward the L-rd, G-d, to beseech (with) prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. . . 9:21. I was still speaking in prayer, when the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, was lifted in flight approaching me, at about the time of the afternoon offering. 9:22. He made me understand and spoke with me. He said: Daniel, I have gone forth now to teach you understanding. 9:23. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to relate it for you are beloved. Contemplate this matter and gain understanding in your vision. 9:24. Seventy septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to anoint the Holy of Holies. 9:25. Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) and for sixty-two septets (וְשָׁבֻעִ֞ים / v'shavuim) it will be rebuilt, street and moat, but in troubled times. 9:26. Then, after the sixty-two septets (הַשָּׁבֻעִים֙ / ha-shavuim) , the anointed one (messiah) will be cut off and will exist no longer; the people of the prince will come and destroy the city and the Sanctuary; but his end will be (to be swept away as) in a flood. Then, until the end of the war, desolation is decreed. 9:27. He will forge a strong covenant with the great ones for one septet (shavuim); but for half of that septet (שָׁב֣וּעַ / shavua) he will abolish sacrifice and meal-offering and the mute abominations will be upon soaring heights until extermination. as decreed will pour down upon the mute (abomination). Footnotes: 9:1 This is Darius the Mede, not Darius the Persian whose parents were King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. According to the Talmud, this vision took place in the seventieth year after Nebuchadnezzar's subjugation of Jeconiah, eighteen years before the destruction of the Temple. 9:2 See From the Artscroll Stone Edition T'nach translation: "In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus of the offspring of Media, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, 9:2. in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, contemplated the calculations, the number of years about which the word of HaShem had come to the prophet Jeremiah, to complete the seventy years since the ruin of Jerusalem. 9:3. I set my face toward the L-rd, G-d, to beseech (with) prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. . . 9:21. I was still speaking in prayer, when the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the earlier vision, was lifted in flight approaching me, at about the time of the afternoon offering. 9:22. He made me understand and spoke with me. He said: Daniel, I have gone forth now to teach you understanding. 9:23. At the beginning of your supplications a word went forth, and I have come to relate it for you are beloved. Contemplate this matter and gain understanding in your vision. 9:24. Seventy septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) have been decreed upon your people and upon your holy city to terminate transgression, to end sin, to wipe away iniquity, to anoint the Holy of Holies. 9:25. Know and comprehend: From the emergence of the word to return and to build Jerusalem until the anointment of the prince will be seven septets (שָׁבֻעִ֖ים / shavuim) and for sixty-two septets (וְשָׁבֻעִ֞ים / v'shavuim) it will be rebuilt, street and moat, but in troubled times. 9:26. Then, after the sixty-two septets (הַשָּׁבֻעִים֙ / ha-shavuim) , the anointed one (messiah) will be cut off and will exist no longer; the people of the prince will come and destroy the city and the Sanctuary; but his end will be (to be swept away as) in a flood. Then, until the end of the war, desolation is decreed. 9:27. He will forge a strong covenant with the great ones for one septet (shavuim); but for half of that septet (שָׁב֣וּעַ / shavua) he will abolish sacrifice and meal-offering and the mute abominations will be upon soaring heights until extermination. as decreed will pour down upon the mute (abomination). Footnotes: 9:1 This is Darius the Mede, not Darius the Persian whose parents were King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther. According to the Talmud, this vision took place in the seventieth year after Nebuchadnezzar's subjugation of Jeconiah, eighteen years before the destruction of the Temple. 9:2 See Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 29:10.. 9:24 Literally "seventy weeks," this phrase refers to seventy times seven years, or 490 years. This refers to the seventy years of exile that have passed from the Destruction of the First Temple until this vision and the entire 420 year period of the Second Temple (Rashi). 9:25. The "septets" (shavuim) refer to full seven-year periods. The prince of this verse is Cyrus, who gave permission to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. He ascended to the throne fifty-two years (seven full septets plus three years) after the exile had begun. From then until the second destruction of Jerusalem was 438 years, or sixty-two septets and four years (Rashi). 9:26. I.e. Agrippa, the last Jewish king, at the end of the Second Temple Era. After his death, the prince of this verse, the Roman Titus, would command the destruction of the Temple, which will not be rebuilt until after the War of Gog and Magog, in Messianic times (Rashi). 9:27. The Roman emperor would make a treaty with the Jewish nation for seven years; but for the second half of that term the Romans would violate that covenant and impede the Temple service. The "mute abomination," i.e., a temple of idolatry, was erected by the emperor Hadrian on the Temple Mount (Rashi). . 9:24 Literally "seventy weeks," this phrase refers to seventy times seven years, or 490 years. This refers to the seventy years of exile that have passed from the Destruction of the First Temple until this vision and the entire 420 year period of the Second Temple (Rashi). 9:25. The "septets" (shavuim) refer to full seven-year periods. The prince of this verse is Cyrus, who gave permission to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. He ascended to the throne fifty-two years (seven full septets plus three years) after the exile had begun. From then until the second destruction of Jerusalem was 438 years, or sixty-two septets and four years (Rashi). 9:26. I.e. Agrippa, the last Jewish king, at the end of the Second Temple Era. After his death, the prince of this verse, the Roman Titus, would command the destruction of the Temple, which will not be rebuilt until after the War of Gog and Magog, in Messianic times (Rashi). 9:27. The Roman emperor would make a treaty with the Jewish nation for seven years; but for the second half of that term the Romans would violate that covenant and impede the Temple service. The "mute abomination," i.e., a temple of idolatry, was erected by the emperor Hadrian on the Temple Mount (Rashi). . 9:24 Literally "seventy weeks," this phrase refers to seventy times seven years, or 490 years. This refers to the seventy years of exile that have passed from the Destruction of the First Temple until this vision and the entire 420 year period of the Second Temple (Rashi). 9:25. The "septets" (shavuim) refer to full seven-year periods. The prince of this verse is Cyrus, who gave permission to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple. He ascended to the throne fifty-two years (seven full septets plus three years) after the exile had begun. From then until the second destruction of Jerusalem was 438 years, or sixty-two septets and four years (Rashi). 9:26. I.e. Agrippa, the last Jewish king, at the end of the Second Temple Era. After his death, the prince of this verse, the Roman Titus, would command the destruction of the Temple, which will not be rebuilt until after the War of Gog and Magog, in Messianic times (Rashi). 9:27. The Roman emperor would make a treaty with the Jewish nation for seven years; but for the second half of that term the Romans would violate that covenant and impede the Temple service. The "mute abomination," i.e., a temple of idolatry, was erected by the emperor Hadrian on the Temple Mount (Rashi). #306. Daniel 7:27...Kingdom for the Saints...Luke 1:33, 1 Corinthians 15:24, Revelation 11:151/21/2018 The word "saint" is a mistranslation of קַדִּישֵׁ֣י (Aramaic) in Daniel 7:27. קַדִּישֵׁ֣י should be translated as "high holy superior ones." The NIV (Christian translation) uses "the holy people," as does the New Living Translation. The NETBible has " the people of the holy ones." So who are these people? The Jewish nation. This has nothing to do with Jesus. Having had his dream of the four kingdoms who would subjugate the Jewish people, Daniel sees a vision of one who is "like" a human -- but he doesn't understand the dream. In Daniel 7:27 an angel explains the meaning to Daniel. The one who he sees "like a man" is in reality a people -- the high holy supreme ones -- not an individual (not Jesus). Daniel's dream: "I saw in the visions of the night, and behold with the clouds of the heaven, one like a man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was brought before Him. And He gave him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall serve him; his dominion is an eternal dominion, which will not be removed, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed." Daniel 7:13 - 14. Daniel is terrified by his dream, saying "the visions of my mind terrified me. I drew near to one of those standing [there], and I asked him the truth of all this, and he told it to me, and he let me know the interpretation of the matters." Daniel 7:15 - 16. An angel tells Daniel that the four beasts in Daniel's dream represent four empires that will rule the world until, eventually, the Jewish people will be at the center of the world in the messianic era. "[He said] "These huge beasts, which are four, are four kingdoms, which will arise from the earth. And the high holy ones will receive the kingdom, and they will inherit the kingdom forever and to all eternity."" Daniel 7:17 - 18. The fourth kingdom goes against the high holy ones (mistranslated as "saints") -- and G-d protects His people: "the Ancient of Days came and gave revenge to the high holy ones, and the time arrived that the holy ones inherited the kingdom." Daniel 7:22. If the holy ones were Christians then what revenge do they need? Who has subjugated the Christians? There are 2 billion of them, and although some are mistreated the majority are "in charge." This vision of Daniel has nothing to do with Christians. Daniel says: "And the high holy supreme ones and they will receive the kingdom, and they will inherit the kingdom forever and to all eternity."" Daniel 7:18. The the holy supreme ones is plural -- it does not and cannot refer to one person (such as Jesus). Because it is plural it cannot be one person -- Jesus or the real messiah. The angel says: "Until the Ancient of Days (G-d) came and gave revenge to the high holy supreme ones (again -- PLURAL, not one person) , and the time arrived that the holy ones inherited the kingdom." Daniel 7:22. The Aramaic phrase in Daniel 7:18 is קַדִּישֵׁי עֶלְיוֹנִין (qadiSHEI elyoNIN), which should be translated as "the holy supreme ones." This expression appears three times in Daniel 7:22, 25 and 27. Daniel is echoing the words of Y'shayahu / Isaiah -- who in chapters 59 and 60 discussed the fact that G-d would return the Jews from exile to the land of Israel. G-d will redeem the Jews and they will inherit His kingdom. "And a redeemer shall come to Zion, and to those who repent of transgression in Jacob, says the L-rd. "As for Me, this is My covenant with them," says the L-rd. "My spirit, which is upon you and My words that I have placed in your mouth, shall not move from your mouth or from the mouth of your seed and from the mouth of your seed's seed," said the L-rd, "from now and to eternity. . . Arise, shine, for your light has come. . . And nations shall go by your light and kings by the brilliance of your shine. foreigners shall build your walls, and their kings shall serve you, for in My wrath I struck you, and in My grace have I had mercy on you." Y'shayahu / Isaiah 59:20 - 21, . . 