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religioused · 4 years

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Bigger God, Bigger Religion

by Gary Simpson

Isaiah 42:1-9 (KJV)

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

5 Thus saith God the Lord, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

8 I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.

Acts 10:34-43 (KJV)

Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:) That word, I say, ye know, which was published throughout all Judaea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached;

38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree:

40 Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; Not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead.

42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

Matthew 3:13-17 (KJV)

Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?

15 And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him.

16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

I recently purchased the prayer book Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. Given this church’s rich heritage of social justice, I think that I might need a prayerbook for extraordinary radicals. Common Prayer has a liturgy for every day of the year. January 12’s liturgy reminds us of an important event that took place on January 12. On this day in 1948, Gandhi began to fast to achieve peace in the Indian subcontinent.

Gandhi was influenced by Christianity. He often read the Sermon on the Mount. Ghandi decided to live out Jesus’ teachings in an effort to bring peace to the region.(1) On a day that we reflect on Jesus going into the wilderness to be baptized and to bring peace to humanity, we also reflect on Gandhi’s life. When Ghandi was in the wilderness of conflict, he strove to bring peace to an important region of the world.

To put the Gospel reading in context, I am going to refer to the passage in Isaiah that is part of our lectionary reading. Isaiah Chapter 42 is considered by many people to be a Messianic passage, a prophetic passage about Jesus, the gentle Messiah, who will not “break off a bent reed or put out a dying flame.”(2) This gentle Messiah is predicted to bring justice to the world.(3) The gentle Messiah is important, because Jesus is considered to be the ultimate revelation of God to humanity. Some people might picture the passage in Isaiah as saying that God will bring justice without yelling at people on street corners and without breaking a bent read or putting out a weak flame.

There are times when we need to back up and place a Gospel reading in context of the lectionary schedule. Christmas Day, the lectionary reading covered Luke’s account of the birth of Jesus. In St. Luke’s narrative, shepherds are invited to the stable to see Jesus in the manger. Shepherds were “despised” by good people of the time. There is no way the ancient shepherds could keep the ceremonial laws, such as hand-washing.(4) William Manson wrote the commentary on the Gospel of Luke for The Moffatt New Testament Commentary set. Manson notes that the shepherds are the “centre-piece” in Luke Chapter 2. The inclusion of shepherds is significant for those living in the “Judean home of Christianity.”(5) Luke refers to Jesus as the savior, which shows that Jesus is going to make an “appeal to sick and suffering humanity.”(6) Luke is very inclusive, including Samaritans, Gentiles, and the impoverished, disreputable, outcasts, and sinners.(7) Luke pictures God as having a universal embrace.(8) Commentator and Greek scholar William Barclay refers to the Gospel of Luke as the “universal gospel.”(9) There is also a universal element in the Gospel of Matthew. Alejandro Duarte, a Catholic theologian who worked in Beunos Aires, says that Jesus is the Messiah who is “geared toward those who are not considered important.” He supports his position by citing examples of Jesus healing ‘outsiders,’ lepers, blind, and Gentiles.(10) The life, ministry and passion of Jesus needs to be seen within the context of the universal gospel. We can see the theme of the universal gospel in Jesus’ baptism.

Matthew Chapter 2 contains Matthew’s Christmas story. In Matthew’s narrative, wisemen, Magi, arrive in the Palestine region. They tell Herod that they have been following a star and that they have come to worship the new King of the Jews. The wisemen ask Herod where the new king can be found. Herod summons Jewish scholars about where the Messiah will be born and they tell him that the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem. Herod asks the wisemen to search for the child and to come back and tell him where the child is. A star then leads the wisemen to Jesus. After they see Jesus and worship Him, angels warn them to not tell Herod where they found Jesus. The wisemen return home by a different route, so they would not encounter Herod. Angels warn Joseph to leave and go to Egypt where Jesus will be safe. Herod is so threatened that he gives the order that all children under two years of age in Bethlehem be killed. And Jesus becomes a political refugee. Jesus’ family lives in Egypt until Herod dies.

When I was a student at Pacific School of Religion, I had the privilege of taking a course with Jim Mitulski. When searching for ideas for this sermon, I found a sermon that Jim Mitulski gave a Cathedral of Hope, a megachurch in Dallas, Texas. He was preaching on the Gospel passage.

Christianity traditionally holds that Jesus is God incarnate, God in human form. Mitulski makes the point that the God incarnate in Jesus was not just for Jewish people. The God of the chosen people is available to all people, regardless of religion, culture or background.(11) In Matthew’s birth narrative, Magi came to the stable, to the manger to worship Jesus. Jim Mitulski observes, that the Magi came, saw, worshipped, were transformed, and moved on. The Bible does not tell us that they converted to Judaism. While they appreciated Judaism and saw something of value, they did not need to co-opt it, corrupt it, domesticate or own it; they enjoyed it and experienced it, and “It opened their minds, their bodies and their spirits to see the world differently.”(12)

Who witnessed Jesus‘ baptism? Who was His audience? This is a question that we need to ask ourselves over and over again as we read the Gospels. The high priest and the Caesar were not at the river waiting to be baptized. The Gospel of Mark’s account tells us that John was preaching for a baptism of the repentance of sins.(13) The leading religious figures are not likely to have considered themselves sinners and the thought of publicly acknowledging that they needed to repent from sins was a no go. Those getting baptized were more likely to be the religiously marginalized, a class of people that the priests looked down on. Jesus told parables, because they “resonated with the lives of the poor, the tax collectors, the prostitutes . . . the marginalized.”(14) As we read Bible, we need to be open to reading the Bible from the perspective of those who are marginalized. There is power when we understand the Word from the perspective of the margins of society. The Gospels had to resonate with the common person or Christianity would not have rapidly spread across the Roman Empire.

Mitulski notes, “Experiences of divinity are meant to open us up to see wider, to see broader, to experience more. If our religion results in a smaller world, then we have missed the point. Religion is meant to expand, enlarge, inspire our imaginations, our spirits, our bodies, how we live.”(15) As we reflect on a story where we are presented with an encounter with the Divine, as the Spirit descends and speaks, the baptism experience calls us to expand our view of God and of religion.

There are far too many merchants of fear in religious circles. Some of those merchants of fear may claim that people who made serious mistakes or who are spiritually marginalized are not people of faith even though they are baptized. This is not true. Experiences with God cannot be taken away by people. Mitulski makes the point emphatically when he says, “Baptism can never be taken from you. I want to renounce as heresy any notion that a promise made to you by God and symbolized by water can ever be broken by human error . . . If you were baptized and were later told that you did not somehow belong in a faith community, that person committed a grave error, because you cannot take what is God’s to give.” He goes on to observe, "The devil did not give it and the devil cannot take it away . . . God gives us grace . . . no human can take it from us. When they try to, it says something about them, not about God, not about us.” (16)

Our task is not to over analyze the story. Our job is to focus more on how to apply the Biblical narratives to our lives, to improving society. Miguel De La Torre, a professor at Illif School of Theology, appears to believe that the task for the church of God is more to spend time learning how the our communities takes possession of the Bible texts than it is to spend hours trying to determine the exact words Jesus spoke. (17)

And there are those who may question your faith. I am not sure if you have ever wondered how to respond when a person asks you if you have a personal relationship with Jesus. Miguel De La Torre has an interesting response for his students who ask if he has a personal relationship with Jesus. He responds, “No, I have a public relationship with Jesus Christ.”(18) In the waters of baptism, Jesus showed He had a public relationship with us and that is the kind of relationship that we are challenged to have with God and with people.

Arsenius was known as Arsenius the Great and Saint Arsenius. He lived from about the 350s to the 440s of the Common Era. According to Wikipedia, Arsenius was a tutor for an Emperor’s sons. Later, he entered more religious work. Arsenius’ teachings influenced the development of the contemplative life.(19) An old story about Arsenius is that he “consulted an old Egyptian monk about his own thoughts.” Someone who knew this happened, asked Arsenius why Arsenius, a man who knew Greek and Latin asked a “peasant” about his thoughts. Arsenius is reported to have replied, “‘I have indeed been taught Latin and Greek, but I do not know even the alphabet of this peasant.’“(20)

Living out the spirit of Christ’s baptism can be as easy as taking the time to learn the alphabet of those around us, of having a public relationship with marginalized members of society.

Notes

(1) Shane Clairborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove and Enumu Okoro. Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2010), 102.

(2) Isaiah 42:3 Contemporary English Version.

(3) Isaiah 42:1.

(4) William Barclay. “William Barclay's Daily Study Bible: Luke 2.” n.d., 17 Oct 2019. Study Light. <https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/luke-2.html>.

(5) William Manson. The Moffatt New Testament Commentary: The Gospel of Luke. Kindle ed. (Seattle: Source Digital Pub., 2018. Originally published in New York by Harper and Brothers Pub., 1930), ebook.

(6) Manson. (2018, originally published 1930), ebook.

(7) William Barclay. The New Testament: A Translation. Vol. 1. (London: Collins, 1968), 123.

(8) Barclay. (1968), 124.

(9) Barclay. (1968), 123.

(10) Daniel Patte, et al., eds. Global Bible Commentary. (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2004), 353.

(11) Jim Mitulski. “‘Matthew 3:13-17’ - Gospel Lesson.” Cathedral of Hope. YouTube. 13 January 2014, 26 December 2019. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT_cjZIVYgI>.

(12) Mitulski. (2014). <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT_cjZIVYgI>.

(13) Mark 1:4.

(14) Miguel A. De La Torre. Reading the Bible from the Margins. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 2019), 31.

(15) Mitulski. (2014). <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT_cjZIVYgI>.

(16) Mitulski. (2014). <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PT_cjZIVYgI>.

(17) De La Torre. (2019), 136.

(18) De La Torre. (2019), 136.

(19) “Arsenius the Great.” Wikipedia. 02 Jan 2020, 05 Jan 2020. <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenius_the_Great>.

(20) Clairborne, Wilson-Hartgrove and Okoro. (2010), 95.

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ss-neokagashi-ss-blog · 5 years

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Exposing The Illuminati

https://www.ancient-forums.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=17895

