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Preface:
After World War II, 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 and published in 1985 directly from the original Hebrew text, the Leningrad Codex. The Leningrad Codex is the oldest complete edition of the Hebrew Bible in existence. It dates to around 1008-1010 A.D.
However, the Leningrad Codex, although complete, is not the best quality Hebrew manuscript. Although carefully hand-written, it was corrected against the Aleppo Codex – and the Aleppo Codex remains the best quality manuscript. The Leningrad Codex is so reliable that it is the Hebrew text from which nearly all modern translations have been translated.
Harry M. Orlinsky, Professor of Bible at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion (New York) was editor-in-chief along with H. L. Ginsberg, Professor of the Bible at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Ephraim A. Speiser, Professor of Semitic and Oriental Languages at the University of Pennsylvania, as fellow editors.
Associated with them were three rabbis: Max Arzt, Bernard J. Bamberger, and Harry Freedman, representing the Conservative, Reform, and Orthodox branches of organized Jewish religious life.
All the quoted scripture of this writing from the Hebrew Bible is from the Jewish Publication Society, 1985 Tanakh. All the quoted scripture of this writing from the New Testament is from the Holy Bible, King James Version.
Introduction
Chapters
1. The Leper Scholar
2. The Ancestral Tree
3. The Creation of the Angel of His Presence
4. The Angel of God’s Presence
5. A Spirit Entered into Ezekiel
6. The Angel of the Lord
7. A Host of the Lord’s Host
8. The First Host
9. The Era of Redemption
10. The Cup of God’s Wrath
11. Torah Written on Every Heart
12. Divine Inspiration of Prophecy Fulfilled
13. God Creates and He Forms
14. Hebrew and Jew
15. The God of Elijah
16. John the Baptist
17. Deception
18. Signs and Portents
19. The Essene’s Embodied Jesus
20. The New Covenant
21. Rashi’s Commentary on Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53
22. The Leper Scholar vs. Jesus in Isaiah 53 23. The Leper Scholar vs. Israel in Isaiah 53 (Guilt-Offering)
24. The Leper Scholar vs. Israel in Isaiah 53 (Exaltation)
25. The Resurrection of the Dead
26. Reckoning and Dismissal
27. Avenge the Revenge
28. Ezekiel
29. God’s Purpose Which Might Prosper
30. Another Proof of Elijah
31. Victory and Vindication (Isaiah 61)
32. The New Heaven
33. God’s House of Prayer and His House in Heaven
34. God’s Power in Creation
35. Stirring the Spirit of Armies
36. Born with Iniquity
37. Maimonides (The Rambam)
38. The Sign of the Prophet
39. Jonah and the Righteous Servant of Isaiah 53
40. Job and the Righteous Servant of God
41. The Man Clothed in Linen is Elijah
42. Moses and the Angel
43. Moses and Joshua the Attendant
44. Moses and the Seventy Elders
45. The Word of the Lord and Elijah
46. Psalms 2 and the Day of the Lord
47. David Shunned and Despised (Psalm 69)
48. The Twelve Tribes Returned to Judah
49. The Final Prophet of God
50. The Day of the Lord
“ADDENDUM” (Chapter Summaries)
INTRODUCTION
Isaiah 53 describes God’s righteous servant, a man who has never been identified and is also three men prophesied to come in a future time in the scripture and deliver two covenants. The new covenant with sin forgiveness of Jeremiah 31 and the covenant of friendship of Ezekiel 34. The three men are the prophet like Moses to be heeded by the Jewish people in Deuteronomy 18/15, the descendant of King David upon whom the spirit of God alights in Isaiah 11/1-2, and Elijah the messenger and reconciler of Malachi 3.
Each of these men would be righteous servants of God as were King David, Moses and Elijah in the Hebrew Bible. The descendant of King David will not be the same man as he was and the prophet like Moses will not be the same man as Moses was. The return of Elijah is not the return of the Elijah taken to heaven by the chariots of God. Each will be a man with a different appearance and personality than that of King David, Moses and Elijah who will have the attributes and capabilities of those men. There is no description of the anointed one God calls My servant David, of Elijah the messenger and reconciler of families, or of the prophet like Moses.
There is only Isaiah 53 describing God’s righteous servant who might be given long life and makes the many righteous. God’s servant David the shepherd, Elijah the messenger and reconciler of families, and the prophet like Moses cannot be identified. The lone description of one man to come is inherently and implicitly a description of one man with the attributes and capabilities of these three men. All four are righteous servants of God. Only one man can fulfill all of the verses of Isaiah 53.
His life will be quite different than the lives of King David, Elijah and Moses as a man who is despised, shunned by men, a man of suffering familiar with disease, and accounted plagued, smitten and afflicted by God. He is wounded, crushed and chastised by the world throughout his life, with persistent hardships and troubles, grievously affected especially by disease, and severely injured at one time or another. A man of many bruises and scars (stripes). A sinner and a gentile, in the beginning. The three men to come who are not described cannot be identified by reference to the lives of King David, Elijah and Moses.
The shortest verse in the Christian New Testament is “Jesus wept.” He had just raised Lazarus from the dead and still, the people did not believe he was who he said he was. There is no description of him. It is certainly not Isaiah 53. Judaism does not seem to realize how important a description of God’s servant David is for the building of the third Temple. Rambam says if King Moshiach builds the third Temple we will know he is Moshiach. If he is not first recognized as God’s servant David this will not happen.
If Elijah is not recognized his purpose in clearing the way for the Lord’s return to His Temple will not prosper and God will bring utter destruction to the land (Israel) when He returns. There are about seven million Jewish Israeli’s and utter destruction could very well cost the lives of six million of them. The prophet like Moses will write the words of God as Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible (the Torah). At the command and direction of God. If he is not recognized no one will know that what he writes is scripture. The written word of God.
There are many unknowns in the teachings of the Sages and Rabbis of the ancient age and middle ages and many misinterpretations that have led to misconceptions on an era of restoration, redemption, and exaltation by the world of the Jewish people in Judaism. A time where everyone in the world is perfected in the Hebrew language and practicing Judaism and acknowledging that the Jewish people have been right about God all along, and King Moshiach has gathered his Kingdom.
Rambam says in Chapter Twelve of “The Laws Concerning King Moshiach” that “Moshiach will compel all of Israel to walk in the way of the Torah; perfect the entire world motivating all the nations to serve God together; there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition; the entire world will be solely to know God; 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.”
Yet, God simply says He will send down the rain in its season; the trees of the field shall yield their fruit and the land shall yield its produce; the Jewish people shall continue secure on their own soil and never be overthrown and uprooted again; they shall no longer be a spoil for the nations; He will establish for them a planting of renown; they shall no more be carried off by famine; they shall not have to bear again the taunts of the nations; He will establish them and multiply them; He will place His Sanctuary among them forever; His Presence shall rest over them; and when His Sanctuary abides among them forever, the nations will know that the Lord sanctifies Israel.
And what was taught by the Sages and Rabbis of the ancient age and middle ages of the Talmud, Rambam of the Mishnah Torah and the commentaries of Rashi on the Talmud and Tanakh is still taught today with one exception. God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 is now generally said to be Israel the Jewish people collectively as one man rather than the “Leper Scholar” of the Babylonian Talmud. Israel as God’s righteous servant is a false teaching as are the teachings of the era of redemption, restoration, and exaltation of the Jewish people and King Moshiach gathering his Kingdom. This is God’s covenant of friendship that comes with His servant David:
“I will make a covenant of friendship with them—it shall be an everlasting covenant with them—I will establish them and multiply them, and I will place My Sanctuary among them forever. My Presence shall rest over them; I will be their God and they shall be My people. And when My Sanctuary abides among them forever, the nations shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel.” Ezekiel 37/26-28
This is the new covenant for a time to come announced by God in Jeremiah 31 that arrives in the day of the Lord with the angel of the covenant that you desire and Elijah who delivers the covenant as a messenger, though the angel comes just before him in Malachi 3:
“But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after these days—declares the Lord: I will put My Teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No longer will they need to teach one another and say to one another, “Heed the Lord“; for all of them, from the least of them to the greatest, shall heed Me—declares the Lord.
For I will forgive their iniquities,
And remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31/33-34
In the day of the Lord, all the remaining prophecies of the Hebrew Bible are fulfilled. Four men arrive and two covenants are delivered. Fulfilled by one man. The man God calls “My righteous servant” in Isaiah 53/11.
Jeremiah 31, Isaiah 53, and Malachi 3 are proof that God had the prophets write their books at His command and direction in the same manner that He had Moses write the Torah. Jeremiah writes the new covenant with sin forgiveness for a time to come; Isaiah describes the Messenger; and in Malachi God says the messenger (Elijah) is being sent and the angel of the covenant is already on the way in the day of the Lord. Isaiah, Jeremiah and Malachi each came after one another had died. They could not have known each other and yet together their prophecy sets up the day of the Lord.
The creativity of the verses of Isaiah 53 reveal God’s knowledge in the days of Isaiah of the Christian story of Jesus who is referred to in Christianity as the unblemished lamb of God. Jesus, a man sacrificed under the concept of the animal atonement and worship laws of the Torah for sin forgiveness of the Jewish people. Laws requiring the sacrifice of unblemished lambs to atone for sin and other animals for other wrongs.
God knew the gentiles would take the book of the children of the book and call it their own as prophetic of the coming of Jesus whom they call God based on Isaiah 53. That is why God blemishes the man with disease. It is so that Jesus, the unblemished lamb of God cannot be the man described.
Isaiah 53 sets up a test of devotion for the man described to be anointed by God as His righteous servant upon passing the test. There are verses that imply vicarious suffering by God’s righteous servant for the sins, iniquities and guilt of others. God’s Teaching is that no man dies for the sins of another man. These verses are for the test of devotion. The righteous servant believes he is being asked to suffer for the guilt and sin of others.
“Behold, I am sending My messenger to clear the way before Me, and the Lord whom you seek shall come to His Temple suddenly. As for the angel of the covenant that you desire, he is already coming.” Malachi 3/1
The angel of the covenant leaves before the messenger Elijah is sent. He arrives with sin forgiveness before God’s righteous servant, who is Elijah, David and the prophet like Moses makes himself an offering for guilt of the Jewish people. There are no sins for the righteous servant to offer himself for. This would also apply to Jesus who said his cousin John was Elijah.
This is the time to come of Jeremiah 31 said to be when the land blooms again and the ruined cities and Jerusalem have been rebuilt as they are today which began in 1948 when the State of Israel was created. The time when God sends the new covenant with the angel of the covenant that you desire, who is the angel of God’s Presence and God’s Holy spirit. The very spirit of God that alights upon the descendant of King David in Isaiah 11/1-2.
This leads to Malachi 3/1 and the arrival of the new covenant with the angel followed by Elijah the messenger of the new covenant and God’s return in the day of the Lord. One God (of Israel), one angel (of the covenant), and one man (God’s righteous servant) all come together in the day of the Lord. God’s righteous servant is a man and divine beings. A host of the Lord’s host. A man that God has complete, total and absolute control over as He did Moses.
God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 is made suitable for God’s purpose which “might” prosper and that purpose which “might” prosper is found in Elijah who shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents by being mindful of the Teaching and laws of God given to Moses at Horeb (Sinai) for all Israel, so that, when God comes to return to His Temple He does not strike the whole land with utter destruction. If Elijah’s purpose does not prosper utter destruction comes to the land. Jesus had nothing to do with this purpose of Elijah that might prosper of Isaiah 53 and Malachi 3 saying:
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10/34-37 Holy Bible
It is said that Mohammad was in Hira when one day the Archangel Gabriel appeared before him, and brought to him the tidings that God had chosen him to be His Last Messenger to this world. God chose His last messenger long before the time of Mohammad in Malachi 3. Elijah, to arrive in a time to come that is here to deliver the new covenant to the Jewish people and reconcile the families one to the other through Judaism, making the many righteous.
With Elijah comes God’s servant David and the prophet like Moses. They are all one man and that man is God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53. God’s righteous servant is the final messenger and prophet of God. Not Mohammad.
1.
The Leper Scholar
The Oral Tradition and the Oral Law are necessary for an understanding of the laws given to Moses by the Lord. Such as how you keep and observe the Sabbath of Exodus 31/16 must be determined in the Oral Tradition. Commentaries on the books of the Hebrew Bible outside of the Teachings and laws that were given to Moses by God at Horeb in the Torah are opinions and there were many disagreements among the Sages and Rabbis of the ancient age and the middle ages regarding the prophets and their books.
Rashi says in his introduction to Zachariah chapter One: “The prophecy: of Zechariah is extremely enigmatic because it contains visions resembling a dream that requires an interpretation. We cannot ascertain the truth of its interpretation until the teacher of righteousness comes. Nonetheless, I will put my heart to reconciling the verses, one by one, according to the interpretations that resemble it and following the interpretation of Jonathan.”
Rashi is saying that he is just doing his best in his commentaries following the ways of Johnathan (who followed the ways of Rabbi Hillel). Rashi’s reference to the teacher of righteousness is to the man described in Isaiah 53 who makes the many righteous. The man to come that Rashi is expecting is the anointed one of Isaiah 11.
The Hebrew word Ha means “the” and Moshiach means “anointed one” and in Isaiah 11 the anointed one is from the line of David through Solomon by covenants and from the reference to the stump of Jesse who was the father of King David. Rambam refers to the anointed one from the line of David through Solomon as King Moshiach. Isaiah 11 does not mention a King or a Kingdom.
Since the time of the Rambam (1135-1204), it has been impossible to discuss the subject of Moshiach and the Era of the Redemption without direct reference to the last two chapters eleven and twelve of his halachic code, the Mishnah Torah. These chapters conclude the final section (“The Laws Concerning Kings”) of the final book (“The Book of Judges”) of the Mishnah Torah, and are sometimes referred to separately as “The Laws Concerning King Moshiach.”
Chapter Twelve, paragraph 3 provides “During the Era of the King Moshiach, once his kingdom has been established and all of Israel has gathered around him, the entire [nation’s] line of descent will be established on the basis of his words, through the prophetic spirit which will rest upon him.”
Rambam says the prophetic spirit will rest upon the anointed one. The prophecies of the Hebrew Bible are the prophecies of God. God’s righteous servant does not have a prophetic spirit. While prophetic spirits were a common belief in the middle ages that is not true for the ages of enlightenment, reasoning, and information. Isaiah 11/2 defines the attributes of the spirit that alights upon the anointed one as “A spirit of wisdom and insight, A spirit of counsel and valor, A spirit of devotion and reverence for the Lord”. The only other mention of the anointed one of Isaiah 11/1-2 is in Ezekiel 34 and 37:
“My servant David shall be king over them be one shepherd for all of them. They shall follow My rules and faithfully obey My laws. Thus they shall remain in the land which I gave to My servant Jacob and in which your fathers dwelt; they and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, with My servant David as their prince for all time.” [Meaning, God will raise up another servant from the stump of Jesse that His spirit alights upon to take his place.] Ezekiel 37/24-25
God tells Ezekiel that you shall declare to them: “Thus said the Lord God: I am going to take the Israelite people from among the nations they have gone to, and gather them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land. I will make them a single nation in the land, on the hills of Israel, and one king shall be king of them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.” Ezekiel 37/21-22
Rashi is often referred to as the first Rabbi to believe that the Jewish people as one man “Israel” are God’s righteous servant. His commentary on Isaiah 53 only indicates this in a few of the verses. Rashi never actually says that Isaiah 53 describes the Jewish people in his commentary or explains how “Israel” fulfills all the verses.
The Jewish people are never referred to as God’s righteous servant or the suffering servant as the man of Isaiah 53 is sometimes referred to anywhere else in the Hebrew Bible. Only as God’s servant. If the Jewish people are the righteous servant that would mean all the Jewish people are righteous and that has never been true. The Jewish people have never as one man been crushed with disease or made the many righteous.
That is one reason for the differences of opinion among Rabbi’s today who believe that Israel can fulfill all the verses of Isaiah 53. No one has ever been able to show how the Jewish people as one man fulfill all the verses.
Israel was the father of the twelve tribes who were allotted lands in the promised land and the priestly tribe of the Levites and are today known as the Jewish people. Referring to the Jewish people as one man began early in the Hebrew Bible. The last reference being in the book of Ezra in his account of all thirteen tribes returning to the southern kingdom of the lands of Abraham and rebuilding the Temple of God (the northern kingdom was inhabited by gentiles imported by the Assyrians):
“When the seventh month arrived—the Israelites being settled in their towns—the entire people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.” Ezra 3/1
The Sages did not believe Isaiah 53 described the Jewish people. They believed a single man was described and he was the anointed one. The Babylon Talmud called him the Leper Scholar:
“The Messiah –what is his name? …The Rabbis say, The Leper Scholar, as it is said, `surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God and afflicted…” (Sanhedrin 98b).
This is a commentary on Isaiah 53/4: “Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, Smitten and afflicted by God;”. The belief that Isaiah 53 describes the Jewish people means there is no description of a man God calls His righteous servant who is the anointed one David, Elijah and the prophet like Moses. A man who is God’s visual representation and the speaker of His words in the day of the Lord.
2.
The Ancestral Tree
“But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse, A twig shall sprout from his stock. The spirit of the Lord shall alight upon him; A spirit of wisdom and insight, A spirit of counsel and valor, A spirit of devotion and reverence for the Lord.” Isaiah 11/1-2
Isaiah prophetically refers to the “stump” of Jesse (father of King David) as an announcement of the ending of the line of the Kings of Judah whose last King (Jeconiah) was banished and the line terminated from ever ruling over Judah again. The line of the Kings of Judah is the ancestral tree of David forbidden to ever rule over Judah in Jerusalem. The tree felled leaving only a stump. It is the line of heirs in the first chapter of the book of Matthew of the Holy Bible. The line of Jesus.
God did not banish this line of Jesse of the Kings of Judah until long after the death of Isaiah. God knew in Isaiah’s time that the line of the Kings of Judah would be taken into exile and His Temple destroyed. That He would end that line leaving just a stump of Jesse for His anointed one to be raised from. Jesus could not fulfill the book of Isaiah for the reason his line of David is not from the stump of Jesse. The line of Jesus is from the felled ancestral tree of Jesse. A tree cut down.
The twig (anointed one) sprouts from the shoot (descendant) that grows out of the stump of the felled tree. A new ancestral tree.
“For he has grown, by His favor, like a tree crown, Like a tree trunk out of arid ground…” Isaiah 53/2
This continues the symbolism of an ancestral tree. This man grows by the favor of God like a tree crown. A dominant tree crown reaches over all other plants in the forest, including the crowns of other trees. From a sinful man whose life has been full of pain, suffering, and sorrows familiar with disease that the spirit of God, the Holy spirit, alights upon (and God’s Presence is always nearby) to the crown of God’s righteous servant who is David, Elijah and the prophet like Moses.
There are other verses of Isaiah 11 that connect the anointed one to the man described in Isaiah 53:
“The stock of Jesse that has remained standing Shall become a standard to peoples— Nations shall seek his counsel And his abode shall be honored.” Isaiah 11/10
“By 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.” Isaiah 53/8
“And 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.” Isaiah 53/9
“Assuredly, I will give him the many as his portion, He shall receive the multitude as his spoil.” Isaiah 53/12
The abode of the righteous servant is humble when the Lord cuts him off from the world of material things and society in Isaiah 53/8 and in the end the abode of the servant is one to be honored in Isaiah 11/10. From a poor man to a rich man with the many as his portion and the multitude as his spoil and an abode to be honored.
The Rabbis today who believe Isaiah 53 describes the Jewish people have been left to their own analysis for this interpretation. And there are different opinions on how the Jewish people fulfill the verses of Isaiah 53. Rabbi Tovia Singer of Outreach Judaism and Jews for Judaism both believe Isaiah 53 describes Israel and they disagree with each other in their analysis. This is not unusual. Rabbi Nachmonides often disagreed with Rabbi Maimonides (Rambam).
Tovia Singer follows the Christian belief that God sacrifices His children by applying the animal atonement and worship laws of the Torah to human beings and Jews for Judaism believes in an “exaltation” of the Jewish people following the teachings of the Sages and Rabbis on an era of redemption, restoration, and exaltation of the Jewish people. The opinions and disagreements on the interpretation of Isaiah 53 are not a case of interpreting a vague law of God given to Moses whose meaning must be determined in the Oral tradition to be properly observed.
Those who believe Israel is described and is God’s righteous servant do not understand the importance of having a description of men prophesied to come in a future time. These men do not work miracles. In “The Laws Concerning King Moshiach.” of the Mishnah Torah, Chapter Eleven, paragraph 3 provides “One should not entertain the notion that the King Moshiach must work miracles and wonders, bring about new phenomena within the world, resurrect the dead, or perform other similar deeds. This is [definitely] not true.”
The shortest verse in the Christian New Testament is “Jesus wept”. He wept after raising Lazarus from the dead for the reason all his miracles failed to convince the people of who he was. There is no description of him. It certainly is not Isaiah 53. The only description of a man to come is God’s righteous servant in Isaiah 53. Inherently and implicitly this must include God’s servant David, Elijah, and the prophet like Moses.
How will the Jewish people believe a man who claims to be any one of these three? None will be performing miracles and as the story of Jesus tells us working miracles does not guaranty recognition as a servant of God. People are always skeptical when there is no visible proof. That is why Isaiah 53 is so important.
God’s righteous servant as Elijah reconciles families through Judaism bringing them each to righteousness in the day of the Lord and if his purpose does not prosper God will bring utter destruction to the land (Israel) in Malachi 3. His purpose might prosper. This is a part of the description of God’s righteous servant in Isaiah 53. God’s righteous servant makes the many righteous for an unspecified purpose of God that might prosper.
God’s righteous servant makes the many righteous by his knowledge and long life. The knowledge is given to him during the test of devotion and in the process of God making him suitable for His purpose. This would include knowledge of heaven as Elijah who is the only man in the Hebrew Bible that is specifically taken to heaven by the words of God; of writing the words of God as the prophet like Moses; and of the nations of the middle east and war as God’s servant David.
The teachings of God’s righteous servant of heaven where the name Israel will endure will be proof that he is Elijah and an aide in bringing the families of the Jewish people back to practicing Judaism, being righteous, and in right standing with God that clears the way for the Lord (God has to have believers in His righteous servant for His purpose to prosper).
There is only a description of one man to come and no man to this day has ever fulfilled all the verses of Isaiah 53. Not the man called the Teacher of righteousness of the Dead Sea Scrolls who founded the sect of Judaism called Essenes one hundred years before the birth of Jesus; not Jesus, who claimed he was the man of Isaiah 53; and not any of the men who have been thought to be HaMoshiach from the Jewish revolt against Rome such as Bar Kokhba to Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe who died in 1994.
3.
The Creation of the Angel of God’s Presence
God created all things including spirit and souls that together form persons. The first person He created was the person of His spirit who is the angel of His Presence, the Holy spirit.
“In all their troubles He was troubled, And the angel of His Presence delivered them. In His love and pity, He Himself redeemed them, Raised them, and exalted them All the days of old. But they rebelled, and grieved His holy spirit; Then He became their enemy, And Himself made war against them.” Isaiah 63/10
Micaiah the prophet tells of a vision he had where God, who has no form or image, was seated on His throne in 1Kings 22/19-23. Taking this image of God on a throne imagine in His hand He holds a soul. A pure soul that looks like a ball of white energy. God takes this soul and creates with His mind and then wills it to have the characteristics and traits of the person the soul will be when blended with God’s spirit.
All persons are souls blended with spirit. The first person was the person of the spirit of God who is the angel of His Presence and the Holy spirit. An angel whose body is not the form of a human with wings. His body is the spirit of God.
God takes this special soul and places it before His face and speaks the words “I am”. But God does not use His voice. He becomes the person He is creating. He uses the childlike voice of an angelic person. He speaks to the angel as God and answers for him as the angel. God simulates being this new person for ages and ages until he is perfect as God would have him be. Then God releases that special soul and spirit from before His face with a breath of life. And the person of the spirit of God was created. An angel whose body is the spirit of the Holy God. The Holy spirit.
God is always in him. God was him. God can always place the person of His spirit before His face and be him and speak as him and through him. And this is how God (“My Name”) is in the angel that was sent to guard the Israelite’s on the way to the promised land and in the angel of the Lord in the burning bush that God spoke through to Moses. They are the same angel. The angel of God’s Presence.
Angels are created just as the person of God’s spirit was created. There is no real difference between angels and spirits. They are all persons of feelings and emotions. Both have souls like a ball of energy with specific characteristics blended with spirit and contained in a body of God’s power. The only difference is the body of God’s power.
4.
The Angel of God’s Presence
God says His spirit shall alight upon the anointed one in Isaiah 11/1-2 and the chapter concludes with metaphors of a peaceful time in the land. God’s spirit is the angel of His Presence. The anointed one is not mentioned again in Isaiah and just once more in Ezekiel 34 and 37 and God refers to him as My servant David. He is also the speaker of Isaiah 61 although not specifically identified.
”In all their troubles He was troubled, And the angel of His Presence delivered them. In His love and pity, He Himself redeemed them, Raised them, and exalted them All the days of old. But they rebelled, and grieved His holy spirit; Then He became their enemy, And Himself made war against them.” Isaiah 63/9-10
The angel of His Presence is a person. If God’s Holy Spirit can be grieved, he is a person. Only a person can be grieved. Verse 10 does not say that God was grieved but that His Holy Spirit was grieved. God is not a spirit. He created all things including spirit and souls that together form persons. Persons of spirit, persons of angels and persons of human beings. God is absolute knowledge and absolute power, and He is a person.
The angel of God’s Presence is spirit. His angelic body is the spirit of God. Not all angels are cherubim as seen on the ark of the covenant who have the form of a human with wings. The angel of God’s Presence is also the Holy spirit of God. He, like the Lord, has many names including the angel of death, the angel of the Lord, the word of the Lord and the angel of the covenant.
“I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have made ready. Pay heed to him and obey him. Do not defy him, for he will not pardon your offenses, since My Name [God] is in him; but if you obey him and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.” Exodus 23/ 20-22
The angel sent before the Israelite’s in the Exodus is the angel of God’s Presence. Where God dwells and moves about as He did with Moses and the Israelites His Holy spirit is with Him. In Isaiah 63 when the Israelite’s grieved His Holy spirit God becomes their enemy and Himself made war against them.
The reason God says if they grieve His Holy spirit, He Himself will make war against them is that it is a defiance of Him who is in the angel but also because the angel is very special to Him and He becomes angry. In Exodus 23 God says if the Israelites obey the angel and do all that he says, He will be an enemy to their enemies. If they do not it will grieve His Holy spirit.
That is why when God’s spirit alights upon the anointed one it includes the angel of His Presence and where the angel is the Presence of God is, or at least close by as revealed in visions of the prophets Ezekiel and Zachariah.
5.
A Spirit Entered into Ezekiel
Ezekiel says: “And He said to me, “O mortal, stand up on your feet that I may speak to you.” As He spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet; and I heard what was being spoken to me.” Ezekiel 2/1-2
This is God speaking to a man (“O mortal”) who is Ezekiel, but he does not hear God speaking until at the same moment a spirit enters him and sets him upon his feet. A spirit of God entering a man and God speaking means the angel of God’s Presence who is spirit alighted upon him and that God is in him. Just as the spirit of God alights upon and enters the anointed one of Isaiah 11/1-2.
Ezekiel says: “The Presence of the Lord ascended from the midst of the city [Jerusalem] and stood on the hill east of the city. A spirit carried me away and brought me in a vision by the spirit of God to the exile community in Chaldea. Then the vision that I had seen left me, and I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.” Ezekiel 11/23-25
The spirit of God used a spirit to bring Ezekiel in a vision to the exile community in Chaldea and he tells the exiles all the things the Lord had shown him. And God stood by on a hill. For the spirit of God to do this he has to be a person. The power to take a man into a vision comes from God who is nearby meaning the spirit of God is the angel of God’s Presence. The Lord is a part of this vision or was speaking through the spirit of God since Ezekiel told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown him.
Micaiah the prophet tells of a vision he had where God was seated on His throne:
“But [Micaiah] said, I call upon you to hear the word of the Lord! I saw the Lord seated upon His throne, with all the host of heaven standing in attendance to the right and to the left of Him. The Lord asked, ‘Who will entice Ahab so that he will march and fall at Ramoth-Gilead?’ Then one said this and another said thus until a certain spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘How?’ the Lord asked him. And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ Then He said, ‘You will entice and you will prevail. Go out and do it.’ So the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these prophets of yours; for the Lord has decreed disaster upon you.” 1Kings 22/19-23
That certain spirit is the person of the spirit of the Holy God. He is in many of the stories of God. The power of God is present when the spirit enters all of Ahab’s prophets and the word’s they speak change from what they intended to say to lies. The only power in heaven is God. Moses did not perform miracles in the Exodus God did. The angel of death did not kill the first born of Egypt God did. The power of God is His and His alone. He does not share it or create it in others. His power comes from His will.
God thought creation, humanity, and the Hebrew Bible through from beginning to end. He imagined it in His mind visually and then He spoke (willed) it to be through a physical process. He does not have a magic wand and just speak something, and it is. He did not say let there be abundant water and it was. He drew water from space from the ends of the universe to disperse it upon the earth as oceans, rivers, and streams in His power.
Then He added a script as though for a reality television show. The script of the story of the Jewish people and the day of the Lord and He prepared it with the scripture. The Torah, The Prophets, and The Writings are His. He had them written by men and women at His command and direction incorporating a little of the personalities of each writer into the stories. For example, the day of the Lord and the time for it is set up through the books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Malachi with no indication they knew one another.
This is His control and power in the world. He does not come to show miracles in the day of the Lord through His righteous servant or otherwise. He does not change the natural order of the world or create new phenomena or change the minds of the people of the world to worship Him or speak Hebrew and convert to Judaism. All of which is a part of Judaism’s era of redemption, restoration, and exaltation. All things are as He knew they would be.
Working miracles is not necessary. That would take away from His having thought through with visual images and absolute knowledge all things from beginning to end. As humanity would be without him and as humanity would be with Him.
Any time an angel or spirit is present in a story and God speaks or His power is revealed the angel or spirit is the angel of His Presence. The person of God’s spirit is His constant friend and companion that He created. He has many purposes as both angel and spirit in God’s communication with the world and preparing prophets for His purposes.
6.
The Angel of the Lord
Zechariah 1/7-12 with commentary verse by verse as a Midrash separating parts of a verse for interpretation:
7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month of the second year of Darius—the month of Shebat—this word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo:
This word of the Lord: This verse continues with “In the night, I had a vision” which is not a word of the Lord. The word of the Lord coming to Zechariah means the messenger of the words of God has come to Zechariah who is the angel of God’s Presence and the “word of the Lord”. He has alighted upon Zechariah to bring a vision from God.
8In the night, I had a vision. I saw a man, mounted on a bay horse, standing among the myrtles in the Deep, and behind him were bay, sorrel, and white horses.
In the night, I had a vision: There is a man on a horse standing in the myrtles. He is later referred to as the angel of the Lord standing in the myrtles. The angel of the Lord alights upon and enters men and My Name (God) is in him and can speak through the man. Zechariah has an angel with him who is his guide in the vision. The Deep is like a valley Zechariah is looking down on filled with myrtle trees and then an open area below that is where the bay, sorrel, and white horses are.
9I asked, “What are those, my lord?” And the angel who talked with me answered, “I will let you know what they are.”
What are those, my lord?: Zechariah is not talking to the angel that is with him who answered but who never lets him know what they are. He is asking the angel of the Lord about the horses in the open area to the man standing in the myrtles (on a bay horse). In verse 11 they who reported are the horses who have gone to and fro throughout the earth and they spoke the report to “the angel of the Lord”.
10Then the man who was standing among the myrtles spoke up and said, “These were sent out by the Lord to roam the earth.”
Then the man who was standing among the myrtles spoke up and said: The man standing in the myrtles answers the question of Zechariah, not the angel who is with Zechariah. And his question was asked to “my Lord”.
11And in fact, they reported to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtles, “We have roamed the earth, and have found all the earth dwelling in tranquility.”
And in fact, they reported to the angel of the Lord: They who reported are the horses who have gone to and fro throughout the earth and they spoke the report to the angel of the Lord.
who was standing among the myrtles: The angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtles has alighted upon and entered the man standing among the myrtles. The angel of the Lord is using this man as his visible presence. Just as he once used a burning bush for his visible presence and God spoke through him to Moses. Not just as His visible presence, he also used the man to say, “These were sent out by the Lord to roam the earth.” from verse 10.
12Thereupon the angel of the Lord exclaimed, “O Lord of Hosts! How long will You withhold pardon from Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, which You placed under a curse seventy years ago?
Thereupon the angel of the Lord exclaimed: The angel of the Lord exclaimed through the man. Zechariah heard the words come from the man standing in the myrtles. It is the only way Zechariah could have heard the words. The angel of the Lord can only speak to the man he has alighted upon. Ezekiel describes this as “a spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet, and I heard what was being spoken to me.”
“O Lord of Hosts! How long will You withhold pardon from Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, which You placed under a curse seventy years ago?” The following verses are from the book of Isaiah regarding this curse:
“So I profaned the holy princes; I abandoned Jacob to proscription And Israel to mockery.” Isaiah 43/2
The profaning of the holy princes is God’s prophecy of the banishment of King Jeconiah and all his offspring from ever ruling over Judah in Jerusalem again. The line of the Kings of Judah ended. The line described King by King in the first book of the New Testament of Christianity. The line of Jesus.
The abandonment and mockery are God’s prophecy that the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom of the Israelite’s would be defeated and deported from the promised land. Isaiah witnessed the deportation of the northern kingdom, but the deportations of the southern kingdom were many years after his death.
“Fear not, for I am with you: I will bring your folk from the East, Will gather you out of the West; I will say to the North, “Give back!” And to the South, “Do not withhold! Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the end of the earth—All who are linked to My name, whom I have created, Formed and made for My glory—” Isaiah 43/5-7.
This is God’s prophecy that all of the tribes of Israel would return from the Assyrian deportations of the tribes east of the river Jordan that were Reuben, Gad, and the 1/2 tribe of Manasseh and all of the tribes of the northern kingdom and the Babylonian deportations of the southern kingdom. It is a prophecy that is specific to the Assyrian/Babylonian exiles.
This prophecy was fulfilled according to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah in their account of all thirteen tribes returning to the southern kingdom of the lands of Benjamin and Judah. Jerusalem is within the lands of Benjamin and his lands are considered part of the kingdom of Judah since that is where the Kings of Judah ruled from. Ten tribes being lost and not returning is a myth.
“When the seventh month arrived—the Israelite’s being settled in their towns—the entire people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.” Ezra 3/1
When the people Israel gather as one man it is all twelve tribes and the Levites (the priestly tribe without an allotment of the promised lands). Judahites and Benjaminite’s alone are not Israel though all references to Israelites would include them. All of Israel had returned together to Jerusalem and Judah mindful of all the imported gentiles in the northern kingdom (imported by the Assyrians), many of whom tried to stop the building of the second Temple.
“The first to settle in their towns, on their property, were Israelite’s, priests, Levites, and temple servants, while some of the Judahites and some of the Benjaminites and some of the Ephraimites and Manassehites settled in Jerusalem;” 1Chronicles 9/2-3
Manassehites, Ephraimites and Judahites were the tribes with the largest allotments of the lands of Abraham and Jerusalem is in the lands of the Benjaminite’s. Ephraim and Manasseh were not lost tribes as many believe from writings outside of the Bible. There never were lost tribes according to the Bible.
All thirteen tribes returned and settled in new towns. The accounts of the deportations indicate there was not much left of the old towns. There is no account of how the new towns were settled though it is unlikely it was based on prior ownership. The exile lasted too long for the deported owners to still be alive and the tribes of the northern kingdom had to build new towns to live in.
“Thus said the Lord, Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake, I send to Babylon; I will bring down all [her] bars, And the Chaldeans shall raise their voice in lamentation.” Isaiah 43/14
This is God’s prophecy that Assyria would be conquered by the Babylonians who were defeated by the Chaldeans and that He would raise up the gentile anointed king Cyrus of Persia to conquer them to clear the way for all the tribes to return.
“It is I, I who—for My own sake—Wipe your transgressions away And remember your sins no more.” Isaiah 43/25
This is God doing “something new” for the Israelites. This story repeats with the new covenant that includes sin forgiveness of the Jewish people that arrives with Elijah and the angel of that covenant after the exiles of the Roman dispersal return to the land of Israel in a time to come. The Jewish people have returned from the Roman dispersal of them throughout the world (the diaspora) to a land that lay desolate for more than two thousand years until after the Holocaust they created the State of Israel.
Seventy years later the land blooms again and Jerusalem has been rebuilt as a great city larger than it was in ancient times. According to God’s words in Jeremiah 31, the time to come to deliver the new covenant with sin forgiveness is here. That means the angel of the covenant that you desire of Malachi 3 is on his way followed by the messenger Elijah and when God’s third Temple is built, He will return to it suddenly. This is the day of the Lord.
Zechariah is in Jerusalem and the construction on the second Temple is about to begin. Isaiah has written God’s words of sin forgiveness which would have removed the “curse” long before this and the angel of the Lord proclaims “O Lord of Hosts! How long will You withhold pardon from Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, which You placed under a curse seventy years ago.”
This vision of Zechariah and the words of the angel of the Lord through the man standing in the myrtles regarding the curse seventy years ago is to make Zechariah think and try to understand why the angel of the Lord would say this. From his perspective, the curse was lifted as he was back in Jerusalem with all the tribes preparing to build the second Temple. The vision is for Zechariah to find out how and when the curse was lifted.
Rashi says in his introduction to Zachariah chapter One: “The prophecy of Zechariah is extremely enigmatic because it contains visions resembling a dream that requires an interpretation. We cannot ascertain the truth of its interpretation until the teacher of righteousness comes. Nonetheless, I will put my heart to reconciling the verses, one by one, according to the interpretations that resemble it and following the interpretation of Jonathan.”
The books of Ezra and Nehemiah reveal that the thirteen tribes did not know they had been forgiven of their sins to be a Holy seed in the building of the second Temple. If people know they have been forgiven and have a clean slate from past transgressions against God and His laws, they are more likely to stop their sinful ways and abide by His laws in the future. The scroll of Isaiah needs to be found and interpreted by Zechariah and the religious leaders so they will know of God’s forgiveness of their sins.
God will be returning before the Temple is built to test the devotion of His righteous servant and make him suitable for His purpose which might prosper that includes the building of the third Temple. This would begin when His spirit alights upon the anointed one. His Presence with His righteous servant will be necessary for the Temple to be rebuilt. Islam will not freely hand over their third most Holy cite to Israel and abandon the Dome of the Rock mosque. A mosque that sits on the Temple Mount purchased by King David for God. The most Holy site of the Jewish people.
With God is the angel of His Presence who is already on the way as the angel of the covenant who arrives before Elijah and will be with God before God’s righteous servant offers himself for the guilt and sin of the Jewish people. Guilt and sin that has been forgiven and does not exist. God is just testing him and his devotion. God’s Teaching is that no man dies for the sins of another man. Every man is responsible for his own sins.
When the man described in Isaiah 53 makes his offer of his self and soul for guilt and sin, he becomes God’s righteous servant, God’s servant David, the messenger Elijah and the prophet like Moses. He must pass the test first. The prophet like Moses will have other similarities to Moses beyond writing God’s words at His command and direction:
“To the greatest degree possible for any human being, Moshe’s identity and existence became one with the Creator. He surrendered himself to God to the extent that our sages say, “The Shechinah (Divine Presence) spoke through Moshe’s throat” (Zohar vol. 3, p. 232a)—i.e., he was God’s veritable mouthpiece on this earth.” Sefer Hasichos 5749, vol. 1, p. 290, fn.
The prophet like Moses will also have the answer to these questions: “The great Jewish philosophers try to answer the question of how Moses heard God literally, some insisting that God spoke actual words and Moses heard them with his ears, while others suggest that God’s speech” was communicated silently to Moses’ intellect, and only uttered in sound by Moses himself. Maimonides, even as he affirmed the communication between God and Moses as a fundamental Jewish belief, ultimately conceded the mysteriousness of that process: The entire Torah reached Moses from God in a manner which is figuratively described as “speech.” But no one has ever known how that took place except Moses himself, whom that speech reached.” Commentary on the Mishnah, Sanhedrin, Ch.1
7.
A Host of the Lord’s Host
I.
“Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the break of dawn. When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he wrenched Jacob’s hip at its socket, so that the socket of his hip was strained as he wrestled with him. Then he [the man] said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he [Jacob] answered, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” Said the other, “What is your name?” He replied, “Jacob.” Said he, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.” Genesis 32/25-29
Jacob wrestled with a man and Elohim (God) spoke to him and his name was changed to Israel. Jacob said he had wrestled with man and divine beings. The mysterious being who wrestled with Jacob is first called a man, then Elohim (God), but Hosea refers to him also as a mal’ach. The Hebrew Bible frequently calls an angel the mal’ach of God and can also mean messenger.
Jacob wrestled with a man, not a mysterious being. The divine beings are God and the angel of His Presence. God and His Holy spirit alighted upon the man who wrestled with Jacob and God spoke through him to Jacob. The man was a host of the Lord’s host with only one purpose. Wrestle with Jacob. Judaism interprets this account to be Jacob wrestling with an angel. The angel of God’s Presence was there but Jacob wrestled with a man.
God’s stories are always based on actual events and are used for many purposes such as conveying His Teachings and establishing religious beliefs. In this story of the account of the night Jacob wrestled with a man and divine beings Elohim (God) says Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, “for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.” Jacob says in verse 32/31 “I have seen a divine being face to face, yet my life has been preserved.”
The divine beings are God and the Holy spirit and there is not the slightest possibility that Jacob could prevail if God did not want him to for this account in the Bible. God is absolute power. And Jacob says he had seen a divine being and yet he only saw the man. You cannot see God or the angel of His Presence. They have no form or image. Jacob saw a host of the Lord’s host and believed him to be a divine being.
The Jewish people have striven with the world for thousands of years and are still here prevailing over all those who sought to destroy them that are no longer here. It is the Jewish people’s great faith and love of God and being His chosen people and their pride in the book He gave them that has preserved them. They are not just His chosen people. They are His special people and they know it and it lifts them in times of need and strife that seemingly never end.
ll.
The account of a man who identified himself to Joshua as a gentile and captain of the Lord’s host in the book of Joshua is the first and only time the scripture describes a host of the Lord’s host. The captain of the Lord’s host is a host.
“Once, when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him, drawn sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and asked him, “Are you one of us or of our enemies?” He replied, “No, I am captain of the Lord’s host. Now I have come!” Joshua threw himself face down to the ground and, prostrating himself, said to him, “What does my lord command his servant?” The captain of the Lord’s host answered Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.” Joshua 5/13-15
Joshua threw himself to the ground before a man with a drawn sword that just told him that he was not an Israelite and said what does my Lord command his servant. The man said he was a captain, not a lord or the Lord. The captain answered, “remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.” These are the same words God spoke to Moses.
God is with the captain and where God is so is the angel of His Presence. A man and divine beings is a host of the Lord’s host. The captain said, “now I have come” and he is never mentioned in the scripture again. He is a harbinger of God’s righteous servant upon whom the spirit of God alights making him a man and divine beings which is a host of the Lord’s host.
God’s righteous servant is a gentile who arrives in the time to come of the prophecy of Jeremiah 31 in the day of the Lord.
Isaiah 63 says God comes from Edom that is interpreted in Judaism to be Christianity and means He is coming from a Christian country and of the peoples (Jewish people) none are with Him. In the time to come of Jeremiah 31 and the day of the Lord of Malachi 3, the Presence of God descends from heaven and returns to Israel. He comes with His visible representation and speaker of His words His righteous servant, a gentile host of the Lord’s host.
Elijah the Tishbite was an inhabitant of Ramoth-Gilead, a gentile territory of Arabs and Assyrians, a gentile returns as a gentile. God’s righteous servant is Elijah. Jesus and his cousin John the Baptist, who Jesus said was Elijah, were Jewish men.
III.
As they were crossing, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” Elisha answered, “Let a double portion* of your spirit pass on to me. ll Kings 2/6
(Footnote in the Hebrew Bible) Let a double portion*: Translators note: Lit. “two-thirds”; of Zech. 13.8. 8Throughout the land—declares the Lord—Two-thirds shall perish, shall die, And one-third of it shall survive. Zech. 13/8.
How is a double portion of spirit two-thirds of a spirit? That is a question and it is also the answer to how Elijah is a host of the Lord’s host. The spirit of the Holy God who is a person had alighted on and entered Elijah. It is the only way to reconcile a double portion with a two-thirds portion of the spirit of Elijah.
Where the person of the spirit is so is the person of the Holy God, whose person is also of spirit when My Name is in His spirit. The angel of His Presence and God are always together. That would be two persons of spirit with the spirit of Elijah or three persons within and without one man, but all three are separate and distinct never forming a one.
Elijah, who worked many miracles is taken to heaven and now Elisha takes up his mantle and begins performing the same miracles. And the power of all miracles is God who is inseparable from the person of the spirit and now they are with Elisha. Two-thirds of the three persons of spirit that were within and without Elijah alighting upon and within Elisha, with the one-third that is Elijah in heaven. The “double portion” of God and the Holy spirit being “two-thirds” of the total spirit within and without Elijah.
IV.
The Lord appeared to him [Abraham] by the terebinths of Mamre; he was sitting at the entrance of the tent as the day grew hot. Looking up, he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them and, bowing to the ground, he said, “My lords, if it please you, do not go on past your servant.” Genesis 18/1-3
“Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I in truth bear a child, old as I am?’ 14Is anything too wondrous for the Lord? I will return to you at the time next year, and Sarah shall have a son.” Genesis 18/13
The Lord is symbolized in this story where He appeared and spoke to Abraham by the terebinths of Mamre as three men standing near him. The three men represent a host of the Lord’s host. A man with divine beings. It is three persons. The Lord and the angel of His Presence with a man. Two of the men are described as angels in the next chapter of Genesis. They are only men in this chapter for the purpose of symbolizing a host of the Lord’s Host.
8.
The First Host
The first host of the Lord’s host in creation was Adam. A man created very much like the angels in heaven. God drew from the elements and materials of the earth (“dust”) and formed the first human being. An adult man with the mind of a one-day-old baby. When the breath of life was given to Adam the first thought in his mind came from God and that thought came from God who was being Adam for Adam.
“I am Adam” was spoken by God as though He was Adam and was perceived by Adam as being his own thoughts and inner voice in order to build a memory for Adam. God was not Adam He was being Adam for Adam until the mind of Adam was fully formed as an adult man. God based His being Adam on the mind, soul, and spirit of Adam. Who Adam would be if Adam had been born a child and raised in Eden by the voice and power of God.
In the beginning, the conversation was God talking as Adam through His Holy spirit and as Himself to Adam. The spirit and soul and mind of Adam listening and learning and forming into a functional adult man. As a host conversing with God for Adam was a natural part of his existence.
And then God created the second human being and the second host. An adult woman with the mind of a one-day-old baby. When the breath of life was given to Eve the first thought in her mind came from God and that thought came from God who was being Eve for Eve. And God said “I am Eve” spoken by God as though He was Eve and was perceived by Eve as being her own thoughts and inner voice in order to build a memory for Eve. God was not Eve He was being Eve for Eve until the mind of Eve was fully formed as a functional adult woman.
God based His being Eve on the mind, soul, and spirit of Eve. Who Eve would be if Eve had been born a child and raised in Eden by the voice and power of God. In the beginning, the conversation was God talking as Eve through His Holy spirit and as Himself to Eve. The spirit and soul and mind of Eve listening and learning and forming into a functional adult woman. As a host conversing with God for Eve was a natural part of her existence.
9.
The Era of Redemption
“4For I had planned a day of vengeance, And My year of redemption arrived. 5Then I looked, but there was none to help; I stared, but there was none to aid— So My own arm wrought the triumph, And My own rage was My aid. 6I trampled peoples in My anger, I made them drunk with My rage, And I hurled their glory to the ground.” Isaiah 63/4-6.
Verse 4 would be the awesome, fearful day of the Lord of Malachi 3/23. Verses 5 and 6 are if the people of God refuse to heed His prophet and the purpose of Elijah does not prosper and God comes with utter destruction. If the Jewish people do not believe in God’s righteous servant, they will have their glory hurled to the ground. The glory that comes with the return of God to His Temple on His Holy Mount Zion.
When God says, “I trampled peoples in My anger” He does not do it in His power. He raises up armies against Israel. He does not do that in His power. The armies are always there. And when He speaks through His prophet and is not heeded those armies come and destroy. They always have.
God uses Himself in the first person of the scripture often. When He says I will bring utter destruction He means My creation will bring utter destruction. God is His creation. That He can do it in His power simply makes the destruction seem more assured of happening. To instill fear of Him in His people if His prophet is not listened to and heeded.
The teaching of possible utter destruction when God returns with His messenger Elijah and the angel of the covenant that you desire in the day of the Lord does not fit into the Sages and Rabbis era of restoration, redemption, and exaltation of the Jewish people with peace throughout the world, Judaism as the only religion, and Hebrew the only language. If Elijah’s purpose fails utter destruction to the land occurs as it once did by the Assyrians to the northern kingdom and by the Babylonians to the southern kingdom and then all of Israel by the Romans. Today it would be Islam.
The day of the Lord begins when the lands of Abraham bloom again and the ruined cities and Jerusalem are rebuilt by the Roman dispersal. When this happens the time to come for the new covenant has arrived. And that time is today.
In Malachi 3/1 He sends His messenger Elijah to clear the way for His return to His Temple, making the many righteous who return to God and Judaism as he reconciles the families of the Jewish people one to the other. They are the witnesses of Isaiah 53/1-6 and all others who come to believe in him. The many made righteous believe God’s righteous servant from his description in Isaiah 53 and that he is the messenger Elijah, the anointed one David, and the prophet like Moses who writes the words of God at His command and direction, as Moses did in writing the Torah.
The man described in Isaiah 53 must pass the test of devotion God sets up in Isaiah 53 and then he becomes God’s righteous servant, David, Elijah and the prophet like Moses. This means God descends from the platform of heaven before Elijah clears the way for Him and before He returns to His Temple. He must tell His righteous servant that He chose to afflict him with disease and then make him suitable and capable to handle the tasks before him in God’s purpose which might prosper.
Isaiah says “By 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.” Isaiah 53/8
When focusing on the vicarious suffering verses that are for the test of devotion the offering of guilt can be looked at in another way. An oppressive judgment where the description of the man includes being found guilty and secluded in his home, cut off from the land of the living as Ezekiel was. God tells Ezekiel to go to his house and he can no longer go out among the people. To make certain of this God puts the cords of His power on Ezekiel to prevent him from even trying.
The offering for guilt becomes “I am guilty, and I agree to take the punishment of the Jewish people for their sins. The sentence is confinement to home, isolation from the world including work, and being cut off from all material things (no money). The length of the sentence is until the righteous servant is suitable for God’s purpose that is accomplished by maltreatment, chastisement, punishment, bruising and crushing in the power and words of God.
In Ezekiel 3/14 Ezekiel says “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 was not crushed with disease and did not offer himself for guilt, God just seized him and he was punished with maltreatment, crushed to the ground with bruising in the cords of God’s power for 390 days on his left side, for the punishment of the house of Israel, and 40 days on his right side, for the punishment of the house of Judah, with God’s chastisement upon him.
God explains the purpose of this treatment: “But the House of Israel will refuse to listen to you, for they refuse to listen to Me; for the whole House of Israel are brazen of forehead and stubborn of heart. But I will make your face as hard as theirs, and your forehead as brazen as theirs. I will make your forehead like adamant (shamir), harder than flint. Do not fear them, and do not be dismayed by them, though they are a rebellious breed.” Ezekiel 3/7-9
How will God make Ezekiel suitable for His purpose, making him as hard and brazen as the Houses of Israel and Judah, remove his fear of them and his dismay when they shun him and do not listen to him? Just as with the verses of Isaiah 53/3 Ezekiel was shunned, held of no account, and laughed at. By punishment, chastisement, maltreatment, crushing and bruising in the power and words of God. Like a boot camp for a cadet marine and breaking a wild horse, removing his bitterness and the fury of his spirit.
“Since the time of the Rambam (1135-1204), it has been impossible to discuss the subject of Moshiach and the Era of the Redemption without direct reference to the last two chapters of his monumental halachic code, the Mishneh Torah. For example, it is these two chapters that form the basis of the whole of the next publication of Sichos In English – I Await His Coming Every Day: Studies by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson (shlita) on the Rambam’s Conception of Moshiach and the Ultimate Redemption. These chapters conclude the final section (Hilchos Melachim– “The Laws Concerning Kings”) of the final book (Sefer Shoftim – “The Book of Judges”) of the Mishneh Torah, and are sometimes referred to separately as Hilchos Melech HaMoshiach – “The Laws Concerning King Moshiach.” From the Chabad Organization.
Rambam was correct in Chapter Twelve, paragraph 2 of The Laws Concerning King Moshiach as to the arrival of the anointed one before or after Elijah when he says “All these and similar matters cannot be [clearly] known by man until they occur, for they are undefined in the words of the prophets.” It is the arrival of God’s righteous servant that Judaism should have been concerned with all along.
Teaching that Isaiah 53 is the Jewish people prevents this and since God’s righteous servant is Elijah of Malachi 3 such a teaching could result in utter destruction to the land. If Elijah is not recognized by a description and is not believed he cannot reconcile the Jewish families one to the other through practicing Judaism, clearing the way for the Lord. Elijah’s purpose will not prosper and when the Lord comes it is with utter destruction to the land (Israel).
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 God together; there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition; the entire world will be solely to know God; 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.
This does not account for the reality of the world in commentating on the scripture. When reality is displaced for poetic words and songs of God and His prophets, often meant for hope and joy at such a thought as the persecution of the Jews ending, the practicalities of the real world and the purposes of God’s righteous servant, the prophet like Moses, David and Elijah in the clear words of God in the scripture are lost.
One man cannot compel all of Israel to walk in the way of the Torah or perfect the entire world and the Sages were wrong in their interpretation of these matters. In the words of Rambam “One should not entertain the notion that the King Moshiach must work miracles and wonders, bring about new phenomena within the world, resurrect the dead, or perform other similar deeds. This is [definitely] not true.”
Compelling all of Israel to walk in the way of the Torah would be phenomena, miracle, and wonder. Perfecting the world would be beyond that.
But that is what the Rabbi’s teach. As Rambam said in his “The Laws Concerning King Moshiach.” Chapter Twelve, paragraph 4: “If a king will arise from the House of David who delves deeply into the study of the Torah and, like David his ancestor, observes its mitzvos as prescribed by the Written Law and the Oral Law; if he will compel all of Israel to walk in [the way of the Torah] and repair the breaches [in its observance]; and if he will fight the wars of G-d; – we may, with assurance, consider him Moshiach. If he succeeds in the above, builds the [Beis Ha] Mikdash on its site, and gathers in the dispersed remnant of Israel, he is definitely the Moshiach. He will then perfect the entire world, [motivating all the nations] to serve G-d together, as it is written [Zephaniah, 3:9], “I will make the peoples pure of speech so that they will all call upon the Name of God and serve Him with one purpose.”
This last paragraph by Rambam is a good example of misreading a verse of scripture and then giving it a meaning never intended that becomes a common and infallible belief among the Rabbis and then to those they teach. And it is an example of poetic words and songs of God and His prophets, often meant for hope and joy at such a thought as the persecution of the Jews ending, being construed as something they are not and applied to the reality of the world.
Zephaniah 3/1-9 reads like the poetry of the Lord:
“Ah, sullied, polluted, Overbearing city! She has been disobedient, Has learned no lesson; She has not trusted in the Lord, Has not drawn near to her God. The officials within her Are roaring lions; Her judges are wolves of the steppe, They leave no bone until morning. Her prophets are reckless, Faithless fellows; Her priests profane what is holy, They give perverse rulings.” Zephaniah 3/1-4
Jerusalem as a metaphor for the Jewish people and their political and religious leaders.
But the Lord in her midst is righteous, He does no wrong; He issues judgment every morning, As unfailing as the light. The wrongdoer knows no shame! wiped out nations: Their corner towers are desolate; I turned their thoroughfares into ruins, With none passing by; Their towns lie waste without people, Without inhabitants. And I thought that she would fear Me, Would learn a lesson And that the punishment I brought on them Would not be lost on her. Instead, all the more eagerly They have practiced corruption in all their deeds. Zephaniah 3/5-7
God says “I wiped out nations”. God has never wiped out nations. Nations have wiped out nations. Wars among nations and men are part of God’s creation. And God is His creation.
“But wait for Me—says the Lord—For the day when I arise as an accuser; When I decide to gather nations, To bring kingdoms together, To pour out My indignation on them, All My blazing anger. Indeed, by the fire of My passion, All the earth shall be consumed.” Zephaniah 3/8
God has tested the world with the Jewish people and the world failed. The “fire of My passion” is God’s anger at the world and His love of the Jewish people in one metaphor and the earth being consumed is a poetic way of saying the world will have no meaning to Him or His people in the day of the Lord.
“For then I will make the peoples pure of speech So that they all invoke the Lord by name And serve Him with one accord.” Zephaniah 3/9
The world will never invoke the Lord as HaShem (His Name) and serve the God of Israel in one accord. The peoples of pure speech are the Jewish people. Not the world. And even that is just poetry suggesting that many of the Jewish people will learn Hebrew throughout the world and return to Israel. Two billion or so Christians and two billion or so Muslims are not going to wake up one morning and in one accord speak Hebrew and denounce their false God’s.
Misconstruing who the peoples of pure speech are by Rambam and the Sages, and the Rabbis today who continue to teach this impossible concept that Moshiach will perfect the world from this verse is just one of many reasons why God says he will have a reckoning with the Rabbis and they will be dismissed when the anointed one He calls My servant David, a leader, comes with the covenant of friendship.
The day of the Lord is to complete and fulfill the remaining prophecies of the Hebrew Bible, deliver two specific covenants, build the third Temple and God will have His vengeance for vindication against the enemies of the Jewish people. The Jewish people will never be overthrown and uprooted again, will no longer bear the taunts of nations and will rest secure in a time of peace.
10.
The Cup of God’s Wrath
God removes His wrath from the Jewish people: “Thus said the Lord, your Lord, Your God who champions His people: Herewith I take from your hand The cup of reeling, The bowl, the cup of My wrath; You shall never drink it again. “I will put it in the hands of your tormentors, Who have commanded you, “Get down, that we may walk over you—” So that you made your back like the ground, Like a street for passersby.” Isaiah 51/22-23
The cup of the wrath of God did not pass to the tormentors of the Jewish people in the life of Jesus who said he was the man described in Isaiah 53. After the death of Jesus came the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by Rome, the dispersal of the Jewish people throughout the world, Christianity, Mohammad and Islam, the Spanish Inquisition, numerous Pogroms and the Holocaust.
And God says: “Nevermore shall you be called “Forsaken,” Nor shall your land be called “Desolate”; But you shall be called “I delight in her,” And your land “Espoused.” For the Lord takes delight in you, And your land shall be espoused.” Isaiah 64/4
This did not happen in the days of Jesus and thereafter as the land laid desolate for over 2,000 years without the Temple of God. And taunts and violence and hateful writings of the Jewish people abounded such as the infamous “The Jews & Their Lies” by Martin Luther.
The Jewish people have returned to the land of Israel from the Roman dispersal and by their toil have made the desolate land bloom as God said it would in a time to come. The cup of God’s reeling and wrath has passed to the tormentors of the Jewish people. Those who told the Jewish people to get down and walked over them. Christianity.
And God returns: “Who is this coming from Edom, In crimsoned garments from Bozrah— Who is this, majestic in attire, Pressing forward in His great might? “It is I, who contend victoriously, Powerful to give triumph.” Isaiah 63/1
In the Bible Edom is described as the eternal enemy of Israel and Judah who not only always oppressed Israel, but at the time of the destruction of the First Temple took advantage of the situation and seized control of parts of Judah, and it is hinted that Edom also took part in the destruction of Jerusalem and even in that of the Temple itself. At the end of the tannaitic period, and still more in the amoraic, the identification became very widespread.
The overwhelming majority of homilies about Edom speak explicitly of Rome. It was stated that Rome was founded by the children of Esau. These identifications occur in the Midrashim (the plural form of Midrash) and the Talmud, but also in the Palestinian Targums of the Torah and in the Targums to Lamentations and Esther. Edom became a synonym for Christian Rome and after the fall of Rome to Christianity.
“The Targums are interpretive renderings of the books of the Hebrew Scriptures (with the exception of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel) into Aramaic. Such versions were needed when Hebrew ceased to be the normal medium of communication among the Jews. In synagogue services, the reading of the Scriptures was followed by a translation into the Aramaic vernacular of the populace. At first the oral Targum was a simple paraphrase in Aramaic, but eventually, it became more elaborate and incorporated explanatory details inserted here and there into the translation of the Hebrew text. To make the rendering more authoritative as an interpretation, it was finally reduced to writing.” Bruce M. Metzger: The Jewish Targums
“The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood, It is gorged with fat— The blood of lambs and he-goats, The kidney fat of rams. For the Lord holds a sacrifice in Bozrah, A great slaughter in the land of Edom.” Isaiah 34/6
Bozrah was to Edom as Jerusalem is to Israel. This is a prophetic announcement by God written by His prophet Isaiah of His wrath on Christianity. God has a sword sated with blood (wrath). It is gorged with the fat of lambs (Christianity) and he-goats (a clean animal for Jewish dietary laws. The shepherds of God’s flock). The kidney fat of rams (for those who believe Isaiah 53 is a guilt offering of unblemished rams who are the Jewish people in the Holocaust such as Rabbi Singer and his followers).
God says: ″I trod out a vintage alone; Of the peoples [Jewish people] no man was with Me. I trod them down in My anger, Trampled them in My rage; Their life-blood bespattered My garments, And all My clothing was stained.” Isaiah 63/3
This is a reference to utter destruction to the land of Malachi 3 if the purpose of Elijah does not prosper because the Jewish people will not recognize His prophet. The Lord coming from Edom is mentioned by many of the prophets in the Bible. The Lord was not allowed to pass through Edom in the Exodus with Moses and the Jewish people. This is an event yet to occur.
The interpretation of this prophecy is that the prophet like Moses with God as God was with Moses in the Exodus will come from Edom. The Christian world. Of the Jewish people, none are with God. He comes with a gentile from the Christian world. And that gentile is God’s righteous servant who God specifically describes for the day of the Lord. His visible representation and speaker of His words as Moses was leading the Israelites.
11.
Torah Written on Every Heart
“See, a time is coming—declares the Lord—when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant which they broke, though I espoused [married] them—declares the Lord. But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after these days—declares the Lord: I will put My Teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No longer will they need to teach one another and say to one another, “Heed the Lord”; for all of them, from the least of them to the greatest, shall heed Me—declares the Lord.
For I will forgive their iniquities,
And remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31/31-34
The covenant to write Torah on every heart is fulfilled by amending the original covenant to being “mindful” of His Teachings by those who heed, fear and revere him and giving everyone a clean slate free of all sins. All of which is (in part) to draw the many and the multitude back to Judaism and the study of the teachings of God so that the Torah and the Hebrew Bible are well known by everyone who heeds the Lord.
And the purpose of Elijah in the day of the Lord is the same purpose of Moses in the desert as the messenger of the new covenant and the amendment to the original covenant at Horeb of the Teachings and laws of God from strict compliance to mindfulness and not all of the people, but only those who heed and revere Him.
God spent forty years in the desert with Moses and the Israelites changing the minds and hearts of the Hebrews with His Teachings He gave to Moses at Horeb. And He became their God and they became His people at Horeb (Sinai). Just like the new covenant to be made in a time to come where God again says I will be their God and they will be my people.
So in the desert for forty years with Moses as the messenger of the Teachings of God and all the experiences of the people when God dwelt among the tents of the Israelite’s is what this means: “I will put My Teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts.”
God will once again be dwelling and moving about among His people. Not in tents in the desert but in Jerusalem and in His Temple to be rebuilt. And in the years it takes (many) to clear the Temple Mount of Islam and the actual building of His Temple He will be with His righteous servant as He was with Moses. Making him suitable for the purpose of God through a fire of refinement in His power and words, and thereafter God uses him to pave the way to the building of His Third and final Temple.
When Moses walked among the tents of the Hebrews God was with him. When Edom (symbolic of Esau and Christianity in Judaism) would not let Moses pass through they did not let God pass through. In the day of the Lord God comes from Edom which no longer exists and would be in the country of Jordan. He comes from a Christian country. The Jewish people will have the same experience as the Israelite’s of having a prophet in their midst who is the visible representation of the Presence of God and the angel of His Presence, who never leave him.
In Malachi 3 God makes it clear that He knows many will fear, heed and revere Him and that many will not, even when He has forgiven the sins of the Jewish people and remembers them no more. Many of the Jewish people do not believe in God and many do not practice Judaism.
The amendment is Malachi 3/22: “Be mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses, whom I charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel” rather than strict compliance. God has never stopped being the God of Israel and the Jewish people have always been His people.
The covenant is a metaphor with a degree of hyperbole. God is announcing sin forgiveness. This is what He would want sin forgiveness to do though in Malachi 3 He makes it clear He knows it will not. No more than He believed the Israelite’s would become a sinless people and not break the covenant. They did but He married them anyway.
12.
Divine Inspiration of Prophecy Fulfilled
“And leaving Nazareth, he [Jesus] came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 4/13-17 Holy Bible
This is what the verse actually says: “For if there were to be any break of day for that [land] which is in straits, only the former [king] would have brought abasement to the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali—while the later one would have brought honor to the Way of the Sea, the other side of the Jordan, and Galilee of the Nations.” Isaiah 8/23
This is not a prophecy to be fulfilled and has nothing to do with Jesus. It is more of plagiarism altered to fit Jesus into the Hebrew Bible. This is a statement in the last verse of chapter 8 concerning the coming defeat of the northern Kingdom of Samaria (also called the Kingdom of Israel or Ephraim) by the Assyrians. That ends chapter 8 regarding the northern Kingdom and then chapter 9 begins regarding the southern Kingdom and an exhalation of the birth of King Hezekiah of Judah in the southern Kingdom.
“The people that walked in darkness Have seen a brilliant light; On those who dwelt in a land of gloom, Light has dawned. You have magnified that nation, Have given it great joy; They have rejoiced before You As they rejoice at reaping time, As they exult When dividing the spoil. For the yoke that they bore And the stick on their back— The rod of their taskmaster—You have broken as on the day of Midian. Truly, all the boots put on to stamp with And all the garments donned in infamy Have been fed to the flames, Devoured by fire. For a child has been born to us, A son has been given us. And authority has settled on his shoulders. He has been named “The Mighty God is planning grace; The Eternal Father, a peaceable ruler.” Isaiah 9/1-5
“In the ninth year of Hoshea, the King of Assyria captured Samaria. He deported the Israelite’s to Assyria and settled them in Halah, at the [River] Habor, at the River Gozen, and in the towns of Media.” 2Kings 17/6
“The king of Assyria brought [people] from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and he settled them in the towns of Samaria in place of the Israelite’s; they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its towns.” 2Kings 17/24-35
The Isaiah 9/1 verse is an exhalation of the birth of King Hezekiah of Judah in the southern Kingdom. The Assyrians were now threatening Judah which is why there was a great exaltation of the birth of Hezekiah. This is not a prophecy of Jesus dwelling in Capernaum and that a great light has been seen by the people living there with Jesus beginning the preaching of repentance. Jesus has nothing to do with these verses.
It is about Kingdoms and Kings, defeating and deporting the Jewish people and importing gentiles to the northern Kingdom in chapter 8, and in chapter 9 the hope that the newborn heir to the throne in the southern Kingdom of Judah would be a great King graced by God to lead Judah as a peaceful ruler in dangerous times. One verse is about the northern Kingdom and the next verse in a new chapter is about the southern Kingdom. The verses have nothing to do with one another or with Jesus. Verses of the Bible lifted out and made a part of the Gospel of Matthew with the words “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet”.
The story of Jesus has nothing to do with the Hebrew Bible. The writer of Matthew tells his readers a prophecy has been fulfilled by Jesus and combines two verses changing their meaning and context and includes an act of Jesus to make it seem as though Jesus was in the prophecy. That the prophecy of Isaiah includes Jesus preaching repentance.
From the days of the writings of the New Testament through the Middle Ages, the world was illiterate for the most part and very few people had access to the Hebrew Bible or could read the Greek translation of it later translated to English. No one could examine the veracity of the unknown writers of the Gospels and determine if a prophecy was really fulfilled and relied on religious leader’s assertions that they were written by divine inspiration. There is nothing divine about this passage in the Book of Matthew. It is intentionally written to mislead the reader.
Today, there is a new complete translation of the Hebrew Bible into English that is far superior to the Hebrew to Greek to English translations that make the Holy Bible’s Old Testament much easier to read and comprehend. It is the Jewish Publication Society’s 1985 Tanakh begun in 1955 that is used in this book. All Christians have the ability today to see that the story of Jesus has nothing to do with the Hebrew Bible. That the “prophecy fulfilled” verses of the New Testament are misleading and not true.
13.
God Creates and He Forms
The God of Israel comes to the earth to dwell with His anointed one and the Jewish people in Israel as He once came to dwell with Moses and move about among the tents of the Israelite’s. He creates the man of Isaiah 53 and forms His righteous servant. Just as He created Jacob and formed Israel. For His purposes.
He created the universe, the earth, and humanity including Jacob and the man described in Isaiah 53. He then forms them for His purposes. He formed Israel with covenants and the names Hebrew, Israel and Jew and 613 Laws that define and refined the Jewish people in the oppression of the world.
He forms His righteous servant in the fire of refinement with an oppressive judgment of maltreatment, chastisement, punishment, crushing and bruising of Isaiah 53. A fire of refinement by the hand of God. By His words and by His power. Just as He did with Ezekiel.
14.
Hebrew and Jew
“A fugitive brought the news to Abram the Hebrew, who was dwelling at the terebinths of Mamre the Amorite, a kinsman of Eshkol and Aner, these being Abram’s allies.” Genesis 14/13
No one is a Hebrew until a fugitive brought the news to “Abram the Hebrew”.
“In the fortress Shushan lived a Jew by the name of Mordecai, son of Jair the son of Shimei son of Kish, a Benjaminite.” Esther 2/5
No one is a Jew until Mordecai is described as “a Jew”.
Mordecai the Jew is of the tribe of Benjamin and his people are the Jews. The name seems to be a form of the word “Judah”, but the tribe of Judah and the lands allotted to Judah have nothing to do with the word “Jew”.
It is a special word just as “Hebrew” is a special word. Words from God for God. The word “Hebrew” is like the word “Jew” in the Bible. Both are simply introduced into God’s stories. These names identify God’s chosen people throughout the world just as religious ritual, faith, and manner of dress identify them. God formed Israel in part to test the world and the people Israel had to be identifiable. These names and 613 laws did just that. And the world failed.
God changing the name Hebrew to Jew may have more to do with the Jewish people being in exile than anything else. Shortening Hebrew to Jew to account for marriages outside of the tribes. A dilution of the pure Hebrew blood.
15.
The God of Elijah
“Taking the mantle which had dropped from Elijah, he struck the water and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” As he too struck the water, it parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.” II Kings 2/14
Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Elisha is the only person in the Hebrew Bible to refer to God as the God of Elijah rather than the God of Israel or the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Elijah is not an Israelite. He is a Tishbite and an inhabitant of Ramoth- Gilead of the gentiles (Arabs and Assyrians). A territory like Moab east of the river Jordan and north of Moab.
He has no history and there are no Tishbites in any of the ancestral trees of the Israelites that are chronicled in the Hebrew Bible (not all tribes are chronicled). The many references to Elijah “the Tishbite” without any history of the Tishbites in the Hebrew Bible is unusual and calls attention to a tribal or clan affiliation from Gilead east of the river Jordan.
The God of Elijah is the God of a single gentile though God created all of humanity. The gentile Elijah who returns as a gentile in the day of the Lord. God comes from Edom symbolizing Esau and Christianity in the Talmud and of the peoples, none are with Him (the Jewish people).
Edom no longer exists in the day of the Lord and today would lie within Jordan. God returns coming from a Christian country with a gentile. The God of Elijah is the God of a single gentile though God created all of humanity. In the day of the Lord He is again the God of a single gentile, His righteous servant. The God of the Jewish people and one gentile.
16.
John the Baptist
Christianity believes Jesus was and is God who was sacrificed as the unblemished lamb of God for the sins of all who believe in him and accept him as their savior. Just as unblemished lambs were sacrificed for sin in the animal atonement and worship laws of Leviticus.
God had His prophet Jeremiah write the new covenant with sin forgiveness for a time to come in Jeremiah 31; had His prophet Isaiah describe Elijah in Isaiah 53; and had His prophet Malachi write that the angel of the covenant that you desire is already coming, and the messenger [of that covenant] is being sent to clear the way for the Lord, who is Elijah.
“Behold, I am sending My messenger to clear the way before Me, and the Lord whom you seek shall come to His Temple suddenly. As for the angel of the covenant that you desire, he is already coming.” Malachi 3/1
Jesus uses Malachi 3/1 to describe his cousin John the Baptist to be Elijah but leaves out the angel of the covenant. There are only two specific covenants to come in the day of the Lord. The new covenant with sin forgiveness must come with the angel of the covenant that you desire for the reason the covenant of friendship comes with God’s servant David.
[Jesus said] “This is he [John the Baptist], of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.” Luke 7/27 Holy Bible
Jesus is saying that John was clearing the way for Jesus as the Lord. As the son of God (or God incarnate), and as a renowned teacher of the scripture at synagogues as a young boy, Jesus knew that the Jewish people were without sin if John was Elijah. That is why he did not mention the angel of the covenant. He cannot die for the sins of the Jewish people if they are sin free. God forgives sin by His written word, not human sacrifice.
The time to come of the new covenant is when the land blooms again and when the city [Jerusalem] shall be rebuilt as it is today for the Lord’s return. A time to come when the Jewish people are never uprooted or overthrown again. Between 68 and 70 CE, the Jewish people revolted against Rome and were defeated, murdered, crucified and forced to flee the lands of Abraham beginning the diaspora (the Roman dispersal). The Jewish people were overthrown and uprooted after the death of John the Baptist.
“See, a time is coming—declares the Lord—when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate; and the measuring line shall go straight out to the Gareb Hill, and then turn toward Goah. And the entire Valley of the Corpses and Ashes, and all the fields as far as the Wadi Kidron, and the corner of the Horse Gate on the east shall be holy to the Lord. They shall never again be uprooted or overthrown.” Jeremiah 31/38-40
17.
Deception
The New Testament of Christianity has many statements of the prophecy of the Jewish Bible being satisfied or fulfilled in the stories and accounts of Jesus. Not one is true. It is arguably the most deceptive book ever written based on the billions of people who have been deceived. The deceptions are written in such a manner as to keep the reader from verifying the referenced prophecy. The deceptions are bolstered by the reader’s belief that a Bible certainly does not contain lies and deceptions.
The book of Matthew which begins the New Testament has many statements of prophecy fulfilled that are false. Either it is not prophecy, the verses and their meaning have been changed or the prophecy is not stated in full leaving out the parts that are not fulfilled. And rarely does he tell you the name of the prophet being referenced. The prophecy of Zechariah 9/9-10 is a good example. Jesus changed verse 10 from defeating Rome to being executed by Rome.
“9Rejoice greatly, Fair Zion; Raise a shout, Fair Jerusalem! Lo, your king is coming to you. He is victorious, triumphant, Yet humble, riding on an ass, On a donkey foaled by a she-ass. 10He shall banish chariots from Ephraim And horses from Jerusalem; The warrior’s bow shall be banished. He shall call on the nations to surrender, And his rule shall extend from sea to sea And from ocean to land’s end.” Zechariah 9/9-10
In the days of the prophets invading forces used chariots for battle in the rural areas, rode upon horses like police in Jerusalem and shot arrows with bows to enforce their will upon the people of Israel. In the days of Zechariah, this was the Assyrians and Babylonians. In the days of Jesus, this was Rome. Jesus did ride an ass into Jerusalem, but he did not banish the chariots and horses and arrows of Rome and his rule did not extend from sea to sea and from ocean to land’s end.
Matthew says: “All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.” Matthew 21/4-5 Holy Bible
Luke the historian wrote: “31Then he [Jesus] took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. 32For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: 33And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.” Luke 18/31-33 Holy Bible
The Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament), Great Scroll of Isaiah, Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha are all of the possible scripture that Jesus could be referencing and not one Book mentions a Son of man (which means a person of mankind), God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53, a Son of God, a man who is God, or any man to be delivered to the gentiles, mocked, scourged and put to death, a man who dies for the sins of other men, any man who is to rise from the dead on the third day, or a man who is sacrificed or made to sacrifice himself by God.
The Hebrew Bible consists of a collection of writings dating from approximately the 13th – 3rd centuries BCE. These books were included in the Jewish canon by the Talmudic sages at Yavneh around the end of the first century CE, after the destruction of the Second Temple. However, there are many other Jewish writings from the Second Temple Period which were excluded from the Hebrew Bible; these are known as the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha.
The Apocrypha (Greek, “hidden books”) are Jewish books from that period not preserved in the Hebrew Bible but included in the Latin (Vulgate) and Greek (Septuagint) Old Testaments. The Apocrypha are still regarded as part of the canon of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches, and as such, their number is fixed.
The term Pseudepigrapha (Greek, “falsely attributed”) was given to Jewish writings of the same period, which were attributed to authors who did not actually write them. This was widespread in Greco-Roman antiquity – in Jewish, Christian, and pagan circles alike. Books were attributed to pagan authors, and names drawn from the repertoire of biblical personalities, such as Adam, Noah, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, Ezekiel, Baruch, and Jeremiah. The Pseudepigrapha resemble the Apocrypha in general character, yet were not included in the Bible, Apocrypha, or rabbinic literature.
It is accepted today by Judaism and Christianity that the four Gospels are pseudepigrapha and were not written by the disciples Matthew, Mark, John and the historian Luke.
18.
Signs and Portents
The book of Matthew of the Holy Bible has many statements of prophecy fulfilled that are deceptive and false. This includes references to prophesy that is not prophecy by unnamed prophets. In Matthew 1 the angel of the Lord in a dream of Joseph said:
“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” Matthew 1/21-23 Holy Bible
The sentence “all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,” is an example of writing a verse that you do not want to be verified by the reader. The prophet is easy to identify as Isaiah and his account of Immanuel has nothing to do with the birth of a child named Immanuel by a “virgin” (the Hebrew word used by Isaiah is “young women”) who is the concubine of Isaiah.
“…the Lord said to Isaiah, ‘Go out with your son Shear-jashub to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the Upper Pool,”. Shear-jashub is foot-noted to mean “[only] a remnant will turn back,” Isaiah 7/3
Isaiah says to Ahaz, “Assuredly my Lord will give you a sign of His own accord! Look, the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son. Let her name him Immanuel.” Immanuel is foot-noted to mean “with us is God”. Isaiah 7/14
Isaiah writes “I was intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son; and the Lord said to me, Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz.” Maher-shalal-hash-baz is foot-noted to mean “Pillage hastens, looting speeds,” Isaiah 8/3
Isaiah does not give an account of the mother of “[only] a remnant will turn back”, as she symbolizes the bride of God, the Jewish People, who is absent until the remnant returns in repentance.
Isaiah writes “So I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the House of Jacob, and I will trust in him. Here stand I and the children the Lord has given me as signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of Hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.” Isaiah 8/17-18
Each of Isaiah’s children, “[only] a remnant will turn back”, “with us is God” and “pillage hastens, looting speeds”, have a meaning as a sign and portent. The Book of Isaiah, the Book of 2Kings and the Book of 2Chronicles provide the historical account to understand the names of the children the Lord gave Isaiah as signs and portents. The prophetess is foot-noted to be the wife of Isaiah, and the young women about to give birth, who is with Isaiah, Shear-jashub, and Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the Upper Pool, would be his concubine.