60:1 - 10. Daniel and Isaiah are speaking of the messianic era -- a time when the exiled Jewish people will be returned to the land of Israel, and the Jews will serve the rest of the world as a nation of priests -- bringing them understanding of the one true G-d. The nations will serve the Jewish people because they want to do so -- to become closer to G-d. Could this be Christians? What wrath did G-d strike upon Christians or Muslims? Nothing. "Instead of your being forsaken and hated without a passerby, I will make you an everlasting pride, the joy of every generation." Y'shayahu / Isaiah 60:15. Christians, all 2 billion of them, forsaken? Of course not -- Isaiah is speaking of the Jewish people who, in exile, were mistreated and thought to be deserted by G-d. Many Christians think Jews are "damned" for killing Jesus! Jews have been hated with a vitriol that still exists today. "And your people, all of them righteous, shall inherit the land forever" Y'shayahu / Isaiah 60:21. The land of Israel. The high holy ones are the people of Israel, the Jews -- and this claim has nothing to do with Jesus. In no way did Jesus fulfill the visions of Daniel 7. This is a vision of the four kingdoms where the Jewish people would be exiled (from Babylon to today) -- and the eventual messianic era when the Jews will return from their exile to the land of Israel. The whole world will know there is only one G-d, there will be world peace and all the Jews will be returned to Israel. Needless to say this has not happened yet -- so, no, Jesus did not "do it." "I saw in the visions of the night, and behold with the clouds of the heaven, one like a man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was brought before Him. And He (G-d) gave him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall serve him; his dominion is an eternal dominion, which will not be removed, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed." Daniel 7:13 - 14. Daniel has a dream. In that dream he saw four beasts -- the beasts were his dream's method of presenting the kingdoms where Jews would be exiled. Each kingdom was weaker than the kingdom before it, until the day arrives when the high holy superior ones have their own kingdom -- one that will usher in an age of peace, of global knowledge of G-d and and the return of all the Jews from exile. This has yet to happen. Daniel is speaking of the Jewish people -- not of one person (certainly not Jesus since he never ruled a kingdom and even to day "all peoples and nations and tongues" are not Christians -- and never will be). The one "like a man" or "like a human" is not one person any more than the lion with wings like an eagle was one lion with wings! The lion with wings represented a kingdom. In the vision the bear, the leopard and the creature with iron teeth are not individual entities -- they represent different kingdoms. And the one "like a man" represents the Jewish people in the messianic age. The angel explains this to Daniel in Daniel 7:27. Read Daniel 7:27 - "And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under all the heavens will be given to the people of the exalted (high) holy ones; its kingdom is a perpetual kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey [it]." This is the angel explaining the dream to Daniel. The one like a human represents the people of the exalted (superior) holy ones. Let's make this clear: There is a vision in Daniel 7:13 - 14. The vision is explained to Daniel by an angel in Daniel 7:27. Prophecies were always in the form of visions or dreams (with the exception of Moses) -- but the prophet immediately understood their meaning. Daniel did not understand the meaning, it had to be explained to him by the angel, meaning that although the communication came from G-d (via the angel) it was not prophecy. The Guide for the Perplexed the Rambam (Maimonides) discusses eleven levels of prophecy, the first two of which are not actually prophecy but are divine inspiration, men who have a spirit of holiness. These first two levels are holy men and women inspired by G-d, but their words are their own. The visions of Daniel as recorded in the biblical book would fall under the second of the Rambam's eleven levels of prophecy -- the first two of which are divine inspiration and not true prophecy. This second level may contain visions which are to be given to the living generation -- but the person who has them may not readily understand the meaning (prophets always know the meaning -- it is very clear to them). The Rambam: "The second degree is this: A person feels as if something came upon him, and as if he had received a new power that encourages him to speak. He treats of science, or composes hymns, exhorts his fellow-men, discusses political and theological problems; all this he does while awake, and in the full possession of his senses." There is, however, a difference between the visions experienced by prophets in a dream or vision and those connected with the ru'ah hakodesh -- divine inspiration. A prophet immediately knows (upon regaining his or her senses) that what happened was prophecy. A person who has a vision (as did Daniel) inspired by the holy does not have this realization: "My spirit-I, Daniel-became troubled within its sheath, and the visions of my mind terrified me." Daniel 7:15. This is why the Book of Daniel is not considered prophecy and is not found in that section of the Hebrew Bible. Who is the one called "like a son of man" (like a human) in Daniel 7:13 - 14? This entity is identified later in Daniel 7:27 as the Jewish people in Daniel 7:27. Remember, in this vision each creature represents an empire. The last entity is presented in the form of a human -- but it is not a single human, but rather a representative of an empire -- as were the others which preceded it... How can we know the exalted holy ones are the Jews? Take a look at B'reshit / Genesis 49:10 from Targum Onkelos (an ancient translation / interpretation): "He who exercises dominion shall not pass away from the house of Judah, nor the scepter from his children's children for ever, until the messiah comes, whose is the kingdom, and unto whom shall be the obedience of the nations (or, whom the peoples shall obey). Israel shall pass round about in his cities; the people shall build his temple, they will be righteous round about him, and be doers of the mitzvot (Torah) through his doctrine." Even though the Aramaic word קַדִּישֵׁ֣י (mistranslated as "saints") is only found in Daniel 7:the similar word in Hebrew is קְדֹשִׁ֣ים, -- holy ones -- is used to speak of the Jewish people in Vayikra / Leviticus 11:44 - 45, Vayikra / Leviticus 19:2, and Vayikra / Leviticus 20:7 to name just a few of the 14 entries of the Hebrew word appears 14 times in the T'nach relating to the Jewish people. Note that the words are different (different language) -- but they are similar. Thus the one described as "LIKE a son of man (human)" in the vision is interpreted by the angel as the Jewish people --- not one person. Not the messiah. Ergo the claim that this is a prophecy about Jesus falls apart simply by reading the context. There is another issue the list maker does not mention. In some Christian translations have the word "worship" rather than "serve." The King James Version and NETBible correctly have "served," but the NIV incorrectly has "worshiped." NIV: "He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed." This is a mistranslation. Verse 14 has the word יִפְלְחוּן / yifl'HUN, which means "they will serve [in the sense of work for] him". The word is spelled yod, pé, lammed, ḥet, vav, nun. Remember, this is Aramaic, not Hebrew. Aramaic, as in Hebrew, words are based on "root" words. The root for this word is פלח (péy lamed, ḥet). Three letters. The Book of Daniel is written n the Aramaic language from the middle of line 4 in chapter 2 of Daniel to the end of Daniel 7, returning to Hebrew in Daniel 8 for the rest of the book. Most root words are three letters -- vowels, prefixes and suffixes create new words using the "starting" word and sometimes joining two words together to form a new word -- they all, at the heart, have the meaning of the root word. A prefix may change it to add prepositions For example ו / vav as a prefix to a word can add "and he" or "and" to a word. ל / lamed as a prefix means "to" or "for" -- in Hebrew the word מֶלֶךְ / melech means king. If you add a ל / lamed prefix the word is לְמֶלֶךְ / l'melech (to a king). Why spend so much time to explain root words? Because words created from "roots" are similar -- they all contain the basic meaning of the core word -- just a variation on it. Realizing that consider the root of יִפְלְחוּן / yifl'HUN which is the word פלח / pey, lamed, ḥet). פלח / pey, lamed, ḥet).is a root word in both Hebrew and Aramaic -- but they are DIFFERENT words. These are two different, albeit related, languages. Aramaic and Hebrew are related languages, but they are not identical.
Slightly different. Aramaic is not often found in the T'nach (bible). The Book of Daniel begins in Hebrew, but switches abruptly into Aramaic part-way through verse 2:4 (the line printed in blue is in Hebrew and the line printed in red is in Aramaic): וַֽיְדַבְּר֧וּ הַכַּשְׂדִּ֛ים לַמֶּ֖לֶךְ אֲרָמִ֑ית מַלְכָּא֙ לְעָֽלְמִ֣ין חֱיִ֔י אֱמַ֥ר חֶלְמָ֛א לְעַבְדָּ֖ךְ וּפִשְׁרָ֥א נְחַוֵּֽא׃ Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, " May the king live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we shall tell the interpretation.".” (Daniel 2:4). From this verse Daniel remains in Aramaic until the end of Daniel 7:, reverting to Hebrew at the beginning of chapter 8. Bottom line? "Worship" is a mistranslation in Daniel 7:
"I saw in the visions of the night, and behold with the clouds of the heaven, one like a man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was brought before Him. And He gave him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall serve him; his dominion is an eternal dominion, which will not be removed, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed." Daniel 7:13 - 14.
Do you see "highly exalted" in that passage? Neither do I. The one like a human is described as ruling (being given dominion, glory and a kingdom) -- one for all people who will serve him. This was not Jesus. He never ruled. He had dominion over some followers (perhaps) but dominion refers to governing, something Jesus did not do. Not all people followed Jesus, let alone were ruled by him. Even today in a world population of 7.6 billion slightly more than 25% are Christians. One in four -- the other three do not follow Christianity. Ergo Jesus did not "fit" the description of Daniel 7:13 - 14.. Not to mention that Jesus was not highly exalted. He was a poor carpenter, turned itinerant preacher. He was never crowned a king (for all that Pontius called him a "king of the Jews" the fact is that he was not a king. The Christian bible claims that Jesus was raised high in heaven by G-d. Who saw this happen? This claim is made in the Christian bible -- but who went to heaven to witness this? It is a claim based on nothing. Read the passage -- it is clear that "Jesus did not do it." (G-d) gave him dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall serve him; All people and all nations and all tongues serve him. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world -- 22.32% of global population. They do not serve Jesus. There are 1.15 billion Hindus -- 16.06% of global population. They do not serve Jesus. There are 1.1 billion atheists / secular people -- 15.35% of global population. They do not serve Jesus. Ergo Jesus did not "fulfill" the claims made by Daniel in this passage. This has yet to happen. Who is the one who will be given dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall serve him? Rashi, the great Torah commentator, did opine that it was the messiah -- who will rule over Israel in the true messianic age. Most Jewish sages said that the "one" is the Jewish people -- as an "empire" or "nation." Why the Jews? Because of what the angel tells Daniel. The angel tells Daniel that the four beasts in Daniel's dream represent four empires that will rule the world until, eventually, the Jewish people will be at the center of the world in the messianic era. Daniel says: "And the high holy supreme ones and they will receive the kingdom, and they will inherit the kingdom forever and to all eternity."" Daniel 7:18. The the holy supreme ones is plural -- it does not and cannot refer to one person (such as Jesus). Because it is plural it cannot be one person -- Jesus or the real messiah. The angel says: "Until the Ancient of Days (G-d) came and gave revenge to the high holy supreme ones (again -- PLURAL, not one person) , and the time arrived that the holy ones inherited the kingdom." Daniel 7:22. The Aramaic phrase in Daniel 7:18 is קַדִּישֵׁי עֶלְיוֹנִין (qadiSHEI elyoNIN), which should be translated as "the holy supreme ones." This expression appears three more times in Daniel 7:22, 25 and 27. When missionary claims are explored -- and read in context -- they have an amazing consistency to fall apart. Daniel 7 is Aramaic, not Hebrew. Chronologically chapter 7 happened before chapter 6. It took place when בֵּלְשַׁאצַּר / Belshazzar was king, Daniel had a dream. He woke up and wrote down the main points, so he wouldn’t forget anything and the rest of the chapter is Daniel's recollection of his dream. In his dream Daniel saw four winds come from Heaven and churn the sea. Then four huge beasts, each different, rose up out of the water.