Exposing The Illuminati The Illuminati order was a Jewish world government movement of Kabbalistic Jews going back to its original origin's in Europe in the 15th century in Spain as the Jewish Alumbrado movement which means "Illuminated or Enlightened" this movement became the Jesuits Order officially and it appears in France later on in the 17th century officially and became known as the Frankist movement and came public again as the infamous "Illuminati" of Weishaupt. Adam Weishaupt himself was a Jewish Jesuit and Frankist and styled the Illuminati structure and aims on the Jesuit Order and the goal of the order was to bring about a World Jewish Government. The Jesuit's and Frankists where wings of the same Jewish Kabbalistic Alumbrado movement. The Jewish power elites who ran the Vatican needed a sword arm of the Jesuits to fight against the anti-Catholic movements that were sweeping Europe and seeking to destroy their foundation of their occult control and power the Church. The writings of the time show the anti Catholic movement was an open anti-Jewish movement and the Gentiles such as the famous anti-Semitic, Bruno [who called the Jews "excrement"] was one of the leaders of such movement. Bruno wanted to abolish Christianity and return to Paganism which is why he was executed Hellenism [Paganism] was the death penalty under the Jewish Catholic Church. "It was the Jewish Jesuit Cardinal Roberto Bellarmino [1542-1621] who ordered the philosopher Filippo Giordano Bruno burnt at the stake on the 17th of February 1600." The Jewish Alumbrado movement: "In 1492 the Alumbrado [The Enlightened] moment was founded by Spanish Marranos [baptised Jews who secretly kept their Talmudic faith] and a similar organisation was founded in France in 1623 - "Guerients" who changed their name to the Illuminati in 1722." "The Spanish authorities attempted to stop the Alumbrado movement as early as 1527 when Ignatius Loyola was temporarily arrested for his activities with the Illuminati [my note the Jewish Alumbrado movement]." "Loyola [Inigo Lopez de Regalde], who was of Jewish blood was born in the 1490"s in 1534, he founded his own order the Jesuits taking out a loan for the purpose. The Pope acknowledged the Jesuit Order on the 5th of Apiril 1540." The Jesuit's where acknowledged by Pope Paul the III who was obviously Jewish from the images of him just as the Marrano, Borgia Popes where well known to be Jewish. "Benjamin Disraeli, author and prime minister of Great Britain in 1868 and 1874-76 himself a Jew, wrote in his book "Coningsby" [London,1844] that the first Jesuits were Jews." Loyola's written texts the spiritual exercises of the Jesuit Order are all known to be from the Jewish Kabbalah. As the Jesuit's are simply a Kabbalistic Jewish movement who control the Vatican and appointed and assassinated Popes in history. The Vatican's enforcers are occult trained Jews. Most of the Popes in history have been Jewish as well as the Cardinal's and bishops. The Catholic Church was created by the Flavian Dynasty who's first Emperor put up a statue to an Alexandrian Jew who was responsible for creating the Dynasty. It was also run by Jewish oligarchs. The Bible is Jewish religion and ends with the world being ruled by a global Jewish government of the Jewish King of the world and the 12 tribes of Israel from the New Zion in the book of Revelations. The Catholic revolution in the Roman Empire destroyed the Gentile society to create a new globalist Jewish government under the icon the ideal of the Jewish King of the World that must be worshipped and brought to life from the astral into the material as a working of the mass mind. The Jesuit's symbol is the Cabbalistic image of the Temple of Solomon the Jewish world government in Judaism. The Latin cross is an extended version of the four armed cross of the Kabballah world Malkuth the material world within the circle of the Kabbalah world of Kether the astral and three of the arms of the cross are designed to look like the symbol of the Hebrew Vav letter with three nails [the meaning of Vav in Hebrew] under this image which are symbolized the three nails which represent the VVV in Kabballah, the 666 which is the number of the Temple of Solomon in the Jewish Torah. The name of the Jesuit's come from the Hebrew name Yeshua into Greek as Jesus "Iesous" which adds to the number 6 in its numerological meaning. Of which the IHS the short form of Iesous is over the top of. Which is the first three letter of YES..uah. Three having major importance in Kabballah. The symbol of the cross of Malkuth, earth the material in the circle of the world of Kether the symbol of the astral is the bringing down of the Jewish Messianic "World to come" into reality the Kabballah world of Kether is the astral the vortex of energy of the Christ thought form the Jews have created. The cross of Malkuth is the material realm they have materialized this working into and the three Vav's are the symbol of the materialization of this the 6 is the union of the astral and material and the materialization of occult workings into full existence the 666 is 6 to its highest power and adds to Chai the Hebrew word for life to bring a working to life in Kabballah. This shows the image of the Catholic Church of Jesus on the Cross is the occult symbol of the Jewish Temple of Solomon. The Jewish world Kingdom. 666 on its own is not malevolent the Egyptians, Hindu's and Greeks used it as a positive number to bring the human into full contact with body and spirit together. This knowledge was destroyed and corrupted by the Jews to remove it form humanity. 666 is given the scare tactic by Jewish Christianity because the Jews want to keep this knowledge to themselves to criminally use it. The commandments against use of occult systems in the Torah is only for Gentile spiritual systems which are forbidden in the Kabballah for Jews to use. And are ordered to be destroyed. They are toxic to the Jewish alien soul. The symbol of the Jesuit's is based on the goal of the materialization of the Jewish occult working of the Christ Consciousness matrix they have created into reality as the One World Jewish Kingdom its designed to materialize for the Jews. The name and symbol of Jesus itself is a binding spell based on the number six which connects to this Jewish energy matrix and brings it into reality. The purpose of the Catholic Church is the Jewish world government this is obvious in the Bible and the symbol of the Jesuits an occult Jewish organization that is based on bringing the thought form of Christ into fully reality and conquering the world for the Jews. This is why the current Jesuit Pope Francis was demanding the Catholic's pray the rosary as much as possible in October its to feed the psychic energy into this Jewish thought form of Christ at the time the Jews do the most important Torah workings to recharge this matrix of energy for themselves. The Jew Weishaupt who's father was a Rabbi, becomes a new leader in the Jewish Alumbrado movement: "In 1771, 23 year old Weishaupt met Kolmer, a Danish Cabbalist Jew who had just returned from Egypt. Kolmer initiated Weishaupt.... into the Cabbala and the ALUMBRADO movement." "It was no coincidence that the Order of the Illuminati was founded on the fist of May. Among the Cabbalist Jews, this date, 15 [1.5] symbolised the sacred number of Yahweh [my note the Jewish god] and so became their occult holiday." From Weishaupt's connection in the Kabbalistic Alumbrado movement he was introduced to members of its other wings such as the Frankists: "At this time a young Jew named Mayer Amschel was being tutored to become a rabbi. ....He later took the name Rothschild. It was Mayer Amschel Rothschild who convinced Weishaupt to wholly accept the Frankist Cabbalist doctrine and who afterwards financed the Illuminati. Rothschild had given Weishaupt the task of establishing [my note leading the existing] the old Alumbrado movement for Cabbalist Jews." "Jakob Frank [1726-1791] was the most frightening phenomenon in Jewish history... Rabbi Marvin S. Antelman shows in his book "To Eliminate the Opiate" [New York,1974] that there was a clear connection between Frankism and Weishaupt's Illuminism. The goal of the Frankists was to work in secret to establish Jewish world supremacy. Professor [my note himself a Jew]Scholem, has clearly documented that they achieved extensive political power." The other powerful global banking Jewish dynasty in this movement next to the Rothschild's to this day are the Jewish Warburgs they another Cabbalistic adept group: "In Hamburg, a powerful Jewish-Cabbalist family grew forth. Their name was [Samuel Moses] Warbug and they also joined this conspiracy of world supremacy." This is where it comes together Weishaupt was part of the Jewish Alumbrado this is where he went into and became a trained Jesuit and a member of the Frankists and created the Illuminati and ran this for larger Jewish powers behind the scene. He was simply a well trained agent of Jewish occult espionage who was moved thought these wings of the same Jewish movement due to his qualifications for such. That is why Weishaupt's main agents where all fellow Cabbalist Jews they were all in the same movement working together to bring this agenda about. The Jewish run Catholic Church is in the background as well. "Bernard Lazar, a well-known Jewish author wrote in his "L'Anti-semitisme" in 1894, that exclusively Cabbalist Jews surrounded Weishaupt. Confiscated documents show that of 39 Illuminati holding lesser leading positions, 17 were Jews [i.e 40%]. The higher one looked in ranks, the larger was the percentage of Jews. Even the fact the Illuminate headquarters in Ingolstadt were later converted into a synagogue was symbolic of this conspiracy Lazar stated that all these Jews became the agents of revolution..." "There were four especially important Jews in the Illuminati leadership, Harwig [Naphtali Herz] Wessely, Moses Mendelssoh, the banker Daniel von Itzig and the business man David Friedlander." The Jewish Cabbalist movement infiltrated the Masonic Societies whom themselves wanted to destroy the Catholic Church and create a free society. And the Jews did this to corrupt them and turn them into useful idiots of the Jewish world government program. They also did this to stop them from destroying the Church the foundation of Jewish occult power. The fact Jewish Jesuit Weishaupt himself didn't hide, the Jews conqueror from within: "Adam Weishaupt had taught: "To some of these freemasons we shall not even reveal that we have anything more than what the freemasons have... All those who are not suitable for the work he shall remain in the Masonic lodge and advance there without known anything about the additional system. ["Einige Originalschriften des Illuminatenordes"] Munich, 1787, p.300.] "The Illuminati moved freely within the many secret societies of the time seeking to utilise the liberal ideology of freemasonry as bait for those who lacked knowledge of its true purposes. "All Illuminati are freemasons but far from all freemasons are Illuminati," stated Professor Cosandey and Renner from Munich in their testimonies in April 1785." The Jewish movement was able to take control of Freemasonry at the Congress of Wilhelmsbad which was set up by Weishaupt's bosses such as the Rothschild's with help of Weishaupt: "A conference was held at Mayer Amschel Rothschild's castle in Wilhelmsbad on the 16th July 1782, where the freemasons and Illuminati forged a complete alliance. In this way, the leading secret societies began a closer co-operation with the Illuminati." "At its beginning, the Illuminati was not a Masonic order, and Weishaupt himself did not enter a lodge until 1777, when he received induction into the Lodge Theodore de Bon Conseil in Munich. However, once inside Masonry, Weishaupt immediately saw its potential value to be a vehicle for the realization of his Illuminati dreams. To create an official union between the Illuminati and Freemasonry, Weishaupt set about organizing the Congress of Wilhelmsbad at the Castle of William IX of Hesse-Kassel, to occur on July 16, 1782. That special even, which was momentous in both size and aspirations, was attended by elite representatives of Masonic lodges from all over. It was also there that a decision was reached to allow the previously excluded Jews to be granted admittance into Freemasonry." "When the time came for a vote on their admittance at Wilhelmsbad, the Jews were so anxious to win the day that they completely filled the hall with other Jewish supporters. It was not long afterwards that the Illuminati membership included an abundance of Jewish banking families, including the Rothschild's, the Oppenheimers, the Wertheimers, the Schusters, Speyers, and Sterns." "New lodges of predominantly Jews were formed in Frankfurt the Rothschild's financial capital in Europe, and soon all of Illumininzed Freemasonry would make the city its world headquarters." "The first order of business for the Illuminati-initiated Jews, who were the was to manifest their prophesied Zion, a world ruled by the chosen people of Yahweh. Plans were set in motion for the Jews to finally have their "land of milk and honey" that had been promised to them for so long [in their own Jew minds] and it would be the entire world." From here the Jews were able to take over the important command lodge of the Grant Orient in France and its associated Lodges. This gave them occult control over the French revolution. "Weishaupt had earlier sent the Jew Giuseppe Balsamo who presented himself under the false title of Count Alessandro Cagliostro, to France so that the Illuminati would control the French Masonic orders." It was the taking over of the Masonic Jacobin's clubs that gave the Jewish movement political control over the French revolution: "The Illuminati took over the Jacobin clubs already in 1789. 152 of these clubs were active on the August 1790, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The Jacobins had a centralized network over all France. The first club was taken over by Weishaupt's close collaborators Bode and Baron de Bushce. ... We must not forget that one of Weishaupt's titles was "Patriarch of the Jacobin's"." This is the important part when the Jews created the "Jacobin Republic" and officially took over the French Revolution they created the "Commune" ended all liberties and brought in the "Terror" created secret police forces identical to their Cheka later on in Russia and exterminated over half a million French innocents and destroyed France as a nation on every level. "Jewish "revolutionaries" immediately saw to it that the Jews received full citizenship and so that they had their hands free to act. Maximillian Marie Isidore Robespierre [my note the leader of the Jacobin Republic] published a work entitled "To Protect the Political Rights of the Jews" as early as in 1789 [my note around the start of the French revolution]. Protection of Jewish rights was obviously considered the main priority. Louis Joseph Marchand, friend of Napoleon Bonaparte, wrote in 1895 that Robespierre was actually Jew by the name of Ruban....["In Napoleon's Shadow." San Francisoco,1998]. This is where the obvious is witnessed the Jewish run Illuminati, Jacobin Republic established a Communist society the Commune, the Jacobin Republic was the political arm of the Jewish world government movement and the Jacobin's where lead by the Jesuit agent Robespierre who was a Jew named Ruben...… It was Ruben who executed the actual Mason's who where working to ABOLISH THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. The Jew Robespierre reinstated the Catholic Church and Christianity totality into French society, reinstated the Catholic Priesthood and Church lands and wealth and the Christian ritual which had all been banned by the Masonic members of the government. This was to maintain the Catholic Church which is the occult foundation of the Jewish power structure. This creates the psychic and material base for the Jewish agenda of world government. Without the Catholic Church and Christianity that can't survive. This is why the Jewish Illuminati infiltration of the Mason's replaced the Hellenistic [Pagan] Masonic spiritual teachings with the Jewish Kabballah and Christianity from its Pagan anti-Christian doctrines. To bring them under control of the Jews and use them to build the Jewish world government now the name of god in the 33rd degree is one of the Jewish god YHVH. The Jew Ruben under his leadership of the Jacobin Republic set up a pseudo Masonic religion which was nothing more then Christianity. And this was noted by the witnesses of the time. This was to destroy the Masonic movement totally and keep Christianity going. Which is why the Jewish Jacobin Republic abolished the Masonic Lodges and shut them down and sent many of their members to the execution docks during the Terror. Just as their Jewish brethren shut down and liquated the Masonic Lodges they used to bring the Communist revolution to Russia, once they had power. They where useful idiots who had played their role. They in France like in Russia where executed so they would not become a force of counter revolution once the Jews had dropped the mask and revealed their real purpose. America was also attacked by the Jewish forces of the Illuminati. "George Washington, who had become a freemason in 1752 when he was 20 years old, also attempted to oppose the Illuminati's work in America after he was convinced in 1796 that they posed a threat to the nation. Due to this, Weishaupt had made plans to murder Washington if he became too troublesome. [Neal Wilgus, "The Illuminoids", New York, 1978,p.33.] The Jews did finally attempt to murder Washington and overthrow the new American Republic when the new nation's government was still in Philadelphia. Illuminati agents from France poured into America on orders from the Jacobin Republic's Jewish leader Ruben acting mostly likely on orders from fellow Jew, Weishaupt. Philadelphia the capital only had 28,000 people living in it. The Illuminati agents organized and funded a 10,000 man mob of insurrection led by them and who where trucked in from elsewhere for an organized assault on Philadelphia the open goal being to overthrow the government and execute Washington and end the American nation. Thankfully a yellow fever outbreak occurred and decimated the Illuminati forces and chased the rest out of the city for fear of plague. Adam's wrote to Jefferson a decade after this attempted coup by the Illuminati and told him they nearly lost the nation and where only saved by the outbreak of fever. Washington passed the Alien and Sedition Act into law after this for the reason of combating the Jewish Illuminati in America. Under this act dozens of French Illuminati agents where arrested and imprisoned and thousands more fled America back to France. Something to note Franklin probably witnessed how the Jews had overtaken France in the Revolution and wanted to protect America from the same fate as Franklin made this demand the year the French Revolution started: "In 1789, the publicist, statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin [1706-1790] himself a freemason, demanded that the United States of America defend itself against the Jewish immigration and influence with the help of the constitution, since the Jews had become a state within the state." The Illuminati just the wing of the Jewish organization of the Catholic Church. "The mighty finance dynasty of the Rothschild's was born out of the French "revolution". The Rothschild's are still in control behind the scenes today, especially within the European Union." This is why the Rothschild's are the bankers of the Catholic Church. The Church is run by the Jesuit's the same Jewish Cabbalistic order the Frankist's are another wing of, the Rothschild's are leaders of the Frankists and they are working together with the Jewish run Jesuits the leaders of the Church for the same Jewish world government. The Communist Ideology was created by the Jesuits and perfected by them. This was exported to France with the Jacobin Commune. Later the Jacobin's would change their name to the Communist League. Which was the same Jewish Cabbalistic movement marching into a new day. This is why the Jesuits created and organized "Liberation Theology" which is Christian Communism and spread this to aid in Communist revolution in Latin America. This was the system they already created and perfected centuries before they where bringing out to the public again. The current Jesuit Pope Francis when he was the Bishop in Argentina ordered Liberation Theology to be preached in all the Churches for assistance in the conquest of Latin America for his Jewish brethren's mission of the Jewish world government. Francis the Jesuit Pope was put into power to do one thing rebuild the image of Jewish Communism to the world and use Church political and monetary power to push towards the agenda of the World Jewish Government. "Since Jesuits educated Weishaupt , he was familiar with their experiences of creating totalitarian societies and his prototype was above all the totalitarian and theocratic rule, which the Jesuits enforced, in spite of the Spanish central power in Paraguay in 1609. This slave state existed officially for 159 years, up to 1768." "The Jesuits followed a kind of communist method, using cunning and violence. Guarani Indians of both sexes and all ages were put to forced labour for the mission. The Indians did not have any personal property. All the produce as gathered in communal storehouses. Whatever food and clothing the Indians needed as well as the general needs of the commune, were distributed from these . The Jesuits oversaw the work in a factory manner. The Jesuits enforced work duty .The supply of food and other necessities to the Indians depended on the results of production. The power structure was centralized and work was performed in groups. The commune even organized entertainment. When punishment was meted out the Indians were made to kiss the hand of their executioner, thank him and express their remorse. The commune leadership was comprised of Jesuit priests....The Jesuits aspired to create an independent state...An interesting fact is that primarily Central European Jesuits [of Jewish stock] were chosen as leaders of the Paraguay missions. Paraguay was an example of standardisation, the "right of co-determination", the factory mentality, communist methods, an iron curtain...politurks, servitude, violence, propaganda and militarism,. The Indians where turned into helpless, dependent creatures. Their chances for spiritual development were curbed. Special Jesuit priests [like politruks] indoctrinated the Indians not to express their dissatisfaction. Information about the real conditions eventually reached the outside world despite all hypocrisy and double-dealing. In 1759, the Jesuits were ordered to release the Indians and abolish their isolation system.....King Carlos III of Spain expelled the Jesuits from all his provinces in 1767. The Jesuits in Paraguay shared the fate of their brothers. One year later, in 1768 they officially left their missions without resistance, missions which had, through their communist way of life, stifled the spiritual development of the Indians. Thereby the Jesuits had gathered experience of indoctrination the exceedingly freedom-loving Indian nations and of changing them into obedient slaves in their commune." The Catholic Church was never harmed in Communist Nations in fact it has the support of the Communist governments. The Catholic Church rules Communist China arm in arm with the Asian and western Jews who control Communist China. There are close to one hundred million Catholic's in China who are allowed total practice by the Communist government when Falun Gong a Gentile Taoist movement is brutality oppressed and its members murdered and imprisoned were many are killed in the prison system to sell their organs on the market. Spiritual knowledge and practices are the ultimate danger to the Jewish agenda which is why the Jewish Jesuits ran the Inquisition. Which is why Mao banned all spiritual practices and put Taoist Chi Gong masters in camps and any teaching or practicing of such was punished by death during the cultural revolution which was organized by western Jews. And why the Jewish run Christian program executed all Gentile spiritual classes and destroyed their teachings. The only religion Gentiles are allowed is a fake religion in which the Gentiles empower a Jewish occult working to enslave the world. The Catholic Church, Jesuits, Frankists, Illuminati, Communists are all external wings of the same Jewish race long march thought the ages and world to bring about the one aim of the Jewish race. The global Jewish Kingdom. And the Jewish Kabballah is the center, heart and key to the entire Jewish goal. Which is why the entire leadership of the Jewish world government movement have always been and still are adepts in the Jewish Kabballah. The entire Jewish occult system of the Kabballah is based on the 22 Hebrew Letters the three levels of Kabballah the Creation by the Word, Merkava and Forbidden Practices [Forbidden meaning Gentile spiritual systems this branch deals with occult warfare against Gentiles its their black magic system and which they use for cursing] are all based on the 22 Hebrew letters. The only way to defeat the Jewish world government is the Final RTR which destroys the astral or Kether aspect of the letters and renders them Klipoth or empty husks in the material which causes their entire infrastructure to collapse. The Kabballah Jewish Adepts warn in their texts reversing the Hebrew letters and words which are all based on the 22 Hebrew letters is their one Achilles heel that can destroy them and this is to be guarded against. Sources Under the Sign of the Scorpion, Juri Lina The Coming Gnostic Civilization, Mark Pinkham

#illuminati #Sermon #High Priest Mageson666 #Judaism #Jews

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romancatholicreflections · 6 years

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23rd October >>Daily Reflection/Commentary on Today’s First Reading for Roman Catholics on Tuesday, Twenty-Ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Ephesians 2:12-22).

A lovely passage today in which Paul shows how Christ brought together the two groups – Jews and Gentiles – and made them one people, reconciling them with God and with each other. After speaking of the salvation that has come as a total gift to both Jews and Gentiles, Paul now moves on to the mutual relationship that now exists between the two groups. Former enemies have become brothers and sisters in Christ and now form one seamless community. He is speaking here especially to the Gentile Christians.

Today’s passage is summarised by the New American Bible:

The Gentiles lacked Israel’s messianic expectations, lacked the various covenants God made with Israel, lacked hope of salvation and knowledge of the true God (11-12);

but through Christ all these religious barriers between Jews and Gentiles have been transcended (13-14) by the abolition of the Mosaic covenant-law (15) for the sake of uniting Jew and Gentile into a single religious community (15-16), imbued with the same holy Spirit and worshipping the same Father (18). The Gentiles are now included in God’s household (19) as it arises upon the foundation of apostles assisted by those endowed with the prophetic gift (3:5), the preachers of Christ (20; cf. 1 Cor 12:28). With Christ as the capstone (20; Is 28:16; Matt 21:42), they are being built into the holy temple of God’s people where the divine presence dwells (21-22).

In the verse preceding the beginning of our reading today, Paul reminds the Gentile Christians that they were rejected by the Jews as unholy outsiders. He implies that in some respects it was a false division. Gentiles “in the flesh” were called the “uncircumcised” (a term of rejection) by those who called themselves the “circumcised”, which ironically represents something “done in the flesh by human hands”. In other words, one group of people was rejected by another on the basis of a physical operation on the body.

More seriously, however, the Gentiles before their incorporation in the Christian community were without Christ and “alienated from the community of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise”. These covenants include those made by God with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David and others. In a dramatic phrase, Paul says the Gentiles were “immersed in this world, without hope and without God”. That is, without the hope of a Messiah, up to this a hope confined to the people of Israel. And without the true God; instead they relied on false gods and man-made idols. Unfortunately, that can still be said about many people in our world today and perhaps most of these can be found in so-called “developed” societies.

But with the coming of Christ, all that has been changed. Those Gentiles who were once far apart “from us” (Jews), have now been brought close by the sacrificial blood that Jesus poured out on the cross. This was the new covenant which embraced not only Jews but all those, of whatever origin, who would approach the cross in loving surrender. In Christ, there is now just one people.

Jesus has become the peace that binds the two formerly hostile groups together. The barrier that formerly divided them has been removed. This is a reference to the wall in the Jerusalem Temple which separated the court of the Jews (to which only they had access) from the court of the Gentiles (open to all). In fact, there were several dividing walls in the Temple – separating Jews from Gentiles, Jewish men from women, priests from people, and the Holy of Holies, only accessible to the high priest once a year. All of these divisions are demolished in Christ. These walls (like all such walls) were a striking symbol of much deeper divisions.

