Z'charyah / Zechariah 11 is not a messianic prophecy. There is not one word in the chapter that the messiah will be rejected. There is not one word about the messiah in this chapter PERIOD. There is no prophecy anywhere in the bible that the messiah will be rejected. In Z'charyah / Zechariah 11 G-d is saying that the Jews have rejected Him. He likens Himself to a shepherd -- one who has led his flock (the Jews) with two staffs: one of pleasantness and one of destruction. The rulers of the Jews did not do a good job -- so G-d cut them off. G-d gave these rulers of Judah one more chance to return to Him. If the Jews and their rulers did not turn to Him then they would be exiled to Babylon for seventy years. The exile and the rejection (of G-d, to the Jewish people -- not the Jewish peoples' rejection of the messiah) would not be forever because G-d would have mercy on the people due to thirty righteous people, who are likened to pieces of silver. At the end of seventy years of exile G-d would restore the Jewish people to the land of Israel because of the merit of these thirty people. Why did the Jews "reject" Jesus? It wasn't personal. Jesus, along with many others, failed to fulfill the criteria to be the messiah -- and "no" there are no "second chances." If a man is born, has the birthright to be the messiah (Jesus did not) he must also fulfill the messianic prophecies or he is simply not the messiah. The criteria -- the bible's criteria -- tells us who the messiah will be. The major criteria are: A. Build the Third Temple (Y'chezkel / Ezekiel 37:26-28). B. Gather all Jews back to the Land of Israel (Y'shayahu / Isaiah 43:5-6). C. Usher in an era of world peace, and end all hatred, oppression, suffering and disease. As it says: "Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall man learn war anymore." (Y'shayahu / Isaiah 2:4) D. Spread universal knowledge of the G-d of Israel, which will unite humanity as one. As it says: "G-d will be King over all the world -- on that day, G-d will be One and His Name will be One" (Z'charyah / Zechariah 14:9). If an individual fails to fulfill even one of these conditions, then he cannot be "The Messiah." If Jesus had been the messiah the Jewish people would have embraced him with open arms -- we pray daily for the arrival of the messiah. . . the simple fact is that Jesus was not he. Does G-d's rejection of the Jewish people in Z'charyah / Zechariah 11 prove the contention of many Christians that G-d has permanently rejected the Jews and that Christians have replaced them (supersessionism or replacement theology)? Replacement theology is a Christian doctrine which asserts that the New Covenant of Jesus, takes the place of the Jewish covenant. This idea is certainly found in the Christian bible: “For they did not continue in My covenant and I did not care for them…” Hebrews 8:9. This claim states that the Jews are no longer G-d's chosen people. Not only have Christians replaced the Jews, but G-d doesn't have specific future plans for the nation of Israel. In other words the Christian bible and this Christian concept calls G-d a liar. In the T'nach (Jewish bible) G-d states time and time and time again that He would never break His covenant with the Jewish people. 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." Shoftim / Judges 2:1: "I will not break my covenant with you FOREVER." 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." Y'rmiyahu / 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." 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." This is 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. Not a replacement of the "old" covenant with the "new" -- the old which has "withered away." False. Lies. It is all in the bible -- read it for yourself.
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