While Daniel was examining the horns, a new one sprouted, while three of the old ones fell out. There were eyes like a human’s on this horn and a mouth speaking arrogantly. Note that it says like a son of man aka like a human. It does not say "a human." The Aramaic says כְּבַר אֱנָשׁ k'var enash, "[something] like a son of man (human)." Son of man would be בַר אֱנָשׁ . bar enash (בַר / bar in Aramaic means son of)-- but there is another letter there -- the letter כְּ / kaf. In Aramaic (and remember, this passage is in Aramaic, not Hebrew) the use of a כְּ / kaf as a prefix to a word means "like." Like a human. Not a human. This is a dream -- the one like a human, just like the beasts, represent something other than what they appear to be. The beasts represent empires -- and so does the one who appears to be human. . . It is an empire, a people, a nation -- the Jewish people. Rashi opines that כְּבַר אֱנָשׁ k'var enash, "[something] like a human being" is the messiah+. Link. Remember that this was a dream, and dreams use imagery to tell our minds something. Daniel himself did not understand the dream, (verse 15) and an angel interpreted it for him (verse 16). The vision, Daniel’s frustration and the interpretation all occurred within the dream. "I saw in the visions of the night, and behold with the clouds of the heaven, one like a man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was brought before Him." Daniel 7:13. Remember this is a DREAM. Daniel is having a vision of the future in the form of a dream -- so none of it is literal. The important thing in the dream is its message. . . One like a man, or like a human being, did not ascend to heaven (as the list maker presents as a prophecy Jesus fulfilled). No, the one who is like a human came from the sky -- from the heavens IN THE DREAM. The list maker claims the person ascended to heaven. This is not what Daniel 7:13 says. The passage tells us that the one like a human, in the dream, came עִם־עֲנָנֵ֣י / with the clouds of the heaven. This means the human came from the clouds, not up to them. . . opposite of the claim. Having described the vision of the four beasts and the one like a man Daniel then describes a heavenly tribunal, a court of justice, for those those beasts. Three beasts are sentenced to lose of power and the last beast is to be put to death. Daniel himself did not understand the dream and he asked an angel (from the dream) to explain the meaning to him. The angel told him that the four beasts are four empires that will rule the world until, eventually, the Jewish people will be at the center of the world in the messianic era -- which will be one of eternal peace and knowledge of G-d. Daniel says: "And the high holy supreme ones and they will receive the kingdom, and they will inherit the kingdom forever and to all eternity."" Daniel 7:18. The the holy supreme ones is plural -- it does not and cannot refer to one person (such as Jesus). The Aramaic phrase in Daniel 7:18 is קַדִּישֵׁי עֶלְיוֹנִין (qadiSHEI elyoNIN), which should be translated as "the holy supreme ones." This expression appears three more times in Daniel 7:22, 25 and 27. Who, in the T'nach (bible) is identified as a holy people? The Jews. The angel who explains the meaning of the vision to Daniel reiterates that the one who is like a man who inherits the eternal kingdom is the Jewish people (not one person). The angel says: "Until the Ancient of Days (G-d) came and gave revenge to the high holy supreme ones (again -- PLURAL, not one person) , and the time arrived that the holy ones inherited the kingdom." Daniel 7:22. The angel is telling Daniel that the Jews will live under four kingdoms who rule over them -- but eventually the Jews will inherit the kingdom. This has still not yet come to pass, and did not happen in the lifetime of Jesus, who was born and died under Roman rule. If you are still not convinced (with the plural "people" not one person) in the previous verses read verse 27.. "And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under all the heavens will be given to the holy supreme nation; its kingdom is a perpetual kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey [it]."" Sh'mot / Exodus 19:6: "You (the Jewish people) will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to Me.' These are the words that you must relate to the Israelites.'" The Jewish people. Daniel's vision was of the various empires who will rule from the time of Babylon until the messianic age (a time which has not yet occurred. We recently discussed Daniel 2 in 301. Daniel 2:34-35...Stone cut without hands...Acts 4:10-12 . In Daniel 2 he interpreted a dream of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, which had a similar theme of the empires who would have power over the Jewish people (as did Babylon) -- and who would displace Babylon -- eventually culminating in the messianic empire of the Jewish people. This is a vision of the same thing. The empires who would rule over the Jews were Babylon, Greece, Rome (Christianity = Rome). Ibn Ezra was of the view that the third kingdom was a combination of Greece and Rome, while the fourth kingdom referred to the Muslims and the Turks. In any case this vision was about empires -- not about Jesus and was in no way a prophecy about him and does not speak of a man going to heaven (ascending). Acts 1 is about Jesus ascending to heaven -- but Daniel 7 does not predict this -- it actually says the opposite. Daniel 7 is about one who is like a man who descends from heaven (or the clouds). Missionaries will claim that the one "like a son of man" in this passage is Jesus, but Daniel does not speak of a son of man (a human being) -- it speaks of one LIKE a son of man. The missionary assumes this is Jesus -- and the passage simply does not support this assumption. Jesus never ruled a kingdom, and the Jewish people are still primarily in exile, so the eternal kingdom of the G-d's people (the holy ones or holy one's people) is not yet here. #302. Daniel 2:44,45...His Kingdom Triumphant...Luke 1:33, 1 Corinthians 15:24, Revelation 11:151/7/2018 The book of Daniel is not prophecy. Prophecy is a direct communication from G-d (or via G-d's angel) to a human who is tasked with relaying G-d's message to his or her generation. All נָבִיא / naviim (prophets) had direct communication with G-d or G-d's angels (through dreams and / or visions with the exception of Moses who spoke directly with G-d), and who then relayed G-d’s message to his or her own generation. A prophet upon hearing a prophecy immediately understands it. The Book of Daniel is not prophecy because Daniel did not understand the visions he saw. The angel had to explain the visions to him. Most of Daniel's messages from G-d (via an angel) also had more to do with the future than for his own generation. While prophecy contained in the Hebrew Bible was kept for us there because the messages were important to us, too (keeping the mitzvot and following Torah) they must also have been for the generation living at that time. The visions given to Daniel were for future generations more so than for his own generation... Was Daniel himself a prophet? There our sages are divided. In the Talmud (Megillah 3a) we are told "In certain ways they, the prophets, were greater than him, Daniel, and in certain ways he, Daniel, was greater than them. They were greater than him, as they were prophets and he was not a prophet. Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi were sent to convey the word of G-d to the Jewish people, while Daniel was not sent to reveal his visions to others. In another way, however, he was greater than them, as he saw this vision, and they did not see this vision, indicating that his ability to perceive obscure and cryptic visions was greater than theirs." The Talmud tells us that there were "forty-eight prophets and the seven prophetesses who prophesied on behalf of the Jewish people." Megillah 14a. Elsewhere I have written of prophecy, and the fact that for now prophecy does not exist. It is important to realize that prophecy, when it did exist, was always plain and never hidden (no types and shadows) -- even if understanding the details was not clear (such as knowing the date a prophecy would come to pass). Likewise if a prophecy included a dire prediction it could always be avoided -- and this is why negative prophecies existed -- to act as warnings to be avoided. Prophets never changed any of the messages or mitzvot in the Torah. Thus we know that Jesus and Mohamed were false prophets -- because they had messages which changed the eternal messages in the Torah. "The Sages taught in a baraita: Forty-eight prophets and seven prophetesses prophesied on behalf of the Jewish people, and they neither subtracted from nor added onto what is written in the Torah, introducing no changes or additions to the mitzvot. . ." Megillah 14a. "Baraita" is a teaching "outside" of the six orders of the Mishna in the Talmud. Even though Megillah 3a states that Daniel was not a prophet -- other sages disagreed and said that Daniel himself was a prophet -- although the Book of Daniel is not prophecy. Elsewhere we've discussed the Rambam's eleven levels of prophecy -- the first two of which are not truly prophetic. The first two levels in the Rambam's list have to do with holy men inspired by G-d. On that list the messages in the Book of Daniel would fall into the second category which says the message may contain visions which are to be given to the living generation -- but the person who has them may not readily understand the meaning. Daniel did not understand the meaning. It had to be explained to him by the angel. Prophets always know the meaning -- it is very clear to them. The Rambam: "The second degree is this: a person feels as if something came upon him, and as if he had received a new power that encourages him to speak. He treats of science, or composes hymns, exhorts his fellow-men, discusses political and theological problems; all this he does while awake, and in the full possession of his senses." Daniel had divine inspiration and he received visions which he could often, but not always, interpret. In Daniel 2 the Babylonian Emperor, Nebuchadnezzar, has a dream which he cannot remember. He knows the dream had important information and he wants it interpreted -- even though he does not recall any of the details. When his seers and advisors are at a loss (and who wouldn't be?) they approach Daniel to beg for his help. The Emperor has stated he will execute his advisors unless they properly interpret the dream -- and he will know if they give him a false claim because he will know, when he hears it, if it was his dream or not. Daniel asks for a few days -- and in that time he has a vision -- and approaches the Emperor to explain its meaning. He tells the king that he (Nebuchadnezzar) had a vision of an image which had a large base. The image had a head of fine gold, its breast and its arms were of silver, its belly and thighs were of copper. The interpretation was the meaning of the parts of the image. Daniel tells the king that he is the head of kingdom of gold. Eventually another kingdom will rise and it will be inferior (silver). The next kingdom is even less great -- made of copper, and the fourth kingdom is weaker yet -- iron. The feet are mixed with pottery (because it will be divided into factions with some stronger than others),. Eventually, says Daniel, these kingdoms will all be replaced by one not made by men -- but by G-d. This is "one stone was hewn without hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and crumbled them." Daniel 2:34. A kingdom -- not a person. Not the messiah and certainly not Jesus who never ruled a kingdom. How can you know for certain? Read on. . . "the G-d of heaven will set up a kingdom forever, it will not be destroyed, and the kingdom will not be left to another people; it will crumble and destroy all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever," will never be conquered by another. It will dismantle all of these kingdoms." Daniel 2:44. A kingdom -- not one person (Jesus). Has there yet been a "kingdom" which has lasted forever and has not been destroyed. No, not yet. Ergo this vision of Daniel has not yet completed. Jesus did not "fulfill" it. The kingdom will be the messianic kingdom of Israel -- and this did not exist 2000 years ago (the Romans ran a puppet land) and it does not exist today. This verse is in the Aramaic portion of Daniel, which starts after the first few Hebrew words of Daniel 2:4 and continues through