Christ also destroyed “in his own person the hostility caused by the rules and decrees of the Law”. Much of the Mosaic Law, of course, sets moral standards which were not changed by the coming of Christ and are recognised by people everywhere. However, under the name of their Law the Jews had arrogated to themselves a privileged status which set them above and apart from the “pagans”. In particular, they looked down on those who did not observe the rituals of the Law as “unclean”. Many of these rituals have little to do with moral behaviour as such.

Religion should never be a source of division although, if it is to be true to its convictions, it will stand out as different and challenging – but never exclusive or divisive. Too often in our own days, we Christians have been guilty of the very things with which Paul accuses his fellow-Jews.

God’s plan, on the other hand says Paul, was to create in Christ “one single New Person” out of the two formerly opposed groups. “Person” here translates the Greek word anthropos (‘anqrwpos), which means a human being and has no gender connotations. The word for a male is aner (‘anhr) and the Latin equivalents are homo and vir. (Significantly, our Creed says that in the Incarnation Jesus became a homo*, not a vir – Jesus is primarily a Person sharing his humanity with both men and women.)

This ‘New Person’ is the prototype of the new humanity that God recreated in the person of Christ, the second Adam, after killing the sinfully corrupt race of the first Adam in the crucifixion. This New Adam has been created in “the goodness and holiness of the truth” (4:24), and he is unique because in him the boundaries between any one group and the rest of the human race all disappear. (Jerusalem Bible, edited)

This new “Man” or person is not an individual but is the whole community, the whole Body, consisting of both Jews and Gentiles, together with Jesus as its Head.

This reconciliation or peace was brought about by Jesus dying on the cross as the eloquent witness of God’s immeasurable love for peoples everywhere, irrespective of race, social status or gender. “In his own person, Jesus killed the hostility.” This hostility was replaced by the “good news (gospel) of peace” embracing both Gentiles (who had been far from God) and Jews (who had always been nearer to him). Through the cross Jesus united all in one body, which refers both to the physical body of Jesus that was executed by crucifixion and the Church or ‘mystical’ body of Christ in which all are reconciled.

In a beautiful Trinitarian phrase, Paul concludes the paragraph with: “Through Jesus Christ, both of us (Jews and Gentiles) have, in the one Spirit, our way to come to the Father.” Jesus is the Way for peoples everywhere, the Way to Truth and Life.

In the final paragraph today, Paul speaks of the effects of the hostility, the walls between Jews and Gentiles being broken down and being replaced by peace. “You” (i.e. Gentiles) are no longer foreigners but truly citizens together with all Jews baptised in Christ (the “saints”) and part of God’s household (familia in Latin). ‘Family’ in ancient times included the whole household – the extended family of parents, children, close relatives but also servants and slaves.

Changing the image Paul speaks of the Church as a building of which the Gentiles are now fully a part. This building has the apostles and prophets (i.e. prophets of the early Christian community) as its foundation and Christ as its corner stone. The New Testament prophets, together with the apostles, are the witnesses to whom the divine plan was first revealed and who were the first to preach the Good News. The Church then is founded not only on Christ but also on the apostles and prophets.

Together all grow in Christ into “one holy temple” and the Gentiles, with the Christian Jews, are progressively being built into a house where God himself lives.

Paul emphatically makes two points here:

First, he shows how, in the Christian community, Jews and Gentiles have come together in unity and peace as God’s people in Christ. All former barriers are removed. (In his Letter to the Galatians, he also included free people and slaves and men and women as all fully equal in the Christian ‘family’).

Secondly, the Church is the new Temple of God. The temple is no longer a physical building of bricks and mortar but a community of people united in faith and love with Christ as Lord and to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. “Wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in their midst.”

Rome and St Peter’s could be bombed out of existence and every Christian church building in the world could be wiped off the face of the earth but as long as even a handful of people can sincerely gather together in the name of Christ and the Gospel, God’s temple, the place where he lives, continues to be. In the Church that Paul knew there were no church buildings. The communities gathered in each other’s homes. There are places in the world today where Christians have no other option except to meet in this way, often in secrecy and in fear of persecution.

Let us try to be more aware of Church as primarily the community of believers rather than as the buildings which we use for our gatherings.

Furthermore, the “house were God lives” is not a given. As Paul indicates today, it is constantly being built up. It is a living entity which can be growing or dying. That depends on each one of us. Let each one of us work together at building up the part of it entrusted to our care.

___________________

*Note: Incidentally the ‘homo’ in ‘homosexuality’ is a different word altogether. It is from the Greek homos (‘omos), meaning ‘the same’. Hence, it refers to sexuality between people of the same gender, be they masculine or feminine.

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caseysbell · 2 years

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Good Day

Do all things without murmurings & disputings:That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked & perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world

Philippians 2:14-15

Complaining & grumbling is a serious offense from God's point of view. The Israelites were guilty of this in the wilderness wanderings, when despite God's daily provision & leading, they murmered in their tents. Lack of thankfulness will dim our lights & hurt our witness to the dark lost world around us. We are made the light of the world. It is our mission to shine out his righteousness in the midst of an unrighteous society.

Forgive us, O Lord, for our grumblings. Let us be made aware of all you have done for us & continue to do for us each day, & make us thankful of heart. By your grace, let us shine the light of Christ in a crooked, perverse nation that has turned its back on you. Let men see our good works and glorify our Father in Heaven. Good morning my friend

Joyous Blessed Day my Beloved as we embrace a new day ; Be Thankful for your gift " Life" Be Thankful, Graceful, Joyful, and Blessed in Jesus Name and His Blood✝️🥰

✝️" Rejoice always, pray constantly, and In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Messiah Yeshua"1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 MJFB

✝️" Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow"

James 1:17 MJFB

✝️"You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they put it on A lamp post so it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men so they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."Matthew 5:14-16 MJFB

✝️MJFB Messianic Jewish Family Bible " Tree of Life Version)

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samanthasroberts · 6 years

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Stranger in a Strange Land by George Prochnik review – Gershom Scholem and Zionism

The author, like his subject, rejected consumer capitalism and travelled to Israel to find a more meaningful Jewish life. But problems arose

One day before the outbreak of the first world war, a precocious boy called Gerhard Scholem burst into a room at home and began the rite of symbolically castrating his father. Papa, I think I want to be a Jew, he exclaimed. He was planning to learn Hebrew, study the Bible and become a Zionist. His father, an assimilationist German businessman who despised his Jewish heritage, was appalled: You want to return to the ghetto? he asked. Youre the ones who are living in the ghetto, his son snapped back. Only you wont admit it.

Scholem meant that his father had established the family in a gilded bourgeois Jewish prison within a hostile German society his friend, Walter Benjamin, who grew up in a similarly privileged west Berlin milieu, described it as something of a ghetto held on lease. These rebellious sons turned out to be unwittingly prescient.

Such Oedipal confrontations were common in German-speaking lands during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as the privileged sons of Jewish businessmen rebelled against their fathers devotion to bourgeois accumulation and deluded patriotism for a Wilhelmine polity that denied Jews equal rights. Some rebels such as Gerhards brother Werner (who would die in 1940 in Buchenwald) became communists. Others, Scholem for one, were attracted by the Zionist hopes advanced by political activist Theodor Herzl and philosopher Martin Buber. Scholem kept a portrait of the former on his bedroom wall, and felt a jolt of electricity when he heard Buber lecture and identify Jews as Orientals for whom the priority was mutuality and community, processes and relationships against the atomised, petrified western man of the senses.

He dreamed that the Jews could replace, as George Prochnik puts it, the attitude of impotent suffering with rambunctious perilously naked self-expression. Instead of being strangers in European lands, Jews could go home and become themselves not hobbled melancholics of the diaspora, nor spiritless worshippers of degrading consumer capitalism.

David Ben-Gurion (centre), Israels first prime minister, giving an address in Tel Aviv, 1948. Photograph: AP

This at least was the messianic dream that led Scholem in 1923 to quit Germany for Palestine, where the young philologist and scholar of that mystical thread of Judaism called Kabbalah spent the rest of his life. That was the year of Hitlers beer hall putsch, only 10 years before the Nazi leader was elected German chancellor and 19 before the Wannsee conference implemented the Final Solution. Scholem figures as an antithesis of Stefan Zweig, subject of Prochniks previous book, the cosmopolitan humanist who couldnt abandon his idealised vision of European culture: Scholem is a hero to the author because of the virtuosity with which he developed alternative, non-European Jewish, visions.

In Jerusalem, Scholem changed his first name, becoming Gershom the name given by Moses to his son after the escape from Egypt. It was after that escape that Moses said: I have been a stranger in a strange land, with its implication (encoded in one meaning of the name Gershom) that the prophet was home after the woes of exile. But, for Scholem, anarchically esoteric exegete that he was, Gershom also meant Stranger is his name. Prochnik tells us he revelled in this paradox, glossing it thus: Once a stranger, now home; forever a stranger, by destiny. He was never at home, not quite.

Certainly if Scholem had been a stranger in Germany, he was to be differently alienated in his new home. Prochnik takes us through the history of British mandate-era Palestine to the creation in 1948 of the state of Israel, whose birth pangs were witnessed by Scholem. From the heights of the newly founded Hebrew University on Mount Scopus, the professor looked down on his disappointing people like a new Moses on Mount Sinai finding that, instead of Zionism meaning the transcendent salvation of the Jewish people, in practice it involved the recrudescence of godless western materialism, dubious religious conservatism and heartless treatment of the Arab population. He stayed but became something Guardian readers can identify with, a remoaner.

Yet Scholem also became a source of pride to the new Israel, symbol not of its martial valour or economic chutzpah but its intellectual excellence. Prime minister David Ben-Gurion reportedly shut his office for five days in 1957 and went to bed to read Scholems magnum opus on the false Jewish messiah, Sabbatai Sevi. Imagine, by way of parallel, Theresa May suspending Brexit negotiations to curl up with volume three of philosopher Derek Parfits On What Matters.

But thats only one thread of this ardent, beautifully written book. The other is Prochniks parallel rebellion and Zionist awakening in the late 1980s when he quit the US, converted to Judaism, learned Hebrew and settled in Jerusalem. He describes his upbringing in Fairfax City, Virginia, as spiritual violation. The despoliation he witnessed as malls consumed Americas wilderness resonated somehow with the ruins of European history that my fathers family had fled. Israel promised, or so it seemed, escape from both ruins. Like his hero, Prochnik was a first-born son sticking it to the old man for letting the flame of his Jewish identity burn down as low as it could go.

And so, one day in the late 80s he flew to Israel clutching his battered copy of Scholems On the Kabbalah and Its Mysticism. In Jerusalem he married Anne, an artist and teacher, and raised three children, all the while struggling with his writing career and with his place in, and commitment to, Israel. Like Scholem, only more so, he was both beguiled by and estranged from its realisation of Zionism rising consumerism, irksome dress codes, the unresolved Arab question.

Harvesting wheat in a field near Modiin, Israel. Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA

As he delved deeper into Scholems mystical Jewish thought, Prochnik explored the notion of the Shekinah, roughly the glory of the divine presence interpreted in Kabbalism in feminine terms. Just as Aristophanes had imagined in Platos Symposium human nature split into gendered halves who yearned for their original wholeness, so Scholem suggested that a part of God Himself is exiled from God, namely the feminine part, who is the spiritual personification of exile and Jewish exile in particular. For Kabbalists and for Scholem, humanitys task of bringing Gods masculine and feminine aspects back to their foundational unity was akin to Zionisms dream of overcoming Jews exile.

One imagines Prochnik looking up from his exciting esoteric readings, to be confronted with Israels sometimes disappointing reality, gender-wise. Jewish religious practice, at worst, was hardly premised on rediscovering that foundational unity: Orthodoxy effectively cut women out completely from non-domestic religious activity, Prochnik writes. I felt there had to be a more meaningful role for women than just replicating male functions in a ritual territory demarcated and dust covered by men.

Other demarcations slowly impinge on Prochnik. At one poignant moment, he wonders why Arab boys cleaning tables at a restaurant arent at school. While he is graceful in admitting his omissions of empathy, the book reads as if he sometimes lost sight of how, to repurpose Walter Benjamins remark, Israeli civilisation, like every other in human history, has its barbarous flip side.

His estrangement came to a head with the 1995 murder of Yitzhak Rabin by ultraconservative student Yigal Amir, who was opposed to the prime ministers support for the Oslo peace accords that entailed Israeli withdrawal from West Bank settlements. The villain of Israels recent history, for Prochnik, emerges as the nations current prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, before Rabins murder, made the breasts of conservatives swell with a sense of their own vigilante machismo while sending psychopaths into a frenzy.

He doesnt quite indict Netanyahu for creating favourable circumstances for Rabins assassination, but when Bibi was months later elected prime minister, it was time for Prochnik and Anne to leave for the US. He writes: the very thing that once drew us was what we needed to renounce. Worse, their marriage, founded on the joy of their Israeli adventure, couldnt survive the rupture. What remains, however, is Prochniks adoration for Scholem, and his unrealised and perhaps unrealisable notion of Zionist transcendence.

Stuart Jeffriess Grand Hotel Abyss: The Lives of the Frankfurt School is published by Verso.

Stranger in a Strange Land: Searching for Gershon Scholem and Jerusalem s published by Granta. To order a copy for 21.25 (RRP 25) go to bookshop.theguardian.com or call 0330 333 6846. Free UK p&p over 10, online orders only. Phone orders min p&p of 1.99.

Source: http://allofbeer.com/stranger-in-a-strange-land-by-george-prochnik-review-gershom-scholem-and-zionism/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2018/05/01/stranger-in-a-strange-land-by-george-prochnik-review-gershom-scholem-and-zionism/

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elusivestateofmind · 7 years

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Thoughts on the salvific nature of the Crucifixion

Jesus did not die as a sacrifice to excuse penitent humans from sin. The whole concept of Jesus “paying our debts” or triumphing over a “cosmic evil” or “original sin” decouples the crucifixion from God’s purpose of becoming human in the first place, which was to walk alongside humans (Matthew 1:23). Rather, the crucifixion is a show of extreme solidarity with the marginalized and oppressed of society. This interpretation of the meaning of the crucifixion brings to light several important points that follow directly from this realization: human suffering is not justified, God always identifies with the oppressed in any society, and God is free to be God in whatever context God wants to.

The common conception of the crucifixion event would have us believe that Jesus died on the cross as a surrogate for sinful people who “actually deserve” crucifixion. By taking the punishment for their wrongdoings, Jesus supposedly allows these people to be redeemed, become closer to God, and look forward to Heaven. This common interpretation has its roots in Matthew’s account of Jesus’ words at the Last Supper: “‘... this is my blood of the covenant, which has been poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins’” (26:28). Matthew’s hermeneutical lens was that of the sacrificial system in the Near East at the time (Funk, 260). The Jewish sacrificial tradition helped early Christians come to their understanding of the meaning of Jesus’ death, but it is difficult to consider such an interpretation authoritative given early Christians’ highly specific cultural context and life experiences.

Some traditions also suggest that Jesus defeated some sort of cosmic evil by dying on the cross. Adherents to such institutions may identify this evil as the devil; others, the original sin of humanity when tempted by the devil; others, perhaps, the power of death. These ideas are foggy, and it is difficult to see where they apply in everyday life. Such abstract concepts pull one’s attention away from the concrete reason why the crucifiers of Jesus did what they did: so those in power could stay in power. The maintenance of oppressive power structures is where the real evil lies. Oppression is a purely human evil. It is induced by humans; it is not cosmically induced. Also within the blood atonement interpretation lies the danger of justifying human suffering. When we are preoccupied with the salvific power of the crucifixion, it is easy to find redemptive value in the suffering of the oppressed.

Marginalized people today experience restrictive authoritarian treatment because of existing power structures. In Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God, Dr. Kelly Brown Douglas explores the plight of the marginalized and oppressed of society. Many people, she explains, live in “crucifying realities” that deprive them of the dignity and abundant life that all people deserve. Instead of asserting that their suffering makes them more like Jesus and is therefore acceptable, the crucifixion suggests Jesus willingly became more oppressed in order to show God’s deep understanding of how unacceptable crucifying realities are. Thus, the crucifixion was an act of the Divine’s ultimate solidarity with the downtrodden. This view of God is also supported by Matthew 25:35-40 in which Jesus says God experiences what the disadvantaged of the world experience: “‘And [God] will respond to them, “... [W]hatever you did for the most inconspicuous members of my family, you did for me as well.”’”

God’s choices to comfort, ally with, and experience the lives of the world’s oppressed illustrates the freedom of God. A salient example of such an alliance can be found in the Exodus story. More contemporarily, this means God sided with Black Americans to lead them out of slavery, sided with women to help them gain their freedom to vote, and sides with people of marginalized genders and sexualities to bring them out of the shadows. The idea of a free God means that God exists outside of humanity and is not tied to any creed. This is in contrast to many dogmas which claim to know the ways of God, but only project human boundaries and restrictions onto God. Human limitations do not have any bearing on the Divine. Since humans are created in such an image, each individual is meant to mirror this freedom. This means that oppressive laws, societies, and regimes all go against God’s plan of justice for all people.