“In the days of King Pecah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth- maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor—Gilead, Galilee, the entire region of Naphtali, and deported all the inhabitants to Assyria. Hoshea son of Elah conspired against Pekah son of Remaliah, attacked him, and killed him.” 2Kings 15/29-30
“…King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah son of Remaliah of Israel advanced on Jerusalem for battle. They besieged Ahaz, but could not overcome [him]. At that time King Rezin of Aram recovered Elath for Aram; he drove out the Judites from Elath, and Edomites came to Elath and settled there, as is still the case. Ahaz sent messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria to say, ‘I am your servant and your son; come and deliver me from the hands of the king of Aram and from the hands of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 2Kings 16/5-7
“The King of Assyria responded to his request; the King of Assyria marched against Damascus and captured it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death.” 2Kings 16/9
“In the twelfth year of King Ahaz of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became King over Israel in Samaria—for nine years.” 2Kings 17/1
“In the ninth year of Hoshea, the King of Assyria captured Samaria. He deported the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, at the [River] Habor, at the River Gozen, and in the towns of Media.” 2Kings 17/6
“Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried in the city, in Jerusalem; his body was not brought to the tombs of the kings of Israel.” 2Chronicles 28/27
“In the third year of King Hoshea son of Elah of Israel, Hezekiah son of King Ahaz of Judah became king.” 2Kings 18/1
So, when the Lord said to Isaiah: “Go out with your son Shear-jashub to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the Upper Pool, by the road of the Fuller’s Field. And say to him: Be firm and be calm. Do not be afraid and do not lose heart on account of those two smoking stubs of firebrands, on account of the raging of Rezin and his Arameans and the son of Remaliah. Because the Arameans—with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah—have plotted against you saying, ‘We will march against Judah and invade and conquer it, and we will set up as king in it the son of Tabeel,’ thus said my Lord God: It shall not succeed, it shall not come to pass,”. Isaiah 7/3-7
And Isaiah said to Ahaz, “Assuredly my Lord will give you a sign of His own accord! Look, the young woman is with child and about to give birth to a son. Let her name him Immanuel. (By the time he learns to reject the bad and choose the good, people will be feeding on curds and honey.) For before the lad knows to reject the bad and choose the good, the ground whose two kings you dread shall be abandoned.” Isaiah 7/14-16
And when Isaiah writes “I was intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son; and the Lord said to me, Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz. For before the boy learns to call ‘Father’ and ‘Mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria, and the delights of Rezin and of the son of Remaliah, shall be carried off before the King of Assyria.” Isaiah 8/3-4
The Lord is saying that Immanuel and Maher-shalal-hash-baz are signs by their names and portents by their individual maturation. The name “with us is God” is a sign for Ahaz that Aram and Israel will not succeed in their attack on Judah in Jerusalem, and that when Immanuel learns right from wrong Aram and Israel will be gone from the land’s they rule. The name “Pillage hastens, looting speeds” is a sign for Isaiah to watch for pillaging and looting in Damascus and Samaria when Maher-shalal-hash-baz begins to talk, for before he calls Isaiah “Father”, Aram and Israel will be carried off by the King of Assyria.
Based on the historical account and the Lord’s signs and portents, Isaiah is speaking to Ahaz at the conduit of the Upper Pool no earlier than the eleventh year of his reign, for in his twelfth year (the first year of King Hoshea of Israel) the King of Assyria responded to the request of Ahaz, marched against Damascus, captured it and deported its inhabitants to Kir; and in the ninth year of King Hoshea of Israel, the King of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria; and the hastened and speeded pillaging and looting of Aram and Samaria would have taken place during this deportation.
This means that Immanuel would have been about 9 years old when he came to know right from wrong and that Maher-shalal-hash-baz spoke his first words when the King of Assyria deported Israel.
From the account of signs and portents of the deportation of the northern kingdom and Aram, and that the southern kingdom was protected by God, the writer of Matthew says the birth of Jesus by a virgin was prophesied by the prophet according to the angel of the Lord in a dream of Joseph.
There was no such prophecy. There was a young woman with child and that child was named Immanuel as a sign and portent that Judah would not be defeated and deported along with the northern Kingdom.
19.
The Essene’s Embodied Jesus
The story of Jesus most likely began around 100 years before the story begins with his birth at the beginning of the common era (CE). The first written version of the story is the Gospel of Mark that dates from 66-70 CE about 40 years after the story says Jesus died.
This also is the time of the Jewish revolt against Rome and the defeat and expulsion of the Jewish people from the promised land. The knowledge of the Hebrew Bible in a time of illiteracy indicates that the Gospel of Mark was written by Rabbis or very learned men in Judaism.
Men who decided they needed to write down this story that had been circulating by word of mouth and storytelling for about 140 years with many different versions of his life to be taken to the gentiles to make money. Their Temple, homes, and country were gone and it was desperate times for the Jewish people.
According to the oral story that most likely began 100 years before the common era (BCE) with a man called the Teacher of righteousness who established a sect of Judaism known as the Essene’s. This Teacher of righteousness who fought with a wicked priest did not like the way the Temple was being run, did not like all the sinning going on in Jerusalem and did not live there and despised riches and the material things of the world. Just like Jesus who also claimed to be the teacher of righteousness.
The oral storytellers who were diverse and from different backgrounds, ethnicity and ability captured the imagination of the crowds with their oral skills and would earn their livelihood from donations of money and goods.
Few could read in a world where literacy was restricted to just a few and this did not begin to change until the middle ages. While the earliest forms of written communication date back to about 3,500-3,000 BCE, literacy remained for centuries a very restricted ability closely associated with the exercise of power. Schools in ancient Israel, if any existed, served only the sons of the rich and religious elite.
Storytellers, in general, would be learned men captivating the imagination of the crowds at the gates and the meeting places of Jerusalem with tales that people of a harsh and brutal time wanted to believe in. A time when medical treatment was primitive and life expectancy was 30-35 years averaging those who died at birth to those who died with long life into their 70’s and beyond. A time when people believed in mythical gods and gods who were men and making sacrifices to gods for favor and for safety, healing, long life, crops, and fertility.
The Dead Sea Scrolls are generally thought to have been produced by the Essene’s. And the Essene’s are a group that protested the way the Temple was being run. Many of the Essene’s went to the cliffs and caves east of Jerusalem by the Dead Sea known as Qumran to prepare the way of the Lord following the commands of the prophet Isaiah. They went to Qumran to get away from the sinning of the people of Jerusalem and the ways of the religious elite at the Temple.
One of the first leaders of the Qumran community was the Teacher of righteousness identified in the Damascus Document and the Habakkuk Pesher (a type of commentary in Hebrew). In the Pesher literature, he is presented as a founding figure who directly clashed with an opponent called the “wicked priest”.
The man described in Isaiah 53 is often referred to as the teacher of righteousness because of verse 11 where God says My righteous servant makes the many righteous. The Teacher of righteousness and his followers left a library of information on his teachings, himself and scripture and would seem to be the first of many men to claim or be claimed to be by others the man described in Isaiah 53.
The Hebrew noun pesher is found in the Hebrew of the Qumran scrolls in the sense of “meaning, explanation, interpretation.” It is similar to a “Midrash” in the Talmud. Various biblical texts were deemed prophetic and were subjected to pesher interpretation even when appearing in non-prophetic literary contexts. A copy of the pesher of Isaiah dates to the beginning of the first century CE. The pesher of Habakkuk attributes this technique to the founder of the community, the Teacher of righteousness.
The Qumran sect like the broader Jewish movement from which it sprang took a critical view of the established orthodoxy of its time believing Israel to be under divine judgment, regarding itself as the true remnant of Israel and awaiting its imminent vindication at the “end of days.” At the end of days, evil would cease, the wicked would be destroyed and the righteous would live under a divine blessing.
This is not unlike the teachings in Judaism today of a redemption, restoration and exaltation with peace throughout the world when the anointed one comes. It did not happen for them and it is this teaching that Jews for Judaism uses in their analysis that Isaiah 53 describes the Jewish people as God’s righteous servant.
The persecution of the Essene’s and their leader the Teacher of righteousness probably elicited the sect’s apocalyptic visions. These included the overthrow of “the wicked priest” of Jerusalem and of the evil people and in the dawn of the Messianic Age the recognition of their community as the true Israel.
Josephus Flavius describes this sect (the Essene’s) as one of the main “three philosophical sects among the Jews”, with a very detailed description. Excerpts from his book (Wars 2 Chapter 8) include: “…the third sect, which pretends to a severer discipline…these men are despisers of riches, and so very communicative as raises our admiration …And as for their piety towards God, it is very extraordinary…”. Jewish Virtual Library: Essenes and Josephus Flavius
The other two philosophical sects were the Pharisees and the Sadducee’s. In the New Testament of Christianity, the Essene’s are never mentioned. All the stories of Jesus and his clashes with the religious elite of Jerusalem in the New Testament are with the Pharisees and the Sadducee’s.
According to Josephus the name of the gate in the southern wall of Jerusalem at Mt. Zion was called the Essene’s Gate. Everything about the Essene’s says that Jesus would have been an Essene. He also clashed with the High priest of Jerusalem, was very unhappy with the way the Temple was being run and despised riches and worldliness. Jesus, Paul and Peter all said Jesus was the fulfillment of Isaiah 53 and the teacher of righteousness. All of Christianity does today.
The Essene’s were writers and copyists and had their own gate in the southern wall of Jerusalem. Their founding leader claimed to be God’s righteous servant and so did Jesus. It is impossible to believe that the Essene’s had not heard of Jesus. It is impossible to believe they would not have gone to Jesus to question him and verify the stories around him and his claim of being God’s righteous servant and write about him. A man that healed the sick, removed blindness, had the crippled walk, fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish, walked on water, turned water to wine, raised the dead, was crucified and three days later came back to life.
The Essene’s were present in and around Jerusalem for 100 years before the birth of Jesus and another 40 or so years after his death at the age of thirty in the first written story of him and his life in 66-70 CE. There is not one word written by the Essene’s of Jesus. There is no account in the New Testament of Jesus and an Essene. There are no writings or even a mention of him by a single person or group that was a part of his generation while he was alive (1-30 CE).
There are no writings by Jesus. Nothing was written by his disciples. There are no writings by Herod or Pilate or any Roman newspaper, poem or book of this man who healed the multitudes, fed the poor, walked on water, raised the dead, turned water to wine, was crucified and rose from the dead to human life, and then rose to heaven.
While there are three Gospels under the names of three disciples they are all considered pseudepigrapha (Greek, “falsely attributed”). Writings which were attributed to authors who did not actually write them. And they were all written long after his death full of quotes and teachings from Jesus himself. Quoted parables and long speeches and long sermons that could not be accurate if passed by word of mouth.
There is only one answer. The Essene’s themselves are the beginning of the stories. The Essene’s were the embodiment of the man Jesus. They were persecuted and many lived in the country away from the city as did Jesus. They were persecuted for their beliefs and disliked the Pharisees and the Sadducee and the High priest. Jesus is a myth. He never existed and the story of Jesus and his life does not fulfill the verses of Isaiah 53.
20.
The New Covenant
Only the book of Hebrews of the New Testament discusses God’s new covenant with sin forgiveness of the Jewish people that comes with Elijah and the angel of the covenant that you desire. The unknown writer says that the new covenant with sin forgiveness is old and ready to vanish away just as the first covenant became old and had to be replaced:
“For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more. In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” Hebrews 8/7-13 Holy Bible
The first covenant did not become old and vanish. The new covenant with sin forgiveness has been in heaven with God to be delivered by messenger at a time to come that is here. The land blooms again and Jerusalem has been rebuilt and the Jewish people will never be uprooted and overthrown again. The new covenant is young and fresh. It was not faulty and God did not make a mistake.
It is an amendment, renewal, and confirmation of the first covenant. The amendment is “Be mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses, whom I charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel” for those who fear and heed the Lord rather than strict compliance by all the Jewish people.
This same unknown writer quoted the scripture of Jeremiah:
“Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.” Hebrews 8/9 Holy Bible
Changing a very important part of the verse which reads:
“It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant which they broke, though I espoused [married] them—declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 31/32
“Though I espoused them” was changed to “and I regarded them not”. This same unknown writer said that Jesus ate the flesh and drank the blood under the belief that by his death he would destroy the power of death the devil:
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;” Hebrews 2/14 Holy Bible
The Greek word for “flesh” in the New Testament is sarx, a term that can often in Scripture refer to the physical body. A common belief in the ancient age and middle ages was that drinking the blood of another man would extend one’s life. Another of the many versions of the stories of the life of a man called Jesus.
God did not replace His written new covenant with sin forgiveness of the Jewish people with a human sacrifice of His son (or Himself) and Jesus did not end death and there is no devil with power over death.
The book of Hebrews confirms that Jesus was a human sacrifice and quotes Jesus as also believing that he was rather than the common belief in Christianity that he sacrificed himself for those who would believe in him and accept him as their savior:
“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10/4-10 Holy Bible
“Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;” Hebrews 10/19-20 Holy Bible
“He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:” Hebrews 10/28 Holy Bible
Jesus said, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.” The first being animal sacrifice in bulls and goats for sins and the second for God to establish human sacrifice for sins in the body of Jesus that God prepared for sacrifice. God did take away the animal atonement and worship laws of the Torah saying through His prophet He no longer wanted their sacrifices.
Jesus said, “in the volume of the book it is written of me” that God prepared the body of Jesus to be a human sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins in replacement of the animal sacrificial atonement laws. That God would accept a human sacrifice for the sins of mankind since He no longer wanted or would accept animals.
There is no known book where this was written and certainly no book in the Hebrew Bible. Man may offer human sacrifices to God and to Gods for different reasons such as fertility, long life and bountiful crops but the God of creation does not offer human sacrifices to man or accept human sacrifices from men. There is a day in Judaism for repentance with restitution which God can accept or not. Yom Kippur.
God had His prophets speak and write His words of sin forgiveness as He did with forgiving the Assyrian/Babylon exiles in the Book of Isaiah. He sends a messenger with His words of sin forgiveness declared in Jeremiah 31 for a time to come in Malachi 3. The day of the Lord.
21.
Rashi and His Commentary on Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53
Introduction
In Isaiah 52/13-15 the Lord begins to describe His righteous servant of Chapter 53. Isaiah 52/13-15 should have been verses 1-3 of Chapter 53. When Scripture was originally written, there were no chapter and verse divisions. A Jewish rabbi by the name of Nathan divided the Hebrew Bible into verses in 1448. Some of the chapter divisions of the Hebrew Bible are very arbitrary. It is commonly believed that Isaiah 53 starts in the final verses of Isaiah 52. Isaiah 52, a chapter of prophecy fulfilled by the return of the remnant of the thirteen tribes of Israel God often calls His servant, concludes with verse 12.
Multiple Verse Quotations
The translation of Artscroll and Chabad of Isaiah 52 that Rashi comments on does not include the quotations that combine verses 13-15. They are the only quotations of Isaiah 52 and a demarcation of the verses of the fulfillment of prophecy by the return of the remnant of the thirteen tribes from exile. They are the beginning of the description of God’ righteous servant of Isaiah 53 and have nothing to do with the exiles, God’s servant, the Jewish people. God’s righteous servant is a gentile, in the beginning. The translation of the Jewish Publication Society has the quotations:
13Behold My servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and he shall be very high. 14As many wondered about you, “How marred his appearance is from that of a man, and his features from that of people!” 15So shall he cast down many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for, what had not been told them they saw, and [at] what they had not heard they gazed. [Artscroll and Chabad]
13“Indeed, My servant shall prosper, Be exalted and raised to great heights. 14Just as the many were appalled at him—So marred was his appearance, unlike that of man, His form, beyond human semblance—15Just so he shall startle many nations. Kings shall be silenced because of him, For they shall see what has not been told them, Shall behold what they never have heard.” [Jewish Publication Society]
“My servant” is now the gentile and not the exiles who becomes “My righteous servant” in Isaiah 53/11 after passing the test of devotion in Isaiah 53/10 when he makes himself an offering for guilt in a covenant with God. Isaiah 53 then begins with a new multiple verse quotation that is missing the quotes from the translation of Artscroll and Chabad but included in the translation of the Jewish Publication society:
1Who would have believed our report, and to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed? 2And he came up like a sapling before it, and like a root from dry ground, he had neither form nor comeliness; and we saw him that he had no appearance. Now shall we desire him? 3Despised and rejected by men, a man of pains and accustomed to illness, and as one who hides his face from us, despised and we held him of no account. 4Indeed, he bore our illnesses, and our pains-he carried them, yet we accounted him as plagued, smitten by God and oppressed. 5But he was pained because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; the chastisement of our welfare was upon him, and with his wound we were healed. 7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he would not open his mouth; like a lamb to the slaughter he would be brought, and like a ewe that is mute before her shearers, and he would not open his mouth. [Artscroll and Chabad]
1“Who can believe what we have heard? Upon whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? 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. 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. 4Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, Smitten and afflicted by God; 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. 6We all went astray like sheep, Each going his own way; And the Lord visited upon him The guilt of all of us.” [Jewish Publication Society]
The speaker is no longer God from the Isaiah 52 multiple verse quote but is the witnesses of God’s righteous servant of the Isaiah 53 multiple quote verse that follows. The witnesses, who are Jews, identify themselves as ones of the many made righteous by God’s righteous servant, saying “It was our sickness that he was bearing, our suffering he endured” (verse 4); “he was wounded because of our sins, Crushed because of our iniquities” (verse 5); “He bore the chastisement that made us whole, And by his bruises we were healed” (verse 5); and “… the Lord visited upon him The guilt of us all” (verse 6, and see “offering for guilt” in 53/10).
The quotes, beginning at verse one and ending before verse seven, identify the speaker of verses one and two as also being witnesses made righteous by the righteous servant from the suffering he endured. God’s Teachings is that no man bears the suffering of others. It is not even possible to bear the sins, wounds, chastisement, bruising, sickness, and suffering of others.
No one or others can be healed or atoned for because another man or men suffer or are beaten, or murdered or sacrificed. So what are these verses by the witnesses about? The sickness of the witnesses is not being righteous. God’s righteous servant suffers by the chastisement, punishment, bruising, crushing and maltreatment laid on him by the words and power of God to make him suitable for His purpose that might prosper. A purpose that includes His righteous servant making the many righteous by his knowledge with long life and the building of the third Temple.
The righteous servant bearing up to this fire of refinement is bearing the illness and pain of unrighteousness of the Jewish people to be recognized as a prophet of God, that in and of itself will draw the Jewish people back to Judaism, reconcile the family members one to the other, and make the many righteous in the day of the Lord.
The book of Ezekiel is the key to understanding Isaiah 53. Ezekiel is told he will bear the punishment (for sin) of the houses of Israel and Judah and he is punished, chastised, maltreated, bruised and crushed to make him suitable to be a prophet to the Assyria/Babylon exiles and speak the words of God he is given during the ordeal, and the anguish of it. Just like the righteous servant except he is not crushed with disease and does not make himself an offering for guilt. God just seizes him.
Rashi taught in the middle ages, and today Jews for Judaism and Rabbi Tovia Singer of Outreach Judaism teach to their “flock” and on the internet with thousands of believing followers and thousands of disbelieving Christians, that God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 is all of the Jewish People as one man, Israel.
Isaiah 53 is written for the identification of a particular man, not a man who symbolizes all of a people. Not for how a man is perceived. The man described is God’s representation who brings before the Jewish people, by his actions and words, the will of God in the day of the Lord, as Moses did in the Exodus to the promised land. He is God’s righteous servant; His messenger of the new covenant and reconciler of Jewish families, Elijah; His anointed one, the shepherd God calls My servant David; and His veritable mouthpiece on earth and writer of His words, the Prophet like Moses.
Isaiah 52/13 and continuing for all of Isaiah 53 is a description of God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous by His knowledge with long life . It is not a song of the servant Israel as first identified by Bernhard Duhm in his 1892 commentary on Isaiah. Bernhard Duhm was a protestant Lutheran theologian of the Christian Old Testament (Hebrew Bible). It is not Israel speaking as a single man. It does not declare Israel to be the righteous servant. It is the only time the words “My righteous servant” are used by the Lord in the scripture.
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, generally known today by the acronym Rashi (RAbbi SHlomo Itzhaki), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud and commentary on the Tanakh. He is often referred to as the first Rabbi to believe that the Jewish people as one man “Israel” are God’s righteous servant. The early Sages expected a personal Messiah to fulfill the Isaiah prophecy. No alternative interpretation was applied to this passage until the Middle Ages.
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 Moses ben Maimon, commonly known as Maimonides, and often referred to by the acronym Rambam, a medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages-realized the inconsistencies of Rashi’s views and would not abandon the original messianic interpretations.
Rashi’s commentary on Isaiah 52/13-15 and 53 supporting his position, conflicts with his commentary on the book of Zechariah, Chapter 1 when he says:
“The prophecy: of Zechariah is extremely enigmatic, because it contains visions resembling a dream that requires an interpretation. We cannot ascertain the truth of its interpretation until the teacher of righteousness comes. Nonetheless, I will put my heart to reconciling the verses, one by one, according to the interpretations that resemble it and following the interpretation of Jonathan”.
The teacher of righteousness Rashi awaits is God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53. He is referring to a particular man and not the people Israel, which would include himself. Rashi is known for inconsistencies in his interpretations.
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 2/14 in 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 transgression of the law; as it is written, “Surely our sicknesses he has carried.” (Zohar II, 212a)
Translations of the Hebrew Bible
Rashi’s commentary on Isaiah 52 and 53 translated from Hebrew to English in the translation of the Tanakh by Artscroll, an imprint of translations, books and commentaries from an Orthodox Jewish perspective published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd. can be found online as well at Chabad.Org., and the translation of the verses and Rashi’s commentary are identical.
My commentary on Isaiah 52/13-15 and Isaiah 53 is based on the translation of the Jewish Publication Society who 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 and published in 1985, directly from the original Hebrew text, the Leningrad Codex.
The Leningrad Codex is the oldest complete edition of the Hebrew Bible in existence. It dates to around 1008-1010 A.D. However, the Leningrad Codex, although complete, is not the best quality Hebrew manuscript. Although carefully hand-written, it was corrected against the Aleppo Codex – and the Aleppo Codex remains the best quality manuscript. The Leningrad Codex is so reliable that it is the Hebrew text from which nearly all modern translations have been translated.
I have been unable to find the source of the Artscroll and Chabad translation of the Hebrew Bible into English. It is not directly from the Leningrad Codex or the Aleppo Codex. It is not from the Greek translation called the Septuagint later translated to English that is the source of the Christian Holy Bible. However, with the translation of Artscroll and Chabad, like the Christian Bible, two of the most important parts of the Isaiah 53/10 translation changes the meaning and purpose of this verse. Isaiah 53/10 is the one verse that cannot be proven by witnesses as having occurred and is the most controversial.
The Artscroll and Chabad translation is “10And the Lord wished to crush him, He made him ill; if his soul makes itself restitution, he shall see children, he shall prolong his days, and God’s purpose shall prosper in his hand.”
The Christian Holy Bible (KJV) translation is “10Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”
The Jewish Publication Society translation is “”But 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.”
God had Isaiah write Isaiah 53 just as He had Moses write the Torah. The multiple purposes of how Isaiah 53 is written were no more possible for Isaiah to know than Moses could know of the multiple purposes of the Torah, and the 613 Laws of God for the Jewish people derived from its books.
Isaiah 53 was written with the knowledge of God that the gentiles would take the book of the children of the book and call it their own. That they would do it based on the animal sacrificial, atonement, and worship Laws in the book of Leviticus. Isaiah 53 was also written for the day of the Lord and His vindication of the Jewish people for all of the wrongs the world brought upon them by the teachings of Christianity. His wrath being passed to the Christians from the Jewish people in Isaiah 51.
The man is crushed with disease so that he will be made to make himself an offering for guilt to God. My commentary explains what this means. It has nothing to do with a guilt offering of an unblemished ram of restitution for violating the Lord’s Holy things, unintentional sins, extortion or robbery. The Christion translation changes the word guilt to be sin. Yet, it has nothing to do with a sin offering of an unblemished lamb.
The primary purpose of verse ten is to make certain that the animal sacrificial, atonement and worship Laws of Leviticus cannot be used for the man described. It is the only reason God would crush a man with disease to make him be His servant. You cannot offer a blemished animal. So, God blemishes the man. No man would refuse God and God does not need a man’s permission to make him a servant. He is God. In the book of Ezekiel God seized him and made him suitable for the purpose of being a prophet to the Assyria/Babylon exiles in God’s fire of refinement.
“7But the House of Israel will refuse to listen to you, for they refuse to listen to Me; for the whole House of Israel are brazen of forehead and stubborn of heart. 8But I will make your face as hard as theirs, and your forehead as brazen as theirs. 9I will make your forehead like adamant, harder than flint. Do not fear them, and do not be dismayed by them, though they are a rebellious breed.” Ezekiel 3/7-9
“14A 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
The purpose and meaning of Isaiah 53 is completely changed if it is not fulfilled by a particular man in the day of the Lord by making himself an offering for guilt that has nothing to do with restitution by the souls of all Jewish men and women at one time, or the animal sacrificial laws of Leviticus for the forgiveness of sin or guilt by the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb (the soul of Jesus) or unblemished rams (the restitution of the souls of six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust) according to Rabbi Tovia Singer of Outreach Judaism.
The Remnant of Thirteen Tribes Return
The tribes of Reuben, Gad and the ½ tribe of Manasseh that settled outside of the promised land east of the river Jordan, and the tribes of the northern Kingdom of Samaria (also called the kingdom of Ephraim and the kingdom of Israel) were defeated by the Assyrians and deported to lands in Assyria north-west of Babylon (Iraq) and to the towns of Media (Iran). The Assyrians imported gentiles to the lands of the northern kingdom.
The Kingdom of Judah was defeated by the Babylonians and in stages deported to Babylon (Iraq). Jerusalem is within the lands of Benjamin which lands are considered part of the Kingdom of Judah since that is where the Kings of the lands of Judah ruled from.
The accounts of the return of the Jewish people by decree of Cyrus of Persia, the first gentile anointed one of God (HaMoshiach), who had defeated the Chaldeans (who had defeated the Babylonians) and formed the Persian Empire including their lands, are in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 Chronicles. HaMoshiach Cyrus addresses all of the thirteen tribes in his decree:
“Thus said King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord God of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and has charged me with building Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Anyone of you of all His people, the Lord his God be with him and let him go up.” 2Chronicles 36/2
Remnants of all of the thirteen tribes of Israel returned to Jerusalem and Judah. The tribes with allotments of land in the northern kingdom could not return to those lands. Gentiles who had been imported to the lands of the northern kingdom were settled there, many of whom tried to stop the building of the second Temple.
“When the seventh month arrived—the Israelites being settled in their towns—the entire people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.” Ezra 3/1
When the people Israel gather as one man it is all twelve tribes and the Levites (the priestly tribe without an allotment of the promised lands).
“The first to settle in their towns, on their property, were Israelites, priests, Levites, and temple servants, while some of the Judahites and some of the Benjaminites and some of the Ephraimites and Manassehites settled in Jerusalem.” 1 Chronicles Chapter 9/2-3
Ephraim and Manasseh were not lost tribes as many believe from writings outside of the Hebrew Bible. It is said in writings by Sages and Rabbi’s that ten of the twelve tribes of Israel became lost and did not return to Judah to build the second Temple. There never were lost tribes according to the Hebrew Bible. If there were lost tribes the many accounts of their return in Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 Chronicles were not true and Isaiah wrote a prophecy of God that was not fulfilled.
“Fear not, for I am with you: I will bring your folk from the East, Will gather you out of the West; I will say to the North, “Give back!” And to the South, “Do not withhold! Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the end of the earth.” Isaiah 43/5-6
Isaiah’s prophesy is to all Assyria/Babylon exiles returning by the words of God. The return of the exiles to the land of Israel given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by covenant and partitioned among the twelve tribes of Israel by Moses and Joshua is not just the Babylon exiles of Judah and Benjamin. It includes all the tribes that were defeated, deported and exiled by the Assyrians before them.
The “Babylon exiles” are all thirteen tribes in Assyria/Babylonia/Chaldean/Persia. In Isaiah 43 God says:
“14Thus said the Lord, Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I send to Babylon; I will bring down all [her] bars, And the Chaldeans shall raise their voice in lamentation.”
“19I am about to do something new; Even now it shall come to pass, Suddenly you shall perceive it: I will make a road through the wilderness And rivers in the desert.”
“25It is I, I who—for My own sake—Wipe your transgressions away And remember your sins no more.”
This account in Isaiah is repeated in the book of Jeremiah for the Jewish people as the dispersal of the Roman/Jewish revolts who return and the land blooms again and the ruined cities and Jerusalem are rebuilt. God’s prophecy of a time to come that also includes sin forgiveness. The time to come when the third Temple will be built by a sin free Holy people for God’s Presence and the angel of His Presence to return to Jerusalem, just as the second Temple was by the Assyria/Babylon exiles. The Jewish people. A Holy seed. The time to come of Jeremiah 31 that began in 1948 when the state of Israel was created after the Holocaust. The time to come of the new covenant with sin forgiveness. The time to come that is here.
Isaiah 52 is an announcement of prophecy fulfilled in the return to Judah of a remnant of all thirteen tribes from the Assyria/ Babylon exile.
Isaiah 52
1Awaken, awaken, put on your strength, O Zion; put on the garments of your beauty, Jerusalem the Holy City, for no longer shall the uncircumcised or the unclean continue to enter you.
2Shake yourselves from the dust, arise, sit down, O Jerusalem; free yourself of the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
Rashi:
Shake yourself: Heb. הִתְנַעֲרִי, escourre in O.F., to shake strongly, like one who shakes out a garment.
arise: from the ground, from the decree (supra 3:26), “She shall sit on the ground.”
sit down: on a throne.
free yourself: Untie yourself [from Jonathan].
bands of: Heb. מוֹסְרֵי, cringatro umbriah in O.F., [strap].
captive: Heb. שְׁבִיָה, like שְׁבוּיָה, captive.
3For so said the Lord, “You were sold for nought, and you shall not be redeemed for money.”
Rashi:
You were sold for nought: Because of worthless matters, i.e., the evil inclination, which affords you no reward.
and you shall not be redeemed for money: but with repentance.
Keith:
You were sold for nought: The defeat of the tribes of Rueben, Gad, and the ½ tribe of Manasseh by the Assyrians; the defeat of the tribes of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians; and the defeat of Judah by the Babylonians and deportation of all thirteen tribes to the lands of Assyria/Babylon/Chaldean/Persia.
and you shall not be redeemed for money: God anoints Cyrus of Persia to build the second Temple in Jerusalem who defeats the Chaldeans and Babylonians and by decree frees the exiles to return to Jerusalem and build the Temple for him. God redeems His people using men as He used Moses, not money. And those forgiven of sin need not repent first.
4For so said the Lord God, “My people first went down to Egypt to sojourn there, but Assyria oppressed them for nothing.”
Rashi:
My people first went down to Egypt: The Egyptians had somewhat of a debt upon them, for they served for them as their hosts and sustained them, but Assyria oppressed them for nothing and without cause.
5″And now, what have I here,” says the Lord, “that My people has been taken for nothing. His rulers boast,” says the Lord, “and constantly all day My name is blasphemed.
Rashi:
And now, what have I here: Why do I stay and detain My children here?
boast: Heb. יְהֵילִילוּ, Boast saying, “Our hand was powerful.”
is blasphemed: Blasphemes itself, and this is an instance similar to (Num 7:89) “And he heard the voice speaking to him.”
Keith:
And now, what have I here: The thirteen tribes defeated, deported, in exile ruled by boastful gentiles who insult, mock, dishonor, and show contempt of Hashem, the God of the Jewish people and creator of mankind.
6Therefore, My people shall know My name; therefore, on that day, for I am He Who speaks, here I am.”
Rashi:
My people shall know: When I redeem them, they will recognize that My name is master, monarch, and ruler, as is its apparent meaning.
therefore, on that day: The day of their redemption, they will understand that I am He Who speaks, and behold, I have fulfilled the prophecy.
Keith:
Therefore, My people shall know My name: God will remind the exiles of who He is by freeing them of bondage and fulfilling His prophecy of Isaiah 43/5-6:
“Fear not, for I am with you: I will bring your folk from the East, Will gather you out of the West; I will say to the North, “Give back!” And to the South, “Do not withhold! Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the end of the earth.”
for I am He Who speaks,: God speaks to and anoints Cyrus of Persia to build the second Temple in Jerusalem and free the exiles. Just as He spoke to Moses in freeing the Israelites from bondage. Just as He will speak to His righteous servant to have the third Temple built and the gentiles and His people will know He sanctifies Israel.
here I am: In His Temple on His Holy Mount Zion in Jerusalem (When the second Temple is built, and again when the third Temple is built.)
7How beautiful are the feet of the herald on the mountains, announcing peace, heralding good tidings, announcing salvation, saying to Zion, “Your God has manifested His kingdom.”
Rashi:
No commentary
Keith:
the feet of the herald on the mountains: The remnant of the thirteen tribes returning from exile to the promised land. The herald is the people Israel.
Saying to Zion: Zion is the promised land, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount.
Your God has manifested His Kingdom: The God of Zion, who is the God of the Jewish people, announces to His land in general and to His city and Temple Mount specifically, that He once again chooses Jerusalem. The Jewish people returning make it evident and readily perceived by the eye in building the second Temple that God declares Israel as His kingdom, the land and His people.
8The voice of your watchmen- they raised a voice, together they shall sing, for eye to eye they shall see when the Lord returns to Zion.
Rashi:
The voice of your watchmen: The watchmen who are stationed on the walls and the towers to report and to see (to see and to report [Parshandatha]) who comes to the city.
Keith:
The voice of your watchmen: The watchmen of Zion are the Jewish people, as God continues the symbolism of speaking to the lands of Abraham, Jerusalem, and His Temple Mount as though a living being named Israel, by the actions of His people called Israel.
for eye to eye they shall see when the Lord returns to Zion: In a vision of Ezekiel he says
“1Then he led me to a gate, the gate that faced east. 2And there, coming from the east with a roar like the roar of mighty waters, was the Presence of the God of Israel, and the earth was lit up by His Presence. Ezekiel 43/1-2
And:
“4The Presence of the Lord entered the Temple by the gate that faced eastward. 5A spirit carried me into the inner court, and lo, the Presence of the Lord filled the Temple; 6and I heard speech addressed to me from the Temple, though [the] man was standing beside me. 7It said to me: ‘O mortal, this is the place of My throne and the place for the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people Israel forever…’ “ Ezekiel 43/4-7
When the second temple is built and God returns to it the remnant that returned from exile see, that is they know, that God sanctifies Israel. When the third Temple is built the remnant of the Holocaust that returned and created the state of Israel will see that He is in His Temple and sanctifies Israel, as do the Jews and gentiles of the world.
This is God’s covenant of friendship that comes with His servant David, the anointed one of Isaiah 11/1-2:
10Thus said the Lord God: I am going to deal with the shepherds! I will demand a reckoning of them for My flock, and I will dismiss them from tending the flock. Ezekiel 34/10
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. Ezekiel 34/23-25
“I will make a covenant of friendship with them—it shall be an everlasting covenant with them—I will establish them and multiply them, and I will place My Sanctuary among them forever. My Presence shall rest over them; I will be their God and they shall be My people. And when My Sanctuary abides among them forever, the nations shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel.” Ezekiel 37/26-28
9Burst out in song, sing together, O ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has consoled his people; He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10The Lord has revealed His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
Rashi:
has revealed: Heb. חָשַׂף, has revealed.
Keith:
revealed His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations: God does this by having the second Temple built and will do it again with the third Temple.
11Turn away, turn away, get out of there, touch no unclean one; get out of its midst, purify yourselves, you who bear the Lord’s vessels.
Rashi:
touch no unclean one: They shall be abominable to you to touch them.
get out of its midst: Out of the midst of the exile, for all these last consolations refer only to the last exile.
purify yourselves: Heb. הִבָּרוּ, purify yourselves.
you who bear the Lord’s vessels: You, the priests and the Levites, who carried the vessels of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the desert [from here is proof of the resurrection of the dead].
Keith:
you who bear the Lord’s vessels: Rashi says “You, the priests and the Levites, who carried the vessels of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the desert [from here is proof of the resurrection of the dead].”
The Rambam (Maimonides) compiled what he refers to as the Shloshah Asar Ikkarim, the “Thirteen Fundamental Principles” of the Jewish faith, as derived from the Torah. Maimonides refers to these thirteen principles of faith as “the fundamental truths of our religion and its very foundations.” Number 13 of the Thirteen Fundamental Principles is “The belief in the resurrection of the dead.”
Ezekiel 37 gives a vivid account of raising the dead to life into new bodies of flesh and bone. This was a common belief in the ancient age and middle ages. In this age of information with knowledge of science and the human body few people believe that a human body can or will be resurrected anew by God. It is a primitive and medieval concept that was good for a time through the middle ages. That is why God provided visions of heaven conforming to the beliefs and world of the Jewish people in the middle ages and before and of a spiritual heaven for a more enlightened time of reasoning and knowledge in Ezekiel 1 and 10.
The burden on Israel and the practicalities of such an event of millions of people suddenly appearing in the land from the time of Abraham to today is unimaginable. From the hundreds of thousands of Israelites that died in Egypt and in the Exodus to the six million murdered in the Holocaust alone. Many would be illiterate and savage and few would be trained to work in this society. All would have to be housed and fed and educated. It would be a prophecy that destroys the government and the State of Israel.
The resurrection of the dead in a human body is also said to be a sign that Moshiach has arrived or that it will happen in his lifetime. This is a teaching from the ancient age and middle ages that continues today. Judaism’s reliance on everything the Sages say in an era gone by in the Oral Tradition is important for the laws of the Torah.
The day of the Lord and the arrival of God’s servant David according to the prophets must be interpreted with the evolution of humanity from the ancient age to the age of information in mind, the eras in between, and in the eras to come.
12For not with haste shall you go forth and not in a flurry of flight shall you go, for the Lord goes before you, and your rear guard is the God of Israel.
Rashi:
for… goes before you: Two things at the end of this verse explain two things in its beginning, [viz.] For not with haste shall you go forth. What is the reason? For the Lord goes before you to lead you on the way, and one whose agent advances before him to lead him on the way his departure is not in haste. And not in the flurry of flight shall you go, for your rear guard is the God of Israel. He will follow you to guard you from any pursuer. Comp. (Num. 10:25) “And the division of the camp of Dan shall travel, the rear guard of all the camps.” Whoever goes after the camp is called מְאַסֵּף, the rear guard, because he waits for the stragglers and the stumblers. Similarly, Scripture states in Joshua (6:13): “And the rear guard was going after the Ark.”
Keith:
for the Lord goes before you, and your rear guard is the God of Israel: In Isaiah 43 God says:
“14Thus said the Lord, Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I send to Babylon; I will bring down all [her] bars, And the Chaldeans shall raise their voice in lamentation.”
“19I am about to do something new; Even now it shall come to pass, Suddenly you shall perceive it: I will make a road through the wilderness And rivers in the desert.”
God accomplishes this by raising up the HaMoshiach Cyrus of Persia, a gentile, who defeats the Chaldeans and issues a decree that the Assyrian/Babylonian exiles are free to return to Jerusalem and Judah. This is not the Exodus where haste and flurry of flight was needed. They are free to go. Having Cyrus issue the decree is how God was before and the rear guard of the exiles.
13Behold My servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and he shall be very high.
Rashi:
Behold My servant shall prosper: Behold, at the end of days, My servant, Jacob, [i.e.,] the righteous among him, shall prosper.
Keith:
13”Indeed, My servant shall prosper, Be exalted and raised to great heights. [JPS]
My servant shall prosper, Be exalted and raised to great heights: “My servant” is now the gentile and not the exiles who becomes “My righteous servant” in Isaiah 53/11 after passing the test of devotion in Isaiah 53/10 when he makes himself an offering for guilt in a covenant with God. From a sinful man whose life had been lowly; full of grievous events and serious injuries; a man of pain and suffering familiar with disease that the spirit of God alights upon; to the crown of God’s righteous servant who rises to great heights:
“The stock of Jesse that has remained standing Shall become a standard to peoples— Nations shall seek his counsel And his abode shall be honored.” Isaiah 11/10
The abode of the righteous servant is humble when the Lord cuts him off from the world of material things and society in Isaiah 53/8 and in the end the abode of the servant is one to be honored in Isaiah 11/10. From a poor man to a rich man with the many as his portion and the multitude as his spoil. Prosperous and held in high regard by many and a multitude of the Jewish people.
14As many wondered about you, “How marred his appearance is from that of a man, and his features from that of people!”
Rashi:
As many wondered: As many peoples wondered about them when they saw them in their humble state, and said to one another, How marred is his [Israel’s] appearance from that of a man! See how their features are darker than those of other people, so, as we see with our eyes.