the end of Daniel 7, How can we know, without a shadow of a doubt, that the kingdom that lasts forever is not Christianity? G-d told Daniel that all the other kingdoms would crumble and only this one kingdom would remain. Ask yourself: is there only one 'kingdom" today? What of the Muslims? The Communists? The Buddhists? No -- there remains the kingdoms of clay and iron -- two leading kingdoms (the Muslims and Christians). The vision of Daniel has not yet been fulfilled. "And what you saw, iron mixed with clay, [connotes] that they will mingle with the seed of men, but they will not cleave one to the other, as iron does not mix with clay. And in the days of these kings, the G-d of heaven will set up a kingdom forever, it will not be destroyed, and the kingdom will not be left to another people; it will crumble and destroy all these kingdoms, and it will stand forever." Daniel 2:43 - 44. In the days of Jesus the Roman Empire ruled -- and it was destroyed. Jesus was not alive to see the fulfillment of Daniel's vision. Jesus did not rule over a kingdom. Christianity, not Jesus, one might see as a kingdom -- but as mentioned there are other kingdoms still in existence today -- Muslims and so on -- thus Jesus and / or Christianity failed to fulfill this vision. The Book of Daniel is not prophecy. The Book of Daniel is not found in Prophets (Nevi'im) in the T’nach and is not considered prophecy. Christians upon hearing this are usually outraged – but consider the definition you’ve been given. Daniel did not understand his visions. His visions had to be explained to him by the angel. Thus the information in Sefer Daniel (the Book of Daniel) is not prophecy. It does not lessen the importance of the message. Daniel was given a message by G-d, from His angel. The message was primarily for future generations. Daniel was told to warn the Jewish people that if, upon returning from exile to Jerusalem, they did not turn to G-d alone and be good to their fellow Jews, the Temple and the entire country would eventually fall again -- and there would be a second, much longer exile. All negative visions were in the form of warnings. The dire consequences could be avoided -- and if they were not there would be consequences... this was the purpose for the visions given to Daniel -- and they were critical information for the Jewish people. Some have yet to unfold as some pertain to the true messianic era and have yet to happen, while some of his visions pertained to the Second Temple period... The mere fact that Daniel's visions were not prophecy by definition does not lessen their importance to the Jewish people, and indeed to the entire world. What of Daniel himself? Was Daniel a prophet? That was a debate among our sages, some say yes and some say no. We do know that the information we have from him is not prophecy (for the reasons just given). In chapter 2 of Daniel the Babylonian Emperor, Nebuchadnezzar, has a worrying dream -- but he can't remember what the dream was about -- and yet he commands his astrologers and sorcerers to tell him both the dream and its meaning. If they fail to tell him the dream and its meaning they will be executed. Terrified the men approach Daniel for help. Daniel went to Arioch, the king's chief executioner, and upon hearing that this was the decree approached the king asking for a delay in the executions. The Emperor agreed to the delay. Daniel then had a dream. The words presented by the list maker as "prophecy about Jesus" is in fact a vision of Nebuchadnezzar's empire and the empires which would follow him . ". . . there is a G-d in heaven Who reveals secrets, and He lets King Nebuchadnezzar know what will be at the end of days; that is your dream and the visions of your head on your bed." Daniel 2:28. Daniel tells the king that he is the head of kingdom of gold. Eventually another kingdom will rise and it will be inferior (silver). The next kingdom is even less great -- made of copper, and the fourth kingdom is weaker yet -- iron. The feet are mixed with pottery (because it will be divided into factions with some stronger than others),. Eventually, says Daniel, these kingdoms will all be replaced by one not made by men -- but by G-d. This is "one stone was hewn without hands, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and crumbled them." Daniel 2:34. A kingdom -- not a person. Not the messiah and certainly not Jesus who never ruled a kingdom. How can you know for certain? Read on. The kingdom " hewn without hands," will never be conquered by another. It will dismantle all of these kingdoms. Has there ever been an "empire" which has not fallen or been conquered? Not yet. Who were the four kingdoms in Daniel's vision? He names the first as Babylon. The others are not named in Daniel -- but most commentators opine that silver chest and arms are the Persian empire. The copper stomach and thighs, per the commentators, are Greece, and the iron legs are Rome. Our sages consider Christianity to be a continuation of Rome -- thus we are still in the "Roman" period. Ibn Ezra was of the view that the third kingdom was a combination of Greece and Rome, while the fourth kingdom referred to the Muslims and the Turks. In any case this vision was about empires -- not about Jesus and was in no way a prophecy about him. A similar vision is found in Zechariah 6. Acts 4:10 - 12 claims that Jesus was "the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone." The Christian bible is making a claim about Jesus which is not supported by the T'nach -- certainly not Daniel 2 which speaks about the eventual messianic empire which G-d will bless. Revisit 148. Psalms 118:22,23...The rejected stone is Head of the corner...Matthew 21:42,43 or 167. Isaiah 8:14...A stone of stumbling, a Rock of offense... 1 Pet. 2:8 for other instances of this "cornerstone" claim. The list maker (list of 365 supposed prophecies Jesus fulfilled) gives only 3 entries to the prophet יְחֶזְקֵאל / Y'chezkel / Ezekiel before proceeding to the Book of Daniel (which is not prophecy). Ezekiel is a true prophet of the messiah and the messianic era so this is more than just a minor slap to this prophet. Born in Jerusalem Ezekiel was a priest (kohein) of the tribe of Levi. Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of Babylon, carried off the Davidic king King יְכָנְיָה / Jeconiah and leading people of Judah into exile in Babylon -- including Ezekiel. Nebuchadnezzar set up Jeconiah's uncle Zedekiah to rule Judah as his vassal.. This was in the year 3317, eleven years before the destruction of Jerusalem. In exile in Babylon Ezekiel kept Judaism alive, but many were idolaters. Some of the exiles thought that G‑d had deserted them and turned to idolatry. It was Ezekiel's mission to warn them of the consequences if they did not repent and return to G-d. יְחֶזְקֵאל / Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 18 is saying that if someone sins and commits a crime then that person should be punished for it -- not their parent and not their child. We are speaking of human justice -- not divine justice. יְחֶזְקֵאל / Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 18 isn't even speaking of exile -- but the fact is that in each generation it is possible that a child follows in their parents' "footsteps" -- in good and bad ways. Children are not punished for the sins of the father -- but if those children repeat those same sins they have to deal with the responsibility for their own actions. In his messianic prophecies Ezekiel speaks of: The messiah as David (one of the euphemisms for the promised Messiah) as both king and prince. See יְחֶזְקֵאל / Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 34:23-24, 37:24-25 and 45:7 יְחֶזְקֵאל / Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 34:23-24: "And I shall put up over them one shepherd and he will shepherd them, namely My servant David; he will shepherd them, and he will be for them as a shepherd. And I, the L-rd, shall be to them for a G-d, and My servant David [will be] a prince in their midst; I, the L-rd, have spoken." יְחֶזְקֵאל / Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 37:24-25: "And My servant David shall be king over them, and one shepherd shall be for them all, and they shall walk in My ordinances and observe My statutes and perform them. And they shall dwell on the land that I have given to My servant, to Jacob, wherein your forefathers lived; and they shall dwell upon it, they and their children and their children's children, forever; and My servant David shall be their prince forever." Both passages clearly identify David (e.g. the Messiah who will descend from King Davidas both king and prince. The Artscroll Stone Edition footnote to Ezekiel 44:3 says: The prince of this and the following chapters is either the Kohein Gadol (high priest) (Rashi); the king (R' Menachem cited by Rashi to 45:17); or the Messiah (Metzudos). He may sit in the doorway of the sealed gate and eat the sacrificial foods." Other messianic prophecies from Ezekiel include: 1. The rebuilding of the Temple. יְחֶזְקֵאל / Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 37:26-28: “I shall give My Sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling-place shall be over them… The nations shall know that I am G‑d who sanctifies Israel, when My Sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forever.” 2. In gathering of the Exiles of Israel aka the *return of all the Jews to Israel." יְחֶזְקֵאל / Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 39:25, 27-29: “…Now I shall bring back the captivity of Jacob and I shall have compassion on the whole House of Israel, and I shall be zealous for My holy Name… When I shall have returned them from the nations and gathered them from the lands of their enemies… They shall know that I am G‑d, their G‑d, in that I exiled them to the nations and gathered them unto their land, and I will not leave any one of them there. I will no more hide My face from them, as I will pour out My spirit upon the House of Israel…” and "when I bring you out from the nations and gather you from the lands where you were scattered, and I shall be sanctified in you in the eyes of the nations. You shall know that I am G‑d when I bring you to the earth of Israel, to the land about which I raised My hand to give it to your fathers.” (יְחֶזְקֵאל / Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 20:32-37, 40-42); and “Therefore say to the House of Israel, Thus said the Lord G‑d: I am not doing (this) for your sake, House of Israel, but for My holy Name which you profaned among the nations wither you came. I shall sanctify My great Name that was profaned among the nations, that you profaned in their midst, and the nations shall know that I am G‑d, says the Lord G‑d, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. I shall take you from the nations, and I shall gather you from all the lands, and I shall bring you to your land. I shall sprinkle pure waters upon you and you shall be purified from all your sins, and I will purify you from all your idols…” (יְחֶזְקֵאל / Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 36:22-25) Interesting that the list of supposed messianic prophecies totally ignores these real messianic prophecies! Ezekiel continues: 3. The Messianic era will mark the end of evil and sin: יְחֶזְקֵאל / Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 37:23: “They shall not defile themselves anymore with their idols and with their abominations and with all their transgressions…” 4. Resurrection of the righteous dead. “Behold I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the Land of Israel. You shall know that I am G‑d when I open your graves and when I revive you from your graves, My people. I shall put My spirit into you and you will live, and I will place you upon your land, and you will know that I, G‑d, have spoken and done, says G‑d.” (יְחֶזְקֵאל / Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 37:12-14) 5. Blissful Utopia: End to Disease and Death. “I will call for the grain and increase it… and I will increase the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field…” ((יְחֶזְקֵאל / Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 36:29-30. Good heavens -- here we go again! There is indeed a messianic prophecy that the messiah will be a "son" of David (a Davidic heir, descendant of King David) -- and of King Solomon -- but Jesus was NOT a legal descendant of David. Jesus did not fulfill this prophecy -- and the list maker has "played this card" many times on the list of 365 supposed prophecies Jesus fulfilled: 49. 