The Passover offer was a kosher offering brought to celebrate G-d freeing us from the Egyptian slavery. All animal sacrifices had to be of kosher animals (humans are not kosher), and the type of animal which is acceptable for a given type of sacrifice is named in the Torah (e.g., a bull, a goat. . .). The Passover offer had to be a שֶׂה "seh" (young goat / kid or young sheep / lamb). See Sh’mot / Exodus 12:3. For the Passover offering our ancestors were required by G-d to break into family groups with each group sharing a שֶׂה / seh that the small group kept, slaughtered and then ATE. The original Paschal offer was an act of defiance by the Jews against the Egyptians -- read chapter 12 of Sh'mot / Exodus. Thereafter the Passover offering was one of thanksgiving to G-d (and a celebratory remembrance). The Passover offer was never for atonement of sins. Although the Christian bible tells us that none of Jesus’ bones were broken, it does tell us he was beaten and thus was “blemished. John 18:22 says Jesus was beaten. Mark 14:65 states (they) beat (Jesus) with their fists. The Christian bible goes on to say Jesus was beaten so badly that he was scourged (Matthew 27:26). A scourge was a multi-thonged whip meant to create lashes, inflicting severe punishment. Matthew goes on to say Jesus was also beat on the head (Matthew 27:30-31). A person who was scourged and beaten was most surely “blemished.” One could even make the argument that as a circumcised male he was “blemished.” No sacrificial animal could have a physical blemish or deformity – including broken bones. Vayikra / Leviticus 22. “[This is the law] if any person, whether of the family of Israel or of the proselytes who join them, offers any [animal] that can be presented to G-d. . . To gain acceptance, it must be an unblemished male [taken] from the cattle, sheep or goats (all kosher animals). Do not present any blemished animal, since it will not be accepted for you. . . You may not offer any such animal, even if it is [presented by] a gentile. [Animals] that are maimed and blemished shall not be acceptable for you.” The biggest “blemish” of all is the fact that Jesus was a human, not a kosher animal. Bamidbar / Numbers 9:12 is not a messianic prophecy at all (neither was Sh’mot / Exodus 12:46). Neither passage has anything to do with Jesus or any other non-kosher animal. Human torture and sacrifice is forbidden time and again in the Torah. The passage refers to the kosher, domesticated שֶׂה / seh. A שֶׂה / seh is usually a goat, but a lamb could be substituted but a שֶׂה / seh was normally a young goat (a kid). . .see Sh'mot / Exodus 12:3 and Vayikra / Leviticus 22). The שֶׂה / seh was killed as an insult to the Egyptians (who worshiped it as a god), and faith in the power of G-d in saving the Jews from the wrath of the Egyptians for the Jews killing and eating their god. . . After the exodus from Egypt the שֶׂה (seh) was killed, roasted and eaten as a remembrance and thanksgiving to G-d for freeing us. It had nothing to do with sin. Jesus, being a human (or even a demi-god) was obviously not a kosher animal and thus was unacceptable as a sacrifice. The list maker has already referenced John 19:31-36 three times. If you read #23 on the list of 365 supposed prophecies fulfilled by Jesus you will discover that the list maker gave exactly the same “prophecy” referencing Sh’mot / Exodus chapter 12 (instead of Bamidbar / Numbers 9:12). The second reference was the post previous to this one (but it links to an inappropriate Torah reference so seems to be a mistake – as it is about offering a thirsty man a drink). Bamidbar / Numbers 9:12 is pretty interesting because it is referring to a person who was unable to observe Passover on the proper day (Nisan 15). If that person is unable to bring the Passover offering at the proper time (possibly being ritually impure) he may bring it one month later. “He shall prepare it on the afternoon of the 14th of the second month, and shall eat it with matzahs and bitter herbs. He shall not leave any of it over until morning, and not break any bone in it. He shall thus prepare it according to all the rules of the [regular] Passover offering.” Bamidbar / Numbers 9:11-12. Again, missionaries are ignoring context. Line 12 is part of a section (Bamidbar / Numbers 9:9 – 14) explaining how the person who needs to fulfill this mitzvah one month late goes about it. The missionaries ignore the requirement to eat the Passover animal with matzahs and bitter herbs and that none can be left over – the missionary ONLY references that no bones can be broken – ignoring all the other rules of the regular Passover offer. Why? Because they can’t make fake prophetic fulfillments out of it. All sacrifices, including the Passover offer, had to be without blemish. Any physical blemish made them not eligible to be a sacrifice. Indeed, kosher animals today must meet this same test or they are not kosher – they cannot be eaten by Jews. Comparing John 19 saying that Jesus didn’t break any bones is not a prophetic fulfillment of the fact that ALL sacrifices had to be without blemish. If