Keith:
14Just as the many were appalled at him—So marred was his appearance, unlike that of man, His form, beyond human semblance—Isaiah 52/14 [JPS]
so marred was his appearance, unlike that of man: This begins the description of God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53. How could a man today fit the description of the Lord’s righteous servant in Isaiah 52/14 with his appearance marred, unlike that of man (normal men), and “Just so [marred] he shall startle many nations. Kings [Leaders] shall be silenced because of him, For they shall see what has not been told them, Shall behold what they never have heard.” in verse 52/15
There is one way and still be alive to fulfill verse 52/15. By way of example to describe such a man who comes when the land blooms again and Jerusalem has been rebuilt, which began about 70 years ago, if I were to be seen with all of my injuries from accidents and surgical operations at one time, before healing, together with my congenital disfigurement, my appearance and features would be marred from that of a man and people. This is my history:
I was born prematurely in the seventh month without the muscles of my right breast and with a disfigured right shoulder and arm, which is thinner and weaker than my left arm. I would have a four-inch wound from surgery to remove tissue above the missing right breast when I was two years old. I was small and my parents were told I would not live to see the next day.
My feet would have third-degree burns from standing on the ashes of hot coals at a Fourth of July celebration when I was four. My right knee would be a gaping wound from being impaled upon a broken glass bottle after being tripped by my dog while running in a field when I was ten.
My left knee would be sliced open from broken glass I crawled over playing a game when I was eleven. My two front teeth would be gone, knocked out by a telephone receiver when I was twelve. Each foot would be pierced twice by nails I stepped on at a construction site when I was seventeen.
My torso would be opened from the top of my rib-cage vertically down to the pelvic bone from surgery to repair a .22 caliber gunshot to my abdomen on the front right side which pierced my bladder, colon, and intestines and exited through my back left side when I was eighteen.
My upper jaw (the teeth, gums, and bone) would be severed from my skull from orthodontic surgery with my face swollen to twice its normal size when I was thirty-eight.
My torso was opened again to remove an 8-inch malignant cancerous tumor that had burst through my colon. I survived the colon cancer with surgery and chemotherapy but subsequent tests revealed that cancer had spread to my lungs and it was too advanced to treat. I was told I would soon die. A stage four diagnosis. I have not seen a doctor for lung cancer from that day forward. It was when the terrorists hit New York 19 years ago and I was 44 years old. I would be very thin, about 145 pounds and almost six feet tall.
The skin of my chest would be opened from a six-inch circular cut to remove skin cancer when I was forty-three. My left hand would be broken from a fall on a tennis court when I was twenty-eight and broken again walking on stones in a creek when I was fifty-five.
My ankles would be bruised and swollen from severe sprains while playing basketball and running at various ages. My chin would be lacerated from striking a wall at the end of a foot race when I was twenty-one and I would be covered with the childhood diseases of measles and mumps.
That is how a man could fit the description of the Lord’s righteous servant in Isaiah 52/14 and Just so he shall startle many nations. Kings shall be silenced because of him, For they shall see what has not been told them, Shall behold what they never have heard.
15So shall he cast down many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for, what had not been told them they saw, and [at] what they had not heard they gazed.
Rashi:
what had not been told them: concerning any man, they saw in him.
they gazed: Heb. הִתְבּוֹנָנוּ, they gazed.
So shall he cast down many nations: So now, even he his hand will become powerful, and he will cast down the horns of the nations who scattered him.
shall shut: Heb. יִקְפְּצוּ. They shall shut their mouths out of great bewilderment.
for: honor.
Keith:
15Just so he shall startle many nations. Kings shall be silenced because of him, For they shall see what has not been told them, Shall behold what they never have heard.” [JPS]
Just so he shall startle many nations. Kings shall be silenced because of him: Nations, the gentiles, startled and Kings, leaders of nations silenced by seeing God’s righteous servant, God’s servant David, Elijah, and the prophet like Moses, as one man, a gentile, looking at what they never had heard of: that God’s righteous servant arrives in the time to come of Jeremiah 31 and the day of the Lord; that God’s righteous servant is the only man to come who is described in the scripture and is inherently and implicitly the anointed one David, Elijah, and the prophet like Moses, of whom there is no description for identification; that the Jewish people throughout the world will be forgiven by God of all their iniquities and sins by God’s written word in the day of the Lord; that Heaven is being created for only the Jewish people; that God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 is a gentile according to the scripture, in the beginning; that Jesus, being a Jew, cannot be God’s righteous servant; that God’s righteous servant is familiar with disease and crushed with disease, blemished, and could never be an offer for sacrifice; that a host of the Lord’s host is a man and divine beings; that the captain of the Lord’s host is a gentile host of the Lord’s host and a harbinger of God’s righteous servant; that God’s righteous servant becomes a man and divine beings when God’s spirit, who is the angel of His Presence, the angel of the Lord, and the Holy spirit alights upon him in Isaiah 11/1-2; that God would really redeem the Jewish people and in the same manner that He did in the Hebrew Bible, with one man; that the time to come of Jeremiah 31 began when the state of Israel was created in 1948; and that God’s righteous servant fulfills and completes the remaining six prophecies of God in the day of the Lord.
Isaiah 53
The first speakers of Isaiah 53 are the witnesses of the righteous servant in the quoted multiple verses 1 through 6. The many who are made righteous by God’s righteous servant.
1Who would have believed our report, and to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed?
Rashi:
Who would have believed our report: So will the nations say to one another, Were we to hear from others what we see, it would be unbelievable.
the arm of the Lord: like this, with greatness and glory, to whom was it revealed until now?
Keith:
1 “Who can believe what we have heard? Upon whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? [JPS]
“Who can believe what we have heard?: The witnesses ask who can believe that God redeems the Jewish people by the new covenant with sin forgiveness that is delivered by the messenger Elijah, who receives it from the angel of the covenant, who is the angel of His Presence, the Holy spirit that alights upon the anointed one in Isaiah 11/1-2, and clears the way for the Lord to return to His Temple by making the many righteous, the many that believe in him; not by using His power to change the will and thinking of all of the Jewish people, and perfecting all of the Christians, all of the Muslims and all the gentiles of the world, so that the Jewish people and the world heed and revere the name of the Lord, are all knowledgeable in the Holy Scriptures, and “mindful” of the Teachings and Laws of God He gave to Moses at Horeb; by the covenant of friendship that comes with His servant David when He sanctifies Israel by having the third Temple built on His Holy Mount Zion in Jerusalem; by speaking to His prophet again as He spoke to Moses, face to face and friend to friend, who God can speak through as a man and divine beings, a host of the Lord’s host; and all with one man the Lord calls “My righteous servant”.
Rambam says in Chapter Twelve of “The Laws Concerning King Moshiach” that “Moshiach will compel all of Israel to walk in the way of the Torah; perfect the entire world motivating all the nations to serve God together; there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition; the entire world will be solely to know God; 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.”
Yet, God simply says He will send down the rain in its season; the trees of the field shall yield their fruit and the land shall yield its produce; the Jewish people shall continue secure on their own soil and never be overthrown and uprooted again; they shall no longer be a spoil for the nations; He will establish for them a planting of renown; they shall no more be carried off by famine; they shall not have to bear again the taunts of the nations; He will establish them and multiply them; He will place His Sanctuary among them forever; His Presence shall rest over them; and when His Sanctuary abides among them forever, the nations will know that the Lord sanctifies Israel.
Who would believe that one man fulfills and completes the remaining prophecies of God in the day of the Lord? The remaining prophecy to be fulfilled is the delivery of two specific covenants and the arrivals of God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous; the anointed one, a shepherd God calls “My servant David”; Elijah, who was taken to Heaven and returns and reconciles the members of the Jewish families one to the other through Judaism and righteousness; and the prophet like Moses who wrote the Torah at the command and direction of God.
The witnesses report, and who would believe it, that they had not been told by their wise men, Sages, Rabbi’s, and theologians that God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 is a gentile, in the beginning. Isaiah 63 says God comes from Edom that is interpreted in Judaism to be Christianity and means He is coming from a Christian country, and of the people (Jewish people) none are with Him. He comes with a gentile. Jesus was a Jewish man who came from Nazareth. The Jewish people did not come from Edom. They began in the promised land (today called Israel), returned from Egypt in the Exodus and were not allowed to pass through Edom, and returned from Europe after the Holocaust.
The witnesses report that they had never heard that the captain of the Lord’s host is a gentile and a harbinger of God’s righteous servant who is a gentile, and who becomes a host of the Lord’s host, a man and divine beings, when God’s spirit alights upon him in Isaiah 11/1 -2.
The witnesses had never heard that the divine beings are the Holy spirit who is the angel of His Presence of Isaiah 63, an angel whose angelic body is not the form of a human with wings, but the very spirit of God, and God.
The very angel who went before the Israelites in the Exodus and God was in him:
“I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have made ready. Pay heed to him and obey him. Do not defy him, for he will not pardon your offenses, since My Name [God] is in him; but if you obey him and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.” Exodus 23/ 20-22
The witnesses had never heard that God created His spirit, is in His spirit, and His spirit is the body of the Angel of His Presence, and the angel of the Lord. How the angel of the Lord is in the burning bush and God speaks to Moses. How a man and divine beings wrestled with Jacob and God spoke to Jacob renaming him Israel. How the ground was Holy where Joshua fell to the ground before a gentile with drawn sword and asked:
“What does my lord command his servant?” The captain of the Lord’s host answered Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.” Joshua 5/14-15
The very words God spoke to Moses. The Lord is with the captain and where the Lord is so is the angel of His Presence. A man and divine beings.
How Elijah the Tishbite, an inhabitant of Ramoth- Gilead, an Arab/Assyrian town and land east of the river Jordan, is also a gentile host of the Lord’s host:
As they were crossing, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” Elisha answered, “Let a double portion* of your spirit pass on to me.” ll Kings 2/6
(Footnote in the Hebrew Bible) Let a double portion*: Translators note: Lit. “two-thirds”; of Zech. 13.8. 8Throughout the land—declares the Lord—Two-thirds shall perish, shall die, And one-third of it shall survive. Zech. 13/8.
How is a double portion of spirit two-thirds of a spirit? That is a question and it is also the answer to how Elijah is a host of the Lord’s host. The spirit of the Holy God who is a person had alighted on and entered Elijah. It is the only way to reconcile a double portion with a two-thirds portion of the spirit of Elijah.
Where the person of the spirit is so is the person and His Presence of the Holy God, whose person is also of spirit when My Name is in His spirit. The angel of His Presence and God are always together. That would be two persons of spirit with the spirit of Elijah or three persons within one man, but all three are separate and distinct never forming a one. Elijah is taken to heaven and they then alight upon Elisha, who begins performing the same miracles as Elijah.
How Ezekiel is a host of the Lord’s host, a man and divine beings:
“And He said to me, “O mortal, stand up on your feet that I may speak to you.” As He spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet; and I heard what was being spoken to me.” Ezekiel 2/1-2
This is God speaking to Ezekiel, but he does not hear God speaking until at the same moment a spirit enters him and sets him upon his feet. A spirit of God entering a man and God speaking means the angel of God’s Presence who is spirit alighted upon him and that God is in him. Just as the spirit of God alights upon and enters the anointed one of Isaiah 11/1-2.
How the Lord is symbolized in the story where He appeared and spoke to Abraham by the terebinths of Mamre as three men standing near him. The three men represent a host of the Lord’s host. A man with divine beings. It is three persons. The Lord and the angel of His Presence with a man. Two of the men are described as angels in the next chapter of Genesis. They are only men in this chapter for the purpose of symbolizing a host of the Lord’s Host.
How all of the prophets who wrote God’s words were hosts of the Lord’s host. Who could believe it?
Upon whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?: His redemption, victory and vindication. From a sinful man whose life had been lowly; full of grievous events and serious injuries; a man of pain and suffering familiar with disease that the spirit of God alights upon; to the crown of God’s righteous servant who rises to great heights:
“The stock of Jesse that has remained standing Shall become a standard to peoples— Nations shall seek his counsel And his abode shall be honored.” Isaiah 11/10
The abode of the righteous servant is humble when the Lord cuts him off from the world of material things and society in Isaiah 53/8 and in the end the abode of the servant is one to be honored in Isaiah 11/10. From a poor man to a rich man with the many as his portion and the multitude as his spoil.
And God brings the redemption of the Jewish people through him with covenants and the third Temple:
“I will make a covenant of friendship with them—it shall be an everlasting covenant with them—I will establish them and multiply them, and I will place My Sanctuary among them forever. My Presence shall rest over them; I will be their God and they shall be My people. And when My Sanctuary abides among them forever, the nations shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel.” Ezekiel 37/26-28
And through His righteous servant God does not perfect the world, He has His vindication:
“Thus said the Lord, your Lord, Your God who champions His people: Herewith I take from your hand The cup of reeling, The bowl, the cup of My wrath; You shall never drink it again. “I will put it in the hands of your tormentors, Who have commanded you, “Get down, that we may walk over you—” So that you made your back like the ground, Like a street for passersby.” Isaiah 51/22-23
Christianity, Islam and the world.
2And he came up like a sapling before it, and like a root from dry ground, he had neither form nor comeliness; and we saw him that he had no appearance. Now shall we desire him?
Rashi:
And he came up like a sapling before it: This people, before this greatness came to it, was a very humble people, and it came up by itself 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.
and we saw him that he had no appearance. Now shall we desire him?: And when we saw him from the beginning without an appearance, how could we desire him?
Now shall we desire him?: This is a question.
Keith:
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. [JPS]
Now shall we desire him?: If the dry land was a Christian country and his form was a gentile under the Jewish law, the Halacha (in the beginning), would he be attractive to the Jewish people. Not at all. But if he comes from a Christian country with God to Israel and converts orthodox to Judaism and becomes an Israeli citizen the answer is yes.
3Despised and rejected by men, a man of pains and accustomed to illness, and as one who hides his face from us, despised and we held him of no account.
Rashi:
Despised and rejected by men: was he. So is the custom of this prophet: he mentions all Israel as one man, e.g., (44:2), “Fear not, My servant Jacob” ; (44:1) “And now, hearken, Jacob, My servant.” Here too (52:13), “Behold My servant shall prosper,” he said concerning the house of Jacob. יַשְׂכִּיל is an expression of prosperity. Comp. (I Sam. 18:14) “And David was successful (מַשְׂכִּיל) in all his ways.”
and as one who hides his face from us: Because of their intense shame and humility, they were as one who hides his face from us, with their faces bound up in concealment, in order that we not see them, like a plagued man who hides his face and is afraid to look.
Keith:
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. [JPS]
Despised, shunned by men: He will be despised and shunned and held of no account simply for declaring that he is the Lord’s righteous servant described in Isaiah 53. Christianity, with God’s wrath passed to them, and the Rabbis reckoned with and dismissed, “shall see what has not been told to them, shall behold what they never have heard” and they will not like him. Gentiles will reject and despise the man who startles and silences their leaders and the Jewish people will for the reason he is a gentile and the era of redemption they have been taught will not be occurring.
King David writes “More numerous than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without reason.” Psalm 69/5 David was God’s anointed of Jesse to be King of the Israelite’s but to others, he was David the lowly shepherd who “was said to be” God’s anointed King.
It is the nature of people to reject, despise and hold of no account a man who has no visible proof to substantiate his claims that God speaks to him as God spoke to Moses; that he is a man prophesied to come in the Hebrew Bible; that he is a messenger and deliverer of covenants of God; that the spirit of the Holy God has alighted upon him; and that he offered himself for guilt to God.
A man of suffering, familiar with disease : Rashi does not address how this could be the Jewish people. God’s righteous servant will be a man who has a life full of injuries and wounds, accustomed to illness and disease.
who hid his face from us, He was despised, we held him of no account: A man who is despised and held of no account is not going to go out among the people until the perception of him changes and he is asked to. Rashi says: “Because of their intense shame and humility, they were as one who hides his face from us, with their faces bound up in concealment, in order that we not see them, like a plagued man who hides his face and is afraid to look.”
“They” is who? “He” hid his face from us. He is they who are the Jewish people who are the witnesses that at one time held him of no account. Rashi says the Jewish people hid their face from the Jewish people.
When have all of the Jewish people as one man been intensely ashamed of being Jews? When have they bound (covered) their faces in concealment that the people not see them? The world often secluded them in ghettos, but that is the shame of the gentiles, not God’s people, and it was not all of them.
4Indeed, he bore our illnesses, and our pains-he carried them, yet we accounted him as plagued, smitten by God and oppressed.
Rashi:
Indeed, he bore our illnesses: Heb. אָכֵן, an expression of ‘but’ in all places. But now we see that this came to him not because of his low state, but that he was chastised with pains so that all the nations be atoned for with Israel’s suffering. The illness that should rightfully have come upon us, he bore.
yet we accounted him: We thought that he was hated by the Omnipresent, but he was not so, but he was pained because of our transgressions and crushed because of our iniquities.
Keith:
4Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, Smitten and afflicted by God; [JPS]
It was our sickness that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured: The sickness, not disease, is not being righteous. The witnesses suffer the sickness of not being righteous and not being in right standing with God. God’s righteous servant suffers by the chastisement, punishment, bruising, crushing and maltreatment laid on him by the words and power of God to make him suitable for His purpose that might prosper. A purpose that includes His servant making the many righteous by his knowledge with long life and the building of the third Temple.
The righteous servant bearing up to this fire of refinement is bearing the illness and pain of unrighteousness of the Jewish people to be recognized as a prophet of God, that in and of itself will draw the Jewish people back to Judaism, reconcile the families one to the other, and make the many righteous. But he must have the witnesses.
we accounted him as plagued, smitten and afflicted by God: This describes a man that God does not like, a sinner whose life is full of bad events, sickness, and suffering. God’s righteous servant will have had persistent hardships and troubles; severely injured; and have been grievously affected especially by disease. None of which describes all of the Jewish people at any time.
These are the “qualities” that identify him as God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous. It is this life that has prepared him to be the teacher of righteousness and those who listen to and heed him and repent of their sins and iniquities are made whole and healed.
5But he was pained because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; the chastisement of our welfare was upon him, and with his wound we were healed.
Rashi:
the chastisement of our welfare was upon him: The chastisement due to the welfare that we enjoyed, came upon him, for he was chastised so that there be peace for the entire world.
Keith:
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. [JPS]
The book of Ezekiel is the key to understanding Isaiah 53. The purpose of Ezekiel was to be a prophet to the exiles of Assyria/Babylon and to prepare him God said “I will make your face as hard as theirs, and your forehead as brazen as theirs. I will make your forehead like adamant, harder than flint. Do not fear them, and do not be dismayed by them,” and God maltreats and punishes him for the punishment of the houses of Israel and Judah for their sins. For 430 days he is pinned to the ground, crushed and bruised, eating nothing but bread, chastised by the words and hand of God. A fire of refinement similar to what a cadet goes through to become a marine or navy seal.
Rashi says “Indeed, he bore our illnesses: Heb. אָכֵן, an expression of ‘but’ in all places. But now we see that this came to him not because of his low state, but that he was chastised with pains so that all the nations be atoned for with Israel’s suffering. The illness that should rightfully have come upon us, he bore.”
This says that God chastised, which means to discipline, especially by corporal punishment, all of the Jewish people, so that all of the gentiles will be atoned of their sins for Israel’s suffering. This is the ideology of the Christians. Vicarious suffering of one man for the sins of another contrary to God’s Teachings. I cannot make any sense of his last sentence. The illness that should have come upon the Jewish people Israel bore, is what I believe he is saying.
6We all went astray like sheep, we have turned, each one on his way, and the Lord accepted his prayers for the iniquity of all of us.
Rashi:
We all went astray like sheep: Now it is revealed that all the heathens (nations [mss.]) had erred.
accepted his prayers: He accepted his prayers and was appeased concerning the iniquity of all of us, that He did not destroy His world.
accepted… prayers: Heb. הִפְגִּיעַ, espriad in O.F., an expression of supplication.
Keith:
6We all went astray like sheep, Each going his own way; And the Lord visited upon him The guilt of all of us.” [JPS]
We all went astray like sheep: The Jewish people, who are the witnesses and the speakers of verse’s 1-6, stopped following the laws of God in one manner or another before they became righteous by the knowledge of the righteous servant, and belief in him.
And the Lord visited upon him The guilt of all of us: This would happen in the day of the Lord when God requires a man to be His visible representation and speak His words (as Moses did). In the day of the Lord a gentile is tested by God and upon passing the test the man becomes the righteous servant, David, Elijah, and the prophet like Moses.
He accepts God’s offer of possibly having long life after being crushed with disease in return of his offering of himself for guilt. A covenant between God of the Jewish people and a gentile. The guilt of the witnesses visited upon him. The guilt they have for sinning. An emotion.
“Taking the mantle which had dropped from Elijah, he struck the water and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” As he too struck the water, it parted to the right and to the left, and Elisha crossed over.” II Kings 2/14
Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah? Elisha is the only person in the Hebrew Bible to refer to God as the God of Elijah rather than the God of Israel or the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of a single gentile. Elijah is not an Israelite. He is a Tishbite and an inhabitant of Ramoth-Gilead of the gentiles (Arabs and Assyrians). A territory like Moab east of the river Jordan and north of Moab. He is a gentile. The gentile Elijah who returns as a gentile in the day of the Lord. God comes from Edom symbolizing Esau and Christianity in the Talmud and of the peoples, none are with Him (the Jewish people). Edom no longer exists in the day of the Lord and today would lie within Jordan. God returns coming from a Christian country with a gentile, His righteous servant, in the beginning.
This is the last of the verses by the witnesses of God’s righteous servant. The second speaker of Isaiah 53 is Isaiah in verses 7 through 10.
7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he would not open his mouth; like a lamb to the slaughter he would be brought, and like a ewe that is mute before her shearers, and he would not open his mouth.
Rashi:
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted: Behold he was oppressed by taskmasters and people who exert pressure.
and he was afflicted: with verbal taunts, sorparlec in O.F.
yet he would not open his mouth: He would suffer and remain silent like the lamb that is brought to the slaughter, and like the ewe that is mute before her shearers.
and he would not open his mouth: This refers to the lamb brought to the slaughter.
Keith:
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. [JPS]
He was maltreated, yet he was submissive He: This verse can be identified in the book of Ezekiel. God maltreats him, not man. Maltreatment is a part of being chastised and punished by the words and power of God to be made suitable for His purpose. With God you are always submissive.
It is necessary to break the will of a man and to temper and calm his soul and emotions. Ezekiel was maltreated but remained submissive bearing he was told to make him angry the punishment of others for 430 days. Ezekiel was not crushed with disease and did not offer himself for guilt as the righteous servant does. God just seized him and made him suitable to be a prophet of God for the Assyrian/Babylonian exiles. Ezekiel said he went in bitterness and the fury of his spirit in the hand of God. He was told the exiles would not listen to him for they did not listen to God. Not only did they not listen to him they laughed at him. He was rejected and held of no account.
He did not open his mouth: Ezekiel was sent to his house and God bound him with the cords of His power so that he could not go out among the people. To the people, Ezekiel was silent as a lamb. The man who is described and becomes God’s righteous servant will be cut off from the land of the living and be silent as a lamb to all that know him while God prepares him to be suitable for His purpose that might prosper. Just as He did with Ezekiel.
Rashi does not explain how or when this happened to all of the Jewish people as the man Israel.
8From imprisonment and from judgment he is taken, and his generation who shall tell? For he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the transgression of my people, a plague befell them.
From imprisonment and from judgment he is taken: The prophet reports and says that the heathens (nations [mss., K’li Paz]) will say this at the end of days, when they see that he was taken from the imprisonment that he was imprisoned in their hands and from the judgment of torments that he suffered until now.
and his generation: The years that passed over him.
who shall tell?: The tribulations that befell him, for from the beginning, he was cut off and exiled from the land of the living that is the land of Israel for because of the transgression of my people, this plague came to the righteous among them.
Keith:
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. [JPS]
By oppressive judgment he was taken away: The oppressive judgment is being guilty and receiving a sentence of imprisonment in his home and of maltreatment, chastisement, punishment, bruising and crushing for the sins of the Jewish people, until suitable for God’s purpose. A purpose that includes making the many righteous. God is using the verses symbolically with the offering for guilt being shown as a guilty plea before a judge of crimes not committed by the defendant.
Who can describe his abode: [the Jailer] “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
[The prison]“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
[the chains]“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
For he was cut off from the land of the living: Cut off from the land of the living by a man given long life means cut off from society and the material things of the world. Ezekiel was cut off from the land of the living bound by God’s power in his house as he went through a process of refinement of soul and self to be made suitable for God’s purpose of being a prophet to the Assyrian/Babylon exiles.
Through the sin of my people, who deserved the punishment: Ezekiel suffers the punishment of the houses of Israel and Judah for 430 days. The houses of Judah and Israel did suffer their punishment in exile. This is just a part of the refinement of Ezekiel. It would have infuriated the spirit of the priestly man who spent his life trying to bring the Jewish people to repentance to be told he is suffering their punishment for their sins. A spirit that God was calming by infuriating it on purpose, over and over again.
9And he gave his grave to the wicked, and to the wealthy with his kinds of death, because he committed no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
And he gave his grave to the wicked: He subjected himself to be buried according to anything the wicked of the heathens (nations [mss., K’li Paz]) would decree upon him, for they would penalize him with death and the burial of donkeys in the intestines of the dogs.
to the wicked: According to the will of the wicked, he was willing to be buried, and he would not deny the living God.
and to the wealthy with his kinds of death: and to the will of the ruler he subjected himself to all kinds of death that he decreed upon him, because he did not wish to agree to (denial) [of the Torah] to commit evil and to rob like all the heathens (nations [mss., K’li Paz]) among whom he lived.
and there was no deceit in his mouth: to accept idolatry (to accept a pagan deity as God [Parshandatha]).
Keith:
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. [JPS]
This verse says the righteous servant of God was poor but dies a rich man. The righteous servant of God becomes poor when God cuts him off from the world and then he is given the many as his portion and receives the multitude as his spoil. He will die a rich man.
10And the Lord wished to crush him, He made him ill; if his soul makes itself restitution, he shall see children, he shall prolong his days, and God’s purpose shall prosper in his hand.
Rashi:
And the Lord wished to crush him, He made him ill: The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to crush him and to cause him to repent; therefore, he made him ill.
If his soul makes itself restitution, etc.: Said the Holy One, blessed be He, “I will see, if his soul will be given and delivered with My holiness to return it to Me as restitution for all that he betrayed Me, I will pay him his recompense, and he will see children, etc.” This word אָשָׁם is an expression of ransom that one gives to the one against when he sinned, amende in O.F., to free from faults, similar to the matter mentioned in the episode of the Philistines (I Sam. 6:3), “Do not send it away empty, but you shall send back with it a guilt offering (אָשָׁם).”
Keith:
But 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.” Isaiah 53/10 [JPS]
But the Lord chose to crush him by disease: God’s righteous servant will be familiar with disease and his life crushed because of disease that he is afflicted with by the hand and power of God.
That, if he made himself an offering for guilt: It is an offer; an offering of one’s self and soul to God for the guilt (of sinning) of the Jewish people as a covenant in return for long life, and to be God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous by his knowledge, and by his devotion and reverence for the Lord. The offering is only a test of his devotion to God as was the binding of Isaac.
When the test of devotion is set before the righteous servant the new covenant has arrived, and all of the iniquities and sins of the Jewish people are forgiven and God remembers them no more. The guilt, an emotion, is from not following the Laws and Teachings of God by the Jewish people. The test of devotion is revealed in Malachi 3 and God’s final words on the day of the Lord. This is when God says He is coming:
“1Behold, I am sending My messenger to clear the way before Me, and the Lord whom you seek shall come to His Temple suddenly. As for the angel of the covenant that you desire, he is already coming.”
There are only two covenants that have not been delivered. The new covenant for a time to come in Jeremiah with sin forgiveness and the covenant of friendship. The covenant of friendship comes with the shepherd, servant, and anointed one of God whom He calls David. The angel of the covenant must be the angel of the “new” covenant. The phrase “he is already coming” means he arrives before God who arrives to test a gentile before He returns to His Temple.
God has to speak to the man to tell him that it was He that afflicted him with disease and crushed his life. It must be a life threatening disease for God must tell him that he “might” receive long life if he agrees to offer himself for guilt (of sinning by the Jewish people). God is not asking the man to give up his life as a sacrifice. That would be against His Teachings to the Israelites through His prophet, not to sacrifice their children, and the purpose of the man offering himself for guilt is to receive long life.
The reality is there is no guilt or sin for the man to bear (or Jesus, if John was Elijah). The new covenant with sin forgiveness of all the Jewish people on earth has arrived before the offering is made and no vicarious suffering for the sins of others has occurred. God knows this before He covenants with the man. A covenant that if he makes himself an offering for guilt God “might” not let him die of the disease. A test of devotion. Trusting that God will not let him die. The guilt of sinning of the Jewish people removed for God remembers it no more.
He might see offspring and have long life: God’s righteous servant has or will have children.
This is the last of the verses by Isaiah. The third and last speaker is the Lord in verses 11 and 12.
11From the toil of his soul he would see, he would be satisfied; with his knowledge My servant would vindicate the just for many, and their iniquities he would bear.
Rashi:
From the toil of his soul: he would eat and be satisfied, and he would not rob and plunder.
with his knowledge… would vindicate the just: My servant would judge justly all those who came to litigate before him.
and their iniquities he would bear: He would bear, in the manner of all the righteous, as it is said (Num. 18:1): “You and your sons shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary.”
Keith:
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; [JPS]
Out of his anguish, he shall see it; He shall enjoy it to the full through his devotion: This is a reference to Isaiah 11/2 where one of the attributes of the spirit that alights upon the anointed one is “A spirit of devotion and reverence for the Lord.”
The anguish is the emotional and physical pain Ezekiel suffered by punishment in the power of God to be made suitable for His purpose. God’s righteous servant, when he comes out of God’s fire of refinement, and the anguish of it, is devoted to God and will enjoy being the teacher of righteousness by his knowledge with long life.
Knowledge a gentile must be taught not only of the scripture but of the Jewish people and their history, the middle east, war, Israel and its government, and all else he may need to know like Abraham, a stranger in a strange land of a strange language, and just as Ezekiel was given knowledge in his fire of refinement:
1He said to me, “Mortal, eat what is offered you; eat this scroll, and go speak to the House of Israel.” 2So I opened my mouth, and He gave me this scroll to eat, 3as He said to me, “Mortal, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll that I give you.” I ate it, and it tasted as sweet as honey to me. 4Then He said to me, “Mortal, go to the House of Israel and repeat My very words to them.
My righteous servant makes the many righteous, It is their punishment that he bears: God’s righteous servant is a man of pain, suffering, and wounds throughout his life, with persistent hardships and troubles, grievously affected especially by disease, and severely injured at one time or another, as though plagued, smitten and afflicted by God.
These are the “qualities” that identify him as God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous. It is this life that has prepared him to be the teacher of righteousness and those who listen to and heed him and repent of their future sins (the new covenant having forgiven all past sins) in the practice of Judaism and returning to synagogue are made righteous.
Those who are in right standing with God are entered into the scroll of remembrance of Malachi 3. Those who God has reckoned with and dismissed when His shepherd and servant David arrives, the shepherds, are sin free and practice Judaism, but they are not in right standing with God.
“ …The Lord has heard and noted it, and a scroll of remembrance has been written at His behest concerning those who revere the Lord and esteem His name. 17And on the day that I am preparing, said the Lord of Hosts, they shall be My treasured possession; I will be tender toward them as a man is tender toward a son who ministers to him.” Malachi 3/16-17
The scroll of remembrance is not the book of life. The day that “I am preparing” is the day of the Lord. A man who is tender towards a son who ministers to him is a man who never wants to be without him.
“For behold! I am creating A new heaven and a new earth; The former things shall not be remembered, They shall never come to mind. Be glad, then, and rejoice forever In what I am creating. For I shall create Jerusalem as a joy, And her people as a delight;” Isaiah 65/17-18
“For as the new heaven and the new earth Which I will make Shall endure by My will—declares the Lord—So shall your seed and your name endure.” Isaiah 66/22
The new heaven where the name Israel shall endure is heaven with the addition of the angels Israel when this earth is no more. Heaven is only for the Jewish people.
12Therefore, I will allot him a portion in public, and with the strong he shall share plunder, because he poured out his soul to death, and with transgressors he was counted; and he bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.
Rashi:
Therefore: Because he did this, I will allot him an inheritance and a lot in public with the Patriarchs.
he poured out his soul to death: Heb. הֶעֱרָה. An expression like (Gen. 24: 20), “And she emptied (וַתְּעַר) her pitcher.”
and with transgressors he was counted: He suffered torments as if he had sinned and transgressed, and this is because of others; he bore the sin of the many.
and interceded for the transgressors: through his sufferings, for good came to the world through him.
Keith:
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. [JPS]
For he exposed himself to death: God’s righteous servant is crushed with disease that exposes him to death but given long life. Rashi says the Jewish people as one man Israel “poured out their soul unto death”, but does not tell us when this happened.
Rashi says the righteous servant, who he believes is Israel, bore the sins of the many, suffering torments as if he, Israel, had sinned and transgressed. When did all of the Jewish people as one man suffer these torments because of others? This is the Christian ideology.
And was numbered among the sinners: God’s righteous servant will have been a sinner, a gentile, not a religious man, in the beginning.
22.
The Leper Scholar vs. Jesus in Isaiah 53
The first speakers of Isaiah 53 are the witnesses of the righteous servant in verses 1 through 6.
“Who can believe what we have heard? Upon whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? Isaiah 53/1 [JPS]
Who can believe what we have heard?: The witnesses, the many who are made righteous, ask who can believe it? That God would bring the redemption of the Jewish people, not by using His power to change the will and thinking of all people so that they heed and revere the name of the Lord and are all knowledgeable in the Teachings and Laws of God that He gave to Moses, but with one man who fulfills and completes the remaining prophecies of God in the day of the Lord.
The remaining prophecy to be fulfilled is the delivery of two specific covenants and the arrivals of God’s righteous servant to make the many righteous; of the anointed one, God’s servant and shepherd He calls David, to build the third Temple; of Elijah, who was taken to Heaven and returns, to reconcile the members of Jewish families, one to the other, through Judaism and righteousness; and of the prophet like Moses, who wrote the Torah at the command and direction of God, to write the words God tells him to write in the day of the Lord. David brings God’s covenant of friendship He promised in Ezekiel 34 and Elijah the messenger delivers the new covenant for a time to come with sin forgiveness from Jeremiah 31.
“We” had not been told by their wise men, Sages, Rabbi’s, and theologians that God’s righteous servant is a gentile according to the Holy scripture and Talmud, in the beginning. Isaiah 63 says God comes from Edom that is interpreted in Judaism to be Christianity and means He is coming from a Christian country, and of the people (Jewish people) none are with Him. He comes with a gentile. Jesus was a Jewish man who came from Nazareth. The Jewish people did not come from Edom. They began in the promised land and in their return from Egypt were not allowed to pass through Edom, and returned from Europe after the Holocaust.
“We” had never heard that the captain of the Lord’s host is a gentile, a host, and a harbinger of God’s righteous servant who is also a gentile who becomes a host of the Lord’s host, a man and divine beings, when God’s spirit alights upon him in Isaiah 11/1 -2.
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 in the book of Revelation 1/7. It did not happen. His brazen oath to return quickly was not vindicated. Jesus called out on the cross to God “why have you forsaken me”. Forsaken means to abandon which is the opposite of vindication and redemption.
The time to come in Jeremiah 31 that is the day of the Lord is also the time to come of the man described in Isaiah 53. He will have been a sinful man whose life had been lowly; full of grievous events and serious injuries; a man of pain and suffering familiar with disease that the spirit of God alights upon; to the crown of God’s righteous servant who rises to great heights and God brings the redemption of the Jewish people through him with covenants and the third Temple.
For 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. Isaiah 53/2 [JPS]
Like a tree trunk out of arid ground: Isaiah 11/1-2 describing the anointed one says “…a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse, A twig shall sprout from his stock…”
Isaiah prophetically refers to the “stump” of Jesse (father of King David) as an announcement of the ending of the line of the Kings of Judah whose last King (Jeconiah) was banished and his line terminated. The ancestral tree of David forbidden to ever rule again over Judah in Jerusalem. The tree felled leaving only a stump. It is the line of heirs in the first chapter of the book of Matthew of the Holy Bible. The line of Jesus. A line that cannot be the fulfillment of Isaiah 53.
The twig (anointed one) sprouts from the shoot (descendant) that grows out of the stump of the felled tree. A new ancestral tree. This continues the symbolism of an ancestral tree and connects Isaiah 11 to Isaiah 53. This man grows by the favor of God like a tree crown, like a tree trunk out of ground too dry or barren to support vegetation. The ground of a Christian country to the Jewish people and the practice of Judaism. Edom.
He had no form or beauty, that we should look at him: This could never describe Jesus. Jesus is thought of as perfect. A handsome and beautiful man. Everyone except for certain Jewish religious leaders found Jesus pleasing and charming.
He 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. Isaiah 53/3 [JPS]
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 infuriated religious leaders at synagogues and merchants at the Temple. But they could not attack him because of his legion of followers.
He will be despised and shunned and held of no account simply for declaring that he is the Lord’s righteous servant described in Isaiah 53. Christianity, with God’s wrath passed to them, and the Rabbis reckoned with and dismissed, “shall see what has not been told to them, shall behold what they never have heard” and they will not like him. In the beginning.
a man of suffering, familiar with disease: Jesus wept one time. He is never portrayed as a man of suffering familiar with disease. He is known as the unblemished lamb of God who lived a perfect life free of any sickness, disease or wounds until his crucifixion.
God’s righteous servant will be a man who has a life full of injuries and wounds, familiar with disease.
Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, Smitten and afflicted by God; Isaiah 53/4 [JPS]
Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured: Jesus did not bear the sickness or endure the suffering of the Jewish people. God does not accept or commit human sacrifice and told the Israelites through His prophet not to sacrifice their children and that He would no longer accept their animals for sacrifice. By His Teachings no man bears the sins of another man.
The sickness is not being righteous. They suffer the sickness of not being righteous and not being in right standing with God. God’s righteous servant suffers by the chastisement, punishment, bruising, crushing and maltreatment laid on him by the words and power of God who afflicts him with disease to make him suitable for His purpose. A purpose that includes making the many righteous by his knowledge with long life and the building of the third Temple.
We accounted him plagued, Smitten and afflicted by God: This describes a man that God does not like, a sinner whose life is full of bad events, sickness, and sorrows. God’s righteous servant will have had persistent hardships and troubles; severely injured; and have been grievously affected especially by disease. None of which describe Jesus.
But 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. Isaiah 53/5 [JPS]
God’s righteous servant is wounded, crushed and chastised by the world throughout his life, with persistent hardships and troubles, grievously affected especially by disease, and severely injured at one time or another. A man of many bruises and scars (stripes). These are the “qualities” that identify him as God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous.
It is this life that enables him to go through God’s fire of refinement that prepared Ezekiel to be a prophet to the exiles, learning the matters of heaven Elijah would know, the Holy scripture and Judaism to be the teacher of righteousness, and those who listen to and heed him and repent of their sins and iniquities, are made whole and healed. A fire of refinement of punishment, chastisement, maltreatment, crushing, and bruising, and the affliction of disease.
The book of Hebrews of the Christian New Testament of the Holy Bible confirms that Jesus was a human sacrifice and quotes Jesus as believing that God had prepared his body for sacrifice.
“For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By the which will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10/4-10 Holy Bible
Jesus said, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.” The first being animal sacrifice in bulls and goats for sins and the second for God to establish human sacrifice for sins in the body of Jesus that God prepared for sacrifice. God did take away the animal sacrifice, atonement and worship laws of the Torah saying through His prophet He no longer wanted the Israelites sacrifices. He did not substitute animals for a human.
Jesus said, “in the volume of the book it is written of me” that God prepared the body of Jesus to be a human sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins in replacement of the animal sacrificial, atonement, and worship laws. That God would accept a human sacrifice for the sins of mankind since He no longer wanted or would accept animals.
There is no known book where this was written and certainly no book in the Hebrew Bible. It cannot be Isaiah 53 the Christians say is prophetic of the coming of Jesus. The man is given long life to make himself an offering for guilt and to make the many righteous by his knowledge.
Man may offer human sacrifices to God and to Gods for different reasons such as fertility, long life and bountiful crops but the God of creation does not offer human sacrifices to man or accept human sacrifices from men. There is a day in Judaism for repentance with restitution which God can accept or not. Yom Kippur.
God had His prophets speak and write His words of sin forgiveness as He did with forgiving the Assyria/Babylon exiles in Isaiah 43. He sends a messenger with His words of sin forgiveness declared in Jeremiah 31 for a time to come in Malachi 3. The day of the Lord.