The realization that God is free and therefore not bound to any set of rules prompted me to re-examine John 14:6, which reads: “‘I am the way, and I am truth, and I am life,’ replies Jesus. ‘No one gets to [God] unless it is through me.’” God’s freedom suggests that there are many ways to get to God, but this verse exudes an air of Christian supremacy. For centuries it has been used as a justification for proselytizing. Missionary work with the attempt to convert implicitly assumes that a certain way of approaching God is better than any other; a literal reading of this verse would posture Christianity as the only way. But throughout the Bible and history, God has proven Godself free, which includes the freedom to provide revelation wherever, however, and to whomever God chooses. How can such freedom be reconciled with this apparent call to evangelism?

Biblical scholars S. Wesley Ariarajah and John Shelby Spong both note in their works concerning the Gospel of John that the book was not written to teach people about Jesus who had never heard of him before. Instead, they were written to help interpret the events to faith communities who already knew about Jesus’ life and teachings. In the case of the Gospel of John, this was the Johannine community, a group of Jewish scholars who had been kicked out of the synagogue for being followers of Jesus. Fractured into groups, the Johannine community consisted of Messianic Jews still tied closely to the synagogue, ambivalent Jewish Christ followers, and Christians who rejected the Jewish community that had thrown them out. In this context, chapter 14 verse 6 seems to be an attempt by the leaders of the Johannine community to coalesce the group toward their non-Jewish Christianity. As a minority persecuted by both the Jews and the Roman Empire, such an exclusive verse is understandable (if not excusable) as a unifying tool. But just as Christians today must account for Matthew’s understanding of Jesus’ death in the context of a sacrificial religious system, we must also account for John’s interpretation of exclusive Christian access to God in the context of Christians as an oppressed minority.

It is also important to not take verses in isolation; Ariarajah notes that Acts 10:34-35, “God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to God,” seems to directly rebut the sentiment found in John 14. The recognition that Jesus’ crucifixion was not a punishment taken in humanity’s stead but rather an act of solidarity with humanity casts light on God’s propensity to ally with the downcast. Rejecting suffering as redemptive frees Christians to reinterpret exclusive verses like John 14:6 and Matthew 28:18-19 and focus on Jesus’ clear message: bring good news to the poor and abundant life to all people. These realizations have an important consequence for today’s society: religious pluralism is acceptable and desirable.

Since God is free to reveal Truth and the ways of God’s reign to anyone, humanity has the benefit of different windows through which to view Truth. It is impossible to view something as large as God’s Truth all at once, but by exploring many perspectives, we can gain a closer approximation to its entire form. This has practical applications when one considers, for example, how different faith traditions view humans’ responsibility to the earth. When we consider that the ways of God can be revealed in any situation, it opens our eyes to look in new places for underrepresented people and our ears to hear the new interpretive ideas their voices add to the conversation. After all, God’s reign “‘will not come by watching for it. It will not be said, “Look, here!” or “Look, there!” Rather, [God]’s imperial rule is spread out upon the earth, and people don’t see it’” (Thomas 113:2-4). Funk notes that the Gospel of Mary parallels the idea of God’s reign in all parts of the world with the idea that “the seed of true humanity exists within you” (531). The implications of these verses is twofold: God’s reign is already here, and it can be found in people in all parts of the globe.

What does God’s reign look like? Justice on Earth. As Mary puts it, this consists of the kindness that can be found in every person. Finding someone’s humanity may seem impossible at times, but every person is a unique image of God and can therefore access a different facet of Truth. Accounting for each individual’s lens through which they glimpse God helps the global community better discern how to live in a society that reflects the justice of God. Deconstructing the myth of redemptive suffering helps us realize that Jesus came for the benefit of the wronged, not the wrongdoers. When we listen to the voices of the oppressed, the human community gains a better understanding of how we can make a just global society a reality.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ariarajah, S. Wesley. "Interpreting John 14:6 in a Religiously Plural Society." Voices from the Margin: Interpreting the Bible in the Third World. By R. S. Sugirtharajah. 3rd ed. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2006. 355-70. Print.

De La Torre, Miguel A. Reading the Bible from the Margins. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2002. Print.

Douglas, Kelly Brown. Stand Your Ground: Black Bodies and the Justice of God. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 2015. Print.

Funk, Robert W., Roy W. Hoover, and The Jesus Seminar. The Five Gospels: The Search for the Authentic Words of Jesus. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997. Print.

Spong, John Shelby. The Fourth Gospel: Tales of a Jewish Mystic. New York: HarperOne, 2013. Print.

#jesus #christianity #jesus follower #crucifixion #christology #salvific

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officialyourdailyinspiration · 1 month

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Childlike Humility

1 At that hour the disciples came to Yeshua, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

2 And He called a child to Himself, set him in the midst of them, 3 and said, “Amen, I tell you, unless you turn and become like children, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever then shall humble himself like this child, this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in My name, welcomes Me.

6 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who trust in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be sunk in the depth of the sea! 7 Woe to the world because of snares! For snares must come, but woe to that man through whom the snare comes!

8 “And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you. It’s better for you to enter into life crippled or lame than, having two hands or two feet, to be thrown into fiery Gehenna. 9 If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. It’s better for you to enter into life with one eye than, having two eyes, to be thrown into fiery Gehenna.

Parable of the Lost Sheep

10-11 “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father in heaven.

12 “What do you think? If a certain man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, won’t he leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go looking for the one that is straying? 13 And if he finds it, amen I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that didn’t stray. 14 Even so, it’s not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.”

Restoring a Lost Brother

15 “Now if your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault while you’re with him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take with you one or two more, so that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand.’ 17 But if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to Messiah’s community. And if he refuses to listen even to Messiah’s community, let him be to you as a pagan and a tax collector.

18 “Amen, I tell you, whatever you forbid on earth will have been forbidden in heaven and what you permit on earth will have been permitted in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.”

Lessons about Forgiveness

21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Master, how often shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

22 Yeshua said to him, “No, not up to seven times, I tell you, but seventy times seven! 23 Therefore, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he had begun to settle up, a man was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 But since he didn’t have the money to repay, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 Then the slave fell on his knees and begged him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I’ll repay you everything.’ 27 And the master of that slave, filled with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt.

28 “Now that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii. And he grabbed him and started choking him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe!’

29 “So his fellow slave fell down and kept begging him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I’ll pay you back.’ 30 Yet he was unwilling. Instead, he went off and threw the man into prison until he paid back all he owed.

31 “So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply distressed. They went to their master and reported in detail all that had happened. 32 Then summoning the first slave, his master said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Wasn’t it necessary for you also to show mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed mercy to you?’ 34 Enraged, the master handed him over to the torturers until he paid back all he owed.

35 “So also My heavenly Father will do to you, unless each of you, from your hearts, forgives his brother.” — Matthew 18 | Tree of Life Version (TLV) Tree of Life Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society. Cross References: Genesis 4:24; Exodus 21:2; Exodus 22:3 Leviticus 19:17; 1 Kings 22:19; 1 Chronicles 29:7; Psalm 119:176; Psalm 131:2; Proverbs 21:13; Proverbs 25:9; Proverbs 28:3; Ezekiel 34:4; Matthew 2:11; Matthew 5:7; Matthew 5:22; Matthew 5:29-30; Matthew 6:14; Matthew 7:8; Matthew 7:24; Matthew 8:2; Matthew 9:12-13; Matthew 10:40; Matthew 13:24; Matthew 14:9; Matthew 15:30; Matthew 16:23; Matthew 17:27; Matthew 19:14; Matthew 25:15; Matthew 26:24; Mark 6:37; Mark 9:33-34; Mark 9:42; Mark 9:47; Mark 11:26; Luke 7:42-43; Luke 17:4; Luke 9:46; Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 1:7; Colossians 4:7; James 2:13

#childlike humility #parable of the lost sheep #forgiveness #restoring a lost brother #Matthew 18 #Gospel of Matthew #New Testament #TLV #Tree of Life Version Bible #The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society

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poetryofchrist · 5 years

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Biblical Studies Carnival 156 February 2019

Welcome to the 156th Biblical Studies Carnival February 2019 - The Lego Edition

TNK/OT

Posts this month heralded a new English translation of the Old Testament announced by the Jewish Telegraphic Society some months ago and in Carnival 153.

Deane Galbraith of Remnants of Giants notes Two New Misprinted Bibles.

when the authorities became aware of the error, most copies of the Wicked Bible were destroyed. Only a few copies survived, and these have become valuable collectors’ items.

Several reviewers from the Jewish Review of Books held a symposium on the Alter translation.

Alter’s Hebrew Bible is the only single-author translation by someone who has spent a lifetime studying literary artistry in both Hebrew and English. This is not to say that it is, or could be, beyond criticism.

Robert Alter wrote a short introduction in Ancient Near East Today.

The first might be described as strictly literary, which is to say, an attempt to find workable English equivalents for the cadences, the expressive syntax, the sound play, the thematic shaping of narrative through strategic word choice, and much else in the Hebrew. The other impetus is an effort to render faithfully the semantic force of the Hebrew words.

The apogee of classical form, all of them with shield and helmet (Ezekiel 38:5)

Bob MacDonald (your host) reviewed the reviewers in a series of posts: Has translation of the Bible into English reached its apogee?

Discussion of Alter's translations are not new in the blogosphere. Here is an early mention in the archives of the NY Times from 1996.

Also a post estimating how long it takes to translate the First Testament.

Goldingay reports that translating the First Testament consumed an hour of his time daily for five years. (7 days a week?) That would be 7*50*5 = 1750 hours. ... My estimate of what pace I could keep by the end of the project was 10 verses per hour. That would be 2,320 hours. From June 2015, I scheduled 4 hours a day 5 days a week 45 weeks of the year = 900 hours a year or about 3150 hours to November 2018.

James Davila posts about an article and responses on Alter's Bible.

To call it the best solo English Bible is, given the competition, not saying much. But one is also tempted to call it the best modern English Bible, period—a judgment with which Alter appears to agree.

Goldingay's First Testament is reviewed here.

The section titles in the FT are fantastic and funny, creative and clever. For example, “How David acquired his grandfather” for Ruth 4:11-22; “How to be the bad guy” for 2 Kings 21:1-12; “Let me tell you a story” for Proverbs 7:1-20. ...the FT forces me to think creatively about how to communicate biblical terms in ways people can more easily comprehend.

Sarah O'Connor via Marg Mowczko on Numbers 5:11ff.

In a world dominated by men, where a man’s honor was often valued above a woman’s life, the Bible stands out in its protection of women. Remember that the next time you read Numbers. If you ever do, I mean.

Marg Mowczko on the household codes.

The so-called household codes in Ephesians chapters 5-6 and Colossians chapters 3-4 are often used to support the idea of “gender roles.” These gender roles usually boil down to “the submission of all women to male-only authority.” But these codes were not primarily about gender roles or even gender. They were about power.

Rachel Barenblatt ponders the light of the world on parashah tetzaveh.

אמּת suitable for ages 4+ includes tool set and box

The Hasidic master known as the Sfat Emet reads this verse in a beautiful way. First he notes the verse from Proverbs, "The candle of God is the soul of a human being." When we are in dark places, we light a candle to help us see.

James McGrath ponders what is in the Bible (or not) considering translation or paraphrase.

“If you oppress poor people, you insult the God who made them; but kindness shown to the poor is an act of worship.”

Via James Davila, a usage history of Goy.

... a careful tracing of “the genealogy of the goy, from the Hebrew Bible [where “Israel is one goy among many”] to the rabbis and church fathers of the second and third centuries” of the Common Era ...

And again on Ethnic and Cultural Identities in the Rabbinic Goy Discourse.

...the authors offer a most insightful analysis of Paul’s motivations, arguing that the creation of a new model of equal membership of Jews and others within the ekklesia required a new binary language, which would obliterate any particular ethnic identities, and at the same time maintain the separate identity of the gentile qua gentile in the messianic age.

And moving on to Ki Tissa, a question raised about the legitimacy of sacrifice on Mt Carmel.

Clearly, in Elijah’s perception, Yahwistic altars such as the one that he repaired on Mount Carmel were not only legitimate, but their destruction represented an affront to YHWH, indeed a tangible expression of the people’s abandonment of their covenant with YHWH. The contrast between such a perception and the Deuteronomic law reflected in the Book of Kings itself that proscribes sacrificial worship outside of the Jerusalem temple could hardly be greater!

Rachel Adelman writes on atoning for the golden calf with the Kapporet.

Atop the kappōret, the ark’s cover, sat the golden cherubim, which framed the empty space (tokh) where God would speak with Moses. Drawing on the connection between the word kappōret and the root כ.פ.ר (“atone”), and noting how the golden calf episode interrupts the Tabernacle account, the rabbis suggest that the ark cover served as a means of atoning for the Israelites’ collective sin.

Henry Neufeld considers Hezekiah's horrible prayer.

... in 2 Kings 21 we see Manasseh, generally considered the worst king of Judah, took the throne at 12 years of age on the death of his father. His birth would have occurred in those 15 years added to Hezekiah’s life.

and follows up with a counter interpretation from Brevard Childs.

Ackroyd (“An Interpretation of the Babylonian Exile,” Studies, 157ff.) has mounted a persuasive case against interpreting it as a smug response that the judgment will not personally affect him. Rather, it is an acceptance of the divine will in which Isaiah’s form of the response (39:8) emphasizes the certainty of divine blessing at least in his lifetime.

Andrew Perriman rethinks the identity of the servant.

Philip proclaims the crucified and resurrected Jesus as Israel’s Lord and Christ, no doubt drawing out the theological significance of the extraordinary turn of events through the analogy with—but not identification with—Isaiah’s portrayal of Israel as a suffering servant.

And he has a follow-up here.

as things stand, we have to reckon, both historically and canonically, with its current location. It’s an integral part of the story of the exile and the return from exile.

Deane Galbraith argues against the class prejudice of scholars about Tobit.

The class characteristics of the Tobit family are frequently missed by commentators, despite many indications of their wealth and status.

New and Old together

NT Julia Blum relates issues about Sabbath observance in Matthew.

The gospels are the only first century source that we have, where healing is permitted and performed on Shabbat. Jesus advocates – perhaps even establishes – the same approach that later, slightly modified, will become normative in Rabbinic Judaism.

Also on the parables.

For instance, we find a parable similar to Jesus’ Parable of the Lost Coin in a Jewish commentary on the Song of Songs—Song of Songs Rabbah. Remarkably, here the parable itself is likened to the Lost Coin. “The matter is like a king who lost a coin or a precious pearl in his house. He will find it by the light of a penny-worth wick. Likewise, do not let the parable appear of little worth to you: through the parable, a man can stand on the words of Torah.

Via Brian Small on FB, Report of a symposium on Hays Echos. Response by Rafael Rodriquez, and reply from Richard Hays (more to come in March).

[T]his is a book that offers an account of the narrative representation of Israel, Jesus, and the church in the canonical Gospels, with particular attention to the ways in which the four Evangelists reread Israel’s Scripture—as well as the ways in which Israel’s Scripture prefigures and illuminates the central character in the Gospel stories.

Second response by Eric Barreto and reply from Hays.

...the significance of the New Testament is not to be found on a single literary or historical layer; instead, the Gospels and Paul alike are palimpsests of interpretive activity.

Who will go up for us?

... the chief point of coherence that lies at the center of my [Hays] argument: namely, the christological coherence of the Gospel narratives, all four of which in their distinctive ways proclaim the identity of Jesus as the definitive embodiment of Israel’s God. This was a deeply scandalous claim within the world of ancient Judaism, and it is a point on which the four Gospels converge and agree.

The third tangential response is also available, the fourth still to come in April. A technical note on pre-existence from Larry Hurtado.

final things are first things ... it was a short (but remarkable) step from belief in Jesus’ eschatological significance to belief in his pre-existence, and likely required very little time to make that step.

He also examines the Christological idea that Jesus was considered angelic noting much detail on the last 120 years of thinking on this subject.

The simple fact is that earliest Jesus-followers had a rich body of angel-speculations available to them and were convinced of the reality of angels, but they never referred to Jesus as an angel (to judge from the NT texts).

Ian Paul asks about sexual boundaries and gospel freedom.

Instead of questioning the meaning of scriptural passages, the bishop appeals to ‘other sources of authority such as reason, scientific evidence and in serious dialogue with other disciplines’. This is not crude rationalistic liberalism, however, as an important step in his argument is that he sets out a biblical justification as to why scripture itself mandates us to go beyond it.

Ian also writes on the miraculous catch of fish (lectionary for February 5th).

We will see the metaphorical boat of the early church filled almost to sinking throughout Acts, as on several occasions thousands come to faith in Jesus at a time, and the structural nets of leadership need expanding and reconsidering, not least when the ‘gentile mission’ takes off under Paul’s ministry.

Bosco Peters has an opinion on these fishy tales too.

In last Sunday’s Gospel reading (Luke 5:1-11), fish were perfectly happy, swimming their happy fishy life, and then they are caught in half-cleaned nets, dragged to the shore and left, dead and dying, on abandoned boats in the late afternoon heat. And Jesus seems to say: “follow me – what we did to those fish, that’s what we are going to do to people”!

Airtonyo points to a chapter of Class Struggle in the New Testament available online.

