There is not one prophecy in the entire T'nach (Jewish bible) that G-d will be a man. G-d is one, not a man. But now see – it is I! I am the only One! There are no (other) gods with me! (D'varim / Deuteronomy 32:39). G-d is not a man (Bamidbar / Numbers 23:19), “So said the L-rd. . . the ONE who formed you from the womb, “I (singular) am the L-rd . . .Who spread out the earth ALONE (לְבַדִּ֔י).” (Y'shayahu / Isaiah 44:24 ), Over and over and over again we are told that G-d is ONE, alone, by Himself – SINGULAR. The messiah will be a normal human being -- not G-d. Z'charyah / Zechariah 13 is about the messianic age, but not about the messiah himself. Indeed most of the chapter discusses false prophets and what will happen to them in the messianic age (when nearly all Jews will be prophets). A נָבִיא / navi (prophet) had direct communication with G-d (through dreams and / or visions with the exception of Moses who spoke directly with G-d), and who relayed G-d’s message to his or her own generation. It is not someone who "fortells the future." If a prophet mentioned here is about Jesus then Jesus is a false prophet: "And it shall come to pass on that day, says the L-rd of Hosts: I will cut off the names of the idols from the earth, and they shall no longer be mentioned. And also the prophets and the spirit of contamination I will remove from the earth. And it shall come to pass, if a man still prophesies, that his father and his mother-his parents-shall say to him, "You shall not live, for you have spoken falsely in the name of the L-rd." And his father and his mother-his parents-shall thrust him through because of his prophesying. And it shall come to pass on that day that the prophets shall be ashamed, each one of his vision when he prophesies; and they will not wear a hairy mantle in order to lie." Z'charyah / Zechariah 13:2 - 4. This chapter is about false prophets -- and we are told that the parents will say that the false prophet deserves to die his actions -- but no one is actually killed. There is not one word, let alone a suggestion, that the false prophet dies for anyone's sins (but his own) -- let alone all of mankind. What of Z'charyah / Zechariah 13:7 -- the one claimed by the list maker? It has nothing to do with G-d being "man and G-d." How do missionaries leap to the conclusion that this supports their claim that Jesus was man and G-d? Simple: they take the use of the term "shepherd" and leap into fantasy that this refers to Jesus (as G-d's shepherd) even though nothing in the text supports this concept in any way. John 14:9 has nothing to do with shepherds. "Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?" So John 14:9 may somehow infer that Jesus is G-d (the Christian bible never actually makes that claim outright), it does not tie to Z'charyah / Zechariah's use of the metaphor of a shepherd. . . The last three verses of the chapter (Z'charyah / Zechariah 13:7 - 9) discuss the punishment of those who have been the enemies of the Jewish people prior to the messianic age. In these verse the shepherds represent the leaders of the non-Jewish nations to whom G-d entrusted the fate of the Jews (the flock) while we were in exile from the land of Israel. For those who harmed His people G-d will unleash the sword against them. "And it shall come to pass throughout all the land, says the L-rd, two parts of it shall be cut off. They shall perish, and the third shall remain therein. And I will bring the third in fire; and I will refine them as one refines silver, and I will test them as one tests gold. He shall call in My name, and I will respond to him. I said, "He is My people"; and he shall say, "The L-rd is my G-d." Z'charyah / Zechariah 13:8 - 9. Revisit Z'charyah / Zechariah 11. G-d said that the Jews would fall into the hands of Edom (Rome). The gentile nations have been made the "shepherds" of the Jewish people while the Jews are in exile. But G-d tells Z'charyah / Zechariah in chapter 11 that the shepherd (possibly Herod) will be a terrible "shepherd." He will let Jews go astray, won’t care for the weak or sick of his flock. He will gobble up the wealth of the Jews until nothing is left. He is one of many shepherds during the exile who stole and abused the Jewish people. These poor shepherds will face a reckoning in the messianic age. Again, context! Would Christians really want to think that Jesus was a bad shepherd, one deserving of punishment? Yet again a claim falls apart by simply reading the chapter in context: false prophets who are punished and poor shepherds who are punished. . . not man as G-d and not about the messiah. . .
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