We all went astray like sheep, Each going his own way, And the Lord visited upon him The guilt of all of us. Isaiah 53/6 [JPS]
We all went astray like sheep, Each going his own way: The Jewish people who are the witnesses and the speakers of verse’s 1-6, who stopped following the laws of God in one manner or another, before they became righteous by the knowledge of the righteous servant, and belief in him.
And the Lord visited upon him The guilt of all of us: This would happen in the day of the Lord when God requires a man to be His visible representation and speak His words (as Moses did). In the day of the Lord a gentile is tested by God and upon passing the test the man becomes the righteous servant, David, Elijah, and the prophet like Moses.
He accepts God’s offer of possibly having long life after being crushed with disease in return of his offering of himself for guilt. A covenant between God of the Jewish people and a gentile. The guilt of the witnesses visited upon him. The guilt they have for sinning.
In the day of the Lord the new covenant with sin forgiveness has arrived and God remembers them no more. Guilt is an emotion. No single man, much less a gentile, can feel and know and remove from the Jewish people their feelings of guilt the world has pressed upon them and the guilt they press upon themselves by not following the Teachings and Laws of God. The redemption before God and the world of the Jewish people in the day of the Lord removes the guilt. There is none to visit on the righteous servant.
These are only words the righteous servant must consider in the test of devotion. Words for reasons beyond their plain meaning. Such as Ezekiel being told he was bearing the punishment [for the sins] of the Houses of Israel and Judah, which was only to infuriate his spirit in God’s refinement of fire.
Just as there was no guilt or sin to visit upon Jesus if, as he said, his cousin John the Baptist was Elijah. He was not. When Elijah comes the Jewish people are never defeated and uprooted again. After the death of John the Baptist Rome destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple, defeated the Jewish revolts, and began the diaspora, the dispersion of the Jewish people beyond Israel.
This is the last of the verses by the witnesses of God’s righteous servant. The second speaker of Isaiah 53 is Isaiah in verses 7 through 10.
He 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. Isaiah 53/7 [JPS]
He was maltreated, yet he was submissive: This verse can be identified in the book of Ezekiel. God maltreats him not man. Maltreatment is a part of being chastised and punished by the words and power of God to be made suitable for His purpose. With God you are always submissive.
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. He was not silent as a lamb.
Ezekiel was sent to his house and God bound him with the cords of His power so that he could not go out among the people. To the people, Ezekiel was silent as a lamb. The man who is described and becomes God’s righteous servant will be cut off from the land of the living and be silent as a lamb to all that know him while God prepares him to be suitable for His purpose that might prosper. Just as He did with Ezekiel.
By 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. Isaiah 53/8
By oppressive judgment he was taken away: The judgment 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 an oppressive judgment. It was not a judgment of being taken away. It was a sentence of death. He was executed by crucifixion. With a judgment of death, you do not receive the long life that is part of the covenant between God and His righteous servant. The oppressive judgment is being guilty and receiving a sentence of maltreatment, chastisement, punishment, bruising and crushing until suitable for God’s purpose.
A judgment of being taken away and cut off from the land of the living by a man given long life means cut off from society and material things of the world. Just as Ezekiel was to be prepared to be a prophet of God. Jesus was never confined to his abode away from everyone that he knew. Being cut off from the land of the living does not mean death.
Who could describe his abode?: Jesus has a house in the Gospels but it is never described. No one today could describe his abode and Isaiah 11 says his abode will be honored.
“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 Holy Bible
All of Israel will be able to describe the abode of God’s righteous servant in the day of the Lord because of social media and phones with cameras.
For he was cut off from the land of the living: Jesus was not cut off from the land of the living. He was executed. Cut off means you cannot get to or have something. Ezekiel was cut off from the land of the living bound by God’s power in his house as he went through a process of refinement of soul and self to be made suitable for God’s purpose of being a prophet to the Assyrian/Babylon exiles:
“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, who deserved the punishment: The people of Isaiah who are the Jewish people. Ezekiel is told that he will bear the punishment [for sin] of the houses of Israel and Judah for 430 days. The houses of Judah and Israel suffered their punishment in exile. There was no vicarious (serving instead of someone else) suffering. This is just a part of the refinement of Ezekiel. It would have enraged the priestly man who spent his life trying to bring the Jewish people to repentance to be told he is suffering their punishment.
And 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. Isaiah 53/9 [JPS]
And 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. The Gospels say Jesus was buried in a tomb purchased by a rich man. But even with his grave set among the rich he was still among the wicked and he was still poor.
This verse says the righteous servant of God was poor but dies a rich man. The righteous servant of God becomes poor when God cuts him off from the world and then he is given the many as his portion and receives the multitude as his spoil. He will die a rich man.
But 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. Isaiah 53/10 [JPS]
But the Lord chose to crush him by disease: Jesus was never crushed by disease. God’s righteous servant will be familiar with disease and his life crushed because of disease that he is afflicted with by the hand and power of God.
That, if he made himself an offering for guilt: It is an offer; an offering of one’s self and soul to God for the guilt of the Jewish people as a covenant in return for long life and to be God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous. It is also a test of devotion to God. There are no testimonies in the New Testament that Jesus made himself an offering for guilt to God.
He might see offspring and have long life: Jesus died in his early thirties unmarried and without children. God’s righteous servant will have long life despite disease and will have children.
This is the last of the verses by Isaiah. The third and last speaker is the Lord in verses 11 and 12.
Out 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; Isaiah 53/11
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 God. He asked God on the cross why God had forsaken him and then died.
The anguish is the emotional and physical pain Ezekiel suffered by punishment in the power of God to be made suitable for His purpose. God’s righteous servant, when he comes out of God’s fire of refinement, and the anguish of it, is devoted to God and will enjoy being the teacher of righteousness by his knowledge with long life.
This is also a reference to Isaiah 11/2 where one of the attributes of the spirit that alights upon the anointed one is “A spirit of devotion and reverence for the Lord.”
My righteous servant makes the many righteous, It is their punishment that he bears: God’s righteous servant is punished to be made suitable to be a prophet of God for the Jewish people in the day of the Lord. He does not vicariously bear the punishment of those made righteous any more than Ezekiel bears the punishment for the houses of Israel and Judah, who were punished with exile in Assyria/Babylon.
Assuredly, 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. Isaiah 53/12 [JPS]
For he exposed himself to death: Jesus was not exposed to death. He died. God’s righteous servant is crushed with disease that exposes him to death but given long life.
And was numbered among the sinners: Jesus is said to be without sin. That he was crucified with a sinner to his right and a sinner to his left and counted as one of them in the story of Jesus as the Christians interpret and explain this verse does not fulfill this verse.
Jesus may have looked and been thought of as a sinner for being among them, but he was still said to be sinless. This verse, as with every verse of Isaiah 53, is descriptive for the identification of a man in the day of the Lord. Appearing to be a sinner is not the same as being a sinner. God’s righteous servant will have been a sinner.
If Jesus is described in any of the verses of Isaiah 53 it would be this verse, and this verse only.
The prophecy of Zechariah 9/9-10 is a good example. Jesus changed verse 10 from defeating Rome to being executed by Rome. Lying.
“9Rejoice greatly, Fair Zion; Raise a shout, Fair Jerusalem! Lo, your king is coming to you. He is victorious, triumphant, Yet humble, riding on an ass, On a donkey foaled by a she-ass. 10He shall banish chariots from Ephraim And horses from Jerusalem; The warrior’s bow shall be banished. He shall call on the nations to surrender, And his rule shall extend from sea to sea And from ocean to land’s end.” Zechariah 9/9-10
Jesus did ride an ass into Jerusalem, but he did not banish the chariots and horses and arrows of Rome and his rule did not extend from sea to sea and from ocean to land’s end.
Matthew says: “All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.” Matthew 21/4-5 Holy Bible
The deceptively unnamed prophet is Zechariah.
Luke the historian wrote: “31Then he [Jesus] took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. 32For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: 33And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.” Luke 18/31-33 Holy Bible
The Hebrew Bible (Christian Old Testament), Great Scroll of Isaiah, Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha are all of the possible scripture that Jesus could be referencing and not one Book mentions a Son of man (which means a person of mankind), God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53, a Son of God, a man who is God, or any man to be delivered to the gentiles, mocked, scourged and put to death, a man who dies for the sins of other men, any man who is to rise from the dead on the third day, or a man who is sacrificed or made to sacrifice himself by God.
23.
The Leper Scholar vs. Israel in Isaiah 53
(Guilt-Offering)
The belief that Isaiah 53 describes the Jewish people as the man Israel that is often attributed to Rashi is now the prevalent teaching on the subject. Rabbi Singer of Outreach Judaism is one of the most followed on the Internet in his analysis of Isaiah 53 being Israel.
Rabbi Singer’s analysis is similar to the Christians in that he believes the animal atonement and worship laws of the Torah are to be applied to man. The Christians call Jesus the unblemished lamb of God. Rabbi Singer says the Jewish people who were murdered and slaughtered in the Holocaust were ram guilt offerings for the purpose which might prosper of having the Jewish people return to the promised land.
Rabbi Singer’s commentary from his “MY Midrash” Isaiah 53 Jesus or Israel? on Isaiah 53/10 followed by my commentary and response on the same verse:
“53:10 “HaShem desired to oppress him and He afflicted him; if his soul would acknowledge guilt, he would see offspring and live long days and the desire of HaShem would succeed in his hand.”
53:10 “But 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.” (JPS)
Not only are we stuck with the same G-d punish G-d situation here as we were before but this one is even more perplexing. Yeshua was supposed to be the sinless, unblemished lamb that died for your sins on the cross and yet it states right here that if he would have acknowledged his guilt, he would see offspring and live long days. The JPS rendering gives a little different twist to an already sticky situation. It says (if this were referring to Yeshua) that the L-rd chose to crush him by disease. I don’t know if you can classify a cross as a disease or not but I don’t think hanging and being crushed are the same thing either. In fact, according to John’s gospel, not a single bone of Yeshua’s body was broken. Of course this was stated so he could be equated with the Passover lamb and John is the only one that compares Yeshua to the Passover lamb. But how could this be speaking about ETERNAL Israel? Very easily. The offering of guilt in this verse is actually literally translated as guilt-offering. The significance between the guilt-offering and the Holocaust is so astounding, even as grotesque of a thought as it was, I could not over look it. A guilt-offering is defined in Leviticus chapter 7 and goes something like this. 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. 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.”
My commentary on Isaiah 53/10:
“But 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.” Isaiah 53/10
the Lord chose to crush him by disease: God’s righteous servant must be crushed with disease to satisfy this verse. God had a purpose in choosing to crush him with disease so that he would make himself an offering for guilt. It was to make certain that the animal atonement and worship laws of Leviticus could never be applied to humans as they have been by Christianity and now Rabbi Singer. No man is going to tell God no if he is asked to be God’s righteous servant and receive long life and see his children.
That, if he made himself an offering for guilt: It is an offer; an offering of one’s self and soul to God for the guilt of the Jewish people in return for long life and to be God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous by his knowledge in his devotion and reverence for the Lord.
While this appears to be vicarious suffering for the guilt of others it is just part of the test of his devotion to God that the man must pass to become God’s righteous servant. His offering of himself for guilt tells the Jewish people that God does not want them suffering the emotion of guilt for not obeying His Laws and Teachings. When the test of devotion is placed upon the righteous servant the new covenant has arrived and their sins and iniquities are forgiven and God remembers them no more. Symbolically all guilt of the Jewish people is passed to him.
The test is will the man described who is a gentile forego any chance to go to heaven and risk being sent to hell for the guilt and sins of the Jewish people to become God’s righteous servant who might receive long life.
The reality is there is no sin for the man to bear. The new covenant with sin forgiveness of all the Jewish people on earth has arrived before the offering is made and no vicarious suffering for the sins of others has occurred.
He might see offspring and have long life: This will occur for God’s righteous servant who will fulfill this verse and receive long life for so long as God’s purpose is prospering that includes the prosperity of Elijah in reconciling the families of the Jewish People one to the other through Judaism and righteousness.
My response to the commentary of Rabbi Singer on Isaiah 53/10:
A guilt offering is a sacrifice made 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, the commission of fraud or false oaths, with monetary compensation to the victims for their loss, plus a mark-up of 20% of the value to cover the priest’s earnings.
The Jewish people murdered in the Holocaust had not made any unintentional transgressions against Hitler and did not make monetary compensation to Hitler if they did. It is the people Israel that make themselves an offering for guilt in Rabbi Singer’s analysis though he seems to be saying Hitler made a guilt offering to God of blemished rams who are the Jewish people.
Rabbi Singer says “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 ”
Again, Rabbi Singer seems to be saying that Hitler is the man of Isaiah 53 who makes an offer of Israel as a Leviticus ram guilt offering and receives as his portion their hides. In Isaiah 53/12 God’s righteous servant is given the many as his portion and the multitude as his spoil. This would be those people who believe in him that come back to Judaism and righteousness. His portion is not the hides of the people Israel.
Isaiah 53/12 also says His righteous servant is exposed to death. He is exposed to death by disease from God but is given long life to make the many righteous. Exposed to death is near death though he does not die as the victims of the Holocaust did.
If you are going to apply the animal atonement and worship laws of God in the Torah to humans (laws God did away with through His prophet) they should be observed and followed properly. You cannot change the laws of God. Do not add or take away from the Torah is a well-known commandment of God and it applies to all the Hebrew Bible that God had written by His prophets, just as He did with Moses in having the Torah written.
God created an animal sacrificial atonement and worship system of laws for a primitive illiterate people to learn what sin, repentance, atonement, and worship are and to cook their food. He commanded the Jewish people not to sacrifice their children and told them He no longer wanted their sacrifices through His prophet. The lessons of this teaching tool of the animal atonement and worship sacrificial laws of the Torah were concluded. God never says these laws are to be applied to human beings substituted for animals.
The part of verse 10 of Isaiah 53 “that, if he made himself an offering for guilt,” is interpreted by Rabbi Singer to be: “actually literally translated as guilt-offering” and that “A guilt-offering is defined in Leviticus chapter 7…” This is the translation of the Hebrew Bible by the Jewish Publication Society with select academic professors for the task who spent 30 years of their lives creating a completely new translation of the Hebrew to English begun in 1955 and published in 1985. The Hebrew to English is not translated to be a guilt offering under the Laws of Leviticus.
When an interpretation conflicts with God’s Teachings and Laws you look to what is wrong with the interpretation. Not to what is wrong with God’s Teachings and Laws adding to them or taking from them. Rabbi Singer’s interpretation does not even fit Isaiah 53/10. Who receives a long life? It is not the murdered of the Jewish people and it is not Hitler. No one. Would God accept an animal sacrifice of blemished humans from the gentile Hitler? No. Were the victims of the Holocaust crushed with disease that, if they made themselves an offering for guilt they would receive long life and see their children? No. The people Israel are not God’s righteous servant.
24.
The Leper Scholar vs. Israel in Isaiah 53
(Exaltation)
The belief that Isaiah 53 describes the Jewish people as the man Israel that is often attributed to Rashi is now the prevalent teaching on the subject. Jews for Judaism is one of the most followed on the Internet in its analysis of Isaiah 53 being the people Israel.
The following is from “Jews For Judaism: Isaiah 53 Verse by Verse”:
“52:13 Behold, My servant shall succeed; he will be exalted and become high and exceedingly lofty.
‘The success and exaltation of God’s servant is an event that the prophet sees as futuristic. The immediate context (52:7-12) tells us that this is part of the blessing that Israel will experience at the time of her restoration.”
My response:
These are the verses from the Hebrew Bible of Isaiah 52/7-13 (that are not part of the description of the righteous servant) referred to by Jews for Judaism. The description of the righteous servant begins in Isaiah 52/14.
“How welcome on the mountain Are the footsteps of the herald Announcing happiness, Heralding good fortune, Announcing victory, Telling Zion, “Your God is King!” Hark! Your watchmen raise their voices, As one they shout for joy; For every eye shall behold The Lord’s return to Zion. Raise a shout together, O ruins of Jerusalem! For the Lord will comfort His people, Will redeem Jerusalem. The Lord will bare His holy arm In the sight of all the nations, And the very ends of the earth shall see The victory of our God. Turn, turn away, touch naught unclean As you depart from there; Keep pure, as you go forth from there, You who bear the vessels of the Lord! For you will not depart in haste, Nor will you leave in flight; For the Lord is marching before you, The God of Israel is your rear guard. Indeed, My servant shall prosper, Be exalted and raised to great heights.” Isaiah 52/7-13
This is poetry and an announcement of prophecy fulfilled in the return to Judah of all thirteen tribes who had all been deported and exiled to Assyria/Babylon at one time or another. “My servant” exalted was the Assyrian/Babylonian exiles and the “Victory” in sight of all the nations was the second Temple. It was not a futuristic prophecy. The return included God’s forgiveness of all the sins and iniquities of the Assyrian/Babylonian exiles. Jeremiah’s time to come of the new covenant with sin forgiveness in the day of the Lord is for the Roman dispersal (the “Diaspora”) and is futuristic.
Rambam who wrote the Mishnah Torah from the compilation of the oral tradition, laws , stories, opinions and writings of thousands of Rabbis in the Talmud 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 God together; there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition; the entire world will be solely to know God; 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.”
These are the promises of God in a time to come when His servant David is appointed as a shepherd among the flock: He will send down the rain in its season; the trees of the field shall yield their fruit and the land shall yield its produce; the Jewish people shall continue secure on their own soil and never be overthrown and uprooted again; they shall no longer be a spoil for the nations; He will establish for them a planting of renown; they shall no more be carried off by famine; they shall not have to bear again the taunts of the nations; He will establish them and multiply them; He will place His Sanctuary among them forever; His Presence shall rest over them; and when His Sanctuary abides among them forever, the nations will know that the Lord sanctifies Israel.
The following is my commentary and response after the commentary of Jews for Judaism on verses 53/4, 5 and 10 in its “Jews For Judaism: Isaiah 53 Verse by Verse”.
Jews for Judaism’s commentary on Isaiah 53/4:
“53:4 But 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.
‘The kings now realize that their spiritual assessment of the servant was completely backward. During the time of the servant’s lowliness those who knew him believed that his constant affliction proves that he is spiritually deformed. Otherwise, why would this nation be singled out for God’s wrath over any other?
But now, with the servant’s exaltation, they realize that the servant was not more wicked than them but more righteous. Their assessment of the servant is reversed because they come to a true understanding of God’s plan throughout history. With the restoration of Israel and God’s glory coming to dwell in the Jerusalem Temple the nations of the world will experience true sanctity and a real connection to God. They will realize that many of their activities were actively preventing God’s presence from being manifest in this world, even though they had considered many of these activities to be righteous and Godly.
In order for God’s presence to be revealed in this world there needs to be obedience and humility toward God. This obedience does not have to be perfect because God doesn’t demand from His creations that which they cannot deliver, but it needs to be accepting of God’s sovereignty to the degree that humans are capable.
Since all of mankind benefits from God’s presence being manifest in this world it would be appropriate that all of mankind participate in the work of preparing a resting place for God’s presence. The way that this sanctuary for God would be prepared would necessitate that mankind purify its collective heart. In order to build this dwelling place for God mankind would need to strive to achieve humility toward God and to accept God’s sovereignty.
But instead of putting this task on the shoulders of all mankind, God placed this task on the shoulders of His servant. Instead of purifying the collective heart of all mankind, God chose to purify the collective heart of His servant Israel and His servant will then shine the truth toward the rest of mankind. The nations will walk by that light and partake of the goodness of God (Isaiah 60:3). And the way that God chose to purify the heart of His servant is through suffering (Isaiah 48:10).
With the exaltation of the servant the nations will realize that it was through the servant that God was accomplishing His purpose in the world for the benefit of all mankind. The suffering that the servant bore should have been borne by all mankind, and if anything, the nations should have carried the brunt of the suffering, because it was their wickedness that was more directly standing in the way of God’s purpose for the world.”
My commentary on Isaiah 53/4:
“Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, Smitten and afflicted by God;” Isaiah 53/4
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 God. God’s righteous servant suffers by the chastisement, punishment, bruising, crushing and maltreatment laid on him by the words and power of God to make him suitable for His purpose. A purpose that includes making the many righteous.
The book of Ezekiel is the key to understanding Isaiah 53. The purpose of Ezekiel was to be a prophet to the exiles of Assyria/Babylon and to prepare him God said He would make Ezekiel’s forehead like adamant, as hard as flint, because they would not listen to him. And God punishes him corresponding to the punishment of the houses of Israel and Judah for their sins. For 430 days he is pinned to the ground eating nothing but bread and God speaks harsh words to him (chastisement).
We accounted him plagued, Smitten and afflicted by God: This describes a man that God does not like, a sinner whose life is full of bad events, sickness, and sorrows. A person with flawed features from birth was considered cursed and afflicted by God. King David would have nothing to do with the lame, blind and disfigured. God’s righteous servant will be plagued and afflicted (familiar with disease and crushed with disease by God) and smitten by God. Smitten once meant to kill or severely injure by striking with the hand or with something in the hand.
My response to the commentary of Jews for Judaism on Isaiah 53/4:
The gentiles will never see the Jewish people in the light discussed by Jews for Judaism and the kings (leaders) 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.” The gentiles and their leaders also have lived with ills and pain. The people of the world all suffer, the good and the bad. The people Israel have never born or relieved the world of suffering ills and pains.
Jews for Judaism does not address the part of the verse that says: “but we had regarded him diseased”. The Jewish people are not regarded as diseased by the gentiles. The righteous servant will be familiar with disease and crushed with disease by God. Israel as one man has never been crushed with disease by God.
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 God together; there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition; the entire world will be solely to know God; and the Jews will, therefore, be great sages with an understanding of their Creator to the full extent of human potential.
Rambam and the Sages and Jews for Judaism interpret the scripture to create a worldwide religious utopia of Judaism as the one true religion and peace throughout the world. Religious interpretations that often conflict with the words of God in the scripture. There will never be one religion and the earth will never be at peace. That is not God’s purpose in creation. Heaven on earth was written for the beliefs of the ancient age and middle ages. Today, for the most part, we believe in a spiritual heaven.
Jews for Judaism’s commentary on Isaiah 53/5:
“53:5 He was violated because of our sins and crushed because of our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his company, we were healed.
With the servant’s exaltation, the kings will finally realize that the ultimate goal toward which God was leading all of mankind was not the exaltation of the object of their own devotion, but that it was the exaltation of the object of Israel’s devotion that all of history was leading to. They will realize that much of what they considered Godly was directly opposing God’s plan. And they will realize that the servant’s activities were pleasing to God all along. They will recognize that any blessing that they merited was because of their association with the servant. The purification process that the servant had to undergo was more for the general benefit of mankind than for his own benefit.
The last phrase in this verse can also be translated as: “and with his wounds we were healed.” The point remains the same. With the exaltation of the servant the nations realize that the merit of the servant had protected them all along and the servant’s merit and righteousness was achieved through his suffering.”
My commentary on Isaiah 53/5:
“But 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.” Isaiah 53/5
God’s righteous servant suffers by the chastisement, punishment, bruising, crushing and maltreatment laid on him by the words and power of God to make him suitable for His purpose. A purpose that includes making the many righteous so they will not sin and have iniquities.
“By his bruises [or stripes] we are healed” means that the marks of the fire of refinement the Lord puts His righteous servant through have prepared him to be the teacher of righteousness and those who listen are healed of their sinful ways and their iniquities. It does not mean his bruises or stripes (scars across his body) bore the sins of others.
God’s righteous servant is wounded throughout his life and chastised, crushed and bruised by the words and power of God to be made suitable for His purpose which might prosper and to determine if he will, despite all of this maltreatment, offer his self and soul for the guilt and sins of the Jewish people. This is the test of his devotion to God.
The test is will the man described who is a gentile forego any chance to go to heaven and risk being sent to hell for the guilt and sins of the Jewish people to become God’s righteous servant who might receive long life.
The reality is there is no sin for the man to bear. The new covenant with sin forgiveness of all the Jewish people on earth has arrived before the offering is made and no vicarious suffering for the sins of others has occurred.
My response to the commentary of Jews for Judaism on Isaiah 53/5:
Jews for Judaism says: “They [the kings] will realize that much of what they considered Godly was directly opposing God’s plan.”
Christians and Muslims have a great, almost blind faith in their beliefs in their false Gods and that they are always doing God’s will. In the real world, this will never happen.
Jews for Judaism says: “They [the kings] will recognize that any blessing that they merited was because of their association with the servant.”
The association of the Jewish people with the Christians has been primarily to cause the conversion to Jesus through torture, death, and expulsion from gentile lands and deceit and lies about their false God. Not only will this never happen in the real world it is not a true statement. God does not bless the gentiles whether they merit it or not. He passes the cup of His wrath to them in Isaiah 51 before the test of the devotion of the righteous servant and for the day of the Lord. The gentiles and their Leaders do not receive blessings from the Lord in any form. He is the Lord of the Jewish people not the worshipers of false Gods.
Jews for Judaism says: “The purification process that the servant had to undergo was more for the general benefit of mankind than for his own benefit.”
The corollary of no man dies for the sins of another (vicarious suffering) is that the suffering of the Jewish people in this world is not for the benefit of mankind. It is for God and the Jewish people whom God purges of sin for their suffering and creates a heaven just for the Jewish people. God returns for vengeance, passes the cup of His wrath to Christianity, has a reckoning with the shepherds of the Jewish people who heed and revere Him (His “flock”), and appoints His servant and shepherd David to tend and rule among the flock.
Jews for Judaism’s commentary on Isaiah 53/10:
“53:10 And the Lord desired to crush and afflict him; if his soul would acknowledge guilt, he would see offspring and live long days and the purpose of God will succeed through his hand.
At this point, the prophetic narrator moves away from the voices of the shocked onlookers and gives us his own perspective of the suffering of the servant. The emphasis changes according to the spiritual needs of the respective speakers. There isn’t much spiritual benefit to be gained by focusing on the guilt of others. It is for this reason that the kings of nations focus on their own guilt as it relates to the suffering of the servant, and for this same reason, the focus shifts to the guilt of the servant when addressing the servant. After all, the audience of the prophet is the people of Israel.
The prophet tells us that God desired to afflict the servant. The purpose of Israel’s suffering, from Israel’s perspective, is to refine them. As a loving father rebukes his son so does God put Israel through the crucible of exile (Deuteronomy 8:5; Proverbs 3:11,12; Amos 3:2).
In order for the suffering to accomplish its purpose the servant needs to acknowledge and to recognize his own guilt. No created being is free of guilt and by acknowledging guilt we come closer to God’s truth. Isaiah, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah were all righteous people yet they all acknowledged their own guilt together with the sins of the nation (Isaiah 6:5; Daniel 9:20; Ezra 9:6; Nehemiah 1:6).
The prophet goes on to tell us the reward that the servant will experience as a result of acknowledging his guilt. The servant will see his physical progeny walking in his footsteps and his days will be lengthened. These two blessings are not unrelated. No individual saint is guaranteed long days. But through his progeny the servant perseveres and outlasts his persecutors. The might, the splendor and the power of those who persecuted the Jew have long faded away while the Jew still prays the same prayers and studies the same texts with freshness and vitality. It is the same Jew that stirred the fanatical hatred of the Church fathers, the mobs of Crusaders, the Moslem Almohads, the Inquisitors, the Ukrainian soldiers of Chemilnicki, the Russian Czars, the Communists, and the Nazis. These and many like them have come and gone but the Jew is still here.
The greatest gift that God has granted His servant is the promise that God’s own purpose in this world will be accomplished through him. The righteous of Israel are called God’s armor bearers (Isaiah 52:11). God allowed them to join Him in bringing His light to the world.”
My commentary on Isaiah 53/10:
“But 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.” Isaiah 53/10
the Lord chose to crush him by disease: God will have afflicted His righteous servant with disease and his life be crushed because of the disease. A part of the test of devotion will be God convincing His righteous servant that He was the cause of the disease in His power.
That, if he made himself an offering for guilt: It is an offer; an offering of one’s self and soul to God for guilt of the Jewish people as a covenant in return for long life and to be God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous. Guilt is an emotion, not a sin, though there are many vicarious suffering verses that can make one think an offering for guilt can include sin. The Christians replace the translation of the Hebrew to English word guilt to sin in the Holy Bible.
He might see offspring and have long life: God’s righteous servant will have long life despite disease, and he will have children.
My response to the commentary of Jews for Judaism on Isaiah 53/10:
I agree with the Sage Maimonides (Rambam) that Israel as one man cannot be God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53. This view has many inconsistencies. Foremost is the idea of a collective offering by the Jewish people for guilt.
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. It is an offering by God’s righteous servant to accept and bear the emotion of guilt of all the Jewish people. And there is no account that the Israelites were crushed with disease by God so that they would make such an offering.
Jews for Judaism believes Israel is the teacher of righteousness primarily by an exaltation saying:
“With the servant’s exaltation, the kings will finally realize that the ultimate goal toward which God was leading all of mankind was not the exaltation of the object of their own devotion, but that it was the exaltation of the object of Israel’s devotion that all of history was leading to. They will realize that much of what they considered Godly was directly opposing God’s plan. And they will realize that the servant’s activities were pleasing to God all along. They will recognize that any blessing that they merited was because of their association with the servant. The purification process that the servant had to undergo was more for the general benefit of mankind than for his own benefit.”
Jews for Judaism has taken a phrase from God that His servant will be exalted, and everything stated here is simply the thoughts of the writer on what that could mean. There is nothing in the scripture to support any of it. What Kings will realize and recognize from an exaltation that may or may not happen is not from God. He did not say these things would result from an exaltation of the Jewish people.
Jews for Judaism in its commentary on Isaiah 53/10 says that “In order for the suffering to accomplish its purpose the servant needs to acknowledge and to recognize his own guilt.”
What Jews for Judaism does not tell us is when this happened. Or how it will happen. When will all the Jews of the world collectively acknowledge their guilt and fulfill “if his soul would acknowledge guilt,” In the real world, this will never happen? There are many Jews who do not believe in God and many more who do not practice Judaism.
The translation of the Hebrew Bible begun in 1955 and published in 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society with learned academic professors selected for the task who spent 30 years of their lives creating a completely new translation of the Hebrew is the most current and best translation of the Hebrew Bible to English available today.
The Jewish Publication Society’s translation of Isaiah 53/10 is “But 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.”
Jews for Judaism’s use a translation on Isaiah 53/10 that says: “And the Lord desired to crush and afflict him; if his soul would acknowledge guilt, he would see offspring and live long days and the purpose of God will succeed through his hand.”
“If he made himself an offering for guilt” is very different from “if his soul would acknowledge guilt,”. Offering oneself for guilt of the Jewish people is very different from simply acknowledging that you have guilt and are a sinner.
25.
The Resurrection of the Dead
The Rambam (Maimonides) compiled what he refers to as the Shloshah Asar Ikkarim, the “Thirteen Fundamental Principles” of the Jewish faith, as derived from the Torah. Maimonides refers to these thirteen principles of faith as “the fundamental truths of our religion and its very foundations.”
Number 13 of the Thirteen Fundamental Principles is “The belief in the resurrection of the dead.”
Ezekiel 1 and 10 are together a vision of the resurrection of the spirits of the dead to heaven. The creatures later identified as cherubs (a type of angel) with the spirit are going to and fro, east west north and south adding eyes to themselves and the wheels and taking them to the platform of heaven at the entrance of the eastern gate of the House of the Lord with the Presence of the God of Israel above them.
All of Israel whose name will endure in the heaven God is creating that are righteous and in right standing with God are the eyes on the cherubs and in the wheels gathered from the earth and lifted to the gate of the House of the Lord on the platform of heaven.
“For behold! I am creating A new heaven and a new earth; The former things shall not be remembered, They shall never come to mind. Be glad, then, and rejoice forever In what I am creating. For I shall create Jerusalem as a joy, And her people as a delight;” Isaiah 65/17-18
“For as the new heaven and the new earth Which I will make Shall endure by My will—declares the Lord—So shall your seed and your name endure.” Isaiah 66/22
Ezekiel 37 gives a vivid account of raising the dead to life into new bodies of flesh and bone. This was a common belief in the ancient age and middle ages. In this age of information with knowledge of science and the human body few people believe that a human body can or will be resurrected anew by God. It is a primitive and medieval concept that was good for a time through the middle ages. That is why God provided visions of heaven conforming to the beliefs and world of the Jewish people in the middle ages and before and a spiritual heaven for a more enlightened time of reasoning and knowledge.
The burden on Israel and the practicalities of such an event of millions of people suddenly appearing in the land from the time of Abraham to today is unimaginable. Six million from the Holocaust alone. Many would be illiterate and savage and few would be trained to work in this society. All would have to be housed and fed and educated. It would be a prophecy that destroys the government and the State of Israel.
The resurrection of the dead in a human body to a heavenly earth (“the world to come”) is also said to be a sign that Moshiach has arrived or that it will happen in his lifetime. This is a teaching from the ancient age and middle ages that continues today. Judaism’s reliance on everything the Sages say in an era gone by in the Oral Tradition is important for the laws of the Torah. The day of the Lord through the prophets must be interpreted with the evolution of humanity from the ancient age to the age of information in mind. And again in the eras to come.
26.
Reckoning and Dismissal
“Thus said the Lord God: I am going to deal with the shepherds! I will demand a reckoning of them for My flock, and I will dismiss them from tending the flock.” Ezekiel 34/10.
“Then 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. I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David shall be a ruler among them—I the Lord have spoken. And I will grant them a covenant of friendship.” Ezekiel 34/23-25.
“My servant David shall be king over them be one shepherd for all of them. They shall follow My rules and faithfully obey My laws. Thus they shall remain in the land which I gave to My servant Jacob and in which your fathers dwelt; they and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever, with My servant David as their prince for all time.” [Meaning when David dies his heirs will continue in his place] Ezekiel 37/24-25
These verses were written with reference to God’s servant David of a time in the lands of Abraham that kingdoms existed. Even using the names King and prince today would only be relevant to those who practice Judaism faithfully following God’s laws and remaining in the land and dwelling there forever. This is the flock. The Jewish people who practice Judaism and heed, fear and revere God
This is not an anointment to be King over the lands of Abraham and its people and God’s servant David will come in a time that Israel is a democratic State. In today’s world, with so many synagogues and people Israel, the best interpretation is that David will be a leader of God’s flock to tend them and be a ruler among them. David is not a King or prince of Israel and there is no mention of a kingdom as commonly believed from the teachings of the Sages and the Rabbis of the ancient age and middle ages and today.
When the anointed one comes the Lord says He will deal with and demand a reckoning from the Rabbis and dismiss them from tending the flock. Then He will appoint a single shepherd over them to tend them—His servant David. He shall tend them, he shall be a shepherd to them. The Lord will be their God, and His servant David shall be a ruler among them.
God does not appear to be pleased with the teachings of the Rabbis of the day of the Lord and their reliance on the opinions and commentaries of the Sages and Rabbis from the ancient age and middle ages (who often disagreed with one another). There are many inconsistencies and errors in what the Sages and Rabbis say and what the scripture says.
On many occasions, the sages and Rabbis and most notably Rambam have taken from and added to the scripture of God. God says the anointed one is a shepherd, king, and prince of the flock. Not of the promised lands and all its people and perfecting the world. Rambam removes God’s word and replaces it with Rambam’s word that the anointed one is a King of the lands and people and will have a Kingdom. The commandment by God that nothing is to be taken from or added to His Teachings and Laws of the Torah applies to all the Hebrew Bible. All of which was written at His direction and command and all of which is God’s word.
The entire teaching of the era of redemption, restoration and exaltation strays so far from the natural order of the world and the ways of God and His words written by His prophets that it angers him. The prophets were rarely listened to and God spoke directly to them telling them what to write. That is one reason He will have a reckoning with them and dismiss them.
The Sages and Rabbis are men who often have their own personalities and agendas incorporated into their opinions and interpretations of the scripture. They often had and have a certain lifestyle they like to maintain and seek renown and fame and riches that affects the cost of their services, the price of their writings and what they choose to teach to the flock.
Interpreting and teaching that in the day of the Lord King Moshiach will perfect the world to speak Hebrew and practice Judaism and the entire world will exalt the Jewish people as being right about God all along is what the flock wants to hear and brings donations to the shepherds. Interpreting and teaching what God actually says will not bring in many donations for the reason that the flock will want to know why God is going to have a reckoning with them and dismiss them. They will want to know what the Sages and Rabbis have done to anger God.
God is not creating a new world of all men loving and exalting and holding in high esteem the Jewish people and practicing Judaism though He is creating a new heaven for only the Jewish people where the name Israel shall endure. God has never changed the will of men or how they think of Him and the Jewish people in His power. Any exaltation the Jewish people receive from the world will come through the efforts of God’s righteous servant as directed and commanded by God as He did with Moses.
Two billion (or so) Christians are not going to wake up one day and in one accord denounce Jesus as a false God and convert to Judaism. This is true for the Muslims also. No man is going to convince the followers of Islam that he is the last prophet of God and that it is not Mohammad as etched in stone on their Mosque’s. Two billion Muslims (or so) are not going to wake up on the same day as the Christians and denounce Allah as they know him and convert to Judaism.
Hezbollah, Hamas, the leaders of Iran, Isis and other terrorist groups would more likely announce a Jihad against God’s righteous servant than they would acknowledge that the Jewish people have been right about God all along. The real world is not the confines of a synagogue, yeshiva or religious library. Rabbis need to step out and consider their beliefs in a world of education, science and technology that did not exist in the days of the Bible, the days of the Sages and through the middle ages.
God’s words had to be understood by an illiterate, uncivilized people from the teachings of intelligent men in a world where meat was eaten uncooked and babies were sacrificed to gods in the biblical days. His book was written for different eras and people. The people of the ancient age and the middle ages and the people of the age of enlightenment and reasoning through the age of information and the Internet.
God’s reckoning with the Rabbis today and their dismissal from tending the flock cannot happen in the real world today. There are far too many synagogues and Jewish people practicing Judaism (the “flock”). It was something that could be believed in the ancient age and the middle ages.
The Rabbis today base their interpretations of the scripture on a world that no longer exists. A world of the Sages and Rabbis in the ancient age and the middle ages and not the world today. They do not teach of the reckoning God will have with them and their dismissal that leaves no room for special circumstances. The belief that David will have all of Israel practicing Judaism and perfecting the world with everyone speaking Hebrew will never happen. If God was going to make that happen in His power He would have had it written that way. He would have said or implied that specifically in His power the world would be changed as something new for the Jewish people.
God says in Malachi 3 that many will heed and revere Him and be written into the scroll of remembrance and many will not. He says this with the arrival of the angel of the covenant with sin forgiveness at hand. The covenant which says that His forgiveness of sin will cause the Torah to be written on every heart and all will heed Him. The scripture of God is written by His prophets at His command and direction with multiple purposes as well as for prophecy. It must be interpreted with the world of the prophet, the world of the Sages and Rabbis and the world of the day of the Lord in mind.
All Rabbis are dismissed when the anointed one who God calls David arrives. Not from their synagogues and constituents as that is not possible. God knew that would be the case when He had it written by Ezekiel. They are dismissed in the “eyes” of God. The Rabbi’s will not be in right standing with God even though they are sin free and God remembers their sins no more. They join those in Malachi 3 who do not heed and fear Him. They are not in right standing with Him and will not be entered into the scroll of remembrance.
“In this vein have those who revere the Lord been talking to one another. The Lord has heard and noted it, and a scroll of remembrance has been written at His behest concerning those who revere the Lord and esteem His name. And on the day that I am preparing, said the Lord of Hosts, they shall be My treasured possession; I will be tender toward them as a man is tender toward a son who ministers to him. And you shall come to see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him who has served the Lord and him who has not served Him. For lo! That day is at hand, burning like an oven. All the arrogant and all the doers of evil shall be straw, and the day that is coming—said the Lord of Hosts—shall burn them to ashes and leave of them neither stock nor boughs. But for you who revere My name, a sun of victory shall rise to bring healing. You shall go forth and stamp like stall-fed calves, and you shall trample the wicked to a pulp, for they shall be dust beneath your feet on the day that I am preparing—said the Lord of Hosts.” Malachi 3/16-21
God has always accepted repentance and been forgiving if the repentance is heartfelt, the wrong is not repeated and restitution is made to the person or entity wronged. For the Rabbis repentance is telling their flocks of the false teachings that have evolved from the ancient times that are continued today. Restitution is teaching the true words of God of the day of the Lord.
27.
Avenge the Revenge
“Behold I send My angel, and he will clear the way before Me. And suddenly, the Lord Whom you seek will come to His Temple. And behold! The angel of the covenant, whom you desire, is coming, says the Lord of Hosts.” Malachi 3/1 (Hebrew translated to English by the Chabad Organization)
Rashi’s commentary:
and the angel of the covenant: who avenges the revenge of the covenant.