It is not uncommon to find unchecked entrepreneurial assumptions influencing the interpretation of the New Testament world, not only in the popular press but even within the discourse of biblical studies. ... the retrojection of entrepreneurialism demonstrates just how totalizing neoliberal capitalism has become as an implicit hermeneutical frame—a way of seeing and structuring the entire world—in every field and period of human knowledge.

Phillip Long continues his posts on the New Testament, with daily sequential posts on The Acts of the Apostles, e.g. Gamaliel:

Gamaliel urges careful deliberation before acting. ... Why does Gamaliel give this advice to the Council? Is this, as Dunn says, simply “shrewd politics”? Or is there more to this story?

What were they praying for when Peter appeared?

... if they were praying for his release, then their response to Peter’s escape from prison is unusual.

and Herod Agrippa (I)

Agrippa is therefore demonstrating his piousness by pursuing the leaders of the Christian community.

Via FB, James McGrath points out a Zondervan online course with an introduction to Who wrote the Book of Acts.

Together with the Gospel of Luke and the Letter to the Hebrews, the book of Acts contains some of the most cultured Greek writing in the New Testament. On the other hand, roughness of Greek style turns up where Luke appears to be following Semitic sources or imitating the Septuagint.

Wayne Coppins ponders Angelika Reichert pondering the I in Romans 7.

Consequently, it appears sensible to modify how the question is posed, i.e. instead of the question of the meaning of the positive statements about the “I”, to place the question of their function in the flow of vv. 14-23 in the foreground.

James Tabor has a two part post on the 6 greatest ideas in the writings of Paul.

Helmet, repaired in the very place of its failure in its classical form

/from part 1/... putting “justification by faith” at the center of Paul’s thought throws everything off balance. ... the New Testament gospels are essentially Pauline documents, with underlying elements of the earlier Jesus tradition. .../from part 2/ he, as a Suffering Servant, along with Christ, would also pour out his blood as an offering, and thus “fill up what is lacking in Christ’s suffering”

Ken Schenck has posted a 10 part series on Leadership beginning with Corinth.

At some point around AD49, a Christian couple arrived at the city of Corinth named Priscilla and Aquila. I put the wife's name first because the New Testament typically puts her name first when it is referring to their ministry together. This fact suggests that she generally took the lead in ministry between the two.

Christopher Scott explores soteriology.

For an entire semester we talked about elements of salvation, biblical views on what it means to be saved, historical interpretations of salvation, as well as people that have tried to make salvation something other than what the Bible describes it as.

Airtonyo quotes Moltmann on fundamentalism

O documento divino da revelação não pode estar sujeito à interpretação humana mas, ao contrário, a interpretação humana deve estar sujeita ao documento divino da revelação.

Claude Mariottini posts his fifth study on the explore God Chicago 2019 series. "Is Jesus really God?"

... the writers of the New Testament, as they tried to identify the one who died on the cross and the one who overcame the grave, concluded that the one whom they called “the Christ,” was fully human and fully God.

Larry Hurtado notes the usage of the phrase son of God in early Christian writings.

So, it’s clear that the NT authors vary in their use of the expression “son of God”, with no clear pattern readily apparent to me. The authors of GJohn and 1 John easily out-distance other NT texts in usage of the phrase, and in the confessional significance attached to it.

James McGrath posts on the doctrine of personal infallibility citing Lars Cade.

Many Christians think something like this: “The Bible is True. I believe the Bible. Therefore, everything I believe is true.” This also applies to the morality of actions they may take or motives they may have (see: defending the separation of families by quoting Romans 13). With such a mentality, it simply does not occur to people that they may be wrong.

Peter Gurry examines the textual problems with Hebrews 11:11.

Thus, in one single verse, we must judge between ‘longer’ and ‘shorter’ texts, and not make a fetish of either. There is no royal road or short cut in these matters.

Other notes Via ETC via Paleojudaica among a clutch of debunkings, Is codex sinaiticus a fake? Short answer, No.

Obviously, the two sets of images were not taken to the level of precision that Daniels’ theory needs. If they were, we would see no difference in colour at all, because those two versions of yellow that you see in this image are the exact same colour in real life.

Also via James Davila, Dating Biblical Texts to the Persian Period.

By grappling with these questions, the essays in this volume evince a greater degree of precision vis-a-vis dating and historical context.

James McGrath interviews Pete Enns about his book How the Bible actually works. Larry Hurtado points out two new books from Jörg Frey,

One of the most productive NT scholars today is Professor Jörg Frey (University of Zurich), and so it is very good news to have a couple of his major works now available in English.

and on the marginalia review of books, has a review of Paula Fredriksen’s When Christians were Jews.

I have attempted to reimagine the stages by which the earliest Jesus-community would have first come together again, after the crucifixion. To understand how and why, despite the difficulties, these first followers of Jesus would have resettled in Jerusalem. To reconstruct the steps by which they became in some sense the center of a movement that was already fracturing bitterly within two decades of its founder’s death. To see how the seriatim waves of expectation, disappointment, and fresh interpretation would have sustained this astonishing assembly in the long decades framed by Pilate’s troops in 30 and Titus’s in 70.

Phillip Long reviews Douglas Mangum and Josh Westbury, eds. Linguistics & Biblical Exegesis

The second volume of the Lexham Methods series surveys the often difficult field of linguistics. Since the essays in this volume are all aimed at students who are doing exegesis of the whole Bible, examples are given for both the Old and New Testaments.

Amy Erikson reviews the five scrolls. Table of Contents and list of authors is here.

... there are contributions from six scholars working in South Africa, several from the United States, two from scholars based in China, and two based in Australia. ... The volume also contains essays by scholars from Israel, Argentina, and the Netherlands. The result is an eclectic collection of fresh readings that explores not only how a reader’s context might influence one’s reading of the text but also how the Bible might enrich a reader’s understanding of his or her context.

James Pate reviews George MacDonald in the Age of Miracles.

"Imagine Sheldon Cooper in the pulpit, only with the desire to be a poet."

James Davila points to a review by Yitz Landes of The Origins of Midrash.

for much of antiquity, including during the early rabbinic period, the Semitic root d.r.sh referred to teaching—textual or otherwise. Mandel thus overturns the consensus understanding that early uses of the root d.r.sh refer to textual interpretation, and that only later was the root expanded to encompass teaching more generally.

James Hanson reviews According to the Scriptures.

If all you know is the New Testament, you do not know the New Testament” - so the late New Testament scholar Martin Hengel is reputed to have said... Allen has done a great service by compiling a truly comprehensive bibliography on the question of the Jewish Scriptures in the New Testament, both in general and specifically in relation to Jesus’s death.

April DeConick speaks about silenced voices in religion. Kings of Israel - Todd Bolen links to a board game.

If the players are able to build enough altars before the game ends, they win. If the game ends by either the team running out of sin cubes or idols, or by Assyria destroying Israel, the prophets lose.

A conversation from Michael Langlois: Campus Protestant m’a demandé comment l’archéologie éclaire la Bible. A note on the Hebrew language from Autumn Light.

So next time you hear Murphy’s Law— If anything can go wrong—it will. remember Goldberg’s Corollary: If anything can go wrong—God forbid—it won’t.

Also from Jonathan Orr-Stav, an answer to a question about ס and פ as parashot markers.

The division into parashot is usually to indicate a contextual change, so there isn’t a consistency in the size or number of verses involved. In the case of the Ten Commandments, for example, each commandment is a parashah in its own right—presumably to underline its importance.

Jim Davila and Drew Longacre both note a new book: The Masora on Scripture and its Methods.

The ancient manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible contain thousands of Masora comments of two types: Masora Magna and Masora Prava. How does this complex defense mechanism, which contains counting of words and combinations from the Bible, work?

Again via Jim Davila, a new trilingual inscription found near the tomb of Darius the Great.

the most famous trilingual inscription from Iran is the Behistun inscription, which (rather like the Rosetta Stone for Egyptian) was key to the decipherment of Akkadian.

Via Ekaterini G. Tsalampouni an article on the pomegranate from ASOR.

The pomegranate is attested in ancient Elam during the 4th millennium BCE, and then spread to the rest of the Near East, with the original shrub (Punica protopunica L.) reaching Mesopotamia, Anatolia, Syria, and Palestine by the end of the 3rd millennium. Sumerians appear to have been involved in domestication of the pomegranate (Punica granatum L.), and the fruit quickly became an important symbol.

Call for papers for Medicine in the Bible, Warsaw 2019.

Contributors should aim at offering a comparative perspective by keeping an eye on the embeddedness of medical discourses in their surrounding cultures( ancient Babylonian, Near Eastern, Graeco-Roman, Persian, Byzantine/Syriac or early Islamicate traditions). Such a perspective will allow for assessing Jewish and Talmudic medical knowledge within a broader history of ancient knowledge cultures and helps to determine their distinct epistemologies or particular Jewishness.

Conference announcement on the New Song

the meaning of the Bible's poetry as Jewish and Christian scripture in the 21st century - the difficulties (ambiguity, genre blending/bending, figurative language), the dynamics (poetry as experience relayed and as experience relived, theological explorations of form and content, prosody and parallelism), and the effects and demands on hearers and reading communities.

Liturgy redefines liturgy. Take your pick of three definitions,

[Liturgy] was in ancient Greece a public service established by the city-state whereby its richest members (whether citizens or resident aliens), more or less voluntarily, financed the State with their personal wealth.

Kurk Gayle announces a posthumous book by Suzanne McCarthy Valiant or Virtuous? Gender Bias in Bible Translation. Ian Paul remembers Michael Green. Vimoth Ramachandra reflects on grief. Jim Gordon speaks of loss. Future carnivals Please contact Phillip Long @plong42 to volunteer for a carnival. Note that June is currently open.

March 2019 (Due April 1) - Spencer Robinson, @spoiledmilks

April 2019 (Due May 1) - Christopher Scott

May 2019 (Due June 1) - Claude Mariottini, @DrMariottini

June 2019 (Due July 1) -

July 2019 (Due August 1) - Lindsay Kennedy, @digitalseminary

August 2019 (Due September 1) - Amateur Exegete, @amateurexegete

The dreaded bin of everlasting stor-age.

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#IFTTT #Blogger

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writing143 · 6 years

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Who were Christ’s enemies when on Earth that caused his death?

During Christ's time on earth there were three main groups of people that opposed Him and wanted Him dead. These groups were, in a way, the instruments of his death. These were the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Herodians. They were the main religious and political groups of Christ's day. Their views and role in society influenced the culture in the time when Christ ministered. These three groups were vastly different, in terms of both status and beliefs. However, in a God-predestined phenomenon, their conflicting views were thrown to the wayside. The Messiah who had come threatened their interests, and they sought to kill Him. The hatred of Jesus was so strong within these opposing groups that they were able to unite and plot his death together.

To understand why they were so vehemently against Christ, it is key to learn what their main beliefs were. In this essay we will look at the main beliefs of these three groups, and see how the Sadducees, Herodians, and Pharisees and their beliefs led to Christ’s death. Even though it is impossible to know everything about them, when we look at what the Bible tells us, we can have a better understanding of these three groups and the main differences between them.

The Pharisees are probably the most well-known of these three groups. They are mentioned numerous times throughout the gospels and New Testament, and were very vocal about Christ and his work on earth. The Pharisees were a group of religious leaders who lived in Palestine during the time of Jesus’ life and ministry. The Pharisees belonged to middle class Jewish families. They attempted to cultivate harmonious relationships with the common people, among whom they were very popular and extremely influential. It is commonly held that the Pharisees views represented what the majority of common people believed

The fundamental belief of the authority of the law was a main opinion of the Pharisees. All Pharisees were committed to the idea of two different forms of God’s law, and considered that they followed it strictly. The first form, the written Torah, included the writings in the Old Testament. The second form, the oral Torah, included that laws and traditions that were passed down from generation to generation. Pharisees’ belief in the authority of the oral law caused conflicts with the message Jesus and the apostles taught. For example, Christ performing miracles on the Sabbath went against the laws that the Pharisees adhered to, and the Pharisees rebuked Christ for healing the man. Jesus rejected their criticism by saying, “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men....Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down” (Mark 7:8; Mark 7:13).

The Pharisees believed that they were righteous. The name ‘Pharisee’ means “separated ones,” and they considered themselves to be pure of any corrupting influence, including Greek or Roman influences, which were considered pagan. Indeed, the Pharisees appeared to be pious. They strictly performed all the rules and ordinances, watched what food they eat and how they eat it, and what gifts to offer to God. They knew in detail what was allowed and what was forbidden. They gave a conscientious tithe of all their income. They prayed long and everywhere - in the temple, in the synagogues, and at home. But the Pharisees were hypocrites, and their godliness was outward. Everything was done mainly in order to be spotted and praised by the people.

Though they were not a political group, the Pharisees sought to restore the kingdom of David. The Pharisees believed that a messiah was coming and encouraged the people in this belief. However, they rejected Christ as the Messiah, since Christ had social contact with ‘sinful’ people such as tax collectors and prostitutes. A major complaint that they leveled against Jesus was that he had social contact with those, such as tax collectors and prostitutes, The Pharisees disagreed with Jesus for associating himself with these people whom the Pharisees viewed as sinners. They did not realise the Messiah did not come as a conquering king; he came as a servant.

In Christ’s eyes the Pharisees were wrong. Simply knowing the law and being righteous was not enough. In Matthew 5:20, Jesus uses the Pharisees as an example of what not to follow. “But I warn you—unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven! Jesus said, "They serve me in vain because they teach such teachings that are nothing but the commandments of men" (Mark 7: 7). Jesus observed them as hypocrites. In the whole passage of Luke 11:37-54, He used strong metaphors to describe their nature. In Luke 11:39, Jesus compares them to being outwardly holy, but harbouring ulterior motives inside. 'For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence!’. Because the Pharisees began to believe that they were without sin, they didn’t feel the need to depend on God’s mercy to save them.

The second group, the Sadducees, were an interesting group of people who worked closely with the Pharisees in their plot to bring Christ down. The root of the name Sadducees, being related to the word sadaq - meaning “to be right” or “just” - is fitting with the beliefs of this next religious group. The Sadducees came from the Jewish aristocracy. They were an exclusive sect that held positions of authority in the upper ranks of the priesthood. The Sadducees operated with priests and in turn were members of the Sanhedrin. They would often encounter Pharisees in the Sanhedrin, where they would discuss the law. They also had influence in political matters. The Sadducees were open to Hellenization and the Roman authorities. They oversaw many political affairs of the state and they collected taxes. The Sadducees were unconcerned about Christ in the beginning of his ministry. When Christ began to gain more influence and became a greater threat to their beliefs they began to take action against him. Claiming that “…it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish” Sadducees sought to curry the favor of the Roman government by maintaining the status quo and preserving peace within their territories. Thus, they regarded as a threat any popular movement that could be viewed as an uprising. The written Torah was the sole source of divine authority for the Sadducees. The Sadducees held that the written law was the main source of authority of God's will for all Jews. If something was outside those texts, it could not be counted as part of the Law. This contradicted the beliefs of the Pharisees who claimed that God did not give the Jews a Written Law only, and that there was also an Oral Law. Jesus asserts that the Sadducees knew "neither the scriptures nor the power of God". Unlike the Pharisees, the Sadducees did not agree with the idea of a Resurrection, and had strong beliefs regarding their standpoint on it. Sadducees did not believe that man would experience a resurrection after physical death and therefore denied Christ’s teaching of eternal life after death. Christ’s raising of Lazarus from the dead launched the Sadducees into action against Him for political reasons because it contradicted their denial of a resurrection. They denied the immortality of the soul, and did not believe in angels or spirits. Consequently they did not believe in a Messiah, and took the people's destiny into their own hands. Their aim was their own temporary welfare and worldly success.

The Herodians were a major political group during Christ’s time on earth. As the name implies, they were supporters of King Herod Antipas, the Roman Empire's ruler over much of the land of the Jews from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39. They were opposers of Christ for political reasons. The Herodians were known for their desire to submit to Herod and his rule in exchange for political favour and peace. Unlike the Sadducess and Pharisees, the Herodians were a purely political group. Along with the Sadducees, the Herodians were men of the aristocrats of Christ’s time. Theologically they were in agreement with the Sadducees, but politically they were more pro-Herodian than were the Sadducees. While the Pharisees looked for a messianic kingdom to remove the present Herodian rule, the Herodians worked to keep Herod’s dynasty in power. Despite the contrast of their goals and beliefs in life, Scripture reveals that the Pharisees and Herodians cooperated several times to trap Christ and accuse him.

Herodians grudge against Christ was based on their main belief and focus in life. Herodians believed in man – they considered Herod as a Messiah. They believed this ruler was a saviour who would put the Jewish land in favour with the Roman Empire and bring them blessings. So focused were they on Herod, that they rejected Christ and his claims to be the Messiah. When it became clear that Jesus was gaining influence and many were beginning to believe his teachings, the Herodians saw him as a threat. Christ's influence and popularity posed a threat to the Herodians' attempt to make Herod the influential political power in the land. The Herodians worried that Jesus would eventually gather a large following and rebel against the government and Herod. For the Herodians, their Messiah figure was Herod. They denied Christ, and his Word, and focused on their worldly goals. It is easy to be influenced by what is personally beneficial or socially acceptable, as the Herodians did. As believers we should not allow our personal interests to be the focus of our lives, and to be put the world's ways before God's way.