Jesus is being compared to the condition of the Passover (by saying not one bone was broken) the analogy falls apart. The Christian bible says that Jesus was badly beaten – which means unbroken bones or no unbroken bones his damaged body would have been an unfit sacrifice for G-d. Bamidbar / Numbers 9:9 - 14 has to do with the rules around brining the Passover offer one month later if necessary. . . . Ask yourself how many people die without any broken bones? How could the fact that Jesus had “no bones broken” be a messianic fulfillment of anything? Where is it prophesied that the messiah will or will not break any bones? How many billions of people have never broken a bone? I’m one of them. I have never broken a bone (B”H). Does that mean I can claim to have fulfilled a messianic prophecy?? John 19:31 states that the Jews asked Pontius Pilate (the Roman ruling Judah) to take Jesus’ body down and break the bones. The Romans often broke the bones of people being crucified to hasten their deaths – as they could not support their bodies. . . The Jews did not have the power to tell Pilate what to do. Josephus, the Jewish historian who lived 2000 years ago, wrote in Antiquities of the Jews 17:13 that the legal power of the Sanhedrin had been restricted by the Romans. By the time of Jesus’ supposed murder the Sanhedrin had lost the ability to try death penalty cases -- that power was given to the puppet Roman procurator (in this case, Pontius Pilate). See Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 2, chapter 8, which says "Judea was reduced into a province, and Caponius, one of the Equestrian order of the Romans, was sent as a procurator, having the power of life and death put into his hands by Caesar." The assertion that Jesus' bones were not broken, is found only in the book of John and nowhere else. The other three gospels make no mention of it at all. Lastly, John states that the Jews asked for the body to be taken down before nightfall. The death penalty in ancient Judah was very rare – more than one in 70 years was considered a “bloody Sanhedrin.” Courts of no less than 23 had to condemn a person to death, and the final court of appeal was in the Temple itself – a court of 70 judges who met in the Chamber of Hewn Stones. The Chamber had been destroyed prior to Jesus’ supposed trial and death sentence, so aside from the Romans taking away the right for Jews to pass the death penalty, the Jewish courts also could no longer meet to pass such a sentence (making the entire story of Jesus’ supposed “trial” in the Christian bible impossible as recorded). When a person is put to death (crucifixion and hanging were not Jewish methods of execution) by a Jewish court the body of the deceased was to be hung from a tree, post-death. “When a man is legally sentenced to death and executed, you must then hang him on a gallows. However, you may not allow his body to remain on the gallows overnight, but you must bury it on the same day. Since a person who has been hanged is a curse to G-d, you must not [let it] defile the land that G-d your L-rd is giving you as a heritage.” D’varim / Deuteronomy 21:22-23. Jews might request that the bodies be taken down from the crosses before nightfall, per D’varim / Deuteronomy 21. Note that the reason is that a person who has been hanged is a curse to G-d. How many missionaries think Jesus’ body was a curse to G-d? We are even told it is not just “a” curse to G-d but 'an extraordinarily great curse' (Adereth Eliahu; HaKethav VeHaKabbalah). However, John 19 goes on to say the Jews asked the Romans to break the legs of the deceased. This is not Jewish law, and would not have been done (or requested by Jews). There is no messianic prophecy that the messiah will be killed and “not one bone broken” as John 19:36 states “These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken." There is no such prophecy. There is nothing to be fulfilled. The Torah speaks of sacrificing a goat or sheep without blemish (including broken bones) for Passover as a thanks to G-d. There is no messianic prophecy saying that no bones of the messiah will be broken. The list maker cannot be blamed for this one – it comes straight out of the Christian bible. The anonymous author of John is to blame here for taking a mitzvah regarding the Passover seh being offered one month AFTER Passover by those who were ritually impure during Passover. The offer is killed, roasted and eaten – none of which was done to Jesus (who was not a kosher animal and was most definitely blemished per the Christian bible, and tries to make it seem as if it is a prophecy about the messiah. One might as well say that breaking eggs and cooking an omelet is analogous to Jesus’ murder since the eggs are beaten. It makes about as much sense. Isn’t this also a bit of cheating on the part of the list maker? After all, John 19:31-36 has now been used THREE times. A three for one? But for all the re-use of the passage the list maker is still at 0 for proving any prophetic fulfillment of a messianic prophecy by Jesus.
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