Rashi’s interpretation is that the covenant of the angel had been revenged and the angel avenges that revenge. The covenant is not described nor is there an explanation as to how this covenant was “revenged” or how the angel avenges the revenge. There are only two specific covenants of the scripture that had not been delivered in the time of Rashi and until this day. The covenant of friendship and the new covenant with sin forgiveness.
“Behold, I am sending My messenger to clear the way before Me, and the Lord whom you seek shall come to His Temple suddenly. As for the angel of the covenant that you desire, he is already coming.” Malachi 3/1-2
In Malachi 3/1 the covenant is described as the covenant “that you desire”. That is either the new covenant with sin forgiveness or the covenant of friendship and they are delivered at the same time. The covenant of friendship comes with the anointed one David from Ezekiel 34 and the new covenant with sin forgiveness is delivered by Elijah and they are the same man, God’s righteous servant. God has never made a covenant of revenge with the Jewish people. God removes His wrath from the Jewish people and passes it to Christianity:
“Thus said the Lord, your Lord, Your God who champions His people: Herewith I take from your hand The cup of reeling, The bowl, the cup of My wrath; You shall never drink it again. “I will put it in the hands of your tormentors, Who have commanded you, “Get down, that we may walk over you”—So that you made your back like the ground, Like a street for passersby.” Isaiah 51/22-23
Exile, return, the forgiveness of sins, friendship and building a new Temple as a holy people are a repeating storyline of the Hebrew Bible. In Malachi 3 God makes it clear that the story will repeat again with utter destruction if God’s righteous servant who is Elijah is not listened to and his purpose does not prosper.
God’s righteous servant is a prophet of God. He is the visible representation of the Presence of God and the angel of His Presence. Wherever he is the Presence of God and the Holy spirit are with him. Always. Moses is said to have been God’s veritable mouthpiece on earth. God’s righteous servant is the prophet like Moses and a man that God controls absolutely.
God controls His words, and that would include his mind (God tells Ezekiel He will speak through Him), his body (God put the cords of His power on Ezekiel to restrain him), his emotions (God makes Ezekiel’s forehead like adamant, as hard as flint) and his perceptions (Isaiah 11/3 “…He shall not judge by what his eyes behold, Nor decide by what his ears perceive).
28.
Ezekiel
In Isaiah 53 there are many words that seem to be saying the man described is being punished for the sins of others:
Isaiah 53/4 the words “our sickness [sin] that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured”; and 53/5 “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”; and 53/7 “He was maltreated”; 53/6 “And the Lord visited upon him the guilt of all of us” and 53/10 “But the Lord chose to crush him by disease,” and in 52/11 “It is their punishment that he bears”
All of this has to do with setting up a test of devotion for God’s righteous servant who is David, Elijah and the prophet like Moses if he passes the test and making the man suitable for the purpose of God that might prosper. It also has to do with God knowing that the gentiles would take the book of the Jewish people and call it their own. That the gentiles would also say that the God of Israel forsook the Jewish people because they would not believe in Jesus and would not stop sinning. And God knew that they would do this using the animal atonement and worship laws of the book of Leviticus for a human.
God also punishes, chastises, maltreats, crushes and bruises Ezekiel to make him a suitable prophet to the Assyrian/Babylon exiles but without the test of devotion and choosing to crush him with disease.
God said to Ezekiel: “But the House of Israel will refuse to listen to you, for they refuse to listen to Me; for the whole House of Israel are brazen of forehead and stubborn of heart. But I will make your face as hard as theirs, and your forehead as brazen as theirs. I will make your forehead like adamant (shamir), harder than flint. Do not fear them, and do not be dismayed by them, though they are a rebellious breed.” Ezekiel 3/7-9
“Then lie on your left side, and let it bear the punishment of the House of Israel [for sin]; for as many days as you lie on it you shall bear their punishment. For I impose upon you three hundred and ninety days, corresponding to the number of the years of their punishment; and so you shall bear the punishment for the House of Israel. When you have completed these, you shall lie another forty days. ‘Then, with bared arm, set your face toward besieged Jerusalem and prophesy against it. Now I put cords upon you so that you cannot turn from side to side until you complete your days of siege.” Ezekiel 4/4-8
How will God make Ezekiel suitable for His purpose, making him as hard and brazen as the House’s of Israel and Judah, remove his fear of them and his dismay when they shun him and do not listen to him? Just as with the verses of Isaiah 53/3 Ezekiel was shunned, held of no account, and laughed at.
“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
By pain and suffering with maltreatment, crushing, bruising, chastisement and punishment to remove his self- will and refine his soul and remove the fury of his spirit while the hand of the Lord was upon him. The same words used in Isaiah 53. And God does not crush Ezekiel with disease so that he would offer himself to God and agree to bear an oppressive judgment. God seizes him. God does not have to ask you to do anything. You do not say no to God. He is God.
All of this makes Ezekiel suitable for God’s purpose with him to prosper as a prophet to the Assyrian\ Babylon exiles. To have Ezekiel do and say whatever he is commanded to do and say by God without hesitation, anger or remorse (hurt feelings). To remove his bitterness at being maltreated by God. Just as God does with His righteous servant of Isaiah 53.
“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. 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 3/24-25
The cords placed upon Ezekiel are not physical ropes. Ezekiel is being constrained by the power of God that envelop him and prevent him from leaving his house. Just like the man described in Isaiah 53/8 Ezekiel is cut off from the land of the living (world).
And then he is enduring punishment corresponding to the number of the years of the punishment for the guilt and sins of the Houses of Israel and Judah by having these cords of God’s power prevent him from turning side to side which would have also pinned him to the ground (crushing and bruising).
Chastisement and maltreatment can be seen in this discussion between God and Ezekiel, a Priestly man who followed the laws of a “kosher” diet who would be beside himself at such a seemingly unrighteous punishment. But that is the point. God treating you as you could never imagine is very humbling and causes great change to your spirit and soul:
“Further, take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and emmer. Put them into one vessel and bake them into bread. Eat it as many days as you lie on your side: three hundred and ninety.” Ezekiel 4/9
“So”, said the Lord, “shall the people of Israel eat their bread, unclean, among the nations to which I will banish them.” Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, my person was never defiled; nor have I eaten anything that died of itself or was torn by beasts from my youth until now, nor has foul flesh entered my mouth.” He answered me, “See, I allow you cow’s dung instead of human excrement; prepare your bread on that.” Ezekiel 4/13-15
This reveals how primitive the world of Ezekiel was. His “kosher” diet is not eating anything that died of itself or was torn by beasts and foul flesh. And God tells him in so many words (chastisement) that He does not care (maltreatment). Words meant to anger Ezekiel for the effect of calming the fury of his spirit over time.
And the Jewish people were not vicariously relieved of their punishment. The complete fall of Jerusalem and the deportation of Judah occurs in Ezekiel’s lifetime. It is figurative speech. Ezekiel is punished ” corresponding” to the number of the years of their punishment.
And the words themselves would infuriate Ezekiel being a priestly man who always preached repentance to the Jewish people for their sins and now God tells him he will bear their punishment. This also is considered chastisement and maltreatment. God angers him over and over slowly calming his soul and emotions over time while he is pinned to the ground.
Just as in Isaiah 53 where God’s righteous servant is punished for the sins and guilt of Israel that he is not guilty of and God pronounced an “oppressive judgment, who can describe his abode”, indicating that part of this judgment is being sent to his house and being cut off from the land of the living in the power of God just as Ezekiel was. Even though there were no sins to bear by the new covenant the oppressive Judgement is not removed.
It is for God’s righteous servant to be made suitable for God’s purpose. To make the many righteous by his knowledge with long life and doing whatever he is commanded to do and say by God without hesitation, anger or remorse (hurt feelings). God’s righteous servant agrees to bear the guilt of the Jewish people and heal them of the pain and suffering sin brings with his teachings of God. To make the many righteous by drawing the families of the Jewish people back to practicing Judaism.
By offering himself for the guilt of the Jewish people God’s righteous servant is agreeing to never see heaven and possibly going to hell. Judaism does not believe there is a hell. There may be one though according to the words of Isaiah:
“They shall go out and gaze On the corpses of the men who rebelled against Me: Their worms [souls] shall not die, Nor their fire be quenched; They shall be a horror To all flesh. And new moon after new moon, And sabbath after sabbath, All flesh shall come to worship Me—said the Lord.” Isaiah 66/24
Just as Ezekiel was bitter and his spirit in fury while he was in the hand of God and the spirit had stepped into him, the spirit of God alights upon the descendant of King David in Isaiah 11/2 who is God’s righteous servant. He also is bitter and his spirit in fury in the hand of God. The spirit that steps into Ezekiel and the spirit of God that alights upon God’s righteous servant is the Holy Spirit (the angel of God’s presence).
Ezekiel is going through the same fire of refinement in the hand of God as God’s righteous servant does though he was not asked to offer himself for guilt or crushed with disease. The purpose of God in crushing His righteous servant with disease is done primarily to prevent the gentiles from using the animal worship and atonement laws for a man. You cannot offer blemished animals and these laws were never intended for human sacrifice.
29.
God’s Purpose Which Might Prosper
“Then he [Jesus] took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spat on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.” Luke 18/31-33
The Tanakh, Great Scroll of Isaiah, Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha are all of the possible scripture that Jesus could be referencing and not one Book mentions a human son of God, a man who is God, a man to be delivered to the gentiles, mocked, scourged and put to death, a man who dies for the sins of other men, any man who is to rise from the dead on the third day, or a man who is sacrificed or made to sacrifice himself by God.
After the death of Jesus Apostle Peter taught that Jesus was the man described in Isaiah 53 saying:
“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin [53/12], neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled [53/3], reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not [53/7]; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously [53/11]: Who his own self bare our sins [53/5-6] in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed [53/5]. For ye were as sheep going astray [53/6], but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” 1Peter 2/21-25
God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 is made suitable for God’s purpose which “might” prosper and that purpose which “might” prosper is found in Elijah who shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents by being mindful of the Teaching and laws of God given to Moses at Horeb (Sinai) for all Israel, so that, when God comes to return to His Temple He does not strike the whole land with utter destruction. If Elijah’s purpose does not prosper utter destruction comes to the land. Jesus had nothing to do with this purpose of Elijah that might prosper of Isaiah 53 and Malachi 3 saying:
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” Matthew 10/34-36
30.
Another Proof of Elijah
God’s righteous servant is Elijah and he counsels the Jewish people that their sins are forgiven and remembered no more; to be “mindful” of God’s laws (rather than strict adherence); the need to return to Synagogue; to worship God; to perform good deeds with repentance and atonement for their wrongs (Yom Kippur); and teaching to them his knowledge of the Heaven God is creating for the name Israel to endure.
God specifically took Elijah to Heaven and has him return. His knowledge of Heaven is proof that he is Elijah. God’s sin forgiveness is a gift for the suffering of the Jewish people. It should be acknowledged by their return to the practice of Judaism.
God’s righteous servant as Elijah will have knowledge of the heaven God is creating for only the Jewish people. He will know the environment; how the spirits of the Jewish people will be able to think without a mind; how spirits communicate; be familiar with the angel of His Presence and angels in general; what it means for God to answer you before you pray; how God is in you as He is in the angels of heaven; and how it is that the former things of your life will be remembered no more.
31.
Victory and Vindication
(Isaiah 61)
“1The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me; He has sent me as a herald of joy to the humble, To bind up the wounded of heart, To proclaim release to the captives, Liberation to the imprisoned; 2To proclaim a year of the Lord’s favor And a day of vindication by our God; To comfort all who mourn.” Isaiah 61/1-2
“The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, Because the Lord has anointed me” is a direct reference to Isaiah 11/1-2 and says that the spirit of God alighting upon a man is an anointment by God.
The speaker is the anointed one David who is God’s righteous servant. It cannot be Jesus though he said he was the fulfillment of it:
“And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias [Isaiah]. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is the scripture fulfilled in your ears.” Luke 4/16-21 Holy Bible
The year of “the Lord’s favor and a day of vindication by our God” is a reference to the awesome, fearful day of the Lord of Malachi 3 and the return of God to his Temple. The day of the Lord’s favor and vindication proclaimed by Jesus ended in his crucifixion and death. And God was in His Temple. And forty or so years later the Romans that executed him destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple of God.
To proclaim release to the captives and liberation to the imprisoned according to Rashi means: “That is to say, to bring them the tidings of the redemption.” God’s righteous servant as Elijah comes with and delivers the new covenant with sin forgiveness in the day of the Lord and begins the redemption.
“3To provide for the mourners in Zion—To give them a turban instead of ashes, The festive ointment instead of mourning, A garment of splendor instead of a drooping spirit. They shall be called terebinths of victory, Planted by the Lord for His glory. 4And they shall build the ancient ruins, Raise up the desolations of old, And renew the ruined cities, The desolation’s of many ages.” Isaiah 61/3-4
The Assyrian/Babylonian exiles that returned became the Roman dispersal who have returned and renewed the ruined cities and the desolation of many ages.
“See, a time is coming—declares the Lord—when the city shall be rebuilt for the Lord from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate; and the measuring line shall go straight out to the Gareb Hill, and then turn toward Goah. And the entire Valley of the Corpses and Ashes, and all the fields as far as the Wadi Kidron, and the corner of the Horse Gate on the east shall be holy to the Lord. They shall never again be uprooted or overthrown.” Jeremiah 31/38-40
This is Jerusalem today. It cannot be the Jerusalem in the days of Jesus and John the Baptist for the reason the Jewish people were uprooted and overthrown by Rome and dispersed throughout the world. The time to come is today when there is a Temple to be built for God to return to. And the day of the Lord is to ensure they are never uprooted and overthrown again.
“See, a time is coming—declares the Lord—when I will sow the House of Israel and the House of Judah with seed of men and seed of cattle; and just as I was watchful over them to uproot and to pull down, to overthrow and to destroy and to bring disaster, so I will be watchful over them to build and to plant—declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 31/27-28
“See, a time is coming—declares the Lord—when I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel and the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, a covenant which they broke, though I espoused [married] them—declares the Lord. But such is the covenant I will make with the House of Israel after these days—declares the Lord: I will put My Teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts. Then I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No longer will they need to teach one another and say to one another, “Heed the Lord”; for all of them, from the least of them to the greatest, shall heed Me—declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquities, And remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31/31-34
“Be mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses, whom I charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel. Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the Lord.” Malachi 3/22-23
The time to come is the day of the Lord. “I will put My Teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts” of the new covenant is a way of saying the purpose of Elijah to bring the families of the Jewish people back to practicing Judaism and righteousness will prosper. Those that heed and fear God will return to synagogue learning and practicing the teachings of God to stay in right standing with Him effectively putting God’s Teaching into their inmost being and inscribing it upon their hearts.
God could see Greece and Rome and their mythology of Gods and men who are Gods and knew they were coming one day. And when they found the people of the book of one God that destruction of the second Temple and expulsion (dispersal) from the land was coming with them, and that the land would lay desolate for ages.
God’s prophecy is based on absolute knowledge of humanity from beginning to end. In the days of Jeremiah, it was time to look forward to the days of another Temple and God had Jeremiah write His words accordingly.
In his day Jeremiah and the Jewish people became the Assyrian/Babylon exiles by the defeat and deportation of Judah to Babylon that had been Assyria where the other tribes were from previous defeats and deportations from the northern kingdom and lands east of the river Jordan.
Sin forgiveness is in the book of Isaiah for the Assyrian/Babylon exiles and the second Temple and sin forgiveness for the Roman dispersal and the third Temple is in the book of Jeremiah for a time to come. The time when Israel returns to the land of desolation and makes it bloom again and renews the old cities and Jerusalem. And that is today.
“Strangers shall stand and pasture your flocks, Aliens shall be your plowmen and vine-trimmers;” Isaiah 61/5
In the return of the Assyrian/Babylon exiles the northern kingdom was inhabited by gentiles imported by the Assyrians. Today, the stranger among the Jewish people are the Israeli Arabs and Israeli Christians. The aliens are the trespassers (Palestinians) and Arabs who are not Israeli’s.
“While you shall be called “Priests of the Lord,” And termed “Servants of our God.” You shall enjoy the wealth of nations And revel in their riches.” Isaiah 61/6
The Assyrian/Babylon exiles were forgiven of all sins to become a Holy seed of God and they rebuilt the second Temple. They are referred to as Servants of God in their sinless state and not God’s righteous servant. Elijah comes and delivers the new covenant with sin forgiveness for the Roman dispersal to be a Holy seed and they will rebuild the third Temple for God to return to suddenly with the assistance of God’s righteous servant as David.
Israel is one of the greatest countries on earth. They have wealth and riches equal to any nation for its size and more than most. The nations are not going to give Israel their wealth and riches as many believe will happen in the redemption era.
“7Because your shame was double—Men cried, “Disgrace is their portion”—Assuredly, They shall have a double share in their land, Joy shall be theirs for all time. 8For I the Lord love justice, I hate robbery with a burnt offering. I will pay them their wages faithfully, And make a covenant with them for all time. 9Their offspring shall be known among the nations, Their descendants in the midst of the peoples. All who see them shall recognize That they are a stock the Lord has blessed.” Isaiah 61/7-9
Verse 8 references the covenant made with Moses and the Israelites which is eternal but never complete until the vindication of the Lord in the awesome, fearful day of the Lord of Malachi 3. When God makes a new covenant with the Jewish people that includes He will be their God and they will be His people. An amendment, renewal and confirmation to be mindful of His laws by those who heed and fear Him. The recognition among the nations that the Jewish people are a stock the Lord has blessed requires that the third Temple be built.
“I greatly rejoice in the Lord, My whole being exults in my God. For He has clothed me with garments of triumph, Wrapped me in a robe of victory, Like a bridegroom adorned with a turban, Like a bride bedecked with her finery. For as the earth brings forth her growth And a garden makes the seed shoot up, So the Lord God will make Victory and renown shoot up In the presence of all the nations.” Isaiah 61/10-11Victory and renown for the Assyrian/Babylon exiles was the building of the second Temple despite the attempts of the gentiles in the northern kingdom to stop the building. Rome destroyed that Temple. Victory and renown for the Roman dispersal will be in the building of the third and final Temple of God despite the attempts of the nations to stop them. And they will never be uprooted and overthrown again.
32.
The New Heaven
Elie Wiesel said in regard to God and the Holocaust in the lost version of ‘Night’: “This time we will not stand as the accused in court before the divine judge. This time we are the judges and He is the accused. We are ready. There are a huge number of documents in our indictment file. They are living documents that will shake the foundations of justice.”
Job was also ready to indict God. Job wanted God to explain to him why he as a righteous man who followed the Lord’s commandments had so many bad things happening to him.
I am sure that God is quite pleased with creation because He is perfect and all things He creates are perfectly what He wanted for Him. It is perfect for creating a heaven of angelic human spirit persons. A new heaven by the addition of a new host of angels. The angels Israel.
God decided to create a new host of angels. One where He does not create their personalities but angelic persons who are formed as persons by their own actions and self-will. Unlike angels we are put through a battleground of choices with our own self will that molds and shapes us as persons. Angels do not have self-will or a battleground of choices to make. Their persons are created and formed by God. God knew in the beginning that all men would suffer. The good and the bad. It is what makes our personalities suitable for His purpose of creating a new host of angels.
“For behold! I am creating A new heaven and a new earth; The former things shall not be remembered, They shall never come to mind. Be glad, then, and rejoice forever In what I am creating. For I shall create Jerusalem as a joy, And her people as a delight; And I will rejoice in Jerusalem And delight in her people. Never again shall be heard there The sounds of weeping and wailing.” Isaiah 65/17-19
“No more shall there be an infant or graybeard Who does not live out his days. He who dies at a hundred years Shall be reckoned a youth, And he who fails to reach a hundred Shall be reckoned accursed. They shall build houses and dwell in them, They shall plant vineyards and enjoy their fruit. They shall not build for others to dwell in Or plant for others to enjoy. For the days of My people shall be As long as the days of a tree, My chosen ones shall outlive The work of their hands. They shall not toil to no purpose; They shall not bear children for terror, But they shall be a people blessed by the Lord, And their offspring shall remain with them.” Isaiah 65/20-23
In verses 17-19 God is speaking of a spiritual heaven that He calls Jerusalem. Verses 20-23 are what heaven was believed to be like for the people of the ancient age and the middle ages. God’s scripture is written for eras gone by and eras to come. People of ancient times and the middle ages thought of the dead coming back to life and living long lives in a brutal, savage time of humanity.
Planting vineyards and enjoying the fruit and not having it taken by others; dwelling in a home they had built; and not toiling for others was the heaven they thought of. Not a spiritual heaven where you rise to God and live with Him. To them, God was always angry and the cause of their troubles.
“For as the new heaven and the new earth Which I will make Shall endure by My will —declares the Lord—So shall your seed and your name endure.” Isaiah 66/22
God says He is creating a new heaven and a new earth. The new earth will be just as this earth is when this earth is no more when the final judgment of entry to heaven is made by the creator who holds the souls of all men in His hand.
The new heaven where the seed and name of Israel shall endure. And God will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in her people while the new earth is being formed. God calls the new heaven “Jerusalem” as a direct reference to heaven being for the Jewish people where the name Israel shall endure.
“I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have made ready. Pay heed to him and obey him. Do not defy him, for he will not pardon your offenses, since My Name is in him; but if you obey him and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.” Genesis 23/20-22
In heaven God is in you as “My Name” (God) is in the angel of His presence. That is what is meant when God says “Before they pray, I will answer; While they are still speaking, I will respond.”
The information of our minds gathered by our eyes and ears is interpreted by our spirit and soul which is the person that we are. Our spirit can read the electrical impulses, chemicals and different tissues of various parts of the mind. In heaven, our spirit and soul no longer has a mind filled with information to interpret. Spirit is a very complicated element of the unseen realm of God. If our minds were our thoughts, the voice within us and the person that we are there could be no heaven. We would die never to awaken again as our minds turned to dust.
God will be the source of that information. In a sense, God becomes your mind. He provides the information for your spirit to interpret. God can be the information of your mind and the information for every angel and spirit of heaven at the same time
Jesus tells us that he will return in the time of lives in being: the life of the high priest who will see him return; the lives of the people of the towns of Caesarea Philippi then living; the generation of lives in being during his life; the lives of his disciples; and the lives of those who pierced him with the spear after he died on the cross.
They are all dead now for close to two thousand years. Jesus spoke five prophecies of his return with a specific time frame, lives in being (the “measuring lives”) and the prophecies failed.
The Apostle Paul said “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4/16-17 Holy Bible
Jesus said he was coming back quickly. On the last page of the Holy Bible in the book of Revelation Jesus says:
“Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.” Revelation 22/7
“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Revelation 22/12
“He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Revelation 22/20
Jesus has never returned, adding to his failed prophecy that it would be quickly. For almost two thousand years the dead in Christ and those alive during those years have waited to rise to heaven. His prophetic announcements did not happen. There are no Christians in heaven according to Christianity. The time for a quick return has long gone past. There is no reason or foundation to believe by faith or otherwise that he will ever return. Heaven is only for the Jewish people. If the Christians, Noahides, and gentiles in general want to see heaven they will have to convert to Judaism.
33.
God’s House of Prayer and His House in Heaven
The northern Kingdom of Samaria was inhabited by gentiles imported by the Assyrians who had defeated the Israelites of the north before the Assyrians were defeated by the Babylonians. The Babylonians, who later defeated the southern kingdom of Judah and deported them to the lands of Assyria/Babylon, completed the total exile of the thirteen tribes of Israel from the lands of Abraham.
“Then the king of Assyria marched against the whole land; he came to Samaria and besieged it for three years. 6In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria. He deported the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, at the [River] Habor, at the River Gozan, and in the towns of Media.” 2Kings 17/5-6 Tanakh JPS 1985.
“The king of Assyria brought [people] from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and he settled them in the towns of Samaria in place of the Israelites; they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its towns.” 2Kings 17/24-35
“They worshiped the Lord, but they also appointed from their own ranks priests of the shrines, who officiated for them in the cult places. They worshiped the Lord while serving their own gods according to the practices of the nations from which they had been deported. To this day, they follow their former practices. They do not worship the Lord [properly]. They do not follow the laws and practices, the Teaching and Instruction that the Lord enjoined upon the descendants of Jacob—who was given the name Israel—with whom He made a covenant and whom He commanded: “You shall worship no other gods; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them.” 2Kings 17/32-35
God said: “As for the foreigners Who attach themselves to the Lord, To minister to Him, And to love the name of the Lord, To be His servants—All who keep the Sabbath and do not profane it, And who hold fast to My covenant—I will bring them to My sacred mount And let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices Shall be welcome on My altar; For My House shall be called A house of prayer for all peoples.” Isaiah 56/6-7
In Judaism today this would mean converting to Judaism applied to foreigners including Christian Israeli’s and Muslim Israeli’s. If they want to enter the third Temple they must hold fast to God’s covenant with the Jewish people. They must follow the laws and practices, the Teaching and Instruction that the Lord enjoined upon the descendants of Jacob—who was given the name Israel— with whom He made the covenant.
A house of prayer for all peoples means a house of prayer for all Jewish people who are people from the nations of the earth. God knew they would be defeated, deported and dispersed throughout the world.
This was a part of God’s plan when He formed Israel for the new heaven He was creating. He chose them and a land for them and had the Hebrew Bible written at His command and direction through His anointed ones and His prophets. God is creating a new heaven of the spirits and souls of the Jewish people for the name of Israel to endure. Those who are righteous and in right standing with Him will be placed in angelic bodies as a new host of the Lord of Hosts. A host of angels representing the people of the world. The angels of Israel.
34.
God’s Power in Creation
Moses was a person who murdered a man in anger, hid the body and when discovered became frightened and ran from his crime and then became a person more humble than any other man at the end of his life. He was chosen above all mankind, achieving a greater knowledge of the Almighty than anyone before.
Moses was a man like Ezekiel in that his spirit could become infuriated. To calm the spirit and soul of Ezekiel God pinned him to the ground for 430 days and chastised him until he was suitable and humble enough to be a prophet to the Assyrian/Babylon exiles.
A man does not go from being hot-tempered enough to kill another man to the most humble on earth by being the leader of hundreds of thousands of men and women and known to converse with God. That enlarges the ego of a man and is not a humbling experience.
In some manner not spoken of in the Torah, Moses was put through God’s fire of refinement of punishment and chastisement, just as Ezekiel was, to be suitable for His purposes. As all of God’s prophets are to one extent or another. It is his way of preparing them for His purposes from simply writing His words to being leaders of men.
God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 is the prophet like Moses who endures chastisement, punishment, maltreatment, crushing and bruising by the hand of God in His fire of refinement. God incites and brings out emotions with chastisement and punishment and tempers the spirit and soul of a man in His power. It humbles a man.
When God uses His power to change the spirit and soul of a living man in His creation it is not to be taken lightly. God enjoys watching creation unfold naturally as He knew it would and not as He can make it happen. Not changing it in His power. That is nothing to Him. If He thinks it and wills it, it is.
35.
Stirring the Spirit of Armies
“The Lord stirred up the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs who were neighbors of the Cushites against Jehoram. They marched against Judah, breached its defenses, and carried off all the property that was found in the king’s palace, as well as his sons and his wives. The only son who remained was Jehoahaz, his youngest.” 2Chronicles 21/16-17
There was a time when believing God stirred up armies and nations against the kingdoms of Samaria and Judah and took the sword, pestilence, and famine against the Jewish people for not obeying Him fit with how people explained bad events. And God had His prophets write His stories accordingly for the ancient age and the middle ages. When He says He stirred up the armies against Israel He had a purpose. Whether it was the defeat by an enemy or loss of a Temple and exile God says He had something to do with it because He was angry. The reality is that the defeat and loss was already on the way as part of His creation and God is His creation.
God had His stories written with this in mind and used the Hebrew Bible as a teaching for the best way to live life in a harsh world. To create religion in one form or another and many other purposes for the Jewish people and the world. All of God’s stories are based on events that occurred in and on the earth. He did not want a documentary and always had the creation of religion in mind and that is why they are called God’s stories. Like movies “based” on actual events.
Today, we gather all the information we can and assess why a battle or war was lost and the source of a plague and how it is spread. Some people still believe God causes everything good or bad that happens in the world and with people but generally we look to the facts in this age of reasoning, information and knowledge.
The lands of Israel bloom again from more than 2,000 years of desolation and Jerusalem has been rebuilt by the return of the Jewish people to the lands of Abraham and the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. Just as He said they would in a time to come in Jeremiah 31. The Presence of God and the angel of His Presence will be descending again from heaven to dwell upon the earth with His people. This time humanity has evolved with enlightenment, reasoning, information, science, and knowledge. God will be communicating with the Jewish people and the world as He always has by and through His prophet. In the day of the Lord that prophet is His righteous servant of Isaiah 53.
God does not alter or control creation. For Him, it is the unfolding of humanity and its history exactly as He thought it out that pleases Him. Using His power to change events to make it conform to how He imagined, visualized and knew it would be is not necessary. His control of creation is His absolute knowledge of creation from beginning to end. It is the creativity of His writings through His prophets and His absolute control of His prophets for communicating with the world.
And that is the power of God that He uses in creation in the day of the Lord with a man God calls His righteous servant who is the anointed one David, Elijah and the prophet like Moses. His prophet is the visible representation of His Presence and the presence of the Holy spirit. A man He can communicate through to those who believe in His prophet.
This time is the last time according to His prophecy that the Jewish people will not be overthrown or uprooted again. This repeating story of destruction and exile from the land of Abraham is stopped. And it is only stopped in a world that has hated the Jewish people so much because He returns to them and His prophet is recognized and heeded. The building of the third Temple tells the world that God sanctifies Israel.
Isaiah 53 begins with “Who can believe what we have heard? Upon whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?” The arm of the Lord is vindication and redemption. God’s righteous servant rising from a sinful man of suffering, sorrows and disease to serving God in the day of the Lord reveals that the arm of the Lord is upon him.
God’s purpose that might prosper through His righteous servant of Isaiah 53 is the purpose of Elijah in Malachi 3 and the rebuilding of His Temple and God says He will strike the land with utter destruction if Elijah’s purpose does not prosper.
God knew in modern times of secularism and reliance on science, medicine, and technology that His prophet might not be recognized, believed or heeded. The utter destruction is simply on its way just like with the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans long ago. Today that may be Islam. God’s is His creation and it is His creation that brings utter destruction. Not Him in His Power.
It is a story that keeps repeating. God knows His people and In the writings of Isaiah after the description of His righteous servant God says:
“The watchmen are blind, all of them, They perceive nothing. They are all dumb dogs That cannot bark; They lie sprawling, They love to drowse. Moreover, the dogs are greedy; They never know satiety. As for the shepherds, they know not What it is to give heed. Everyone has turned his own way, Every last one seeks his own advantage. “Come, I’ll get some wine; Let us swill liquor. And tomorrow will be just the same, Or even much grander!” Isaiah 56/10-12
That is why God’s purpose might not prosper and He has a reckoning with and dismissal of the shepherds who do not know what it is to give heed.
36.
Born with Iniquity
Psalms 51, Verse 7 (David speaking):
7Indeed I was born with iniquity; with sin, my mother conceived me.
Rashi’s commentary (with the Chabad translation to English):
“Behold, with iniquity I was formed: Now how could I not sin when the main part of my creation was through coitus, the source of many iniquities? Another explanation: The main part of my creation is from a male and a female, both of whom are full of iniquity. There are many midrashim to this verse, but they do not fit the context of the psalm. conceived me: Heb. יחמתני, an expression of heat, as (Gen. 30:38): “And they came into heat (ויחמנה) when they came to drink.”
In the days of David men had many wives and many concubines as is well known with his son Solomon. The iniquity came from his father Jesse fathering a child with a woman outside of the tribes against the laws of God.
If Rashi is correct then all men are born sinners before they ever sin. The sin of his father does not make David a sinner and he does not bear the sin of his father. He is bearing the repercussions of his father’s sin.
There is no mention of David’s mother in the Bible. The Talmud says the mother of David was a Jewish woman named Nitzevet. Today, under the Halacha David would be a gentile if he could not prove his mother was Jewish. This would explain a story creating a Jewish mother for David in the Talmud.
God says: “Be careful to observe only that which I enjoin upon you: neither add to it nor take away from it.” Deuteronomy 13/1
While this applied to the laws of God given to Moses it is applicable to all the Hebrew Bible. This is an example of the stories and lore of the Talmud at times taking from the meaning and lessons of God’s stories and Psalms. If God wanted stories that showed all of the central men and women as Jewish He would have had them written that way. Elijah and the captain of the Lord’s Host were not, and David cannot be proven to have been Jewish. David was a savage warrior. When in exile for a year and four months with the Philistines he went out and killed enemies of God and the women also so no one could tell on him.
“David would leave no man or woman alive to be brought to Gath; for he thought, “They might tell about us: David did this.” Such was his practice as long as he stayed in the territory of the Philistines.” 1Samuel 27/11
David was also a teacher of righteousness, morality, justice and faithfulness and a great leader. He is confessing a deep emotional pain in a Psalm for all to read and it is a lesson of the pain of interfaith marriages for children. A sin he had nothing to do with that he had to bear all his life.
37.
Maimonides (The Rambam)
“Moses Maimonides (Moses ben Maimon; known in rabbinical literature as “Rambam”; from the acronym Rabbi Moses Ben Maimon; 1135–1204), rabbinic authority, codifier, philosopher, and royal physician. The most illustrious figure in Judaism in the post-talmudic era, regarded by many as the greatest Jewish philosopher of the Middle Ages, and one of the greatest of all time. He was successful in bringing four cultures (GrecoRoman, Arab, Jewish, and Western) together in one person, and in doing so, remains one of the most influential religious philosophers of the intellectual world.
His teaching influences other faiths as well as Jews, however, it is his commentary on Jewish texts that mark him out as one of the most influential and important Jews in history. He wrote three major essays on Jewish law, the most famous being ‘The Guide for the Perplexed’, and each of them is still regarded as hugely important in Jewish philosophy. This monumental work laid the foundation for all subsequent Jewish philosophic inquiry known as Chakirah, and stimulated centuries of philosophic Jewish writing. His large fourteen volumes work “Mishneh Torah” to date holds canonical authority in regard of a codification of Talmudic law.” From the Jewish Virtual Library, The Famous People and the BBC.
Rambam says in Chapter Twelve, paragraph 2 of ‘The Laws Concerning King Moshiach”: “Our Sages taught: [Berachos 34b] “There will be no difference between the current age and the Era of Moshiach except [our emancipation from] subjugation to the [gentile] kingdoms. The simple meaning of the words of the prophets appears to imply that the war of Gog and Magog [Yechezkal ch. 38] will take place at the beginning of the Messianic age. Before the war of Gog and Magog, a prophet will arise to rectify Israel’s conduct and prepare their hearts [for the Redemption], as it is written:
[Malachi 3:23] “Behold, I am sending you Eliyahu [6] [before the advent of the great and awesome Day of G-d].” He will not come [in order] to declare the pure, impure, nor to declare the impure, pure; nor [will he come in order] to disqualify the lineage of those presumed to be of flawless descent, nor to validate lineage which is presumed to be blemished. Rather, [he will come in order] to establish peace in the world; as [the above prophecy] continues [Malachi 3:24], “He will bring back the hearts of the fathers to the children.”
Elijah does not come to establish peace in the world but to make the many righteous by his knowledge in reconciling the sons to the fathers and fathers to the sons (the families) of the Jewish people by having them be mindful of the Teachings God gave Moses at Horeb and to the practice of Judaism, and to be a messenger of the new covenant with sin forgiveness.
Rambam and the Sages say in Chapter Twelve, paragraph 3 of “The Laws Concerning King Moshiach”: “During the Era of the King Moshiach, once his kingdom has been established and all of Israel has gathered around him, the entire [nation’s] line of descent will be established on the basis of his words, through the prophetic spirit which will rest upon him. As it is written [Loc. cit., v. 3], “He shall sit as a refiner and purifier. He will purify the lineage of the Levites first, stating that “This one is a priest of defined lineage” and “This one is a Levite of defined lineage.”
Rambam basis for this belief is a verse in the book of Ezra:
[Ezra 2:63] “The governor said to them, ‘[They shall not eat of the most holy things] until a priest arises [who will wear] the Urim and Tumim.’” From this verse, one can infer that the genealogy of those presumed to be of unquestioned [priestly and Levitical] lineage will be traced by means of the prophetic spirit, and those found to be of such lineage will be made known. He will define the lineage of the Israelites according to their tribe alone; i.e., he will make known each person’s tribal origin, stating that “This one is from this tribe” and “This one is from another tribe.”
“He shall sit as a refiner and purifier” from the first paragraph of Chapter Twelve, paragraph 3 is not Moshiach. God purifies and refines and He comes with Elijah and the angel of the covenant. Rambam says a prophetic spirit which will rest upon the anointed one. The prophecy of the Hebrew Bible are the prophecies of God. David does not have a prophetic spirit. While prophetic spirits were a common belief in the ancient age and middle ages that is not true for the ages of reasoning and information. Isaiah 11/2 defines the attributes of the spirit that alights upon the anointed one as “A spirit of wisdom and insight, A spirit of counsel and valor, A spirit of devotion and reverence for the Lord”.
“But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can hold out when he appears? For he is like a smelter’s fire and like fuller’s lye. He shall act like a smelter and purger of silver, and he shall purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver so that they shall present offerings in righteousness. Then the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem shall be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of yore and in the years of old. But [first] I will step forward to contend against you, and I will act as a relentless accuser against those who have no fear of Me:” Malachi 3/2-5
This is God and not David or Elijah. In Hebrew writing it is common to express the same idea twice using two different phrasings or metaphors. The phrase “For he is like a smelter’s fire and like fuller’s lye” is a good example. Fuller’s Lye (soap) should be understood along the lines of “smelter’s fire”. Someone would bring a lump of gold or silver and the smelter would use fire to burn off the dross and purify the precious metal. Similarly, people would bring their wool to the fuller and he would use soap to clean the wool and remove the impurities so that what is left is pure wool.
In Malachi 1 and 2 the priesthood has been defiled; they offer polluted offerings, they have turned from God and refuse to listen to him, and they profane God’s covenant. They disregard God’s ways. “Those who have no fear of Me” would be the priestly tribe of the Levite’s and not pertaining to genealogy or tribal lineage but to Ezekiel 34:
“Thus said the Lord God: I am going to deal with the shepherds! I will demand a reckoning of them for My flock, and I will dismiss them from tending the flock.” Ezekiel 34/10
“Then 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. I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David shall be a ruler among them—I the Lord have spoken. And I will grant them a covenant of friendship.” Ezekiel 34/23-25
Malachi 3/3 says that “he shall purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver so that they shall present offerings in righteousness.” This would be those Rabbis who accept the words of the prophets of God as interpreted in this day of reasoning and information and are written into the scroll of remembrance and not as interpreted in the ancient age and middle ages. The era of redemption, restoration and exaltation versus the day of the Lord. [The”he” in verse 3/3 of Malachi should be “He”]
The Rambam and the Sages interpreted as a prophecy that Moshiach with a prophetic spirit would determine the lineage of the priests and Levites from a verse in the book of Ezra:
The governor said to them,: “[They shall not eat of the most holy things] until a priest arises [who will wear] the Urim and Tumim.” Ezra 2/63
This has nothing to do with genealogy of Levites today or purification and refining or a prophetic spirit on Moshiach. This is not a prophecy of a High Priest arising and it is not Moshiach but an answer to those that could not prove they were Levites when the verse is put into proper context:
“Of the sons of the priests, the sons of Habaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai who had married a daughter of Barzillai and had taken his name—these searched for their genealogical records, but they could not be found, so they were disqualified for the priesthood. The Tirshatha ordered them not to eat of the most holy things until a priest with Urim and Thummim should appear.” Ezra 2/61-63.
In the Hebrew Bible, the Urim and Thummim are elements of the breastplate worn by the High Priest attached to the ephod. They are connected with divination in general, and cleromancy in particular. Two objects used by the High Priest to answer a question or reveal the will of God. The ephod was made of fine linen, and consisted of two pieces, which hung from the neck, and covered both the back and front, above the tunic and outer garment Cleromancy is a form of sortition, casting of lots, in which an outcome is determined by means that normally would be considered random, such as the rolling of dice, but are sometimes believed to reveal the will of God.