2 Samuel 7:12...David's Seed...Matthew 1:1 51. 2 Samuel 7:16...David's house established forever...Luke 3:31; Rev. 22:16 55. 1 Chronicles 17:11...David's Seed...Matthew 1:1; 9:27 130. Psalms 89:35-37...David's Seed, throne, kingdom endure forever...Luke 1:32,33 142. Psalms 110:1...Son of David...Matthew 22:43 151. Psalms 132:11...The Seed of David (the fruit of His Body)...Luke 1:32 290. Jeremiah23:5-6a...Descendant of David...Luke 3:23-31 297. Jeremiah 33:14-15...Descendant of David... Luke 3:23-31 298. Ezekiel17:22-24...Descendant of David... Luke 3:23-31 Now we add 300. Ezekiel34:23-24...Descendant of David... Matthew 1:1 to the list. The last few claims tied Jesus to Luke's lineage which differs from Matthew's. Luke bypasses Solomon and has the Joseph's line descend through David's son, Nathan. This alone would disqualify Joseph since the T'nach (bible) tells us that the Davidic kings descend from David's son, Solomon -- not Nathan. See Shmuel Beit / 2 Samuel 7:12-16, and Divrei Hayamim Alef / 1 Chronicles 22:9-10. Matthew 1:1 claims to give the genealogy of Jesus, but it is different from Luke's. Perhaps this is why Paul later says in 1 Timothy 3-4 "As I urged you . . .to instruct certain people not to spread false teachings, 4 nor to occupy themselves with myths and interminable genealogies. Such things promote useless speculations." So, says Paul, ignore those confusing lineages and genealogies. . . this even though G-d has made it clear that they are important --the messiah will come from the royal lines of King David and Solomon! It seems that even Paul recognized that the virgin birth disqualified Jesus from kingly lineage and the two conflicting lineages given by Matthew and Luke disqualified Joseph (and thus any of his children) from kingship -- why else would Paul tell people to ignore them? In the T'nach (bible) tribal lineage is only passed by a Jewish biological father impregnating a Jewish woman (his wife or concubine). The mother must be Jewish because "who is a Jew" is passed maternally (link), while tribal status is passed by the Jewish father IF the mother is Jewish. For those who want to understand in more depth why "who is a Jew" is passed maternally follow the link. Christianity teaches of the virgin birth of Jesus, and this is actually the very first thing that totally disqualifies Jesus from being a Jewish king (messiah). Joseph was married to Mary. Some missionaries try to avoid the issue of Jesus' legitimacy by stating that Mary was engaged to Joseph, but not yet married. Thus there is no question of adultery, because she was engaged, but not married. Nice try, but (there was no such thing as an engagement in ancient Judaism). Marriage was a two part process, and in the first stage (eirusin) the couple might not live together, but they were still considered married. Also note that Joseph is said to have thought to divorce Mary (Matthew 1:19). One divorces a wife, not a fiance. Joseph himself discusses the fact that he is married to Marry in Matthew 1:19 "“Then her husband Joseph, because he was a law-abiding person and yet didn’t want to expose her to the embarrassment of a public criminal trial, was considering divorcing her secretly...”" Therefore if Mary, a married woman, became pregnant by anyone other than her husband she was an adulteress by definition -- and her child was a מַמְזֵ֖ר / mamzer. Mamzer / מַמְזֵ֖ר is often translated as "bastard" but this is an incorrect translation. Judaism does not have the concept of bastardization. The child of an unmarried woman has no stigma attached. A mamzer is defined as the child of adultery or incest. It little matters if Christians think Mary's pregnancy was a miracle of non-sexual union by a "holy" ghost -- the law states that she was married and thus her child would have been a mamzer according the the Jewish laws given to us by G-d Himself. See D'varim / Deuteronomy 23:3: "A מַמְזֵ֖ר / mamzer must not enter God's marriage group. Even after the tenth generation, he may not enter G-d's marriage group." A mamzer may only marry another mamzer -- which may answer why Jesus never married -- even though it is a mitzvah to marry. . . The virgin birth would disqualify Jesus not only from kingship (no descendant of David, no tribal status) -- he would actually be ostracized from marrying a Jewish woman who was not a mamzer herself. If Jospeh were Jesus' biological father then Jesus would have belonged to the tribe of Judah, like his father. However, the two conflicting lineages given for Joseph both disqualify him from being a king -- and thus a messiah. Luke bypassed Solomon, as mentioned above. Matthew's mistake was including a Davidic heir named Jeconiah who G-d cut off from the kingly line for himself and his descendants. Matthew 1:11-12 "and Josiah the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.12 After the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel. . ." Oops. "So said the L-rd: Inscribe this man (Jeconiah ) childless, a man who will not prosper in his days, for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David or ruling anymore in Judah." Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 22:30. Yet Matthew has Joseph's line going through the line that G-d has cut off from kingship -- for all of his seed (descendants) in perpetuity. Oops indeed! Some missionaries will point to Jeconiah being removed from the royal line (and Luke's mistake in including Nathan and not Solomon) and say something along the lines of "this is why there had to be a virgin birth -- there were no Davidic lines "left"). This is wrong -- there are Davidic heirs alive even today -- Solomon had 1000 wives and concubines! Even though Jeconiah's line was disqualified (unless one believes that G-d can forgive without sacrifices -- something Christianity does not believe) -- there were many other heirs of Solomon who live in every generation. It also ignores the fact that it is the biological father who passes down tribal status -- and a virgin birth (no Davidic sperm) disqualifies Jesus completely. Being a Davidic / Solomon heir disqualifies Jesus from the very day of his birth from any potential messianic claim. Being a Davidic heir does not equate to being a messiah. As mentioned, Solomon had 1000 wives and concubines -- not all of his children became kings. Solomon's son Rehoboam / רְחַבְעָם became King of Judah (the southern Kingdom -- the northern tribes broke away to create the northern kingdom of Israel). "And Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, and he assembled all the House of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors, to wage war with the House of Israel, to return the kingdom to Rehoboam, the son of Solomon." Melachim Alef 12 / 1 Kings 12:21. In conclusion, Jesus was not a "son of David" under any of the three possible parentages given for him in the Christian bible:
Jeconiah's son, Zeurrubbabel , later became a governor -- but he was never a king. See Chaggai / Haggai 2:2. Lastly, some missionaries will point to the Talmud, Sanhedrin 37b - 38a which says that Jeconiah repented and G-d forgave Him. Thus heirs from Jeconiah could conceivably be included in the kingly / messianic line. Since when do missionaries accept anything from the Talmud? The T'nach (bible) clearly says that Jeconiah was removed from the line, and unless missionaries are willing to accept Talmudic teachings regarding idolatry (excluding Jesus from divinity) they can not cherry pick passages! G-d forgiving without sacrifice in Sanhedrin 37b - 38a seems to negate the entire" "reason" for Jesus' "sacrificial death to atone for sins"! Jeconiah or no Jeconiah in the royal line, Jesus did not have the right to kingship. He was never a king, never anointed (the very meaning of "messiah") as a king, never reigned as a king, etc. While the Christian bible and the list maker may claim time and again that Jesus was a "son" of David the facts state the opposite. It's interesting to note that, having dedicated 42 claims to the book of Isaiah, the list maker only dedicates eight to the book of Jeremiah and three to the book of Ezekiel. This claimed prophecy is not about Jesus, it is about the man made the ruler of the Jews by the Emperor of Babylon after the king (and his direct family) from the royal family of David is killed. Tzidkiyyahu / צִדְקִיָּהוּ / Zedekiah exalted king is deposed. Gedaliah / גְּדַלְיָּה the son of Ahikam -- not of the royal line (humble) is made the ruler / governor of Judah. by the Babylonian Emperor Nebuchadnezzar II. The image is of a seal found at Lachish (southwest of Jerusalem), dating to roughly 600 B.C.E., which says: “Gedaliah, who is over the house.” The passage in Ezekiel is not a messianic prophecy -- and yet again the list maker (and the Christian bible) lays claim to something completely out of context and immaterial. The exalted king is removed by the Babylonian emperor and the humble son of a scribe is made ruler by the Babylonians. Gedaliah / גְּדַלְיָּה is mentioned in M'lachim Beit / 2 Kings 25:22 - 26, Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 39:13 - 14. and Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 40. The passage in Ezekiel is not a messianic prophecy, it is not about Jesus or about generic "humble" replacing generic "exalted" ones. . . No -- it is about a very specific happening in history -- the deposition of the king of Judah and his replacement with a puppet ruler by the Babylonians. Talk about out of context claims! Y'chezkel / Ezekiel was a kohein (a priest) born in Jerusalem who was one of the exiles to Babylon. There were many idolaters among the Jewish exiles and Ezekiel was the prophet G-d assigned to bring them back to Him through teshuvah (repentance). "The soul that sins, it shall die; a son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, and a father shall not bear the iniquity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself." And if the wicked man repent of all his sins that he has committed and keeps all My laws and executes justice and righteousness, he shall surely live, he shall not die " Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 18:20 - 21. It is not surprising that the list maker ignores chapter 18 -- G-d clearly says there is no need for Jesus and that men are not doomed to hell through sin. No, people can turn to G-d and repent -- He will forgive. No sacrifice needed. In Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 21 G-d is speaking of Babylon -- it has nothing to do with one person (Jesus). is speaking of G-d's prophecy of what would happen to the Jews during the Babylonian exile Because the people have not turned to G-d the rulers and royalty will die by the sword (Y'hoyakim, Yosiah and the sons of Tzidkiyyahu / Zedekiah, who lived some 600 years before Jesus). Tzidkiyyahu / Zedekiah will be the last Davidic king until the time of the messiah. When Ezekiel says "So said the L-rd G-d: I shall remove the turban and lift off the crown; neither this nor that [will remain]; the humble will be uplifted, and the high will be humbled." Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 21:31. G-d is saying that the rulers -- including Tzidkiyyahu / Zedekiah -- will lose power (and lives) -- and those who were formerly not rulers (humble) will rule. This has nothing to do with Jesus. Rashi says "Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, to whom it did not belong, will take it, and Zedekiah, to whom it did belongit will be taken from him." Gedaliah was made governor of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar after he exiled most of the Jews from the land of Israel. Jeremiah stayed in Judah -- to Mizpah, north of Jerusalem, where Gedaliah ruled. Jeremiah was given the support of Gedaliah. Gedaliah was submissive to Babylon to ensure the few Jews who were allowed to remain in Judah. Under his rule the Jewish colony prospered. He was assassinated by Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, a descendant of the royal house of Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. After his death the Jews were scattered and what little control there had been by the remaining Jews was lost. His assassination is commemorated yearly with the Fast of Gedaliah. By birth, humble -- by fate a ruler. Luke 1 and Mary's song aside, this has nothing to do with Jesus or Mary or the messiah -- it has been lifted out of context to be made to seem to fit Jesus. Today's claimed prophecy is the same as yesterday's which was 297. Jeremiah 33:14-15...Descendant of David... Luke 3:23-31. Today's claim is 298. Ezekiel17:22-24...Descendant of David... Luke 3:23-31. As mentioned yesterday -- the real messiah will be a descendant of King David, and of King Solomon. Jesus was neither. According to the Christian bible Jesus was the result of Mary's impregnation by a "holy" spirit -- not her lawful husband, Joseph. Since Mary was legally married to Joseph this would have made Mary an adulteress per Jewish law -- and Jesus would not have had any tribal status. Mother's do not pass tribal status in Judaism. If the mother is Jewish the child is Jewish -- but this has nothing to do with tribal status. Some missionaries will point to the patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and shout loudly that the women were not Jews and they did not pass down their "Jewishness." True -- and obvious. There were no Jews prior to the acceptance by the community of G-d's covenant at Mount Sinai after fleeing Egypt. The T'nach makes it clear that Jewishness is passed maternally. Read D'varim / Deuteronomy 7:1–5, Vayikra / Leviticus 24:10, and Ezra 10:2–3. Ergo Jesus would have been Jewish, but if Joseph were not his biological father (think "sperm") then he had no tribe. It is not as rare as you might think to have no tribe. All converts to Judaism do not have a tribal status. Many Jews alive today do not know their tribal status (those who do usually have a Davidic bloodline or a priestly one). . . To read of tribal descent passing paternally read Sh'mot / Exodus 6:14, 6:25, B'midbar / Numbers 17:21, 34:14, 36:1, Y'hoshua / Joshua 14:1, 19:51, 21:1, 22:14, Ezra 1:5, 2:59, 2:68, 3:12, 4:2-3, 8:1, 10:16; N'ḥemyah / Nehemiah 7:61, 7:69-70, 8:13, 12:12, 12:22-23. According to the Torah, lineage/pedigree, a blood right, is passed exclusively by a biological father to his sons. Luke 3 gives one of two differing lineages for Joseph. Even if Joseph fathered (biologically) Jesus the latter would not have been in line to be a messiah. Joseph's line was disqualified per Luke's lineage. The T'nach tells us that the right to David's throne passes only through his son Solomon -- bypassing Solomon the author of Luke chooses David's son Nathan -- thus disqualifying Jesus from any claim to the throne even IF Joseph had been his biological father. The T'nach (Jewish bible) makes it clear that the messiah must be descended from King David and King David's son Solomon. Some missionaries will claim that the "promise" that the throne must pass through Solomon is conditional, but this is untrue. Shmuel Beit / 2 Samuel 7:12-16 – When your days (King David) will be completed and you will lie with your forefathers, then I shall raise up your seed after you, that which will issue from your loins, and I shall establish his kingdom. (13) He shall build a Temple for My sake, and I shall make firm the throne of his kingdom forever. And then read Divrei Hayamim Alef / 1 Chronicles 22:9-10 – Behold a son will be born to you; he will be a man of peace, and I shall give him peace from all his enemies around about, for Solomon will be his name, and I shall give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. (10) He shall build a House in My Name, and he shall be to Me as a son, and I to him as a Father, and I shall prepare the throne of his kingdom forever. Luke has Joseph supposedly come through David's son, Nathan, also eliminating Jesus from kingship even if Joseph had been his biological father. Read M'lachim Alef / 1 Kings 8:15-20;Divrei Hayamim Alef / 1 Chronicles 17:11-15, 22:9-10, and 28:3-7. Torah is clear that the messiah must be a physical offspring of both David and Solomon. What of Ezekiel 17? Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 17:2 tells us that the prophet spoke in riddles and parables: "Son of man, propound a riddle and speak a parable to the house of Israel" In chapter 17 G-d tells Ezekiel to pose a riddle to the people of Judah. The meaning of the riddle had to do with the Jews in exile in Babylon. Babylon had allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem and Israel (Judah) -- but they were subservient to Babylon. The King of Judah tried to get Egypt to help the Jews fight the Babylonians -- and Egypt refused. The king of Judah was Tzidkiyyahu / Zedekiah, a Davidic king who lived some 600 years before Jesus was born. G-d decreed that Tzidkiyyahu / Zedekiah would be exiled from Israel (Judah) never to return. "Therefore, so said the L-rd G-d: As I live, surely My oath that he disparaged and My covenant that he broke, I will bring it upon his head." Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 17:19. Even as G-d exiles the last Davidic king to Babylon He decrees that one day a Davidic king (the messiah) will return to Israel. This indeed a messianic prophecy -- and it was not fulfilled by Jesus. This claim has been refuted many times on this blog (and the same "prophecy" is next on the list, too: 298. Ezekiel17:22-24...Descendant of David... Luke 3:23-31). Jesus was not a legal descendant of David. or Solomon. The Christian bible claims that Jesus was not fathered by a Davidic heir -- and the only way Jesus would have been a legal descendant of David (and Solomon) and thus of the kingly line is if his mother was Jewish (she was, per the Christian bible) and his father was Jewish (G-d is not Jewish) and a member of the tribe of Judah through the lines of David and Solomon. "Who is a Jew" passes maternally (see D'varim / Deuteronomy 7:1–5, Vayikra / Leviticus 24:10, and Ezra 10:2–3) and lineage (tribal status) passes paternally (by the father -- assuming one first has a Jewish mother) -- and ALL of this is found in the written Torah. Sh'mot / Exodus 6:14, 6:25, B'midbar / Numbers 17:21, 34:14, 36:1, Y'hoshua / Joshua 14:1, 19:51, 21:1, 22:14, Ezra 1:5, 2:59, 2:68, 3:12, 4:2-3, 8:1, 10:16; N'ḥemyah / Nehemiah 7:61, 7:69-70, 8:13, 12:12, 12:22-23. According to the Torah, lineage/pedigree, a blood right, is passed exclusively by a biological father to his sons. Ergo the virgin birth totally disqualifies Jesus from being the messiah. Let's read Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 33:14 - 17: "Behold, days are coming, says the L-rd, and I will establish the good thing that I spoke concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and in that time I will cause to grow for David a plant of righteousness, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days, Judah shall be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell securely and this is the name that He shall call it, the Lord is our righteousness. For so said the L-rd: There shall not be cut off from David a man sitting on the throne of the house of Israel." Let's examine this -- as none of it happened in the days of Jesus. He did not fulfill this prophecy:
Some missionaries might try to weasel out of these failures by saying Jesus will do this "next time" -- the non-biblical second coming. This is an admission that Jesus did not fulfill the prophecies. . . Jesus was not a Davidic heir and he did not fulfill the prophecy in Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 33:14 - 17: There is no prophecy in the T'nach (bible) that the messiah would "be" the new covenant. The concept is impossible since the Hebrew word בְּרִית b'rit means an agreement or a pact or a treaty. Ergo the list maker is claiming that Jesus was a contract. Jesus was a treaty. Jesus was an agreement. Jesus was a "pact." Nonsense. Not to mention that the T'nach tells us time and time and time again that the covenant G-d made with the Jews at Sinai is eternal and will never be replaced. G-d says He will never desert the Jews. NEVER. Judges 2:1: "I will not break my covenant with you FOREVER." G-d promises to punish the Jews for our sins -- but NOT to reject us. Yirmiyahu / Jeremiah 46:27. "You fear not, O Jacob My servant, and be not dismayed, O Israel! for behold, I will redeem you from afar and your children from the land of their captivity, and Jacob shall return and be quiet and at ease, and there shall be none who disturb his rest. 28. You fear not, My servant Jacob, says the L-rd, for I am with you, for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, but of you I will not make a full end, but I will chastise you justly, and I will not completely destroy you." T'hillim / Psalms 105:8-10: "He remembers His covenant forever, the word He had commanded to the thousandth generation, 9. Which He had made with Abraham, and His oath to Isaac, 10. And He set it up to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an EVERLASTING COVENANT" G-d repeatedly tells us that He will not break His covenant with Israel EVER. Here are just a few: Vayikra / Leviticus 26:44-45: "But despite all this, while they are in the land of their enemies, I will not despise them nor will I reject them to annihilate them, thereby breaking My covenant that is with them, for I am the L-rd their G-d. 45. I will remember for them the covenant [made with] the ancestors, whom I took out from the land of Egypt before the eyes of the nations, to be a G-d to them. I am the L-rd." Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 16:59-60: "For so said the L-rd G-d: I have done with you as you did, that you despised an oath to violate a covenant. 60. But I shall remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I shall establish for you an EVERLASTING COVENANT." Stop and think. G-d made a covenant with Abraham. Did He break that contract? No, of course not. G-d made promises to Abraham which culminated in the בְּרִית מִילָה (brit milah / covenant of circumcision) found in B'reshit / Genesis 17 -- where we are told that בְּרִית מִילָה will be an eternal agreement between G-d and the Jews. G-d renewed Abraham's covenant with Abraham's son, Isaac. But did G-d break that covenant? Nope. G-d renewed that covenant with Isaac's son, Jacob. Finally, at Sinai G-d reaffirmed the earlier contracts were still firmly "in place" and He reaffirmed His word that his promises to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the entire Jewish nation were eternal, everlasting and forever. So. If that is the case. What does the prophet Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah mean when he speaks of a new covenant? The translation “new” at the end of Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 31:30 (the Christian number is 31) really means “renewed” because verse 32 (33 in Christian versions) clearly states that the “new” b'rit (covenant) is going to be G-d’s Torah -- just as the Sinaic covenant is G-d's Torah. "For this is the covenant that I will form with the house of Israel after those days, says the L-rd: I have put (נָתַֽתִּי / “I have put") My Torah (תּֽוֹרָתִי֙ / my Torah / my instructions) among them, and I will inscribe it upon their hearts, and I will be their G-d and they shall be My people." Each covenant builds on the previous -- none "does away" with, vanishes or "grows old" as says Hebrews. Likewise those who insist Jeremiah is speaking of a replacement covenant with Jesus and Christianity seem to ignore "I have put (נָתַֽתִּי / “I have put") My Torah (תּֽוֹרָתִי֙ / my Torah / my instructions) among them, and I will inscribe it upon their hearts, and I will be their G-d and they shall be My people." Torah. Not Jesus. They also mistranslate חֲדָשָׁה at the end of verse 30 as "new." Thisis incorrect and ought to be “renewed”, because verse 32 clearly states that the “new” b'rit (covenant) is going to be G-d’s Torah -- just as the Torah is the covenant of Sinai. This is a renewal of the earlier covenant. G-d made a covenant (a contract) with Abraham -- and He promised that this covenant was eternal -- with Abraham and his heirs. " "I (G-d) will sustain My covenant between Me and between you and your descendants after you throughout their generations, an eternal covenant; I will be a G-d to you and to your offspring after you." B'reshit / Genesis 17:7. Read those words to a missionary: "throughout their generations, an eternal covenant" When Abraham died G-d did not replace His promises, His covenant -- He renewed it with Abraham's son Isaac: "I will keep My covenant with Isaac.'" B'reshit / Genesis 17:21. He renewed it with Isaac's son, Jacob, see B'reshit / Genesis 28 and Sh'mot / Exodus 2:14 "G-d heard their cries, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob." When Jacob died G-d did not walk away from His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. No, He renewed His promises to the entire Jewish nation at Mount Sinai. See Sh'mot / Exodus 34. The Torah makes it clear time and again that this covenant is eternal. What then of Jeremiah? The prophet is declaring that in the messianic era G-d will again renew his covenant with the Jewish people. This time the covenant is different from the previous b'rit (covenant) in one way only: Israel (Jews) broke the previous covenant, but we will not do this when the messiah comes and we enter the messianic age. Why is there no concern that anyone will break the contract? Everyone will know G-d. In the messianic age there will be a global knowledge of G-d and no one will need to be taught about G-d or about being good people -- it will be part of each of us. Most translations of Y'rimayahu / Jeremiah 31:32 has "I shall put my Torah among them" -- but this is a mistranslation. The literal text is נָתַֽתִּי אֶת־תּוֹרָתִי בְּקִרְבָּם (“I have put My Torah among them”), -- the verb נָתַֽתִּי is in the past tense. The verb נָתַֽתִּי natati is the simple past tense and means I HAVE PUT (the future tense form “I shall put” would have to be אֶתֵּן ĕttén, which occurs 79 times in the T'nach). Let's explore:
G-d is saying that His Torah was already given to the Jewish nation, and that this renewal of the covenant will be different in that in the days of the messiah Jews will no longer stray after idolatry (including Christianity). The translation “new” for חֲדָשָׁה at the end of verse 30 is misleading. It should be translated as "renewed" since verse 32 clearly states that the “new” b'rit is going to be G-d’s Torah -- the Torah we received at Sinai. G-d is saying the covenant of the true messianic age will be the SAME as the previous b'rit with one difference. Israel broke the previous contract, but we will not break the renewed contract. If this is a "new" covenant were about Jesus why is G-d saying in this passage that He has already put the Torah among the Jews? Why is He saying that this Torah will be inscribed in our hearts when the messiah comes -- when Christianity does not follow the mitzvot of the Torah, but states that Jesus "replaced" the need to keep kosher, and perform the other mitzvot? Hebrews changed the word of G-d and actually reverses it! If this were about Jesus, why is the Torah not inscribed in the heart of every Jew alive today -- and clearly there are Jews who become atheists, even Christians or Muslims! Ergo Jesus did not fulfill this prophecy of Jeremiah -- and the "new" covenant is not Christianity. Jeremiah also states clearly that this renewed covenant is with the Jewish people -- not a replacement covenant with Jesus and Christianity. "Behold, days are coming, says the L-rd, and I will form a covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, a renewed covenant." Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 31:30 (31 in Christian versions). It is a fundamental principle of Judaism that the Torah received at Sinai will never be changed nor become obsolete. This concept is mentioned in the Torah no less than 24 times, with the words: "This is an eternal law for all generations" (Sh'mot / Exodus 12:14, 12:17, 12:43, 27:21, 28:43, Vayikra / Leviticus 3:17, 7:36, 10:9, 16:29, 16:31, 16:34, 17:7, 23:14, 23:21, 23:31, 23:41, 24:3, Bamidbar / Numbers 10:8, 15:15, 19:10, 19:21, 18:23, 35:29, D'varim / Deuteronomy 29:28). Christians have been lied to about this as they have about so much. For additional information on the "new covenant" please read Jeremiah 31:30-36 - Will the Real "New Covenant" Please Stand Up!. Pagan religions had virgin births aplenty -- even the Roman Caesars claimed to be gods born of virgins. . . But there is absolutely no virgin birth prophecies in the T'nach (bible). Indeed, if Jesus was a "virgin birth" he would be disqualified from being a king or a priest as he would not have had any tribal status. To be a Jewish priest a person must be of the tribe of Levi, through the line of Moses' brother, Aaron. To be a rightful Jewish king -- and specifically to be the prophesied messiah, you must be from the tribe of Judah, through the paternal lines of Kings David and Solomon. A virgin birth = no tribal status = no Jewish king or priest. Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 31:22, like yesterday's claim of a "massacre of infants", is in fact speaking of the Jewish people in exile, and their eventual return to the land of Israel from that exile. "So said the L-rd of Hosts, the G-d of Israel; They shall yet say this thing in the land of Judah and in its cities when I return their captivity; May the L-rd bless You, dwelling of righteousness, holy mount." Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 31:22 So -- how does the list maker conclude that this is a prophecy about a virgin birth of anyone when it clearly says: "I return their captivity"? The list maker must assume that no one is going to fact check his / her list. The sheer number (365) is supposed to awe enough that it will just be believed. Remember the words of former President Ronald Reagan: "trust, but verify." This claim is easily disproved. The verse normally claimed as prophecy of Jesus' virgin birth is Y'shayahu / Isaiah 7:14. The list maker claimed this earlier on the list. 164. Isaiah 7:14...To be born of a virgin...Luke 1:35 165. Isaiah 7:14...To be Emmanuel-God with us... Matthew 1:18-23 False there, too. Tribal lineage is only passed by a Jewish biological father impregnating a Jewish woman (his wife or concubine). The mother must be Jewish because "who is a Jew" is passed maternally (link), while tribal status is passed by the Jewish father IF the mother is Jewish. For those who want to understand in more depth why "who is a Jew" is passed maternally follow the link. Tribal status (being a member of a given tribe) requires a Jewish mother and a Jewish biological father (sperm) of a given tribe. The story of the "virgin" birth totally disqualifies Jesus from being a Jewish king (messiah). Joseph was married to Mary. Some missionaries try to avoid the issue of Jesus' legitimacy by stating that Mary was engaged to Joseph, but not yet married. Thus there is no question of adultery, because she was engaged, but not married. Nice try, but (there was no such thing as an engagement in ancient Judaism). Marriage was a two part process, and in the first stage (eirusin) the couple might not live together, but they were still considered married. Also note that Joseph is said to have thought to divorce Mary (Matthew 1:19). One divorces a wife, not a fiance. Mary being pregnant by anyone other than her lawful husband, Joseph, and the child would have no tribe -- certainly not that of Joseph! Tribal lineage however is passed only by the Jewish father (if the mother is Jewish). We also know this because this is what G-d tells us in the T'nach (bible). Start with Bamidbar / Numbers 1:17-18 where the pedigrees are decreed by the men (not the women). according to their families (tribes). Rashi (great biblical commentator) wrote "They brought the records of their pedigrees and witnesses of their birth claims, so that each one should trace his genealogy to a tribe." Every tribal lineage can only be transmitted from a father to his biological sons (assuming the mother is Jewish -- if the mother is not Jewish the child has no Jewish status at all, including no tribe). The Torah discusses that only men transmit tribal status in Bamidbar / Numbers 1:17-18 , including the right to priesthood and kingship (Sh'mot / Exodus 40:15.; Bamidbar / Numbers 25:12-13). The T'nach (bible) makes it clear that the messiah will be a human king of Israel -- a legal descendant from the tribe of Judah, descended from King David and from his son Shlomo (Solomon). The first mention of Judah being the royal tribe is found in Br'eshit / Genesis 49:10 says “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the student of the law from between his feet, until (it or he) comes to Shiloh, and to him will be a gathering of peoples.” David was from the tribe of Judah and was the first king from that tribe. G-d then makes it clear that the rightful royal line will descend through David's son, Solomon: Shmuel Beit / 2 Samuel 7:12-16 – When your days (King David) will be completed and you will lie with your forefathers, then I shall raise up your seed after you, that which will issue from your loins, and I shall establish his kingdom. (13) He shall build a Temple for My sake, and I shall make firm the throne of his kingdom forever. And then read Divrei Hayamim Alef / 1 Chronicles 22:9-10 – Behold a son will be born to you; he will be a man of peace, and I shall give him peace from all his enemies around about, for Solomon will be his name, and I shall give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. (10) He shall build a House in My Name, and he shall be to Me as a son, and I to him as a Father, and I shall prepare the throne of his kingdom forever. If Jesus was the result of a "virgin" birth hewas not of the tribe of Judah. He was not a legal descendant of Kings David, or of King Solomon. The Christian bible may call him a "son of David" -- but the two conflicting lineages given are for Jesus' "non" father, Joseph. If Joseph's sperm did not impregnate Mary those lineages are worthless to Jesus. Who is a Jew" passes maternally (see D'varim / Deuteronomy 7:1–5, Vayikra / Leviticus 24:10, and Ezra 10:2–3) and lineage (tribal status) passes paternally (by the father -- assuming one first has a Jewish mother) -- and ALL of this is found in the written Torah. Sh'mot / Exodus 6:14, 6:25, B'midbar / Numbers 17:21, 34:14, 36:1, Y'hoshua / Joshua 14:1, 19:51, 21:1, 22:14, Ezra 1:5, 2:59, 2:68, 3:12, 4:2-3, 8:1, 10:16; N'ḥemyah / Nehemiah 7:61, 7:69-70, 8:13, 12:12, 12:22-23. According to the Torah, lineage/pedigree, a blood right, is passed exclusively by a biological father to his sons. Ergo the virgin birth totally disqualifies Jesus from being the messiah. Bottom line? Virgin births are not biblical and the idea would eliminate Jesus from any right to the throne. Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 31:22 says nothing about virgin births. It is about the Jewish people returning from exile to the land of Israel. Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 31 is a continuation of the theme of Jewish redemption from exile in the true messianic age (which did not happen in the time of Jesus). It is verse 14, not 15 in Jewish versions. "So says the L-rd: A voice is heard on high, lamentation, bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, she refuses to be comforted for her children for they are not." Y'rmiayhau / Jeremiah 31:14. Weeping for children is not equal to slaughtering them. Jeremiah is not speaking of children being massacred (murdered). The opposite is true: Rachel is weeping for children who were alive and taken into captivity. "I will turn their mourning into joy and will comfort them and make them rejoice from their sorrow. And I will refresh the soul of the priests with fat, and My people-they will be satisfied with My goodness, is the word of the L-rd. So says the L-rd: A voice is heard on high, lamentation, bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, she refuses to be comforted for her children for they are not. So says the L-rd: Refrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is reward for your work, says the L-rd, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy." Y'rmiayhau / Jeremiah 31:12 - 15. They shall come back. Not be murdered. Matthew -- and much of the Christian bible -- qutoes T'nach (bible) verses out-of-context. If the innocent Christian doesn't botyher to go and actually read the "proof" text in the bible IN CONTEXT they can easily be misled by selective quoting -- or often misquoting (even reversing text -- see the "Bethlehem" prophecy in Matthew for an example of reversing what the T'nach actually says. Matthew totally reverses Micah, saying ""'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'" Compare Micah to Matthew: Micah: “But as for you, Beit Lĕḥĕm–Ĕfratah... you are too small to be among the thousands of Judah (so small you aren't even counted)- Matthew: "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.'" Matthew is the opposite of the prophet Micah! In the case of Jeremiah prophesying the murder of babies by Herod -- it simply does not exist. The passage speaks of the Jews being sent into exile, not babies being sent to their deaths. Yet another false prophecy -- and this one can be laid at the author of Matthew as it quotes a part of the passage out of context. Y'rmiayhau / Jeremiah 31. is beautiful and we recite parts of this passage on Rosh HaShana (the head of the year). It speaks of