The hatred of the Herodians towards Christ shows how a thirst for power can corrupt a person. God wants leaders of all types to be servants, acting with humility and justice toward others, and recognizing the Lord as ruler over all. Real greatness in Christ’s kingdom is shown by service and sacrifice. Ambition or love of power or position should not be our motive; instead, we should do God’s work because we love him.

The Herodians mistake was that they put their complete trust in Herod, and ignored the spiritual importance of Jesus' teachings. Their minds were focused on their personal interests and not on Christ's words They chose what would be personally beneficial for themselves above God's ways. They were on their view, that they even seeked to harm others who could cause problems to their personal achievements. The Herods ruled for over a century, however eventually they and their supporters fell from power. God will not permit evil people to remain in positions of authority. In Jesus (whom more than one Herod sought to kill) we see true, godly leadership.

In conclusion, the beliefs held by the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Herodians played a huge part in how Christ’s ministry progressed. During Christ's lifetime, the Sadducees, Pharisees, and Herodians influenced the way people thought and represented the popular opinion. Their beliefs influenced the subjects of Christ's teachings. Many of Christ's sermons were made in response to their erroneous beliefs. Some of Christ's most famous teachings were answers to questions proposed by these sceptics. The Scripture we read in the Bible is proof of the huge influence of these skeptics. Parables based off their false beliefs and actions were used to teach His followers. Christ tailored His messages in order to both reach and respond to these groups. Finally, their beliefs also had a negative effect that led to Christ's death. Each group had their own reason for opposing Christ. Differences in political and religious beliefs were put aside, just so they could unite in their hatred of Christ. Lessons should be learnt from the beliefs of these groups so that believers today do not put the wrong priorities before Christ as the Sadducees, Pharisees and Herodians did.

#essays143

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adambstingus · 6 years

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Stranger in a Strange Land by George Prochnik review – Gershom Scholem and Zionism

The author, like his subject, rejected consumer capitalism and travelled to Israel to find a more meaningful Jewish life. But problems arose

David Ben-Gurion (centre), Israels first prime minister, giving an address in Tel Aviv, 1948. Photograph: AP

Harvesting wheat in a field near Modiin, Israel. Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA

Stuart Jeffriess Grand Hotel Abyss: The Lives of the Frankfurt School is published by Verso.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/stranger-in-a-strange-land-by-george-prochnik-review-gershom-scholem-and-zionism/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/173473695312

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romancatholicreflections · 6 years

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3rd September >> Daily Reflection/Commentary on Today’s Gospel Reading for Roman Catholics on Monday of the Twenty-Second Week in Ordinary Time (Luke 4:16-30).

We begin today the reading of Luke’s gospel which will bring us up to the end of the Church year. We have already gone through Matthew and Mark and John’s gospel has been spread through various parts of the year, especially during the Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter seasons.

The gospel is a companion volume to the book of the Acts and the language and structure of these two books indicate that both were written by the same person. They are addressed to the same individual, Theophilus, and the second volume refers to the first.

Luke presents the works and teachings of Jesus that are especially important for understanding the way of salvation. Its scope is complete from the birth of Christ to his ascension. It appeals to both Jews and Gentiles.

However, we take up Luke’s gospel at the beginning of Jesus’ public life (chap. 4). After his baptism he had returned “in the power of the Spirit to Galilee”, the northern province of Palestine and his home province. Already people were talking about him everywhere.

Now, as our reading opens, we find him in Nazareth, a small town in Galilee and the place where he grew up. From the verses immediately preceding, it does not seem that Jesus actually began his ministry in Nazareth. The event described here may not have taken place until a year later. One suggestion (NIV Bible) is that all that is described in John’s gospel between 1:19 to 4:42 took place between the temptation in the desert and the moving north to Galilee (vv.13 and 14).

But Luke has arranged the structure of his gospel so that Jesus will begin his public life in Nazareth and will gradually proceed southwards towards his goal, Jerusalem, without turning back. In the other Synoptics he moves around Galilee in all directions and John suggests that he made a number of visits to Jerusalem during his public life.

The Jerusalem Bible suggests that our passage today actually combines three distinct parts:

the first, vv.16-22 (Jesus is honoured), occurring at the time indicated by Matt 4:13;

the second, vv.23-24 (Jesus astonishing his audience), the visit of which Matthew and Mark speak;

the third, vv.25-30 (the life of Jesus threatened), not mentioned by Matthew or Mark and to be placed towards the end of the Galilean ministry.

In this way Luke presents an introductory tableau which is a summary and symbol of Christ’s great offer and of its contemptuous rejection by his own people.

As the reading opens we find Jesus in the town synagogue. It is a sabbath day. He gets up to read the scripture and comments on it. The ruler of the synagogue could authorise any adult Jew to read the scripture lesson. The passage he reads is full of significance. It comes from the prophet Isaiah and Jesus’ reading of it amounts to a manifesto or what we might call today a “mission statement”. ‘Books’ in those days were in the form of scrolls and the Scriptures were kept in a special place in the synagogue and given to the reader by an attendant. Jesus may have chosen the passage himself or it may have been assigned for that day.

But it is more than just a mission statement. As he reads it becomes clear that the whole statement is about Jesus himself. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” This has already been confirmed during his baptism in the river Jordan when “the Holy Spirit came down on him in the form of a dove” and a voice was heard to say, “You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22).

“Because he has anointed me.” In saying this Jesus is making an unequivocal claim to be the Messiah or the Christ, the long-awaited liberating King of Israel. The word “Messiah”, translated into Greek as Christos (), means someone who is anointed with oil. (We call the oil in baptism and confirmation ‘chrism’.) And a person was made king by having oil poured over his head. (We remember how David was anointed king.) Jesus, of course, was not literally anointed but had been figuratively ‘anointed’ by the coming of the Spirit on him in his baptism. ‘Anointing’ is our equivalent of ‘coronation’, symbolised by the putting of a crown on the new king.

Then comes the mission of this King:

To preach the gospel to the poor,

to heal the broken-hearted,

to proclaim liberty to captives and

recovery of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are hurt

and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.

There is nothing here of restoring the glories of Israel, nothing about conquering enemies and laying waste their lands. No, it is about letting the poor of this world hear the Good News of God’s love for them. It is about healing and reconciliation. It is about liberating those who are tied down by any form of enslavement. It is about helping people to see clearly the true meaning of life. It is about restoring wholeness to people’s lives and to societies. It is about the inauguration of the Kingdom by its King.

It is, in short, the whole picture of Jesus that will unfold in the pages of Luke, a gospel which focuses on the poor and vulnerable, a gospel of tenderness and compassion, a gospel of the Spirit and of joy, a gospel of prayer and healing.

It is about “proclaiming a year acceptable to the Lord”. This refers to the Messianic age when salvation would be proclaimed. Isaiah in the original text is alluding to the Year of Jubilee, when every 50 years slaves were set free, debts were cancelled and ancestral lands were returned to the original family. Isaiah was thinking mainly of freedom from Babylonian captivity but Jesus was speaking of liberation across the board of human living.

And, as he finished the reading, Jesus put down the scroll and said that these things were now being fulfilled as they were hearing them.

And the townspeople who thought they knew him so well were overawed by the wisdom with which he spoke. This positive reaction to Jesus is a favourite theme in Luke. “Is not this Joseph’s son?” they asked rhetorically. But they were wrong. He was not Joseph’s son; he was the son of Mary and of the Father, the divine Word sharing our ‘flesh’. (As suggested above, this event may have occurred on a second visit.)

And this in turn leads us to the third section of the reading which provides an unexpected turn of events and is more in harmony with the later part of Jesus’ public life. Jesus’ hearers were surprised at the way he spoke but they were not moved to change. After all, he was just the son of Joseph, and someone they knew so well could have nothing to say to them. At the same time Jesus says they, his own townspeople, must be wondering why he is not doing the things in Nazareth that he was doing in places like Capernaum.

Capernaum, apparently a sizeable town, was where Peter lived and Jesus made his house the centre out of which he did his missionary work in Galilee. A 5th century basilica now stands on the supposed site of the house and there is a 4th century synagogue quite near.

The reason for their non-acceptance is that they do not really accept him for what he is. He reminds them that prophets are seldom accepted in their own place. Familiarity blinds people to their message. “I know who he is and he has nothing to say to me.” Jesus then gives two rather provocative examples:

During a great famine in the time of the prophet Elijah he was sent to help not his fellow Israelites but a poor widow in Sarepta, near Sidon in non-Jewish territory. Sidon was one of the oldest Phoenician cities on the Mediterranean coast and about 33 km north of Tyre. Later, Jesus would heal the daughter of a Gentile woman here.

And in the time of the prophet Elisha, there were many lepers in Israel but he was sent to cure Naaman, a Gentile general from Syria.

God reaching out to Gentiles through his prophets sets the stage for the Gentiles to receive the message of the Prophet Jesus, which is so much a theme of Luke’s writings. But these remarks so angered the people of Nazareth that they dragged Jesus to the brow of a hill with the intention of throwing him down but he just walked through them. Whether he did this miraculously or from the sheer power of his personality is not clear. In any case, his time had not yet come.

Prophetic voices being rejected by their own is a phenomenon only too common in our own day. And it was something Jesus foretold would happen to his followers, simply for being his followers and proclaiming his vision of life. In the meantime, let us make Jesus’ mission statement our own. It is what being a Christian means.

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hungryheartsministries · 6 years

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The Passover Lamb

1Now ADONAI spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, 2“This month will mark the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you. 3Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family one lamb for the household. 4But if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor are to take one according to the number of the people. According to each person eating, you are to make your count for the lamb. 5Your lamb is to be without blemish, a year old male. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6You must watch over it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight. 7They are to take the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the crossbeam of the houses where they will eat it. 8They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over a fire. With matzot and bitter herbs they are to eat it. 9Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but only roasted with fire—its head with its legs and its innards. 10So let nothing of it remain until the morning. Whatever remains until the morning you are to burn with fire. 11Also you are to eat it this way: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is ADONAI’s Passover.

12“For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and strike down every firstborn, both men and animals, and I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am ADONAI. 13The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. So there will be no plague among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14“This day is to be a memorial for you. You are to keep it as a feast to ADONAI. Throughout your generations you are to keep it as an eternal ordinance. 15For seven days you are to eat matzot, but on the first day you must remove hametz from your houses, for whoever eats hametz from the first day until the seventh day, that soul will be cut off from Israel. 16The first day is to be a holy assembly for you as well as the seventh day. No manner of work is to be done on those days, except what is to be eaten by every person—that alone may be prepared by you. 17So you are to observe the Feast of Matzot, for on this very same day have I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you are to observe this day throughout your generations as an eternal ordinance. 18During the first month in the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, you are to eat matzot, until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month. 19For seven days no hametz is to be found in your houses, for whoever eats hametz, that soul will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an outsider or one who is born in the land. 20You are to eat no hametz; in all your houses you are to eat matzot.” 21Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, select lambs for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22You are to take a bundle of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply it to the crossbeam and two doorposts with the blood from the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning. 23ADONAI will pass through to strike down the Egyptians, but when He sees the blood on the crossbeam and the two doorposts, ADONAI will pass over that door, and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you down. 24Also you are to observe this event as an eternal ordinance, for you and your children. 25“When you come into the land which ADONAI will give you as He has promised, you are to keep this ceremony. 26Now when it happens that your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27You are to say, ‘It is the sacrifice of ADONAI’s Passover, because He passed over the houses of Bnei-Yisrael in Egypt, when He struck down the Egyptians, but spared our households.’ ” So the people bowed their heads and worshipped. 28Then Bnei-Yisrael went and did it. They did just as ADONAI had commanded Moses and Aaron. 29So it came about at midnight that ADONAI struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn cattle. 30Then Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was loud wailing in Egypt. For there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31So he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, go out from my people, both you and Bnei-Yisrael, go, serve ADONAI as you have said. 32Take your flocks and your herds, as you said, and be gone! But bless me, too.” 33Now the Egyptians urged the people, sending them out of the land quickly, for they thought, “We will all be dead!” 34So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. 35So Bnei-Yisrael acted according to the word of Moses. They asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold, and for clothing. 36ADONAI gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians and let them have what they asked for. So they plundered the Egyptians. 37Then Bnei-Yisrael journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 men on foot, as well as children. 38Also a mixed multitude went up with them, along with the flocks, herds and heavy livestock. 39They had baked matzot cakes from the dough that they brought out of Egypt. It had no hametz, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not delay, so they had not made provisions for themselves. 40Now the time that Bnei-Yisrael lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41So it happened at the end of 430 years, to the very day, that all the armies of ADONAI went out from the land of Egypt. 42It was a night of watching for ADONAI to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is a night of vigil for ADONAI, for all Bnei-Yisrael throughout their generations. 43Then ADONAI said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner may eat it, 44but every man’s servant that is bought for money, after you have circumcised him, may eat it. 45Nor should a visitor or hired servant eat it. 46It is to be eaten inside a single house. You are not to carry the meat out of the house, nor are you to break any of its bones. 47All the congregation of Israel must keep it. 48But if an outsider dwells with you, who would keep the Passover for ADONAI, all his males must be circumcised. Then let him draw near and keep it. He will be like one who is native to the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat from it. 49The same Torah applies to the native as well as the outsider who dwells among you.” 50So all Bnei-Yisrael did so. They did just as ADONAI commanded Moses and Aaron. 51It was on that very day that ADONAI brought Bnei-Yisrael out of the land of Egypt as armies.

Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society. (2015). Holy Scriptures: Tree of Life Version (Ex 12:1–51). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books.

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jewishphilosophyplace · 6 years

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The Virtue of Meaningless Bourgeois Religion (Ancient Judaism) (Max Weber)

“Meaning” can sometimes seem like it is all the rage around some corners of the contemporary Jewish discourse, particularly in relation to religion and ritual. “Have a meaningful fast.” “What is the meaning of life?” “The synagogue seems to so many to be utterly devoid of meaning.” You get the point. “Meaning” is not a term that I use much. In the various worlds of contemporary theory, the very concept is retardataire. “Meaning” is tied up with language, semiotics, symbolism, and other theoretical themes left behind in the turn away from the linguistic turn. Reading Max Weber confirms why we might be better off without the pretentious term.

Doing due diligence for the Religion Studies Theories and Methods Seminar brought me to Weber’s Ancient Judaism. Weber, of course, was very interested in “meaning” precisely because he thought we lived in a meaningless world. This is in the definition of basic sociological terms in the opening chapter of the massive Economy and Society. For Weber, meaning is only a subjective ascription assigned to social action. Weber’s study of ancient Judaism re-enforces that subjective-social definition of meaning that is rational and humane.

Not so interesting about Ancient Judaism is the way the book is intended to shore up Weber’s thesis about the origins of capitalism in the Protestant west. Setting aside the anachronism, part of the point is to argue against Sombert and maybe Marx that the Jews and Judaism are unimportant engines of modern capitalism. Weber argues that the pariah status of the Jews does not lend itself to capitalism and that, in Judaism, the study of law and ritual practice are more important than making money. At the same time, Weber sees in the religion of ancient Israel a precursor form of rationalism that he contrasts with the religions of India, as well as the cosmo-theology reflected in the religions of China. In the Hebrew Bible the world is not fixed, not mystical, not magical, possessed of no “meaning” beyond history and human action. To be sure, one can inquire about the divine purpose, the anger of God, etc. But “[b]eyond that, there was nothing. This presupposition indeed, precluded the development of speculation about the ‘meaning’ of the world in Indian fashion” (p.225, cf. pp.206, 313, 317, 398).

Based on a picture of a world without meaning, Weber’s thoughts about the flat affective character of Israelite religion are utterly disenchanting. After Buber and especially Heschel, the argument seems counter-intuitive, indeed contradicted by charismatic prophetic visions of a world saturated by meaning, by the pathos of God. I am suggesting here that to grasp this part of Weber’s argument depends upon a recognition of ancient Israelite texts as literary art-objects. Indeed, reading such texts leaves one with two alternative interpretations. One possible interpretation is that the prophetic text reflects that real, overpowering of some immediate religious experience, reflecting the actual pathos of a great religious affect that saturates the prophet. An alternative interpretation is that the prophet is a literary persona and that prophetic books constitute no direct recording device of some intentional subjective state of lived consciousness, but is itself a carefully crafted poetic device. In support of the latter possibility is what Weber identifies as the suppression of prophecy by the “bourgeois” priests in the history of ancient Israel (pp.380-2). In like manner, the hot expectation that would seem to animate in our sources the idea of the future redemption is recognized by Weber to have been ultimately compressed into the limiting frame of “soulful longing” (p.399), a subjective state with no genuine objective meaning apart from its own expression. Weber also insists that what others will later call the messianic idea in Judaism is a strictly religious one, not political. In line with the argument in “Politics as a Vocation,” prophets are not politicians. Weber’s data for ancient data is primarily textual, which calls attention to the artful compression of literary-religious expression beyond which they “mean” nothing.