Ezra is not a book of the Prophets. Tirshatha was not a prophet and did not speak the words of God. Few people believe in divination and cleromancy today. Matters and things of the Hebrew Bible written for an era gone by.
38.
The Sign of the Prophet
From the Rambam’s Jewish Practices & Rituals: The Laws of The Basic Principles Of The Torah, Chapter Ten 1: “we tell him to predict the future because he is a prophet, which he does, and we wait to see if what he says happens or not. Even if [it] was wrong in only a small matter, he is a false prophet, but if all of what he said comes true, then he is believed.”
From Chapter Ten 5: “If a prophet says about another prophet that he is [indeed] a prophet, then he is assumed to be a prophet, and the prophet who said it does not have to be cross-examined.”
The righteous servant of God of Isaiah 53 is a prophet who serves God with devotion to His purpose. He is the fulfillment of this prophecy of Isaiah by his description. He is not a prophet who predicts the future like a seer. He is a servant. Just like Moses and Joshua and like Elijah and Elisha.
From Chapter Ten 5: “Moses vouched for Joshua, and all of Israel believed in him before he performed a sign.”
Isaiah vouches for God’s righteous servant by describing him. The unnamed man who fulfills all the verses is a prophet of God and all of the people are to believe in him.
From Chapter Ten 5: “It is forbidden to doubt or debate the prophecy of a prophet who has been found to be right time and time again, or the prophecy of a prophet who has been vouched for by another prophet, and it is [also] forbidden to test him excessively or forever [for one who tests him is like one who tests God], for it is written, “Do not test the Lord your God as you tested Him in Massah,” when we said, “Is the Lord among us, or not?” Once it has become known that he is a prophet, they will believe and know that God is amongst them, and they will nor debate or doubt his words, in accordance with what is written, “…yet they shall know that there has been a prophet amongst them.”
God’s purpose with His righteous servant does not include the prophecy of future events. He is a teacher of righteousness in the day of the Lord as Elijah who reconciles families of the Jewish people one to the other together through Judaism; he writes the words of God at God’s command and direction as the prophet like Moses; and as the anointed one God calls My servant David he brings the covenant of friendship and will be involved with securing the Temple Mount for the third Temple.
39.
Jonah and the Righteous Servant of Isaiah 53
Jonah does not want to go to Nineveh and warn the people of God’s displeasure with them as he fears they will repent and God will not destroy them. Being an unwilling prophet (and believing the people of Nineveh to be beyond salvation), Jonah flees by ship to Tarshish.
God creates a storm knowing His prophet Jonah will be thrown overboard to his death and Jonah has a graphic account of dying. Now he is ready to do God’s bidding and goes to Nineveh as he was told to do. Jonah is so emotionally distressed knowing God will relent of his anger on Nineveh he desires to die. So God prepares another lesson for Jonah.
He comforts him with a shade plant so he is happy and loses his anger. Then God takes it away and brings wind and heat that physically make Jonah so miserable he desires to die again.
God will cause the circumstances and expose a prophet to death to get him to do as he is told or to offer himself for guilt as He does with His righteous servant of Isaiah 53. He will inflict emotional pain and physical pain so great the prophet will desire death.
The righteous servant of Isaiah 53 is stricken and crushed with disease and then is chastised, punished, maltreated, crushed and bruised in the power and words of God until he is suitable for God’s purpose and taught the scripture so that by his knowledge the many are made righteous.
40.
Job and the Righteous Servant of God
“The Lord said to the Adversary, “Have you noticed My servant Job? There is no one like him on earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and shuns evil. He still keeps his integrity; so you have incited Me against him to destroy him for no good reason.” The Adversary answered the Lord, “Skin for skin—all that a man has he will give up for his life. But lay a hand on his bones and his flesh, and he will surely blaspheme You to Your face.” Job 2/3-7
So the Lord said to the Adversary: “See, he is in your power; only spare his life.” The Adversary departed from the presence of the Lord and inflicted a severe inflammation on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
“But 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. Out of his anguish, he shall see it; He shall enjoy it to the full through his devotion.” Isaiah 53/10
In the book of Job God tests the devotion of a righteous man whom God knows will think that God owes him an explanation for his suffering by indirectly crushing him with disease. In the book of Isaiah God creates the devotion of a sinner by directly crushing him with disease and accepting the offering of his self and soul for guilt.
41.
The Man Clothed in Linen is Elijah
“Now the Presence of the God of Israel had moved from the cherub on which it had rested to the platform of the House. He called to the man clothed in linen with the writing case at his waist; and the Lord said to him, “Pass through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who moan and groan because of all the abominations that are committed in it.” Ezekiel 9/3-4
God’s Presence moving from resting on the cherub to the platform shows there is no duality between Him and the angel of His Presence. Later He moves from the cherubs showing there is no duality between Him and the angels of heaven. My Name is in all of them.
“And then the man clothed in linen with the writing case at his waist brought back word, saying, “I have done as You commanded me.” Ezekiel 9/11
This is forgiveness of sin of the righteous whom God has marked. In Malachi 3/16 God has a scroll of remembrance that has been written at His behest concerning those who revere the Lord and esteem His name in the day of the Lord.
Those who are forgiven of sin by God’s new covenant for a time to come that is with Elijah and the angel of the covenant who already revere and esteem Him and the many who come to revere and esteem Him by the teachings of Elijah. All are forgiven of sin but all are not in right standing with Him. Such as the Rabbis who are reckoned with and dismissed.
God declared: “I will put My Teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts..…” And all will heed me ”For I will forgive their iniquities, And remember their sins no more.” Jeremiah 31/33
It is the forgiveness of sin that puts the Teaching of God into the innermost being and is inscribed upon the hearts of those who revere and esteem His name. Those in the scroll of remembrance and those written into the scroll of remembrance reconciled to God and Judaism by Elijah.
Ezekiel said of a vision he had: “I looked, and on the expanse over the heads of the cherubs, there was something like a sapphire stone; an appearance resembling a throne could be seen over them. He spoke to the man clothed in linen and said, “Step inside the wheelwork, under the cherubs, and fill your hands with glowing coals from among the cherubs, and scatter them over the city.” And he went in as I looked on. Now the cherubs were standing on the south side of the House when the man entered, and the cloud filled the inner court. But when the Presence of the Lord moved from the cherubs to the platform of the House, the House was filled with the cloud, and the court was filled with the radiance of the Presence of the Lord. The sound of the cherubs’ wings could be heard as far as the outer court, like the voice of El Shaddai when He speaks. When He commanded the man dressed in linen: “Take fire from among the cherubs within the wheelwork,” he went in and stood beside a wheel. And a cherub stretched out his hand among the cherubs to the fire that was among the cherubs; he took some and put it into the hands of him who was clothed in linen, who took it and went out. The cherubs appeared to have the form of a man’s hand under their wings.” Ezekiel 10/1-8
This is for the purging of sin for the suffering of the people Israel. As Isaiah said of a vision he had: “Then one of the seraphs flew over to me with a live coal, which he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7He touched it to my lips and declared, “Now that this has touched your lips, Your guilt shall depart And your sin be purged away.” Isaiah 6/6-7
This is the new covenant with sin forgiveness that comes with Elijah and the angel of the covenant. The man dressed in linen (a priest) represents Elijah and the spirit within the wheels with the cherubs is the Holy spirit (the angel of God’s Presence).
The wheelwork and cherubs with the fire and coals are first seen in chapter one of Ezekiel going to and fro in all directions throughout the land gathering eyes which are the spirits of the Jewish people and in chapter ten they are delivered to God in heaven.
42.
Moses and the Angel
Moses tells the Israelite’s that God is here in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may be ever with you. God had Moses set a rule before the Israelite’s regarding the angel He sent to guard them on the way and to bring them to the place that He had made ready:
“I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have made ready. Pay heed to him and obey him. Do not defy him, for he will not pardon your offenses, since My Name [God] is in him; but if you obey him and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.” Exodus 23/ 20-22
God had Moses set a rule before the Israelite’s regarding the angel He sent to guard them on the way and to bring them to the place that He had made ready: “Pay heed to him and obey him. Do not defy him, for he will not pardon your offenses, since My Name [God] is in him.” There are no orders, instructions, rules or commandments between an angel and Moses or the Israelite’s.
They all come from Moses who receives them from God. This “angel” is in Moses. Moses is a man with divine beings who is a messenger of God’s laws. The divine beings are God and the angel of His Presence. A man with divine beings is a host of the Lord’s host. The descendant of King David that the spirit of God alights upon is a host of the Lord’s host. One God, one angel and one man. The prophets of God.
Elijah is also a man and divine beings who is a messenger of the new covenant with sin forgiveness and a teacher of righteousness. Unlike the prophets of the Hebrew Bible he does not have to preach repentance for all are forgiven and he teaches that the new covenant is an amendment and renewal of the first covenant from strict adherence by all of the Jewish people to being mindful of the Teachings of God by those who heed and fear him. This makes his task of reconciling the families one to the other with Judaism more likely to prosper.
43.
Moses and Joshua the Attendant
Joshua, the attendant was named Hosea in the Exodus: “From the tribe of Ephraim, Hosea son of Nun.” Numbers 13/8
And his name was changed to Joshua by Moses: “Those were the names of the men whom Moses sent to scout the land, but Moses changed the name of Hosea son of Nun to Joshua.” Numbers 13/16
On the first ascent of Moses to the Mountain for forty days and nights and return with the Ten Commandments his attendant Joshua was with him. After Moses descended and would enter the Tent of Meeting the Lord would speak to Moses face to face as one man speaks to another. And he would then return to the camp; but his attendant, Joshua son of Nun, a youth, would not stir out of the Tent. Joshua’s name was Hosea at this time.
Joshua did not leave the Tent of Meeting where Moses would speak to God face to face and at this time the face of Moses was not seen as radiant. When Moses ascends the Mountain the second time for forty days and nights and returns with the Ten Commandments the skin of his face is radiant and thereafter when he enters and exits the Tent of Meeting the skin of his face is radiant.
And Hosea is not mentioned again on the Mountain or in the Tent. Joshua the attendant (who is Hosea the attendant) represents the person of the spirit of the Holy God who has alighted upon and dwells within (and without) Moses of the radiant face. Moses had become a host of the Lord’s hosts. A man with divine beings.
44.
Moses and the Seventy Elders
God tells Moses: “I will draw upon the spirit that is on you and put it upon them; they shall share the burden of the people with you, and you shall not bear it alone.” Numbers 11/17
And then God “drew upon the spirit that was on him and put it upon the seventy elders. And when the spirit rested upon them, they spoke in ecstasy, but did not continue.” Numbers 11/25
And Moses said of the two elders who were acting the prophet in the camp speaking in ecstasy as the spirit rested on them: “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord put His spirit upon them!” Numbers 11/25
The spirit that was drawn from Moses and put upon the seventy elders is not the spirit that was born in Moses and was Moses. The same spirit that is in all men. What was drawn from Moses was the spirit of God and the spirit of God is a person. The first person created by God. The seventy elders had become hosts of the Lord’s hosts with the purpose of God that they share the burden of the people with Moses.
When each heard the angelic voice of the spirit of God speak to them (within them or without them) they became very excited and were saying all kinds of different things depending on what the person of the spirit of God was saying to them. The important part for Moses is that each of the seventy would now in one accord have the idea and thought that they would share the burden of the people with Moses. There is no account of God commanding the seventy elders to share the burden of the people with Moses. The spirit of God told them to.
45.
The Word of the Lord and Elijah
From 1 Kings 19/8-16 summarized: Elijah “walked forty days and forty nights as far as the mountain of God at Horeb. There he went into a cave, and there he spent the night. Then the word of the Lord came to him. He said to him, ‘Why are you here, Elijah?” Elijah answers and the word of the Lord calls “Come out,” …”and stand on the mountain before the Lord”.
The Lord passed by, and His power is revealed in a great destructive wind, an earthquake, and fire, but the Lord is not in them, and then a soft murmuring sound (fn. “a still, small voice.”). Elijah heard this, wrapped his mantle about his face and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave where a voice addressed him (which is the Lord):
“Why are you here, Elijah?” Elijah answers and the Lord instructs him to go to Damascus and anoint Hazael as King of Aram, Jehu as King of Israel, and Elisha as the prophet to succeed him.
The “word of the Lord” came to and is with Elijah at the cave and says “Why are you here, Elijah?” and “come out” and “stand on the Mountain before the Lord”. The Lord passed by, his power is revealed (earth, wind, and fire) without His Presence (He is not in them), and the Lord says “Why are you here, Elijah?” The “word of the Lord” is at the cave with Elijah and speaks the same words that God speaks to Elijah away from the cave after He passed by and revealed His power at the cave (but He was not at the cave).
The soft murmuring sound (fn. “a still, small voice.”) would be the same words from God that the “word of the Lord” had spoken based on one question having already been asked twice before (Why are you here, Elijah?) which was come out and stand on the Mountain before the Lord. And for the reason that is what Elijah did after hearing the still, small voice. Elijah ignored the “word of the Lord” and was unmoved by God’s power. But a whisper from God Himself had the desired result of Elijah going to the front of the cave.
Elijah gives the same answer to the “word of the Lord” as he gives to the Lord: “I am moved by zeal for the Lord, the God of Hosts, for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down Your altars, and put Your prophets to the sword. I alone am left, and they are out to take my life”.
The person of the spirit of the Holy God speaks the words of the Lord to man as one person to another person and is the “word of the Lord” throughout the Hebrew Bible. The person of the spirit of the Holy God is an angelic messenger of the Lord’s words. He is the angel of His Presence and the Holy Spirit. An angel whose angelic body is the spirit of God.
God can speak to man at any time and from anyplace that He desires. He fills the universe like a great consciousness and His Presence does not have to be before a man or in the angel of His Presence to be heard. He is absolute power and absolute Knowledge. He is only spirit when He is in the Holy Spirit. God created spirit and souls which together form persons. Persons of spirit, persons of angels and persons of humans.
46.
Psalms 2 and the Day of the Lord
(A commentary for today. The day of the Lord)
1Why do nations assemble, and peoples plot vain things;
Why do nations assemble: Antisemitism and hatred of the Jewish people.
and peoples plot vain things: Throughout the world and particularly the middle east there are plans and schemes to destroy Israel and the Jewish people.
2kings of the earth take their stand, and regents intrigue together against the Lord and against His anointed?
kings of the earth: The world leaders and heads of nations, leaders of states and government organizations and leaders of religious foundations and organizations including Churches and Synagogues and leaders of groups of people in general and those that promote antisemitism.
against the Lord and against His anointed?: The God of Israel and God’s righteous servant.
3“Let us break the cords of their yoke, shake off their ropes from us!”
Let us break the cords of their yoke: Kings who take their stand and regents who intrigue together do not bind the Lord and His righteous servant.
4He who is enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord mocks at them.
5Then He speaks to them in anger, terrifying them in His rage,
Then He speaks to them in anger: The Lord speaks through His scripture and His righteous servant.
6“But I have installed My king on Zion, My holy mountain!”
But I have installed My king on Zion: This verse is originally for King David. Today it is prophetic for His righteous servant who is to clear the way for the Lord to return to His Temple which must be rebuilt first. When the Temple is built God will return to it suddenly and His righteous servant will be installed in an abode to be honored (Isaiah 11/10) in Jerusalem.
7Let me tell of the decree: the Lord said to me, “You are My son, I have fathered you this day.
You are My son: Israel was God’s first son and then David and then Solomon. Son of God is a term of endearment and signifies a close relationship with God. This verse was originally for King David. Today, it is for God’s righteous servant.
8Ask it of Me, and I will make the nations your domain; your estate, the limits of the earth.
your estate, the limits of the earth: God’s righteous servant is described in Isaiah 53 which provides in verse 12 “Assuredly, I will give him the many as his portion, He shall receive the multitude as his spoil.” The many and the multitude will cover the earth.
9You can smash them with an iron mace, shatter them like potter’s ware.”
smash them with an iron mace: “them” in the days of King David were all of the enemies of God that he defeated with the sword, mace, rod and arrow. For today “them” are the world leaders and heads of nations, leaders of states and government organizations and leaders of religious foundations and organizations including Churches and Synagogues and leaders of groups of people in general and those that promote antisemitism. Isaiah 11/4 says that God’s anointed “shall strike down a land with the rod of his mouth And slay the wicked with the breath of his lips.” It will be with the Hebrew Bible and the words God has His anointed speak and write.
10So now, O kings, be prudent; accept discipline, you rulers of the earth!
11Serve the Lord in awe; tremble with fright,
12 pay homage in good faith, lest He be angered, and your way be doomed in the mere flash of His anger. Happy are all who take refuge in Him.
47.
David Shunned and Despised (Psalm 69)
God’s righteous servant was despised and shunned by men but ends up making the many righteous and receiving as his portion the many, and the multitude as his spoil. Psalm 69 reveals that like God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 King David was shunned and despised before he became King after his anointment by Samuel.
“Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the boys you have?” He replied, “There is still the youngest; he is tending the flock.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send someone to bring him, for we will not sit down to eat until he gets here.” So they sent and brought him. He was ruddy-cheeked, bright-eyed, and handsome. And the Lord said, “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.” Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord gripped David from that day on. Samuel then set out for Ramah.” 1 Samuel 16/11
Psalm 69; selected verses with commentary of the anointed one David upon whom the spirit of the Lord had alighted upon (the anointment) making him a man and divine beings, a host of the Lord’s host.
1For the leader. On shoshannim. Of David.
shoshannim: “To the chief musician upon Shoshannim” is a musical direction to the leader of the temple choir and most probably indicates the melody “after” or “in the manner of” (Authorized Version upon”) which the psalms were to be sung. As the words now stand they signify “lilies, a testimony,”. Smith’s Bible Dictionary
2Deliver me, O God, for the waters have reached my neck;
3I am sinking into the slimy deep and find no foothold; I have come into the watery depths; the flood sweeps me away.
4I am weary with calling; my throat is dry; my eyes fail while I wait for God.
5More numerous than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without reason; many are those who would destroy me, my treacherous enemies. Must I restore what I have not stolen?
those who hate me without reason: David was God’s anointed of Jesse to be King of the Israelites but to others he was David the lowly shepherd who “was said to be” God’s anointed King.
Must I restore what I have not stolen?: Must David deny the anointment that was freely given to him by God?
6God, You know my folly; my guilty deeds are not hidden from You.
my guilty deeds: Like God’s righteous servant David is a sinner.
7Let those who look to You, O Lord, God of hosts, not be disappointed on my account; let those who seek You, O God of Israel, not be shamed because of me.
8It is for Your sake that I have been reviled, that shame covers my face;
9I am a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my kin.
In Psalm 110/7 David says “Indeed I was born with iniquity; with sin my mother conceived me.” In the days of David men had many wives and many concubines as is well known with his son Solomon. The iniquity came from his father Jesse fathering a child with a woman outside of the tribes.
David’s brothers were present at his anointment and passed over for the one born in iniquity. They witnessed the anointment but could only hear he word’s of Samuel. They could not hear God tell Samuel “Rise and anoint him, for this is the one.” David became a stranger and an alien to his brothers and kin as one born in iniquity and as one said to be the anointed of God. If his brothers and kin believed he was the anointed of God to be King they would have embraced him.
10My zeal for Your house has been my undoing; the reproaches of those who revile You have fallen upon me.
11When I wept and fasted, I was reviled for it.
When I wept and fasted, I was reviled for it: When David cried and went without food in his shame and his brothers and enemies assailed him with scornful and abusive language.
12I made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword among them.
13Those who sit in the gate talk about me; I am the taunt of drunkards.
14As for me, may my prayer come to You, O Lord, at a favorable moment; O God, in Your abundant faithfulness, answer me with Your sure deliverance.
15Rescue me from the mire; let me not sink; let me be rescued from my enemies, and from the watery depths.
16Let the floodwaters not sweep me away; let the deep not swallow me; let the mouth of the Pit not close over me.
let the mouth of the Pit not close over me: David is a lowly shepherd who was born in sin and is admittedly a sinner. God has anointed David to be King of all Israel according to Samuel and David feels as though he is living in a pit of shame and despair.
17Answer me, O Lord, according to Your great steadfastness; in accordance with Your abundant mercy turn to me;
18do not hide Your face from Your servant, for I am in distress; answer me quickly.
19Come near to me and redeem me; free me from my enemies.
20You know my reproach, my shame, my disgrace; You are aware of all my foes.
You are aware of all my foes: God as absolute knowledge of all things and all people He chooses to follow closely. That would include all naysayers and haters and enemies of His anointed one David.
21Reproach breaks my heart, I am in despair; I hope for consolation, but there is none, for comforters, but find none.
but find none: No one believes David is the anointed of God to be King of Israel.
22They give me gall for food, vinegar to quench my thirst.
23May their table be a trap for them, a snare for their allies.
May their table be a trap for them, a snare for their allies: May the haters and naysayers and enemies and those who shun David and shame him, and all those who believe in their talk and words and opinions about David, which is the “table” they have set for themselves against God’s anointed one be their undoing before God and when David is King.
24May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see; may their loins collapse continually.
25Pour out Your wrath on them; may Your blazing anger overtake them;
26may their encampments be desolate; may their tents stand empty.
27For they persecute those You have struck; they talk about the pain of those You have felled.
For they persecute those You have struck: They, the haters and naysayers and enemies and those who shun David and shame him and all those who believe in their talk and words and opinions about David persecute him for being the anointed of God. Most, if not all do not believe God spoke to Samuel in his anointment of David. David feels as though God’s anointment of him has been a physical blow to his life and feelings. “Those” would include others that had been anointed or selected by God as his prophets whose words are rarely believed and heeded as the words of God and go through the same ordeal as David.
they talk about the pain of those You have felled: “Those” would be men who failed or died in the name of the Lord.
28Add that to their guilt; let them have no share of Your beneficence;
29may they be erased from the book of life, and not be inscribed with the righteous.
be erased from the book of life, and not be inscribed with the righteous:
A heavenly book in which the names of the righteous are inscribed. The erasure of a sinner’s name from such a register is equivalent to death. According to the Talmud it is open on Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah itself is also known as the Day of Judgment, on which God opens the Books of Life and Death, which are then sealed on Yom Kippur. The two days of Rosh Hashanah usher in the Ten Days of Repentance, also known as the Days of Awe, which culminate in the major fast day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
The scroll of remembrance in Malachi 3/16 is not the book of life. “In this vein have those who revere the Lord been talking to one another. The Lord has heard and noted it, and a scroll of remembrance has been written at His behest concerning those who revere the Lord and esteem His name. And on the day that I am preparing, said the Lord of Hosts, they shall be My treasured possession; I will be tender toward them as a man is tender toward a son who ministers to him. And you shall come to see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between him who has served the Lord and him who has not served Him. For lo! That day is at hand, burning like an oven.”
The scroll of remembrance is about a special place in the heart of God for those who revere the Lord and esteem His name on the day of the Lord that He is preparing. Not a specific day but the days of His righteous servant who God sends before him with the angel of the new covenant to clear the way for His return. To make the many righteous who believe in him and listen to and heed him as the representation of God who speaks and writes God’s words, as Moses did. God must have followers of His righteous servant for the day of the Lord. No man alone can clear the way for the Lord.
30But I am lowly and in pain; Your help, O God, keeps me safe.
31I will extol God’s name with song, and exalt Him with praise.
32That will please the Lord more than oxen, than bulls with horns and hooves.
33The lowly will see and rejoice; you who are mindful of God, take heart!
34For the Lord listens to the needy, and does not spurn His captives.
35Heaven and earth shall extol Him, the seas, and all that moves in them.
36For God will deliver Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; they shall live there and inherit it;
37the offspring of His servants shall possess it; those who cherish His name shall dwell there.
48.
The Twelve Tribes of Israel Returned to Judah
l.
“Fear not, for I am with you: I will bring your folk from the East, Will gather you out of the West; I will say to the North, “Give back!” And to the South, “Do not withhold! Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the end of the earth—” Isaiah 43/5-6
“But now thus said the Lord—Who created you, O Jacob, Who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I will redeem you; I have singled you out by name, You are Mine.” Isaiah 43/1
“Thus said the Lord, Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake, I send to Babylon; I will bring down all [her] bars, And the Chaldeans shall raise their voice in lamentation. I am your Holy One, the Lord, Your King, the Creator of Israel.” Isaiah 43/14-15
“I am about to do something new; Even now it shall come to pass, Suddenly you shall perceive it: I will make a road through the wilderness And rivers in the desert.” Isaiah 43/19
“It is I, I who—for My own sake—Wipe your transgressions away And remember your sins no more.” Isaiah 43/25
“So the God of Israel roused the spirit of King Pul of Assyria—the spirit of King Tillegath-pilneser of Assyria—and he carried them away, namely, the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan, to this day.” 1Chronicles 5/26
“In the days of King Pecah of Israel, King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth- maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor—Gilead, Galilee, the entire region of Naphtali, and deported all the inhabitants to Assyria.” 2Kings 15/29
“In the ninth year of Hoshea, the King of Assyria captured Samaria. He deported the Israelites to Assyria and settled them in Halah, at the [River] Habor, at the River Gozen, and in the towns of Media.” 2Kings 17/6
“The king of Assyria brought [people] from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and he settled them in the towns of Samaria in place of the Israelites; they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its towns.” 2Kings 17/24-35
“The king of Babylon had them struck down and put to death at Riblah, in the region of Hamath. Thus Judah was exiled from its land.” 2 Kings 25/1
“Thus said King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord God of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and has charged me with building Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Anyone of you of all His people, the Lord his God be with him and let him go up.” 2Chronicles 36/2
“The first to settle in their towns, on their property, were Israelites, priests, Levites, and temple servants, while some of the Judahites and some of the Benjaminites and some of the Ephraimites and Manassehites settled in Jerusalem;” 1 Chronicles Chapter 9/2-3
ll.
From the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the following verses were written by men who were eyewitnesses of the return of all the tribes of Israel under the declaration of Cyrus of Persia whom God anointed to clear the way for them to build the second Temple. They testify that all twelve tribes (and the tribe of the Levites) returned to the lands of Judah and the lands of Benjamin. The lands of the Kingdom of Samaria (the northern Kingdom sometimes called Ephraim and sometimes called Israel) were inhabited by imported gentiles:
“When the seventh month arrived—the Israelites being settled in their towns—the entire people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.” Ezra 3/1
“The priests, the Levites and some of the people, and the singers, gatekeepers, and the temple servants took up residence in their towns and all Israel in their towns.” Ezra 2/70
“And in the time of Zerubbabel, and in the time of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions of the singers and the gatekeepers, and made sacred contributions for the Levites, and the Levites made sacred contributions for the Aaronites.” Nehemiah 12/47
“…and I weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the vessels, the contribution to the House of our God which the king, his counselors and officers, and all Israel who were present had made.” Ezra 8/25
“Guard them diligently until such time as you weigh them out in the presence of the officers of the priests and the Levites and the officers of the clans of Israel in Jerusalem in the chambers of the House of the Lord.” Ezra 8/29
“When this was over, the officers approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the land whose abhorrent practices are like those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.” Ezra 9/1
“So Ezra at once put the officers of the priests and the Levites and all Israel under oath to act accordingly, and they took the oath.” Ezra 10/5
“Let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open to receive the prayer of Your servant that I am praying to You now, day and night, on behalf of the Israelites, Your servants, confessing the sins that we Israelites have committed against You, sins that I and my father’s house have committed.” Nehemiah 1/6
“When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard, it displeased them greatly that someone had come, intent on improving the condition of the Israelites.” Nehemiah 2/10
“The whole community that returned from the captivity made booths and dwelt in the booths—the Israelites had not done so from the days of Joshua son of Nun to that day—and there was very great rejoicing.” Nehemiah 8/17
“On the twenty-fourth day of this month, the Israelites assembled, fasting, in sackcloth, and with earth upon them. Those of the stock of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.” Nehemiah 9/1-2
“These are the heads of the province who lived in Jerusalem—in the countryside of Judah, the people lived in their towns, each on his own property, Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants, and the sons of Solomon’s servants, while in Jerusalem some of the Judahites and some of the Benjaminites lived:” Nehemiah 11/3-4
lll.
The tribes of Reuben, Gad and the ½ tribe of Manasseh, and the northern Kingdom of Samaria were deported north-west of Babylon (Iraq) and to the towns of Media (Iran) and the Kingdom of Judah was deported to Babylon (Iraq). Jerusalem is within the lands of Benjamin which lands are considered part of the Kingdom of Judah since that is where the Kings of Judah ruled from. That is why there is an emphasis on the Judahites and Benjaminites in the accounts of the return of the twelve tribes of Israel to the lands of Judah and Benjamin.
The northern Kingdom of Israel was inhabited by imported gentiles. All of Israel had returned together to Jerusalem and Judah mindful of all the imported gentiles in the Kingdom of Israel, many of whom tried to stop the building of the second Temple.
When the seventh month arrived—the Israelites being settled in their towns—the entire people assembled as one man in Jerusalem. When the people Israel gather as one man it is all twelve tribes and the Levites (the priestly tribe without an allotment of the promised lands). Judahites and Benjaminites alone are not Israel though all references to Israelites would include them.
The first to settle in their towns, on their property, were Israelites, priests, Levites, and temple servants, while some of the Judahites and some of the Benjaminites and some of the Ephraimites and Manassehites settled in Jerusalem. Ephraim and Manasseh were not lost tribes as many believe from writings outside of the Hebrew Bible.
It is said in writings by Sages and Rabbis that ten of the twelve tribes of Israel became lost and did not return to Judah to build the second Temple. There never were lost tribes according to the Hebrew Bible. If there were lost tribes then Isaiah wrote a prophecy of God that was false and was not fulfilled.
“Fear not, for I am with you: I will bring your folk from the East, Will gather you out of the West; I will say to the North, “Give back!” And to the South, “Do not withhold! Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the end of the earth.” Isaiah 43/5-6
Isaiah’s prophesy is to all Assyrian/Babylonian exiles returning by the words of God. The return of the exiles to the land of Israel given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by covenant and partitioned among the twelve tribes of Israel by Moses and Joshua is not just the Babylon exiles of Judah and Benjamin. It includes all the tribes that were defeated, deported and exiled by the Assyrians before them.
The Babylon exiles were the last to be deported to the vast lands of Babylonia which was once Assyria where all the exiles were and by this time scattered far and wide throughout Babylonia along many different rivers. The “Babylon exiles” are all thirteen tribes in Assyria/ Babylonia.
49.
The Final Prophet of God
“When Muhammad was 40 years old, he was commanded by God, through His angel, Gabriel, to declare His Oneness to the idolaters and polytheists of the whole world, and to deliver the message of peace to an embattled humanity. In response to this command of Heaven, Muhammad launched the momentous program called Islam which was to change the destiny of mankind forever.
He was in Hira when one day the Archangel Gabriel appeared before him, and brought to him the tidings that God had chosen him to be His Last Messenger to this world, and had imposed upon him the duty of leading mankind out of the welter of sin, error and ignorance into the light of Guidance, Truth and Knowledge.
According to the accounts of the Shia Muslims, Muhammad Mustafa, far from being surprised or frightened by the appearance of Gabriel, welcomed him as if he had been expecting him. Gabriel brought the tidings that Allah had chosen him to be His Last Messenger to Mankind, and congratulated him on being selected to become the recipient of the greatest of all honors for a mortal in this world.” From Al-Islam: The Birth of Islam and the Proclamation by Muhammad of his Mission
“Muslims believe that the Quran was orally revealed by God to the final Prophet, Muhammad, through the archangel Gabriel (Jibril), incrementally over a period of some 23 years, beginning on 22 December 609 CE, when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632, the year of his death. Muslims regard the Quran as Muhammad’s most important miracle, a proof of his prophethood, and the culmination of a series of divine messages starting with those revealed to Adam and ending with Muhammad.
According to tradition, several of Muhammad’s companions served as scribes and recorded the revelations. Shortly after his death, the Quran was compiled by the companions, who had written down or memorized parts of it.” From Wikipedia: Quran
In the writing by Al-Islam it is said that Mohammad “was in Hira when one day the Archangel Gabriel appeared before him, and brought to him the tidings that God had chosen him to be His Last Messenger to this world,”. God chose His last messenger long before the time of Mohammad in Malachi 3. Elijah, to arrive in a time to come and that time is here to deliver the new covenant to the Jewish people and reconcile the families one to the other through Judaism.
With Elijah comes God’s servant David and the prophet like Moses. They are all one man and that man is God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53. God’s righteous servant is the final prophet of God. Not Mohammad.
50.
The Day of the Lord
The term “day of the Lord” appears in the books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah and finally in the last book of the Prophets, Malachi. In Ezekiel and Zechariah the day of the Lord is said to be only against the nations and in Obadiah against Edom and Esau (Christianity) and the nations. The prophets warn that the Day of the Lord is near, but it is not the end of the world. The wicked and sinners will be punished and justice established. The destiny of the world will be changed. God returns to the earth to dwell among His people in His sanctuary on His Holy Mount Zion in Jerusalem and the world will know that He sanctifies Israel.
“Lo! The day of the Lord is coming With pitiless fury and wrath, To make the earth a desolation, To wipe out the sinners upon it.” Isaiah 13/9
“For a day is near; A day of the Lord is near. It will be a day of cloud, An hour of [invading] nations. A sword shall pierce Egypt, And Nubia shall be seized with trembling, When men fall slain in Egypt And her wealth is seized And her foundations are overthrown. Nubia, Put, and Lud, and all the mixed populations, and Cub, and the inhabitants of the allied countries shall fall by the sword with them.” Ezekiel 30/3-5
“Yet even now”—says the Lord—“Turn back to Me with all your hearts, And with fasting, weeping, and lamenting.” Rend your hearts Rather than your garments, And turn back to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in kindness, And renouncing punishment.” Joel 2/12-13
“But everyone who invokes the name of the Lord shall escape; for there shall be a remnant on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, as the Lord promised. Anyone who invokes the Lord will be among the survivors.” Joel 3/5
“For I have noted how many are your crimes, And how countless your sins—You enemies of the righteous, You takers of bribes, You who subvert in the gate The cause of the needy! Assuredly, At such a time the prudent man keeps silent, For it is an evil time. Seek good and not evil, That you may live, And that the Lord, the God of Hosts, May truly be with you, As you think. Hate evil and love good, And establish justice in the gate; Perhaps the Lord, the God of Hosts, Will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” Amos 5/12-15
“Thus said my Lord God concerning Edom [Christianity]: I will make you least among nations, You shall be most despised. Your arrogant heart has seduced you, You who dwell in clefts of the rock, In your lofty abode. You think in your heart, “Who can pull me down to earth?” Should you nest as high as the eagle, Should your eyrie be lodged ’mong the stars, Even from there I will pull you down—declares the Lord.” Obadiah 1/1-4
“And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.” Zephaniah 1/14-18
“As for those peoples that warred against Jerusalem, the Lord will smite them with this plague: Their flesh shall rot away while they stand on their feet; their eyes shall rot away in their sockets; and their tongues shall rot away in their mouths. In that day, a great panic from the Lord shall fall upon them, and everyone shall snatch at the hand of another, and everyone shall raise his hand against everyone else’s hand. Judah shall join the fighting in Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the nations roundabout—vast quantities of gold, silver, and clothing—shall be gathered in. The same plague shall strike the horses, the mules, the camels, and the asses; the plague shall affect all the animals in those camps.” All who survive of all those nations that came up against Jerusalem shall make a pilgrimage year by year to bow low to the King Lord of Hosts and to observe the Feast of Booths. Any of the earth’s communities that does not make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem to bow low to the King Lord of Hosts shall receive no rain.” Zechariah 14/12-17
Malachi 3 brings a new concept to the day of the Lord. It is God’s final word on the day that He is preparing where a scroll of remembrance will be written at His behest concerning those who revere the Lord and esteem His name. He does not address the nations but only Israel and it’s people.
“Behold, I am sending My messenger to clear the way before Me, and the Lord whom you seek shall come to His Temple suddenly. As for the angel of the covenant that you desire, he is already coming.” Malachai 3/1
The angel of His Presence brings the new covenant of Jeremiah 31. A covenant where God declares that the iniquities of the Jewish people are forgiven and He remembers their sins no more and in return all of the Jewish people will heed Him. He will be their God and they shall be His people.
God recognizes that the forgiveness of iniquities and sin of the Jewish people will not cause all to heed Him. That is why He will be preparing a scroll of remembrance in the day of the Lord for those that revere and esteem His name. Many will ignore the new covenant. But many will come to righteousness through the efforts of God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous. All are forgiven of iniquities and sin so the scroll would be for entry to heaven.
“For lo! That day is at hand, burning like an oven. All the arrogant and all the doers of evil shall be straw, and the day that is coming—said the Lord of Hosts—shall burn them to ashes and leave of them neither stock nor boughs. But for you who revere My name a sun of victory shall rise to bring healing. You shall go forth and stamp like stall-fed calves, and you shall trample the wicked to a pulp, for they shall be dust beneath your feet on the day that I am preparing—said the Lord of Hosts.” Malachai 3/19-21
All the arrogant and all the doers of evil are sin free in the remembrance of God but the day that is coming shall metaphorically burn them to ashes. They will not be in the scroll of remembrance. They will not see heaven with those that revere and esteem His name and heed Him. This would include the shepherds God has a reckoning with and dismisses when His servant David comes. They are not in right standing with God. You must be sin free and thereafter return to the practice of Judaism observing Yom Kippur with restitution and repentance for future sins. And you must be in right standing with God.
In Christianity believing in Jesus and accepting him as one’s Lord and savior brings sin forgiveness and entry to heaven when he returns. Even if you have committed murder and other crimes against humanity and God. This is not true in Judaism. You have to be a good person who seeks righteousness and right standing with God, revere and esteem His name, and heed Him. This includes being mindful and observant of His covenants.
“Be mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses, whom I charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel. Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the Lord. He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction. Lo, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of the Lord.” Malachi 3/22-24
God knew in modern times of secularism and reliance on science, medicine, and technology that His righteous servant might not be recognized, believed or heeded. The utter destruction is simply on its way just like with the Assyrians, Babylonians, and Romans long ago. Today that may be Islam. God’s is His creation and it is His creation that brings utter destruction. Not Him in His Power. Unless His righteous servant reconciles parents with their children and children with their parents by all being mindful of the Teaching of His servant Moses, whom He charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel. This reconciliation comes through the entire family returning to the observant practice of Judaism which makes the many righteous and heals conflict in Jewish families.
Taking all of these verses of Malachi 3 together, including God returning to His Temple which must be rebuilt with His messenger clearing the way before Him; a new covenant where God forgives the iniquities of the Jewish people and remembers their sins no more; the preparing of a scroll of remembrance for those that revere and esteem His name and heed Him and entry to heaven; and being mindful of His Teachings and laws as observant Jews rather than strict compliance, the concept of the day of the Lord by all previous prophets is changed. The utter destruction prophesied save for a surviving remnant is alleviated.
There is no mention of the destruction of the nations. It is implied there will be destruction in the land of Israel though not necessarily utter destruction. To build the third Temple there will be war in the middle east causing destruction in Israel and the loss of life among the Jewish people. But it is the building of the third Temple that prevents utter destruction by the nations against Israel.
Defeating the enemies of the nations that come against Israel and the sanctification of Israel as a land and people blessed by God with His Presence in His sanctuary is how utter destruction is avoided in the awesome, fearful day of the Lord. A day that is not one day but the days of the life of His righteous servant who might have long life, and through him the Lord’s purpose might prosper, when God is once again communicating with His people as He did with Moses, who was His virtual representation and spokesperson. A day that establishes and makes certain that the Jewish people will never be defeated and uprooted again from the lands of Abraham as provided in Jeremiah 31.
God’s righteous servant as the messenger Elijah clears the way for God to return to His Temple by making the many righteous. He must be believed and He must be heeded. He speaks the words of God as Moses did and will be invaluable as God’s servant David in times of war. In the beginning he is shunned, despised and held of no account and the witnesses ask “Who can believe what we have heard?”
The Lord’s way is cleared only if His righteous servant is embraced by the people of Israel. Observant and secular alike. Accepted as the shepherd David, a leader to tend the flock and be a ruler among them. Not as a king with a kingdom. He is made suitable for God’s purpose which might prosper in the same manner Ezekiel was to be a prophet. Through a fire of refinement in the hand of God, by the Lord’s words and power of chastisement, maltreatment, punishment, crushing and bruising.
“Then 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. I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David shall be a ruler among them—I the Lord have spoken. And I will grant them a covenant of friendship.” Ezekiel 34/23-25.
