Nothing in Z'charyah / Zechariah 11 is a messianic prophecy. In the entire T'nach (bible) there is not one prophecy that the Jews will reject the messiah. In this chapter G-d, through his prophet, is saying that the Jews have a choice: accept G-d or reject Him and face the consequences. The passage doesn't even say that the Jews will reject G-d (not the messiah) -- but what will happen if they do reject Him. He will punish them by exiling them to Babylon -- but G-d will not reject them. Matthew 23:33 is the very anti-Jewish verse: "You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?" Somehow this does not bring to mind a "loving" Jesus, does it? Matthew 23 is one of the most anti-Jewish sections of the Greek Text -- a brood of vipers, hypocrites. . . every possible evil is blamed on the Jews -- including every murder ever committed going all the way back to Cain and Abel -- the sons of Adam who predate the Jewish people. Matthew 23:35: "so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar." This is repeated in Luke 11:51 -- the same chapter that begins with "the L-rd's prayer" and ends with: "from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the house of G-d; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation." Both Matthew and Luke blame "that generation" for the blood of all righteous people EVER LIVING up to that time! This is totally against the Torah which says that we are all responsible for our OWN sins and that we can repent of our sins and become good and righteous people: "The wicked should forsake his ways, and the evil person should forsake his plans, and return to HaShem, Who will have mercy on him, for He forgives abundantly." (Y'shayahu / Isaiah 55:7). Yet Matthew and Luke just said that the Jews are responsible for the blood of all righteous people going all the way back to Abel? Then why does Isaiah say that even a wicked person can change his ways and become good? Matthew and Luke hold out no hope! In these passages whoever put these words in Jesus' mouth accuses the Jews of being responsible for the murder of all the righteous of mankind from Abel to Zechariah. This kinda ignores the fact that there were NO Jews in the time of Abel, Noah, etc. In other words it is anti-Semitic drivel to convince others that Jews are bad and damned, ergo turn to that Xian love! How can someone be responsible for something done by others long before his or her own birth? In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructed his followers in Matthew 5:43: “Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, and do good to those who hate you.” Yet in the very same gospel, a mere 18 chapters later, we have Jesus calling the Jewish leaders hypocrites, snakes and vipers! Practice what you preach perhaps? The prophet Z'charyah / Zechariah, the son of Berekiah, is the prophet of this book in the T'nach (Bible). In Matthew 23:35 Jesus says that Zechariah, the son of Berekiah, was murdered by "the Jews." To quote "the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar." Wrong. You would think a messiah, let alone someone who is supposedly a god, would get his facts straight. The Zechariah who was murdered was ben (son of) Y'hoyada-- not ben (son of) Berekiah -- the one mentioned by Jesus in Matthew is a different person. The man named Z'charyah / Zechariah who was murdered on order of King Yoash around 900 BCE was a different man. The murder victim was killed 900 years before Jesus supposedly lived BY THE KING (not the "Jews"). Divrei Hayamim Beit / 2 Chronicles 24:20-21: "And the spirit of G-d enveloped Zechariah the son of Y'hoyada the priest, and he stood above the people and said to them, "So said G-d: Why do you transgress the commandments of the L-rd? You will not succeed because you have forsaken the L-rd, and He has forsaken you." And they conspired against him and stoned him by the king's command, in the forecourt of the House of the L-rd." The king. The king referenced here was King Yoash. The Prophet Y'rmiyahu / Jeremiah alludes to this incident in his Eichah / Lamentations: "See, O L-rd, and behold, to whom [else] have You done thus! Will women devour their own offspring, children that are petted? Will priest and prophet be slain in the Sanctuary of the L-rd?" Eichah / Lamentations 2:20 So here we have Jesus blaming "the Jews" for every murder from Abel by Cain to the wrong Z'charyah / Zechariah - - even though the T'nach tells us clearly that there were no Jews in the time of Abel, and it was Z'charyah / ben Yehoiada who was murdered BY THE KING (not "the Jews"). There is another error in the Christian bible regarding this murder. Matthew 23:35 and Luke 11:51 state that the prophet Z'charyah / Zechariah was murdered in the Temple “between the sanctuary and the altar”—a claim for which there is no Scriptural basis whatsoever. Read Divrei Hayamim Beit / 2 Chronicles 24:20-21 -- the murder victim was killed in the forecourt, not between the sanctuary and the altar. Accusations against the Jews in the Christian bible seem to be there to discredit us, all the better to "sell" Christianity. The Talmud suggests very strongly that the prophets Ḥaggai, Z'charyah and Malachi all died of natural causes -- it is mentioned three times! “From [the time that] the last of the prophets—Ḥaggai, Z'charyah and Mal'achi—died, the gift of prophecy [literally, ‘the Spirit of Holiness’] was removed from Yisraél” (Yoma 9b; Sotah 48b; Sanhedrin 11a). There's no evidence anywhere in the Hebrew Bible that the Prophet Z'char'yah (the one with the Book that bears his name) was killed in the Second Temple. Where, then, is the reasoning that the messiah would reject the Jews? False information in the Christian bible -- not supported at all by the Jewish bible. Indeed, the prophet Z'charyah / Zechariah clearly states that G-d will never permanently reject the Jewish people: "Return to Me, said the L-rd of Hosts, and I will return to you, said the L-rd of Hosts. . . "...I will return to Jerusalem in mercy, my house will be built within her...and the L-rd shall yet console Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem.'" (Z'charyah / Zechariah 1:7-17). In Z'charyah / Zechariah 11 G-d is stating that He has ruled the Jews (as a shepherd watches over His flock) with kindness and with punishment. The Jews (as a whole, not all the Jews) have rejected Him and so He is "fed up." The Jews would be punished -- exiled to Babylon for 70 years. After that time G-d will return them to the land of Israel for the sake of 30 righteous Jews (likened to 30 pieces of silver). G-d said He would put these righteous 30 men “in the treasury." In other words, G-d would preserve them throughout the seventy years of exile until the Temple is rebuilt. Not one word about the messiah, let alone that the messiah would reject the Jews. The words of the prophet, which are the words of G-d Himself, have been twisted and distorted. Again, read the T'nach for yourself -- it is easy enough to see.
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