Jewish repentance -- singing to G-d and asking His help to redeem our people from exile. G-d will return us from exile in the messianic age. The people will weep from joy and in repentance and G-d will lead us on a straight and smooth road. Jeremiah speaks of the restoration of the Jews to the land of Israel. Matthew 2:18 quotes part of Y'rmiayhau / Jeremiah 31. Again the Christian bible lifts a quote out of context, ignoring the redemption of the Jewish people and the message of hope -- because it does not fit Jesus. The Christian bible takes the words "on high" -- בְּרָמָ֤ה / b'ramah -- and transliterates them rather than translating them in Matthew 2:18 "A voice is heard in Ramah,weeping and great mourning." This appears to be the "connection" between Y'rmiayhau / Jeremiah 31 and Matthew 2:16-18. There was a town named Ramah -- it is mentioned in Shmuel Alef / 1 Samuel 16:13. Matthew speaks of a massacre of innocents -- but Luke does not. Just another inconsistency in the Christian bible! Not only does Luke fail to mention this mass killing of babies: so does every historical source. It simply never happened. Josephus (a Jewish priest and later Roman historian who lived in the 1st century CE) details very minor details of this timeframe -- and discusses Herod's horrors including the murder of his own wife and children, but Josephus never mentions something as major as an order to kill babies. Silence. Luke and the other gospels are likewise silent. The tale of the murder of babies by Herod only appears in Matthew. It may well be that the author was trying to liken Jesus to Moses (the story in Sh'mot / Exodus of Pharaoh murdering male babies). . . . but whether fictional or not the tale is not a fulfillment of Y'rmiayhau / Jeremiah 31:12 - 15. which speaks of the Jews in exile, not the death of anyone. The Christian bible does claim that Jesus was the "king of the Jews" -- but this is patently untrue. Jesus was never a king. Jesus did not have the right to be a king (he did not have the correct lineage). Jesus was never anointed as a king. Jesus never ruled as a king. Try it -- say "I am a ,king (or queen). It doesn't make you one, now does it? After David of the tribe of Judah was anointed as a king by the prophet, Samuel, G-d sent Samuel to anoint David in Shmuel Alef / 1 Samuel 16:1. Since that time the only rightful kings of the Jews must be a legal descendant from the tribe of Judah, descended from King David and from his son Shlomo (Solomon). Some missionaries will claim that the "promise" that the throne must pass through Solomon is conditional, but this is untrue. Shmuel Beit / 2 Samuel 7:12-16 – When your days (King David) will be completed and you will lie with your forefathers, then I shall raise up your seed after you, that which will issue from your loins, and I shall establish his kingdom. (13) He shall build a Temple for My sake, and I shall make firm the throne of his kingdom forever. And then read Divrei Hayamim Alef / 1 Chronicles 22:9-10 – Behold a son will be born to you; he will be a man of peace, and I shall give him peace from all his enemies around about, for Solomon will be his name, and I shall give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. (10) He shall build a House in My Name, and he shall be to Me as a son, and I to him as a Father, and I shall prepare the throne of his kingdom forever. This right (for Kings David and Solomon being from the tribe of Judah) is prophesied in B'reshit / Genesis: Br'eshit / Genesis 49:10 says “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the student of the law from between his feet, until (it or he) comes to Shiloh, and to him will be a gathering of peoples.” Jesus was not of the tribe of Judah. He was not a legal descendant of Kings David, or of King Solomon. The Christian bible may call him a "son of David" -- but the two conflicting lineages given are for Jesus' "non" father, Joseph. If Joseph's sperm did not impregnate Mary those lineages are worthless to Jesus. Who is a Jew" passes maternally (see D'varim / Deuteronomy 7:1–5, Vayikra / Leviticus 24:10, and Ezra 10:2–3) and lineage (tribal status) passes paternally (by the father -- assuming one first has a Jewish mother) -- and ALL of this is found in the written Torah. Sh'mot / Exodus 6:14, 6:25, B'midbar / Numbers 17:21, 34:14, 36:1, Y'hoshua / Joshua 14:1, 19:51, 21:1, 22:14, Ezra 1:5, 2:59, 2:68, 3:12, 4:2-3, 8:1, 10:16; N'ḥemyah / Nehemiah 7:61, 7:69-70, 8:13, 12:12, 12:22-23. According to the Torah, lineage/pedigree, a blood right, is passed exclusively by a biological father to his sons. Ergo the virgin birth totally disqualifies Jesus from being the messiah. Some missionaries will try to say that Joseph "adopted" Jesus. Try that in any royal family in the world -- it does not "fly." In Judaism the concept of adoption exists -- but it never changes the tribal status of a child at birth. Thus a child, if born to a priestly family, may be adopted by a Davidic heir -- but the child will always remain a kohein -- a Jewish priest. Even if Joseph had fathered Jesus biologically Jesus was not eligible to be a king -- and neither was Joseph. The Christian bible gives two conflicting lineages for Joseph, but both disqualify him or any of his heirs from kingship. Because the two conflict missionaries will claim that Luke is actually giving Mary's lineage. "Mary" (if she even existed) was Jewish, her tribal affiliation is completely irrelevant as her offspring's tribal status would have been that of the biological father. A woman does not pass tribal status, and her status changes to that of her husband's tribe upon marriage Both Matthew and Luke's lineages disqualify Joseph. Matthew completely re-works the genealogies of the T’nach (Jewish bible) and distorts them. From Abraham to David the lineages given by Matthew aligns with the lineages in the T’nach. From Solomon forward Matthew changes things. First Matthew 1:17 claims are the 14 generations from David's son Solomon to the exile of Jeconiah. Matthew 1's lineage for Joseph is different from the lineages given in the T'nach -- the bible. Read M'lachim I / 1 Kings 1 through M'lachim II / 2 Kings 24. Then peruse Divrei Hayamim I / 1 Chronicles 3:10-17, and Divrei Hayamim II / II Chronicles Chapters 1-36. Matthew skips five kings altogether:
Jehoiakim son of Josiah between Josiah and Jeconiah. Jehoiakim is the son of Josiah and the father of Jeconiah. Yet Matthew's genealogy skips from Josiah to his grandson Jeconiah. All in all from Solomon to Jeconiah and his exile are 18 generations of fathers and sons who were King of Judah – not the 14 claimed by Matthew. This is nearly 100 years’ worth of kings! The last king on the list, Jeconiah, is the one that disqualifies Joseph and his heirs from any possibility of kingship. The T’nach tells us that Jeconiah and all of his descendants are cut off from being kings of the Jews. See Yirmiyahu / Jeremiah 22:30 “So said the L-rd: Inscribe this man childless, a man who will not prosper in his days, for no man of his seed shall prosper, sitting on the throne of David or ruling anymore in Judah.” Matthew 1 includes Jeconiah and his heirs in Jesus (and Joseph’s) lineage – which thus removes them from any possibility of being a king (messiah) of the Jews. What of Luke and his lineage? It also disqualifies Joseph from the royal line. Luke has Jesus supposedly come through David's son, Nathan -- not his son Solomon. The rightful king must come from Solomon's line -- not Nathan's. This makes Luke's lineage for Joseph "moot." Read M'lachim Alef / 1 Kings 8:15-20;and Divrei Hayamim Alef / 1 Chronicles 17:11-15, 22:9-10, and 28:3-7. The Torah specifies that blood rights, such as tribal lineage, are transmitted exclusively from a father to his biological sons when the mother is a Jewish woman. All of this is much ado about nothing. Jesus was not only ineligible to be a king -- he was also clearly never anointed as a king or rule as a king. The last Davidic king to rule was was Tzidkiyyahu / Zedekiah, who lived some 600 years before Jesus was born. In Judaism a king or priest must be anointed with a very specific type of holy oil which is described in the Torah. If the line is unbroken from generation to generation the heir need not be personally anointed (this is true for Jewish priests). Since there was a 600 year "break" between Tzidkiyyahu / Zedekiah and a Davidic heir alive 2000 years ago that person would have to be anointed with this special oil by a known prophet. And this never happened to anyone -- not Joseph, not Jesus (who did not have the right) -- not to anyone. The Hebrew word "messiah" is inseparable with the concept of the special oil used to anoint kings and priests. This oil is called שֶֽׁמֶן מִשְׁחַת קֹדֶשׁ shemen mish'ḥat kodesh (“Oil of Anointment of Sanctity”) in the passage of Sh'mot / Exodus 30:22-33. which gives the formula for making it and how to properly use it. . . "G-d spoke to Moses, saying: 30:23 You must take the finest fragrances, 500 [shekels] of distilled myrrh, [two] half portions, each consisting of 250 [shekels] of fragrant cinnamon and 250 [shekels] of fragrant cane, 30:24 and 500 shekels of cassia, all measured by the sanctuary standard, along with a gallon of olive oil. 30:25 Make it into sacred anointing oil. It shall be a blended compound, as made by a skilled perfumer, [made especially for] the sacred anointing oil. 30:26 Then use it to anoint the Communion Tent, the Ark of Testimony, 30:27 the table and all its utensils, the menorah and its utensils, the incense altar, 30:28 the sacrificial altar and all its utensils, the washstand and its base. 30:29 You will thus sanctify them, making them holy of holies, so that anything touching them becomes sanctified. 30:30 You must also anoint Aaron and his sons, sanctifying them as priests to Me. 30:31 Speak to the Israelites and tell them, 'This shall be the sacred anointing oil to Me for all generations. 30:32 Do not pour it on the skin of any [unauthorized] person, and do not duplicate it with a similar formula. It is holy, and it must remain sacred to you. 30:33 If a person blends a similar formula, or places it on an unauthorized person, he shall be cut off [spiritually] from his people." Sh'mot / Exodus 30:22-33. The Christian bible never claims that Jesus was anointed with this, the only method, for anointing of Jewish kings. The Christian bible describes Jesus being selected by an expensive perfume by a woman, who pours over Jesus the contents of an alabastron jar of "nard" (or spikenard), a very expensive perfume. Acts 10:38 speaks of Jesus being anointed by the "holy spirit." This also does not "count." G-d makes it clear in Sh'mot / Exodus that the necessary oil for anointing is the שֶֽׁמֶן מִשְׁחַת קֹדֶשׁ shemen mish'ḥat kodesh (“Oil of Anointment of Sanctity”) in the passage of Sh'mot / Exodus 30:22-33. The various claims in the Christian bible are meaningless when it comes to being anointed as a king (or priest). Bottom line: yet another false prophecy. Jesus was not born a king. Jesus had no right to be a king. Jesus' non-father, Joseph, had no right to be a king. Jesus was never anointed as a king. Jesus never ruled as a king. What of the specific passage of Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 30:9? Read it IN CONTEXT. G-d tells Jeremiah that the days are coming when G-d will restore His people, the nations of Israel and Judah, to the land He gave their ancestors. This did not happen in the time of Jesus -- this is a true messianic prophecy that has yet to unfold. Most Jews lived outside of Judah (Israel) 2000 years ago -- and within 100 years of Jesus' death the Jews living there were exiled from the land. Jesus did not fulfill this prophecy. Further G-d, in this time, will save the Jews and end of the nations that oppressed them. Rockets rain down on Israel today -- antisemitism is on the increase. This did not happen in the days of Jesus and has not yet happened today. Read from line 7 to line 9 and it is clear that this does not apply to Jesus: "Ho! For that day is great, with none like it, and it is a time of distress for Jacob, through which he shall be saved. And it shall be on that day, says the L-rd of Hosts, [that] I will break his yoke off your neck, and I will break your thongs, and strangers shall no longer enslave them. And they shall serve the L-rd their G-d and David their king, whom I will set up for them." Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah 30:7 - 9 . This quite simply does not apply to Jesus. |
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