A takeaway from reading Weber’s analysis in Ancient Judaism is that “meaning” is as overrated a phenomenon as the bourgeoisie is an underrated one. The concluding pages to Ancient Judaism indicate the power of endurance enjoyed by this particular religious form. Weber speculates that the appeal of Judaism in the ancient world to converts, especially after the collapse of Hellenic states, was the grand and majestic idea of God, the elimination of cult deities, a vigorous ethic, and a fixed order of life offered by ritual (pp.419-20). In the self-formation of this pariah people, prophecy and ritual contribute to the making of an exclusive “confessional association” (p.336). Viewed from an opposite perspective, the failure of Christianity to convert the Jews was due to what Judaism had to offer the members of an exclusive “confessional association,” namely a stable tradition and structured way of life, “the strength of the firmly structured social community, the family, and the congregation.” These closing words to Ancient Judaism read like a paean to the bourgeois virtue of the Jews. “All of this,” he wants his readers to appreciate, “makes the Jewish community remain in its self-chosen situation of a pariah people as long and as far as the unbroken spirit of the Jewish law, and, that is to say, the spirit of the Pharisees and the rabbis of late antiquity continued and continues to live on” (p.424).

Has Weber confused the religion of ancient Judaism with the rabbis or with the modern synagogue? It will help to remember that Das antike Judentum is itself a period piece. It appeared in the 1917–1919 issues of the Archiv fur Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialforschung right in the midst of and after the maw of the Great War. Consider too the simple decorative device on the front cover of the 1952 English translation. I might be overreading Weber’s thesis, but would argue that he encourages us to consider the religion of ancient Israel as priestly, bourgeois, and rational, not prophetic, radical, and mystical. The same goes for the modern Judaism of his day. In the face of catastrophe, the legacy of ancient Judaism and the picture of modern Judaism would be that of small comfort and humble virtue of social association in a meaningless world.

http://ift.tt/2hZ21zv

#uncategorized #Judaism #Max Weber

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keithmccartymccarty · 6 years

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ISAIAH 53 (Tanakh JPS 1985)

Forward:

The Jewish Publication Society began to consider a new edition of the Bible and the concept of a completely new translation gradually took hold and the task was begun in 1955. The new translation from Hebrew to English begun in 1955 after the Hebrew language was revived and made an official language of Israel was first published in 1985.

G-d is having me type these very words as His servant who speaks to Him face to face. I am the prophet like Moses and the manner in which Moses wrote the Torah is the same manner in which I type the writings of this wordpress site. G-d teaches me the subject matter with the scripture and articles on the internet by learned Jewish men and organizations that He chooses and directs me to by verbal command.

Then He has me type the title and content and we discuss the meaning and purpose of every sentence and paragraph being used. It is not just dictation from a boss to a secretary though the result is the same. Every sentence is His.

G-d also has me edit and add to these writings by cutting and pasting material from other writings of this site at times and for reasons unknown to me. The obvious reason is to consolidate the writings into the writings viewed most often. I would think reading this writing would cause the reader to read all of them and I would be wrong.

Maybe when all of these writings are in a book and people realize it is written by the HaMoshiach at G-d’s command and direction and translated into Hebrew all of the writings will be read throughout Israel. Which will happen some day. Whether I live to see it is another matter entirely.

People can believe in a story in the past but when that story stands before them they do not believe. With or without miracles. Yet. G-d tells me those who will believe have not yet read this writing. The many to be made righteous and those written into the scroll of remembrance of Malachi 3.

All of these writings are the sign from G-d that I am His righteous servant and that all of the words in all of the writings are accurate and true interpretations of the Jewish bible. G-d interpreting His prophecies of the book He gave His children for His children to understand it as He would have them understand it today. The day of the L-rd.

Verse by Verse Commentary on Isaiah 53 with explanations of why it does not describe Jesus as set forth by Christianity or the Jewish people as the man Israel as set forth by Tovia Singer of Outreach Judaism with his holocaust analysis and the animal sacrificial atonement and worship laws of G-d and Jews for Judaism and it’s “exaltation” interpretation:

The witnesses of the righteous servant (verses 1-6)

1 “Who can believe what we have heard? Upon whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

“Who can believe what we have heard?: The witnesses ask who can believe it? That G-d would redeem the Jewish people but even more so that G-d is doing it in the same manner that He did things in the Jewish Bible. With one man and not by using His power to change the will and thinking of all people so that they heed and revere the name of the L-rd and are all knowledgeable in the teachings of G-d that He gave to Moses.

“We” had not been told by their Sages, wise men, Rabbi’s, Pastors, Priest’s, Pope’s and theologians that G-d’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 is Elijah. “We” had never heard such a thing.

That Elijah is the HaMoshiach who like Cyrus of Persia is given this name and is a gentile (in the beginning) and that Elijah is the descendant of King David through King Solomon of the tribe of Judah whom the spirit of G-d and the person of the spirit of the Holy G-d alights upon in fulfillment of Isaiah 11/2 (Elijah of the Bible is not an Israelite. He is a Tishbite from Gilead east of the river Jordan).

And who can believe that G-d said He would send Elijah with the covenant of sin forgiveness when Jerusalem was rebuilt as it is today and he is really here? That the prophecy of G-d of the arrival of Elijah to reconcile the families of the Jewish people to G-d and showing that the only true religion of Abraham is Judaism is really happening?

the arm of the Lord: his vindication and redemption. Jesus spoke a prophecy on more than one occasion that he would return in his generation and the eyes of those that pierced him with the spear would see it. It did not happen. His brazen oath to return was not vindicated. Jesus called out on the cross to G-d “why have you forsaken me”. Forsaken means to abandon forever.

These writings reveal that the L-rd is with me and His arm of redemption is upon me. The redemption of the Jewish people begins with the arrival of Elijah with the angel of the covenant of the forgiveness of the sins of the Jewish people G-d declared in the book of Jeremiah. G-d forgives sin by His written word. The redemption of the Jewish people begins with complete sin forgiveness of every Jewish person on earth. G-d remembers their sins no more by His written word. That does not mean they are all in right standing with Him for the Heaven He is creating where the name Israel shall endure forever.

The redemption that comes with sin forgiveness and the vindication of the L-rd against Christianity and Islam. There is only one last prophet of G-d in the prophecy of the Jewish Bible and he is not Jesus or Mohammad. He is Elijah. And I can deliver that message as no other man can. In the power and words of G-d and the interpretations by G-d of His prophecy.

2For he has grown, by His favor, like a tree crown, Like a tree trunk out of arid ground. He had no form or beauty, that we should look at him: No charm, that we should find him pleasing.

This could never describe Jesus. Everyone except for certain Jewish religious leaders found Jesus pleasing and charming. A wonderful holy Jewish man who never sinned.

Some of the first written interpretations or targums (ancient paraphrases on biblical texts) see Isaiah 53 as referring to an individual servant, the Messiah, who would suffer. Messianic Jewish talmudist, Rachmiel Frydland, recounts those early views:

“Our ancient commentators with one accord noted that the context clearly speaks of God’s Anointed One, the Messiah. The Aramaic translation of this chapter, ascribed to Rabbi Jonathan ben Uzziel, a disciple of Hillel who lived early in the second century c.e., begins with the simple and worthy words:

‘Behold my servant Messiah shall prosper; he shall be high, and increase, and be exceeding strong: as the house of Israel looked to him through many days, because their countenance was darkened among the peoples, and their complexion beyond the sons of men (Targum Jonathan on Isaiah 53, ad locum).’”

“We find the same interpretation in the Babylonian Talmud:

What is his [the Messiah’s] name? The Rabbis said: His name is “the leper scholar,” as it is written, “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God, and afflicted.” (Sanhedrin 98b)

“Similarly, in an explanation of Ruth 2/14in the Midrash Rabbah it states:

He is speaking of the King Messiah: “Come hither” draw near to the throne “and dip thy morsel in the vinegar,” this refers to the chastisements, as it is said, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities.”

“The Zohar, in its interpretation of Isaiah 53, points to the Messiah as well:

There is in the Garden of Eden a palace named the Palace of the Sons of Sickness. This palace the Messiah enters, and He summons every pain and every chastisement of Israel. All of these come and rest upon Him. And had He not thus lightened them upon Himself, there had been no man able to bear Israel’s chastisements for the trangression of the law; as it is written, “Surely our sicknesses he has carried.” (Zohar II, 212a)

The early sages expected a personal Messiah to fulfill the Isaiah prophecy. No alternative interpretation was applied to this passage until the Middle Ages. And then, a completely different view was presented. This view was popularized by Jewish commentator Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Itzchaki), who lived one thousand years after Jesus.

Rashi held the position that the servant passages of Isaiah referred to the collective fate of the nation of Israel rather than a personal Messiah. Some rabbis, such as Ibn Ezra and Kimchi, agreed. However, many other rabbinic sages during this same period and later—including Maimonides—realized the inconsistencies of Rashi’s views and would not abandon the original messianic interpretations.

Yet to this day, many rabbis persist in citing Rashi as the definitive word on how to interpret the righteous servant of the Lord in Isaiah 53. Others admit the weakness of this view and say that the passage applies to an individual. They usually cite the prophet Isaiah himself, King Cyrus, King Hezekiah, Josiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Moses, Job or even some anonymous contemporaries of Isaiah as the one spoken of by the prophet.

No one cites the obvious individual that I have seen and the correlation between the purpose of G-d’s righteous servant and the purpose of Elijah in the book of Malachi. The man who comes with the angel of the covenant of sin forgiveness of the Jewish people G-d declared for a time to come in Jeremiah 31. Elijah. He brings the redemption. He is the HaMoshiach. He has to be described. Just as the twig of the stump of Jesse of Isaiah 11/2 has to be described.

Rashi’s commentary on verse 2, in his contrary opinion that the righteous servant is Israel the people, for my interpretation of the righteous servant being the descendant of David from Chapter 11, would read: “This man, before this greatness came to him, was a very humble man, and he came up by himself like a sapling of the saplings of the trees, and like a root: he came up from dry land, neither form: had he in the beginning, nor comeliness. Now shall we desire him?: This is a question.”

Shall we desire him? If the dry land were atheism and his form was a gentile (like Cyrus of Persia) under the Jewish law, the Halacha (in the beginning), would he be attractive to the Jewish people. No. And that is a description of me Keith Ellis McCarty and I am a descendant of King David through King Solomon of the tribe of Judah by virtue of the spirit of G-d alighting upon me in 2007 in fulfillment of Isaiah 11/1-2. I will convert orthodox when I reach Jerusalem.

3He was despised, shunned by men, A man of suffering, familiar with disease. As one who hid his face from us, He was despised, we held him of no account.

He was despised, shunned by men: Jesus was not despised and shunned by men. Multitudes followed him everywhere he went. Twelve men left their way of life to follow and care for him. He was loved and highly esteemed. He did have religious enemies and intentionally infuriated religious leaders at synagogue’s and merchant’s at the Temple. But they could not attack him because of his legion of followers.

This verse fits me today. And there will be many more who despise, shun and hold me of no account simply for declaring this truth: I am the Lord’s righteous servant described in this chapter.

a man of suffering, familiar with disease: Jesus wept one time. He is never portrayed as a man of suffering, familiar with disease. Yes, he suffered at death as did legions of others in his time but he was not a man of suffering during his life.

As a colon and skin cancer survivor with over twenty-two surgical scars from many different accidents including a gun shot to the abdomen, emotional scars from a dysfunctional home as a child, and 20 years of head and jaw pain from nightmares and grinding my teeth I am a man of suffering familiar with disease.

None of which prepared me for the suffering I have endured by the hand and power of G-d after I offered myself for guilt to HaShem (though He removed the nightmares and constant head pain).

4Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, Smitten and afflicted by God;

Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured: The sickness is not being righteous. They suffer the sickness of not being in right standing with G-d. I have suffered by the chastisement and punishment laid on me by the hand, words and power of G-d to make me suitable for His purpose (just as G-d does with Ezekiel). A purpose that includes making the many righteous.

Ezekiel is treated harshly and punished for 430 consecutive days. This punishment is for the sins of the House of Israel and the House of Judah which is the Jewish people. This is the same manner G-d prepares His righteous servant of Isaiah 53. In some translations of Isaiah 53 the words “Through the sin of my people, who deserved the punishment.” and “It is their punishment that he bears” are used instead of “you shall bear their punishment”.

Ezekiel does not relieve the punishment of the House of Israel and the House of Judah or their sins. It describes a great ordeal Ezekiel is being put through to make him suitable for G-d’s purpose to be a prophet to the Jewish people.

We accounted him plagued, Smitten and afflicted by God: This describes a man that G-d does not like, a sinner whose life is full of bad events, sickness and sorrows. It could never apply to Jesus.

A person with flawed features from birth was considered cursed and afflicted by G-d. King David would have nothing to do with the lame, blind and disfigured. I was born disfigured with no right breast with a smaller right shoulder and withered arm.

5But he was wounded because of our sins, Crushed because of our iniquities. He bore the chastisement that made us whole, And by his bruises we were healed.

But he was wounded because of our sins: I have been wounded, crushed, chastised and bruised by the hand, words and power of G-d to make me suitable for His purpose. That purpose includes being the messenger and herald of the new covenant of sin forgiveness to the Jewish people.

“By his bruises [or stripes] we are healed” means that the marks of the fire of refinement the L-rd has put me through have prepared me to be the teacher of righteousness and those who listen are healed of their sinful ways. It does not mean my bruises and scars (stripes) bore the sins of others.

6We all went astray like sheep, Each going his own way; And the Lord visited upon him The guilt of all of us.”

And the Lord visited upon him The guilt of all of us: I offered myself to G-d for guilt in return for long life and to serve His purpose. I accepted the guilt of the Jewish people as my own and G-d sentenced me to suffering chastisement and punishment by His hand, words and power until I was suitable for His purpose to make intercession for the many sinners through the teaching of righteousness and to be the messenger of the new covenant of sin forgiveness for the Jewish people. And much more.

Isaiah (verses 7-10)

7He was maltreated, yet he was submissive He did not open his mouth; Like a sheep being led to slaughter, Like a ewe, dumb before those who shear her, He did not open his mouth.

He was maltreated, yet he was submissive: Maltreatment is a part of being chastised and punished by the hand, words and power of G-d. It is necessary to break the will of a man and to cleanse, temper and calm his soul. It is a tedious slow process. G-d is the one who maltreated me not man. So I was submissive and did all I was told to do day in and day out. It is the same process as breaking a wild horse for riding, making a convict in prison obey the rules and making a recruit into a soldier in boot camp. The maltreatment is harsh physically and mentally and an emotional roller-coaster. Your soul screams. G-d created the emotions of a human being and a body that responds to them. His method of changing them requires pain and suffering. In nine years I have suffered mental and physical anguish every single day and night. G-d does not sleep and He is relentless. It is G-d’s way of tempering and cleansing the spirit and soul. It is a removal of self will to be made suitable for G-d’s purpose.

He did not open his mouth: Jesus talked until his last breath. In one Gospel Jesus is asked are you going to remain silent and Jesus talks verse after verse in answer to the question.

When G-d revealed himself to me in 2007 He took me from the world, the land of the living and material things. Alone, no more working, no phone, no car, no computer, no law license’s, no bank account, no credit cards, and no money without explanation to friends and family, silent as a lamb. Maltreated is an understatement to how I felt being chastised and punished by the hand and power of G-d.

8By oppressive judgment he was taken away, Who could describe his abode? For he was cut off from the land of the living Through the sin of my people, who deserved the punishment.

By oppressive judgment he was taken away: The judgement against Jesus by Pilate was “not guilty”. To wash his hands of the whole religious controversy Pilate asked the multitude that had gathered what they would have him do with Jesus. Release him or crucify him. The multitude said crucify him. This was not a judgement. He was not taken away he was executed by crucifixion as thousands of Jewish people were.

The oppressive judgement is being guilty and receiving a sentence of maltreatment, chastisement, punishment, bruising and crushing until suitable for G-d’s purpose. A purpose for which I have been given long life. I had the sins and guilt of Israel laid on me that I am not guilty of so that G-d could pronounce an oppressive judgement of maltreatment, chastisement, punishment, bruising and crushing, after I offered myself for that guilt, to be made suitable for G-d’s purpose and receive long life.

Who could describe his abode?: Jesus has a house in the Gospels but it is never described. “And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.” Mark 2/15 King James Version (KJV).

My abode is room and board in return for care and assistance to my elderly parents in a town home in Houston, Texas. What is special about describing my abode is that where I dwell G-d dwells. His presence does not leave me. At least until the third Temple is built.

For he was cut off from the land of the living: Jesus was removed not cut off from the land of the living.

G-d took me away from society and the material things of the world cutting me off from those living their lives with cars and phones and computers and houses and bank accounts and credit cards and money and jobs.

Ezekiel also had the spirit of the Holy G-d who is the angel of His Presence alight upon him and was cut off from the land of the living as he went through this process of refinement of soul and self to be made suitable for G-d’s purpose of being a prophet to the Jewish people.

“A spirit seized me and carried me away. I went in bitterness, in the fury of my spirit, while the hand of the Lord was strong upon me.” Ezekiel 3/14. “And a spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet. And He spoke to me, and said to me: “Go, shut yourself up in your house.” Ezekiel 3/24. “As for you, O mortal, cords have been placed upon you, and you have been bound with them, and you shall not go out among them.” Ezekiel 3/25.

Through the sin of my people: The people of Isaiah who are the Jewish people.

who deserved the punishment: I have been punished by the hand, words and power of the G-d of Israel to make me suitable for His purpose. That purpose includes being the messenger and herald of the new covenant of sin forgiveness to the Jewish people. It is for His names sake and His promise to them that He remembers their sins no more and for the building of the third Temple for G-d’s return to Jerusalem.

Ezekiel is treated harshly and punished for 430 consecutive days. This punishment is for the sins of the House of Israel and the House of Judah which is the Jewish people. This is the same manner G-d prepares His righteous servant. The words “Through the sin of my people, who deserved the punishment.” and “It is their punishment that he bears” are used instead of “you shall bear their punishment” in Ezekiel 4/4.

Ezekiel does not relieve the punishment of the House of Israel and the House of Judah or atone vicariously for their sins by lying on his side for 390 days for the House of Israel and 40 days for the House of Judah. For 430 days pinned to the ground.

And the Jewish people were not vicariously relieved of their punishment. The complete fall of Jerusalem and final deportation occurs in Ezekiel’s lifetime. It is figurative speech. Just as in Isaiah 53 where the man has the sins and guilt of Israel laid on him that he is not guilty of so that G-d can pronounce an oppressive judgement of chastisement and punishment, bruising and crushing, after he offers himself for that guilt, is really just for the man to be made suitable for G-d’s purpose.

I know what Ezekiel is going through in this punishment. I have experienced it. I cannot describe exactly what Ezekiel went through during those 430 days but I do know what 5 days was for me.

In the second year after the spirit and the person of the spirit of G-d alighted upon me and G-d first spoke to me in 2007 everything changed when G-d told me I was going to sacrifice for 5 days. I had not experienced any crushing, bruising, chastisement or punishment before this. And those are the very words from Isaiah 53.

As I lay in bed the cords of G-d’s power enveloped me. I simply could not move. G-d never stopped talking to me and was explaining to me everything that was happening. He showed me how His power could slowly crush my chest until I could not breath and He let the fear of that overwhelm me.

This only took a few hours of the five days. G-d is very creative and there was very little let up in this method of teaching me of His power, the scripture, the Jewish people, fear of Him and the level of pain He would lay on me. I saw His goodness and I saw His backside. A side no man wants to see and hear much less feel. G-d is fearsome and to be feared.

It changed our relationship, how I thought of Him and took a lot of the fight out of my soul. And this process has continued in many ways and experiences over the years. It is how I learned about creation, the scripture and mysteries of heaven while being made suitable for the purposes of G-d.

Ezekiel is told that he is suffering the punishment of the Jewish people. G-d then tells Ezekiel that “I impose on you one day for each year” of their punishment which is armies G-d says he raised up against them, destruction of the first Temple and exile for their disobedience to Him.

You shall bear their punishment really means I am punishing you as they have been punished to make Ezekiel’s forehead like adamant (flint); meaning as hard and tough emotionally as they are and to calm his temperament. To reduce his personal affront to their laughter at him and disbelief that he is actually speaking the words of G-d. To prepare him to be a prophet to the Jewish people in exile.

G-d and the person of the spirit of the Holy G-d have come to Ezekiel (Chapter 3/12-15 and 22-27) to prepare him to be a prophet to the Jewish people. The hand of the Lord of chastisement and punishment is infuriating his spirit. His power covering Ezekiel like cords. The Presence of G-d causes Ezekiel to fall to his face. His tongue is no longer his own for he speaks the words G-d would have him speak.

9And his grave was set among the wicked, And with the rich, in his death— Though he had done no injustice And had spoken no falsehood.

his grave was set among the wicked, And with the rich, in his death: Jesus taught that the rich man is almost always a sinner. Being buried with the rich is the same thing as a sinner making his grave with the wicked. This verse simply says the righteous servant of G-d was poor but dies a rich man. Jesus did not die a rich man. The righteous servant of G-d who is given the many as his portion and receives the multitude as his spoil will die a rich man.

10But the Lord chose to crush him by disease, That, if he made himself an offering for guilt, He might see offspring and have long life, And that through him the Lord’s purpose might prosper.

the Lord chose to crush him by disease: Jesus was never crushed by disease (or brought to grief by illness).

The people Israel as one have never been crushed by disease at the L-rd’s choosing. I agree with the sage Maimonides (Rambam) that Israel as one man cannot be G-d’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53. This view has many inconsistencies.

Foremost is the idea of a collective offering of the Jewish people to G-d of themselves as a guilt offering in the holocaust as taught by Rabbi Tovia Singer who is an influential anti-Christian missionary and celebrated debater of Christians with his interpretation of Isaiah 53. The other idea is presented by Jews for Judaism as an “exaltation” of the Jewish people by the world in a time to come.

Rabbi Singer says “The offering of guilt in this verse is actually literally translated as guilt-offering.”

A guilt offering also referred to in English as a trespass offering was a type of Biblical sacrifice, specifically a sacrifice made as a compensation payment for unintentional transgressions. It was distinct from the biblical sin offering.

The transgressor furnished an unblemished ram for sacrifice at the Temple in Jerusalem, as well as (in cases of sins against holy items, theft, commission of fraud or false oaths) monetary compensation to the victim for their loss, plus a mark-up of 20% of the value to cover the priest’s earnings.

Rabbi Singer tells us that “The guilt-offering is a fire-offering in which all the parts are to go up in smoke and the hide belongs to the one making the offering. I mentioned before that during the Holocaust Hitler not only burned Jews in the ovens of Auschwitz but he also used their skins as lamp shades and their hair as stuffing for pillows. He sacrificed these people on the alters of ovens and kept their hides as his portion but not until he worked and starved them to death.”

This phrase “He sacrificed these people on the alters of ovens and kept their hides as his portion” seems to be a reference to Isaiah 53/12 “Assuredly, I will give him the many as his portion,….”

Rabbi Singer is saying that Hitler made a guilt offering of six million Jewish people who are unblemished ram guilt offerings to G-d and received as his portion human hides of the Jewish people from G-d. That Hitler is the man described in Isaiah 53.

His interpretation is that Isaiah 53 describes the suffering servant Israel who have never offered themselves for guilt to G-d and his explanation that the offering is done for them by Hitler making guilt offerings of them in altars of ovens is his best answer for a verse that does not fit his interpretation. The Christians also do this in different ways.

G-d created an animal sacrificial system of laws for many purposes for a primitive people and commanded the Jewish people not to sacrifice their children through His prophet. G-d never says these laws are to be applied to humans. Isaiah 53 describes a human being not an animal. G-d’s laws of animal sacrifice were just that. Animal sacrifice.

Rabbi Singer sums up his interpretation and commentary on Isaiah 53/10 with “So after the atrocities of WWII the L-RD’S purpose has prospered because the land that was sworn to us is once again being inhabited by its rightful owners and is awaiting the final ingathering.”

Isaiah 53/10 says that if the man described offers himself for guilt “He might see offspring and have long life, And that through him the Lord’s purpose might prosper.”

Rabbi Singer’s interpretation is that six million murdered victims of the Holocaust were made animal ram guilt offerings under the animal sacrificial laws of G-d and that through their deaths a purpose of G-d has prospered.

That G-d had Hitler offer G-d’s children as human animal sacrifices to Him for the purpose of Israel returning to the promised land. And the Christians believe G-d offered His son as a human animal sacrifice for the purpose of forgiving their sins and saving them to Heaven.

The purpose of G-d for the man who makes the many righteous with long life is found in Malachi 3. The teacher of righteousness reconciles the sons to the fathers and the fathers to the sons through the Teachings of G-d given to Moses at Horeb.

How all of those six million people were first crushed by G-d with disease or otherwise so that they would offer to be a guilt offering under the animal sacrificial atonement and worship laws is never explained. And six million is not all of the Jewish people representing the man Israel. Nor were these six million all people of a life of suffering familiar with disease (53/3).

The only time there was ever a collective agreement by the people of Israel was at Sinai when the Jewish people received the Torah and it did not include an offering of themselves for guilt. And there is no account that the Israelites were crushed with disease by G-d so that they would make such an offer.

This interpretation does not explain how the sins of the Jewish people can be put on all of the Jewish people; why such a covenant with G-d is made and left out of the Torah; why offering oneself for guilt is an animal guilt sacrifice applied to a human being and the man is given long life; or why this is a vicarious sin sacrifice so that the gentiles can share in the world to come.

Jews for Judaism says that in a time to come the world will come to realize that the Jew was right all along. That there is no Jesus who died for the sins of mankind and the Koran is nothing more than plagiarism of the stories of Abraham and the Torah and the oral tradition. And this would include those who do not believe in G-d and those who do but are not religious. Jews for Judaism takes this concept on the history and fate of the Jewish people as one man Israel and tries to fit it into the description of G-d’s righteous servant of this chapter.

G-d has never changed the will of men or how they think of the Jewish people in His power. Any exaltation the Jewish people receive from the world will come through G-d’s efforts with His prophet described in Isaiah 53 who G-d calls “My righteous servant”. G-d is not creating a new world of all men loving and exalting and holding in high esteem the Jewish people and practicing Judaism but He is creating a new Heaven for only the Jewish people where the name of Israel shall endure forever.

Those who heed and revere the name of the L-rd and those who are reconciled to G-d and the practice of Judaism by Elijah and written into the scroll of remembrance of Malachi 3 are part of the “many” that G-d’s righteous servant makes righteous in Isaiah 53/11.

The nations will never see the Jewish people in the light discussed by Jews for Judaism and the kings (of nations) will never come to realize that their spiritual assessment of the servant was completely backward or that in truth “it was our ills that he bore and our pains that he carried; but we had regarded him diseased, stricken by God and afflicted.”

Diseased, stricken and afflicted does not describe the Jewish people in any way. Isaiah 53 is describing a man not a spiritual concept of what might happen in the world in a selective interpretation of the Jewish Bible in what G-d means when He says His servant will be exalted. And the Jewish people did not bear the ills and pains or guilt and sin of the gentiles. There is no vicarious suffering for others in the Jewish bible. There has to be another explanation and it is in these writings.

Rambam says Moshiach will compel all of Israel to walk in the way of the Torah; perfect the entire world motivating all the nations to serve G-d together; there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition; the entire world will be solely to know G-d; and the Jews will therefore be great sages and know the hidden matters with an understanding of their Creator to the full extent of human potential.

Rambam and the Sages and Jews for Judaism are religious leaders and as such interpret the scripture to create a world wide religious utopia of Judaism as the one true religion and peace throughout the world.

And yet these are G-d’s words on the days of the HaMoshiach that are not poetic ideals that can never happen in the real world as found in Isaiah 60 written not as prophecy but as a song for hope and joy and better times to come that have nothing to do with the world only Israel to flourish and be secure and the Jewish people to no longer be a spoil for the nations and not to have to bear the taunts of the nations from Ezekiel 34/23-31:

“23Then I will appoint a single shepherd over them to tend them—My servant David. He shall tend them, he shall be a shepherd to them. 24I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David shall be a ruler among them—I the Lord have spoken. 25And I will grant them a covenant of friendship. I will banish vicious beasts from their land, and they shall live secure in the wasteland, they shall even sleep in the woodland. 26I will make these and the environs of My hill a blessing: I will send down the rain in its season, rains that bring blessing. 27The trees of the field shall yield their fruit and the land shall yield its produce. [My people] shall continue secure on its own soil. They shall know that I am the Lord when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from those who enslave them. 28They shall no longer be a spoil for the nations, and the beasts of the earth shall not devour them; they shall dwell secure and untroubled. 29I shall establish for them a planting of renown; they shall no more be carried off by famine, and they shall not have to bear again the taunts of the nations. 30They shall know that I the Lord their God am with them and they, the House of Israel, are My people—declares the Lord God. 31For you, My flock, flock that I tend, are men; and I am your God—declares the Lord God.”

And the last words of G-d on the end times and the day of the L-rd is to be mindful of His teachings and that Elijah will reconcile families to one another by these teachings. Many of whom will return to the L-rd and be written into the scroll of remembrance and many who will not.

G-d has shown me how he orchestrated my being shot in the abdomen. The bullet passed through my colon, bladder and intestines. I was eighteen and this is when the doctors said a tumor began growing in my colon based on its size when surgically removed when I was in my early forties shortly after the 9/11 terrorist attack on New York. I was close to death and seeing how grief stricken so many relatives were on the news I asked my father for the money to pay for a colon examination. The doctors finally found what was making me so ill and unable to eat. A malignant tumor the size of an ear of corn that had burst through my colon and I was bleeding internally.

To say it crushed me and my life is an understatement. G-d afflicted me and crushed me with cancer with a bullet to my abdomen and, by His words to me, in His power.

That, if he made himself an offering for guilt: There are no testimonies in the New Testament that Jesus offered himself for guilt to G-d.

My offering of my soul and self for guilt was an offering for long life. It has nothing to do with the animal sacrificial laws of G-d. G-d crushed me with cancer and near death so that I would want long life and endure an incredible degree and amount of pain for many years as He prepared me to be suitable to be a prophet to the Jewish people. It is the same process G-d used to make Ezekiel’s forehead as hard as flint to be a prophet to the Jewish people.

The fact of the matter is that no man would refuse G=d’s request to be His righteous servant.

When G-d had Isaiah write chapter 53 He made sure the man described was blemished and could not be associated with the animal sacrificial laws of atonement and worship. All of those laws require unblemished animals. You cannot offer a diseased animal.

I am the man described G-d afflicted with cancer so that I would offer myself for guilt. He and I both know I would have made the offer without the cancer. It was done to make sure no one ever applied the animal sacrificial laws of atonement and worship to the man described. The man G-d calls “My righteous servant” who is Elijah of Malachi 3.

Jesus cannot be the man of Isaiah 53 though he and Paul and Peter claimed that he was. Jesus was unblemished. [ Jesus says “in the volume of the book it is written of me” that G-d prepared the body of Jesus to be a human sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins in replacement of the animal sacrificial atonement laws. That G-d would accept a human sacrifice for the sins of mankind since He no longer wanted or would accept animals. The Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ https://keithmccartymccarty.wordpress.com/2017/06/11/the-offering-of-the-body-of-jesus-christ/ ]

G-d knew all things in the beginning. That includes the way the gentiles would take the book of His children of the book. So He laid a snare for the day of the L-rd. This day, when the Jewish people have returned to the lands of Israel and Jerusalem has been rebuilt and the lands bloom again.

I offered myself for guilt to G-d and the offer was accepted. I did not know what an offering for guilt meant at the time G-d began speaking to me and revealing His power and the weight of His presence. G-d had to teach me the scripture first. One night G-d told me to read Isaiah 53 and when I finished He asked who I thought that was. I said I did not know and G-d said that is you. From there we went back to the first verse and He began to show me how I fit the description and Jesus does not as explained here. I did not know about Ezekiel or the suffering servant Israel at that time. I have learned many of these things as G-d has me type these writings. As He is doing right now in editing this writing and adding more information.

I cannot begin to describe how painful it has been and I have been through many injuries and sorrowful times. I became guilty of sins that were not my own and G-d sentenced me to chastisement, crushing, bruising and punishment until suitable for His purpose. Now my soul has been cleansed and tempered and remains in His power that envelops me always. I was not born with the soul of the Moshiach. G-d took my sinful soul and created the soul of the Moshiach while it rested in me. A soul G-d can dwell with and not be offended.

He might see offspring and have long life: Jesus died in his early thirties unmarried and without children.

My gunshot accident on a ranch in Texas that led to the cancer that crushed me also led to my marrying the girl who lived next door and we had three children.

The Lord (verses 11-12)

11Out of his anguish he shall see it; He shall enjoy it to the full through his devotion. My righteous servant makes the many righteous, It is their punishment that he bears;

Out of his anguish he shall see it; He shall enjoy it to the full through his devotion: Jesus did not come out of his anguish to make the many righteous through his devotion to G-d.

The anguish is the emotional and physical pain I have suffered by punishment in the power of the Lord of Hosts to make me suitable for His purpose. Being suitable for His purpose includes knowledge of the scripture and perfect communication between myself and G-d and the person of His spirit. I am devoted to G-d and His purpose. He has prepared me well through this process of refinement by punishment and teaching me the scripture.

12Assuredly, I will give him the many as his portion, He shall receive the multitude as his spoil. For he exposed himself to death And was numbered among the sinners, Whereas he bore the guilt of the many And made intercession for sinners.”

For he exposed himself to death: Jesus was not exposed to death. He died.

I was exposed to death by a near fatal bullet wound and colon cancer which had spread to my lungs. I was told I was going to die. G-d has told me that by His power I survived and by His power I will have long life. During the refinement of my soul and spirit He has exposed me to death as a part of my offering myself for guilt in vision and in the real world similar to the account of Jonah at the bottom of the ocean.

And was numbered among the sinners: Jesus was without sin.

I was numbered a sinner just like all men and was a sinner who did not know that G-d accepts repentance. I have been brought into righteousness with Him and now He is in charge of everything I do and say to make intercession for the many sinners through the teaching of righteousness and as the messenger of the new covenant of sin forgiveness for the Jewish people.

Isaiah 53 ISAIAH 53 (Tanakh JPS 1985) Forward: The Jewish Publication Society began to consider a new edition of the Bible and the concept of a completely new translation gradually took hold and the task was begun in 1955.

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