The day of the Lord is the last prophecy of God. In that day all remaining prophecy of God in the Hebrew Bible is fulfilled. The sending of the prophet like Moses, the descendant of King David, and Elijah with the delivery of the new covenant and the covenant of friendship are all fulfilled in one man God calls “My righteous servant”. One God (of Israel), one angel (of His Presence) and one man (His righteous servant). A man and divine beings. A host of the Lord’s host who is God’s virtual representation, His spokesperson, and a man He has absolute and total control of from his mind, emotions, and body to his every act and words. Just as He did Ezekiel.
ADDENDUM
(Chapter Summaries)
INTRODUCTION
Each of these men would be righteous servants of God as was King David, Moses and Elijah in the Hebrew Bible. The descendant of King David will not be the same man as he was and the prophet like Moses will not be the same man as Moses was. The return of Elijah is not the return of the Elijah taken to heaven by the chariots of God. Each will be a man with a different appearance and personality than that of King David, Moses and Elijah who will have the attributes and capabilities of those men. There is no description of the anointed one God calls My servant David, of Elijah the messenger and reconciler of families, or of the prophet like Moses. There is only Isaiah 53 describing God’s righteous servant who might be given long life and makes the many righteous.
1.
The Leper Scholar
The Sages did not believe Isaiah 53 described the Jewish people. They believed a single man was described and he was the anointed one. The Babylon Talmud called him the Leper Scholar: “The Messiah –what is his name? …The Rabbis say, The Leper Scholar, as it is said, `surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him a leper, smitten of God and afflicted…” (Sanhedrin 98b). This is a commentary on Isaiah 53/4: “Yet it was our sickness that he was bearing, Our suffering that he endured. We accounted him plagued, Smitten and afflicted by God;”. The belief that Isaiah 53 describes the Jewish people means there is no description of a man God calls His righteous servant who is the anointed one David, Elijah and the prophet like Moses.
2.
The Ancestral Tree
“But a shoot shall grow out of the stump of Jesse, A twig shall sprout from his stock. The spirit of the Lord shall alight upon him: A spirit of wisdom and insight, A spirit of counsel and valor, A spirit of devotion and reverence for the Lord.” Isaiah 11/1-2
Isaiah prophetically refers to the “stump” of Jesse (father of King David) as an announcement of the ending of the line of the Kings of Judah whose last King (Jeconiah) was banished and the line terminated from ever ruling over Judah again. The line of the Kings of Judah an ancestral tree of David. The tree felled leaving only a stump. It is the line of heirs in the first chapter of the book of Matthew of the Holy Bible. The line of Jesus. God knew in Isaiah’s time that the line of the Kings of Judah would be taken into exile and His Temple destroyed. That He would end that line leaving just a stump of Jesse for His anointed one to be raised from. Jesus could not fulfill the book of Isaiah for the reason his line of David is not from the stump of Jesse. The line of Jesus is from the felled ancestral tree. A tree cut down.
3.
The Creation of the Angel of His Presence
God created the person of His spirit. Taking an image of God on a throne imagine in His hand He holds a soul. A pure soul that looks like a ball of white energy. God takes this soul before His face and creates with His mind and then wills it to be the characteristics and traits of the person the soul will be when blended with God’s spirit. God speaks the words “I am”. But God does not use His voice. He becomes the person He is creating. He uses the childlike voice of an angelic person. And God simulates being this new person until he is perfect as God would have him be. Then God releases that special soul and spirit from before His face with a breath of life. And the person of the spirit of the Holy God was created. God is always in him. God was him. God can always place the person of His spirit before His face and be him and speak as him and through him. And this is how God (My Name) is in the angel that was sent to guard the Israelite’s on the way to the promised land and in the angel of the Lord in the burning bush that God spoke through to Moses. They are the same angel. The angel of God’s Presence.
4.
The Angel of God’s Presence
“In all their troubles He was troubled, And the angel of His Presence delivered them. In His love and pity, He Himself redeemed them, Raised them, and exalted them All the days of old. But they rebelled, and grieved His holy spirit; Then He became their enemy, And Himself made war against them.” Isaiah 63/9-10
Not all angels are cherubim as seen on the ark of the covenant who have the form of a human with wings. He, like the Lord, has many names including the angel of death, the angel of the Lord, the word of the Lord and the angel of the covenant. When God’s spirit alights upon the anointed one it includes the angel of His Presence and where the angel is the Presence of God is, or at least close by as revealed in visions of the prophets Ezekiel and Zechariah.
5.
A Spirit Entered into Ezekiel
Ezekiel says: “And He said to me, “O mortal, stand up on your feet that I may speak to you.” As He spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet; and I heard what was being spoken to me.” Ezekiel 2/1-2
A spirit of God entering a man and God speaking means the angel of God’s Presence who is spirit alighted upon him. Any time an angel or spirit is present in a story and God speaks or His power is revealed the angel or spirit is the angel of His Presence. The spirit of God used a spirit to bring Ezekiel in a vision to the exile community in Chaldea. And God stood by on a hill. For the spirit of God to do this he has to be a person. The power to take a man into a vision comes from God who is nearby meaning the spirit of God is the angel of God’s Presence.
6.
The Angel of the Lord
There is a man on a horse standing in the myrtles. He is later referred to as the angel of the Lord standing in the myrtles. The angel of the Lord is the angel of God’s Presence. This is important because Christianity believes Jesus is the angel of the Lord. The angel of the Lord is using this man as his visible presence. Just as he once used a burning bush and God spoke through him to Moses. The angel of the Lord is the person of the spirit of the Holy God. He alights upon and enters men and My Name (God) is in him.
7.
A Host of the Lord of Hosts
The man who identified himself to Joshua as a gentile and captain of the Lord’s host in the book of Joshua is the first and only time the scripture describes a host of the Lord of Hosts. The captain of the Lord’s host is a host as indicated by his telling Joshua to take off his sandals for you stand on Holy ground. The same words the Lord spoke to Moses. God is with this man and where God is so is the angel of His Presence. Divine beings with a man. The captain said, “now I have come” and that is the last time he appears in the scripture. The captain is a harbinger of God’s righteous servant. Isaiah 63 says God comes from Edom that is interpreted in Judaism to be Christianity and means He is coming from a Christian country and of the peoples (Jewish people) none are with Him. God returns with His visible representation and speaker of His words the righteous servant, a gentile. Jesus was a Jewish man.
8.
The First Host
The first host of the Lord host’s in creation was Adam. A man created very much like the angels in heaven. God drew from the elements and materials of the earth (“dust”) and formed the first human being. An adult man with the mind of a one-day-old baby. When the breath of life was given to Adam the first thought in his mind came from God and that thought came from God who was being Adam for Adam. “I am Adam” was spoken by God as though He was Adam and was perceived by Adam as being his own thoughts and inner voice in order to build a memory for Adam. God was not Adam He was being Adam for Adam until the mind of Adam was fully formed as an adult man. In the beginning, the conversation was God talking as Adam and as Himself to Adam. The spirit and soul and mind of Adam listening and learning and forming into a functional adult man. The second host of the Lord’s host was Eve.
9.
The Era of Redemption
The world will never invoke the Lord as HaShem (The Name) and serve the God of Israel in one accord. Two billion or so Christians and two billion or so Muslims are not going to wake up one morning and in one accord speak Hebrew and denounce their false God’s. The people of pure speech are the Jewish people. Not the world. And even that is just poetry suggesting that many of the Jewish people will learn Hebrew throughout the world and return to Israel. Misconstruing who the people of pure speech are by Rambam and the Sages and the Rabbi’s today who continue to teach this impossible concept that Moshiach will perfect the world from this verse is just one of many reasons why God says he will have a reckoning with the Rabbis and they will be dismissed when the anointed one He calls My servant David, a shepherd, comes with the covenant of friendship.
10.
The Cup of God’s Wrath
The cup of God’s reeling and wrath passes to the tormentors of the Jewish people. Christianity. In Isaiah 63 God is coming to Israel from Edom. In the Hebrew Bible Edom is described as the eternal enemy of Israel and Judah. The overwhelming majority of homilies about Edom speak explicitly of Rome. It was stated that Rome was founded by the children of Esau. These identifications occur not only in the Midrashim (the plural form of Midrash) and the Talmud, but also in the Palestinian Targums of the Torah and in the Targums to Lamentations and Esther. Edom became a synonym for Christian Rome and after the fall of Rome to Christianity.
11.
Torah Written on Every Heart
The purpose of Elijah is the same purpose of Moses in the desert as the messenger of the Teachings of God and all of the experiences of the people when God dwelt among the tents of the Israelites and the first covenant was made of “I will be your God, and you will be My people”. The new covenant includes a metaphor that Torah will be written on every heart and all will heed the Lord for He will forgive their sins and remember them no more.
God will once again be dwelling and moving about among His people. Not in tents in the desert but in Jerusalem and in His Temple to be rebuilt. And Elijah is a messenger teaching righteousness and the return to Judaism and God and the angel of His Presence are with him as they were with Moses. Returning to the practice of Judaism will effectively write Torah on the hearts of those who heed and fear the Lord.
12.
Divine Inspiration of Prophecy Fulfilled
Matthew 4/13-17 of the Holy Bible is an example of saying a prophecy has been fulfilled where there is no prophecy and changing the meaning and context of verses of the Hebrew Bible. These verses are about Kingdoms and Kings, deporting the Jewish people and importing gentiles, and the hope that the newborn heir to the throne in Judah would be a great King graced by God to lead Judah as a peaceful ruler in dangerous times. One verse is about the northern Kingdom and the next verse in a new chapter is about the southern Kingdom. The verses have nothing to do with one another or with Jesus. Verses of the Bible lifted out and made a part of the Gospel of Matthew with the words “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet”.
13.
God Creates and He Forms
The God of Israel comes to the earth to dwell with His righteous servant as He once came to dwell with Moses and move about among the tents of the Israelites. He creates the unnamed man of Isaiah 53 and forms His righteous servant. Just as He created Jacob and formed Israel. For His purposes. He formed Israel with covenants and the names Hebrew, Israel, Jew and 613 Laws that define and refined the Jewish people in the oppression of the world. He forms His righteous servant in the fire of refinement with an oppressive judgment of maltreatment, chastisement, punishment, crushing and bruising of Isaiah 53. A fire of refinement by the hand of God. By His words and by His power. Just as He did with Ezekiel.
14.
Hebrew and Jew
No one is a Hebrew until a fugitive brought the news to “Abram the Hebrew”. No one is a Jew until Mordecai of the tribe of Benjamin is described as “a Jew”. It is a special word just as “Hebrew” is a special word. Words from God for God. Haman plotting to do away with Mordecai’s people the Jews throughout the kingdom of Persia was a plot against all the people of Israel in those lands. All the tribes including the priestly tribe of Levi. Mordecai’s people are the Jewish people. The Jews are not just people of the tribe of Benjamin. The word “Hebrew” is like the word “Jew” in the Hebrew Bible. Both are simply introduced into God’s stories written by His prophets. These names identify God’s chosen people throughout the world. Just as religious ritual, faith, and manner of dress identify them.
15.
The God of Elijah
Elisha is the only person in the Hebrew Bible to refer to God as the God of Elijah rather than the God of Israel or the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Elijah is not an Israelite. He is a Tishbite and an inhabitant of Ramoth-Gilead. A gentile. Gilead is east of the river Jordan primarily claimed by the Assyrians and Arabs. In Isaiah 63 God comes from Edom symbolizing Esau and Christianity in the Talmud and of the people’s none are with Him (the Jewish people). God returns to Israel coming from a Christian country with a gentile. The God of Elijah is the God of a single gentile though God created all of humanity. In the day of the Lord He is again the God of a single gentile, His righteous servant. The God of the Jewish people and one gentile.
16.
John the Baptist was not Elijah
John the Baptist could not be Elijah for the reason It was not the time to come for Elijah and the new covenant. Elijah comes with the angel of the new covenant with sin forgiveness. Jesus uses Malachi 3/1 to describe Elijah but leaves out the angel of the covenant. Jesus would have known the Jewish people were without sin if John was Elijah and he kept that knowledge to himself. The time to come of the new covenant is when the land blooms again and Jerusalem is rebuilt, and the Jewish people are never uprooted or overthrown again. Between 68 and 70 CE, the Jewish people revolted against Rome and were defeated, murdered, crucified and forced to flee the lands of Abraham beginning the diaspora (the Roman dispersal). The Jewish people were overthrown and uprooted after the death of John the Baptist.
17.
Deception
The New Testament of Christianity has many statements of the prophecy of the Hebrew Bible being fulfilled in the stories and accounts of Jesus. Not one is true. It is arguably the most deceptive book ever written based on the billions of people who have been deceived. Jesus changes verse ten of Zechariah 9/9-10 from defeating Rome to “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again.” No prophet ever wrote this. It does not exist in any writing of the ancient age.
18.
Signs and Portents
The sentence “all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,” is an example of writing a verse that you do not want to be verified by the reader. The prophet is easy to identify as Isaiah and his account of Immanuel has nothing to do with the birth of a child named Immanuel by a “virgin” (the Hebrew word is “young women”). There was no such prophecy. There was a young woman with child and that child was named Immanuel. The child Immanuel is a sign that God is with Judah against the Assyrians and a portent that the King of Aram in Damascus and the King of Israel in Samaria would be deported by the time Immanuel was nine years old. From this account of signs and portents in the names of the children of Isaiah the writer of Matthew says the birth of Jesus by a virgin was prophesied by the prophet according to the angel of the Lord in a dream of Joseph.
19.
The Essene’s Embodied Jesus
The Essene’s were writers and copyists. Their founding leader was called the Teacher of righteousness and is identified in the Damascus Document and the Habakkuk Pesher of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The man of Isaiah 53 makes the many righteous and is often referred to by this name. The Essene’s were present in and around Jerusalem for 100 years before the birth of Jesus and another 40 or so years after his death. The gate in the southern wall of Jerusalem was called the Essene’s Gate. The Essene’s themselves are the beginning of the stories of Jesus. The Essene’s were the embodiment of the man Jesus. They were persecuted and many lived in the country away from the city as did Jesus. They were persecuted for their beliefs and disliked the Pharisees and the Sadducee and the High priest. Jesus is a myth. He never existed and the story of Jesus and his life does not fulfill the verses of Isaiah 53.
20.
The New Covenant
The book of Hebrews discusses God’s new covenant with sin forgiveness of the Jewish people that comes with Elijah and the angel of the covenant. It says that the covenant with sin forgiveness is old and ready to vanish away just as the first covenant became old and had to be replaced. The covenant with sin forgiveness has been in heaven with God to be delivered by messenger at a time to come that is here. The first covenant did not become old and was not replaced. The new covenant is an amendment and renewal of the first covenant changing strict adherence to all the laws and rules God gave Moses to “Be mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses, whom I charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel.” for those who fear and heed the Lord rather than all the Jewish people.
21
Rashi’s Commentary on Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53
In Isaiah 52/14-15 the Lord begins to describe His righteous servant of Chapter 53. Isaiah 52/14-15 should have been verses 1-2 of Chapter 53. When Scripture was originally written, there were no chapter and verse divisions. A Jewish rabbi by the name of Nathan divided the Hebrew Bible into verses in 1448. Some of the chapter divisions of the Hebrew Bible are very arbitrary. It is commonly believed that Isaiah 53 starts in the final verses of Isaiah 52. Isaiah 52 actually concludes with verses 12 and 13:
“12For you will not depart in haste, Nor will you leave in flight; For the Lord is marching before you, The God of Israel is your rear guard. 13Indeed, My servant shall prosper, Be exalted and raised to great heights.”
The tribes of Reuben, Gad and the ½ tribe of Manasseh that settled outside of the promised land east of the river Jordan, and the tribes of the northern Kingdom of Samaria (also called the kingdom of Ephraim and the kingdom of Israel) were defeated by the Assyrians and deported to lands in Assyria north-west of Babylon (Iraq) and to the towns of Media (Iran). The Assyrians imported gentiles to the lands of the northern kingdom.
The Kingdom of Judah was defeated by the Babylonians and in stages deported to Babylon (Iraq). Jerusalem is within the lands of Benjamin which lands are considered part of the Kingdom of Judah since that is where the Kings of the lands of Judah ruled from.
The accounts of the return of the Jewish people by decree of Cyrus of Persia, the first gentile anointed one of God (HaMoshiach), who had defeated the Chaldeans (who had defeated the Babylonians) and formed the Persian Empire including their lands, are in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 Chronicles. HaMoshiach Cyrus addresses all of the thirteen tribes in his decree:
“Thus said King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord God of Heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and has charged me with building Him a House in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Anyone of you of all His people, the Lord his God be with him and let him go up.” 2Chronicles 36/2
Remnants of all of the thirteen tribes of Israel returned to Jerusalem and Judah. The tribes with allotments of land in the northern kingdom could not return to those lands. Gentiles who had been imported to the lands of the northern kingdom were settled there, many of whom tried to stop the building of the second Temple.
“When the seventh month arrived—the Israelites being settled in their towns—the entire people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.” Ezra 3/1
When the people Israel gather as one man it is all twelve tribes and the Levites (the priestly tribe without an allotment of the promised lands).
“The first to settle in their towns, on their property, were Israelites, priests, Levites, and temple servants, while some of the Judahites and some of the Benjaminites and some of the Ephraimites and Manassehites settled in Jerusalem.” 1 Chronicles Chapter 9/2-3
Ephraim and Manasseh were not lost tribes as many believe from writings outside of the Hebrew Bible. It is said in writings by Sages and Rabbi’s that ten of the twelve tribes of Israel became lost and did not return to Judah to build the second Temple. There never were lost tribes according to the Hebrew Bible. If there were lost tribes the many accounts of their return in Ezra, Nehemiah, and 1 Chronicles were not true and Isaiah wrote a prophecy of God that was not fulfilled.
“Fear not, for I am with you: I will bring your folk from the East, Will gather you out of the West; I will say to the North, “Give back!” And to the South, “Do not withhold! Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the end of the earth.” Isaiah 43/5-6
Isaiah’s prophesy is to all Assyrian/Babylonian exiles returning by the words of God. The return of the exiles to the land of Israel given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob by covenant and partitioned among the twelve tribes of Israel by Moses and Joshua is not just the Babylon exiles of Judah and Benjamin. It includes all the tribes that were defeated, deported and exiled by the Assyrians before them.
The “Babylon exiles” are all thirteen tribes in Assyria/Babylonia/Chaldean/Persia. In Isaiah 43 God says:
“14Thus said the Lord, Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I send to Babylon; I will bring down all [her] bars, And the Chaldeans shall raise their voice in lamentation.”
“19I am about to do something new; Even now it shall come to pass, Suddenly you shall perceive it: I will make a road through the wilderness And rivers in the desert.”
“25It is I, I who—for My own sake—Wipe your transgressions away And remember your sins no more.”
This account in Isaiah is repeated in the book of Jeremiah for the Jewish people as the dispersal of the Roman/Jewish revolts who return and the land blooms again and the ruined cities and Jerusalem are rebuilt. God’s prophecy of a time to come that also includes sin forgiveness. The time to come when the third Temple will be built by a sin free Holy people for God’s Presence and the angel of His Presence to return to Jerusalem, just as the second Temple was by the Assyria/Babylon exiles. The Jewish people. A Holy seed. The time to come that began in 1948 when the state of Israel was created after the Holocaust. The time to come of the new covenant with sin forgiveness.
Isaiah 52 is an announcement of prophecy fulfilled in the return to Judah of all thirteen tribes. “My servant” exalted is the Jewish people of the Assyrian/Babylonian exile and the “Victory”, or revealed “arm of the Lord” in the sight of all the nations, was the second Temple. Verse 13 ends Chapter 52 and Chapter 53 begins with Isaiah as the speaker describing God’s righteous servant for the time to come.
The man described is God’s representation who brings before the Jewish people, by his actions and words, the will of God in the day of the Lord, as Moses did in the Exodus to the promised land. He is God’s righteous servant; His messenger of the new covenant and reconciler of Jewish families, Elijah; His anointed one the shepherd He calls My servant David; and His veritable mouthpiece on earth and writer of His words, the Prophet like Moses.
Isaiah 52/14 and 15 begins the description of the man God calls “My righteous servant” in Isaiah 53/10:
“52/14Just as the many were appalled at him—So marred was his appearance, unlike that of man, His form, beyond human semblance—15Just so he shall startle many nations. Kings shall be silenced because of him, For they shall see what has not been told them, Shall behold what they never have heard.”
Isaiah 52/14 and continuing for all of Isaiah 53 is a description of God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous by His knowledge with long life . It is not a song of the servant Israel as first identified by Bernhard Duhn in his 1892 commentary on Isaiah. Bernhard Duhn was a protestant Lutheran theologian of the Christian Old Testament (Hebrew Bible). It is not Israel speaking as a single man. It does not declare Israel to be the righteous servant. It is the only time the words “My righteous servant” are used by the Lord in the scripture.
Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, generally known today by the acronym Rashi (RAbbi SHlomo Itzhaki), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a comprehensive commentary on the Talmud and commentary on the Tanakh. He is often referred to as the first Rabbi to believe that the Jewish people as one man “Israel” are God’s righteous servant. The early Sages expected a personal Messiah to fulfill the Isaiah prophecy. No alternative interpretation was applied to this passage until the Middle Ages.
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 Moses ben Maimon, commonly known as Maimonides, and often referred to by the acronym Rambam, a medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher who became one of the most prolific and influential Torah scholars of the Middle Ages-realized the inconsistencies of Rashi’s views and would not abandon the original messianic interpretations.
Rashi’s commentary on Isaiah 53 translated from Hebrew to English in the translation of the Tanach by Artscroll, an imprint of translations, books and commentaries from an Orthodox Jewish perspective published by Mesorah Publications, Ltd., supporting this belief conflicts with his commentary on the book of Zechariah, Chapter 1 when he says:
“The prophecy: of Zechariah is extremely enigmatic, because it contains visions resembling a dream that requires an interpretation. We cannot ascertain the truth of its interpretation until the teacher of righteousness comes. Nonetheless, I will put my heart to reconciling the verses, one by one, according to the interpretations that resemble it and following the interpretation of Jonathan”.
The teacher of righteousness Rashi awaits is God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53. He is referring to a particular man and not the people Israel, which would include himself. Rashi is known for inconsistencies in his interpretations.
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 2/14 in 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 transgression of the law; as it is written, “Surely our sicknesses he has carried.” (Zohar II, 212a)
The following is Rashi’s commentary on all the verses of Isaiah 52 by Artscroll in it’s translation of the Tanach and Rashi from Hebrew to English, and my commentary on the verses and Rashi’s interpretations:
1Awaken, awaken, put on your strength, O Zion; put on the garments of your beauty, Jerusalem the Holy City, for no longer shall the uncircumcised or the unclean continue to enter you.
2Shake yourselves from the dust, arise, sit down, O Jerusalem; free yourself of the bands of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
Rashi:
Shake yourself: Heb. הִתְנַעֲרִי, escourre in O.F., to shake strongly, like one who shakes out a garment.
arise: from the ground, from the decree (supra 3:26), “She shall sit on the ground.”
sit down: on a throne.
free yourself: Untie yourself [from Jonathan].
bands of: Heb. מוֹסְרֵי, cringatro umbriah in O.F., [strap].
captive: Heb. שְׁבִיָה, like שְׁבוּיָה, captive.
3For so said the Lord, “You were sold for nought, and you shall not be redeemed for money.”
Rashi:
You were sold for nought: Because of worthless matters, i.e., the evil inclination, which affords you no reward.
and you shall not be redeemed for money: but with repentance.
Keith:
You were sold for nought: The defeat of the tribes of Rueben, Gad, and the ½ tribe of Manasseh by the Assyrians; the defeat of the tribes of the northern kingdom by the Assyrians; and the defeat of Judah by the Babylonians and deportation of all thirteen tribes to the lands of Assyria/Babylon/Chaldean/Persia.
and you shall not be redeemed for money: God anoints Cyrus of Persia to build the second Temple in Jerusalem who defeats the Chaldeans and Babylonians and by decree frees the exiles to return to Jerusalem and build the Temple for him. God redeems His people using men as He used Moses, not money. And those forgiven of sin need not repent first.
4For so said the Lord God, “My people first went down to Egypt to sojourn there, but Assyria oppressed them for nothing.”
Rashi:
My people first went down to Egypt: The Egyptians had somewhat of a debt upon them, for they served for them as their hosts and sustained them, but Assyria oppressed them for nothing and without cause.
5″And now, what have I here,” says the Lord, “that My people has been taken for nothing. His rulers boast,” says the Lord, “and constantly all day My name is blasphemed.
Rashi:
And now, what have I here: Why do I stay and detain My children here?
boast: Heb. יְהֵילִילוּ, Boast saying, “Our hand was powerful.”
is blasphemed: Blasphemes itself, and this is an instance similar to (Num 7:89) “And he heard the voice speaking to him.”
Keith:
And now, what have I here: The thirteen tribes defeated, deported, in exile ruled by boastful gentiles who insult, mock, dishonor, and show contempt of Hashem, the God of the Jewish people and creator of mankind.
6Therefore, My people shall know My name; therefore, on that day, for I am He Who speaks, here I am.”
Rashi:
My people shall know: When I redeem them, they will recognize that My name is master, monarch, and ruler, as is its apparent meaning.
therefore, on that day: The day of their redemption, they will understand that I am He Who speaks, and behold, I have fulfilled the prophecy.
Keith:
Therefore, My people shall know My name: God will remind the exiles of who He is by freeing them of bondage, fulfilling His prophecy.
for I am He Who speaks,: God speaks to and anoints Cyrus of Persia to build the second Temple in Jerusalem and free the exiles. Just as He spoke to Moses in freeing the Israelites from bondage. Just as He will speak to His righteous servant to have the third Temple built. And the gentiles and His people will know He sanctifies Israel.
here I am: In His Temple on His Holy Mount Zion in Jerusalem (When the second Temple is built, and again when the third Temple is built.)
7How beautiful are the feet of the herald on the mountains, announcing peace, heralding good tidings, announcing salvation, saying to Zion, “Your God has manifested His kingdom.”
Keith:
the feet of the herald on the mountains: The remnant of the thirteen tribes returning from exile to the promised land. The herald is the people Israel.
Saying to Zion: Zion is the promised land, Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount.
Your God has manifested His Kingdom: The God of Zion, who is the God of the Jewish people, announces to His land in general and to His city and Temple Mount specifically, that He once again chooses Jerusalem. The Jewish people returning make it evident and readily perceived by the eye in building the second Temple that God declares Israel as His kingdom, the land and His people.
8The voice of your watchmen- they raised a voice, together they shall sing, for eye to eye they shall see when the Lord returns to Zion.
Rashi:
The voice of your watchmen: The watchmen who are stationed on the walls and the towers to report and to see (to see and to report [Parshandatha]) who comes to the city.
Keith:
The voice of your watchmen: The watchmen of Zion are the Jewish people, as God continues the symbolism of speaking to the lands of Abraham, Jerusalem, and His Temple Mount as though a living being named Israel, by the actions of His people called Israel.
for eye to eye they shall see when the Lord returns to Zion: In a vision of Ezekiel he says
“1Then he led me to a gate, the gate that faced east. 2And there, coming from the east with a roar like the roar of mighty waters, was the Presence of the God of Israel, and the earth was lit up by His Presence. Ezekiel 43/1-2
And:
“4The Presence of the Lord entered the Temple by the gate that faced eastward. 5A spirit carried me into the inner court, and lo, the Presence of the Lord filled the Temple; 6and I heard speech addressed to me from the Temple, though [the] man was standing beside me. 7It said to me: ‘O mortal, this is the place of My throne and the place for the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people Israel forever…’ “ Ezekiel 43/4-7
When the second temple is built and God returns to it the remnant that returned from exile see, that is they know, that God sanctifies Israel. When the third Temple is built the remnant of the Holocaust that returned and created the state of Israel will see that He is in His Temple and sanctifies Israel, as do the gentiles of the world.
This is God’s covenant of friendship that comes with His servant David, the anointed one of Isaiah 11/1-2:
“I will make a covenant of friendship with them—it shall be an everlasting covenant with them—I will establish them and multiply them, and I will place My Sanctuary among them forever. My Presence shall rest over them; I will be their God and they shall be My people. And when My Sanctuary abides among them forever, the nations shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel.” Ezekiel 37/26-28
9Burst out in song, sing together, O ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has consoled his people; He has redeemed Jerusalem.
10The Lord has revealed His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
Rashi:
has revealed: Heb. חָשַׂף, has revealed.
Keith:
revealed His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations: God does this by having the second Temple built and will do it again with the third Temple.
11Turn away, turn away, get out of there, touch no unclean one; get out of its midst, purify yourselves, you who bear the Lord’s vessels.
Rashi:
touch no unclean one: They shall be abominable to you to touch them.
get out of its midst: Out of the midst of the exile, for all these last consolations refer only to the last exile.
purify yourselves: Heb. הִבָּרוּ, purify yourselves.
you who bear the Lord’s vessels: You, the priests and the Levites, who carried the vessels of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the desert [from here is proof of the resurrection of the dead].
Keith:
you who bear the Lord’s vessels: Rashi says “You, the priests and the Levites, who carried the vessels of the Holy One, blessed be He, in the desert [from here is proof of the resurrection of the dead].”
The Rambam (Maimonides) compiled what he refers to as the Shloshah Asar Ikkarim, the “Thirteen Fundamental Principles” of the Jewish faith, as derived from the Torah. Maimonides refers to these thirteen principles of faith as “the fundamental truths of our religion and its very foundations.” Number 13 of the Thirteen Fundamental Principles is “The belief in the resurrection of the dead.”
Ezekiel 37 gives a vivid account of raising the dead to life into new bodies of flesh and bone. This was a common belief in the ancient age and middle ages. In this age of information with knowledge of science and the human body few people believe that a human body can or will be resurrected anew by God. It is a primitive and medieval concept that was good for a time through the middle ages. That is why God provided visions of heaven conforming to the beliefs and world of the Jewish people in the middle ages and before and of a spiritual heaven for a more enlightened time of reasoning and knowledge in Ezekiel 1 and 10.
The burden on Israel and the practicalities of such an event of millions of people suddenly appearing in the land from the time of Abraham to today is unimaginable. From the hundreds of thousands of Israelites that died in Egypt and in the Exodus to the six million murdered in the Holocaust alone. Many would be illiterate and savage and few would be trained to work in this society. All would have to be housed and fed and educated. It would be a prophecy that destroys the government and the State of Israel.
The resurrection of the dead in a human body to a heavenly earth (“the world to come”) is also said to be a sign that Moshiach has arrived or that it will happen in his lifetime. This is a teaching from the ancient age and middle ages that continues today. Judaism’s reliance on everything the Sages say in an era gone by in the Oral Tradition is important for the laws of the Torah.
The day of the Lord and the arrival of God’s servant David according to the prophets must be interpreted with the evolution of humanity from the ancient age to the age of information in mind, the eras in between, and in the eras to come.
12For not with haste shall you go forth and not in a flurry of flight shall you go, for the Lord goes before you, and your rear guard is the God of Israel.
Rashi:
for… goes before you: Two things at the end of this verse explain two things in its beginning, [viz.] For not with haste shall you go forth. What is the reason? For the Lord goes before you to lead you on the way, and one whose agent advances before him to lead him on the way his departure is not in haste. And not in the flurry of flight shall you go, for your rear guard is the God of Israel. He will follow you to guard you from any pursuer. Comp. (Num. 10:25) “And the division of the camp of Dan shall travel, the rear guard of all the camps.” Whoever goes after the camp is called מְאַסֵּף, the rear guard, because he waits for the stragglers and the stumblers. Similarly, Scripture states in Joshua (6:13): “And the rear guard was going after the Ark.”
Keith:
for the Lord goes before you, and your rear guard is the God of Israel: In Isaiah 43 God says:
“14Thus said the Lord, Your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I send to Babylon; I will bring down all [her] bars, And the Chaldeans shall raise their voice in lamentation.”
“19I am about to do something new; Even now it shall come to pass, Suddenly you shall perceive it: I will make a road through the wilderness And rivers in the desert.”
God accomplishes this by raising up the HaMoshiach Cyrus of Persia, a gentile, who defeats the Chaldeans and issues a decree that the Assyrian/Babylonian exiles are free to return to Jerusalem and Judah. This is not the Exodus where haste and flurry of flight was needed. They are free to go. Having Cyrus issue the decree is how God was before and the rear guard of the exiles.
13Behold My servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up, and he shall be very high.
Rashi:
Behold My servant shall prosper: Behold, at the end of days, My servant, Jacob, [i.e.,] the righteous among him, shall prosper.
Keith:
Behold My servant shall prosper; he shall be exalted and lifted up: Isaiah 52/7-13 is poetry and an announcement of prophecy fulfilled in the return to Judah of a remnant of all thirteen tribes who had all been deported and exiled to Assyria/Babylon at one time or another. The prophecy fulfilled is:
“Fear not, for I am with you: I will bring your folk from the East, Will gather you out of the West; I will say to the North, “Give back!” And to the South, “Do not withhold! Bring My sons from afar, And My daughters from the end of the earth.” Isaiah 43/5-6
This was the beginning of the second Temple era which became a prosperous time for the former exiles. The second Temple took about 20 years to build. God exalted and lifted up high the remnant that returned by having them build His Temple.
14As many wondered about you, “How marred his appearance is from that of a man, and his features from that of people!”
Rashi:
As many wondered: As many peoples wondered about them when they saw them in their humble state, and said to one another, How marred is his [Israel’s] appearance from that of a man! See how their features are darker than those of other people, so, as we see with our eyes.
Keith:
“How marred his appearance is from that of a man, and his features from that of people!”: This begins the description of God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53. How could a man today fit the description of the Lord’s righteous servant in Isaiah 52/14 with his appearance and features marred from that of a man and people and then in verse 52/15 “kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for, what had not been told them they saw, and [at] what they had not heard they gazed. There is one way and still be alive to fulfill verse 52/15.
By way of example to describe such a man who comes when the land blooms again and Jerusalem has been rebuilt, which began about 70 years ago, if I were to be seen with all of my injuries from accidents and surgical operations at one time, before healing, together with my congenital disfigurement, my appearance and features would be marred from that of a man and people. This is my history:
I was born prematurely in the seventh month without the muscles of my right breast and with a disfigured right shoulder and arm, which is thinner and weaker than my left arm. I would have a four-inch wound from surgery to remove tissue above the right breast when I was two years old. I was small and my parents were told I would not live to see the next day.
My feet would have third-degree burns from standing on the ashes of hot coals at a Fourth of July celebration when I was four. My right knee would be a gaping wound from being impaled upon a broken glass bottle after being tripped by my dog while running in a field when I was ten.
My left knee would be sliced open from broken glass I crawled over playing a game when I was eleven. My two front teeth would be gone, knocked out by a telephone receiver when I was twelve. Each foot would be pierced twice by nails I stepped on at a construction site when I was seventeen.
My torso would be opened from the top of my rib-cage vertically down to the pelvic bone from surgery to repair a .22 caliber gunshot to my abdomen on the front right side which pierced my bladder, colon, and intestines and exited through my back left side when I was eighteen.
My upper jaw (the teeth, gums, and bone) would be severed from my skull from orthodontic surgery with my face swollen to twice its normal size when I was thirty-eight.
My torso was opened again to remove an 8-inch malignant cancerous tumor that had burst through my colon. I survived the colon cancer with surgery and chemotherapy but subsequent tests revealed that cancer had spread to my lungs and it was too advanced to treat. I was told I would soon die. A stage four diagnosis. I have not seen a doctor for lung cancer from that day forward. It was when the terrorists hit New York 19 years ago and I was 44 years old. I would be very thin, about 145 pounds and almost six feet tall.
The skin of my chest would be opened from a six-inch circular cut to remove skin cancer when I was forty-three. My left hand would be broken from a fall on a tennis court when I was twenty-eight and broken again walking on stones in a creek when I was fifty-five.
My ankles would be bruised and swollen from severe sprains while playing basketball and running at various ages. My chin would be lacerated from striking a wall at the end of a foot race when I was twenty-one and I would be covered with the childhood diseases of measles and mumps.
That is how a man could fit the description of the Lord’s righteous servant in Isaiah 52/14 and still kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for, what had not been told them they saw, and [at] what they had not heard they gazed.
15So shall he cast down many nations; kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for, what had not been told them they saw, and [at] what they had not heard they gazed.
Rashi:
what had not been told them: concerning any man, they saw in him.
they gazed: Heb. הִתְבּוֹנָנוּ, they gazed.
So shall he cast down many nations: So now, even he his hand will become powerful, and he will cast down the horns of the nations who scattered him.
shall shut: Heb. יִקְפְּצוּ. They shall shut their mouths out of great bewilderment.
for: honor.
Keith:
kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for, what had not been told them they saw, and [at] what they had not heard they gazed: Leaders startled to silence by seeing and perceiving that God’s righteous servant arrives in the time to come of Jeremiah 31 and the day of the Lord; that God’s righteous servant is the only man to come who is described in the scripture and is inherently and implicitly the anointed one David, Elijah and the prophet like Moses, of whom there is no description for identification; that the Jewish people throughout the world will be forgiven by God of all their iniquities and sins by God’s written word in the day of the Lord; that Heaven is being created for only the Jewish people; that God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 is a gentile according to the scripture, in the beginning; that Jesus, being a Jew, cannot be God’s righteous servant; that God’s righteous servant is familiar with disease and crushed with disease, blemished, and could never be an offer for sacrifice; that a host of the Lord’s host is a man and divine beings; that the captain of the Lord’s host is a gentile host of the Lord and a harbinger of God’s righteous servant; that God’s righteous servant becomes a man and divine beings when God’s spirit, who is the angel of His Presence, alights upon him in Isaiah 11/1-2; that God would really redeem the Jewish people and in the same manner that He did in the Hebrew Bible, with one man; and that God’s righteous servant fulfills and completes the remaining six prophecies of God in the day of the Lord.
The following is Rashi’s commentary on all the verses of Isaiah 53 by Artscroll in it’s translation of the Tanach and Rashi from Hebrew to English, and my commentary on the verses and Rashi’s interpretations:
1Who would have believed our report, and to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed?
Rashi:
Who would have believed our report: So will the nations say to one another, Were we to hear from others what we see, it would be unbelievable.
the arm of the Lord: like this, with greatness and glory, to whom was it revealed until now?
Keith:
Who would have believed our report: The first speakers of Isaiah 53 are the witnesses of the righteous servant in verses 1 through 6. The many who are made righteous by God’s righteous servant. The witnesses ask who would believe it? That God redeemed the Jewish people by the new covenant with sin forgiveness and one man, and not by using His power to change the will and thinking of all of the Jewish people, all of the Christians, all of the Muslims and all the world of gentiles, so that they heed and revere the name of the Lord and are all knowledgeable in the Teachings and Laws of God that He gave to Moses.
Rambam says in Chapter Twelve of “The Laws Concerning King Moshiach” that “Moshiach will compel all of Israel to walk in the way of the Torah; perfect the entire world motivating all the nations to serve God together; there will be neither famine nor war, neither envy nor competition; the entire world will be solely to know God; 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.”
Yet, God simply says He will send down the rain in its season; the trees of the field shall yield their fruit and the land shall yield its produce; the Jewish people shall continue secure on their own soil and never be overthrown and uprooted again; they shall no longer be a spoil for the nations; He will establish for them a planting of renown; they shall no more be carried off by famine; they shall not have to bear again the taunts of the nations; He will establish them and multiply them; He will place His Sanctuary among them forever; His Presence shall rest over them; and when His Sanctuary abides among them forever, the nations will know that the Lord sanctifies Israel.
Who would believe that one man fulfills and completes the remaining prophecies of God in the day of the Lord?
The remaining prophecy to be fulfilled is the delivery of two specific covenants and the arrivals of God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous; the anointed one God’s servant David; Elijah who was taken to Heaven and returns and reconciles the Jewish families one to the other through Judaism and righteousness; and the prophet like Moses who wrote the Torah at the command and direction of God. The Hebrew Bible has a description of only one man who has never come and that is God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53. There is no description of David, Elijah and the prophet like Moses.
The arrival of the anointed one God calls My servant David brings God’s covenant of friendship He promised in Ezekiel 34 and Elijah the messenger delivers the new covenant for a time to come with sin forgiveness from Jeremiah 31.
The witnesses report, and who would believe it, that they had not been told by their Sages, wise men, Rabbi’s, Pastors, Priest’s, Pope’s and theologians that God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 is a gentile, according to the scripture, in the beginning. Isaiah 63 says God comes from Edom that is interpreted in Judaism to be Christianity and means He is coming from a Christian country and of the people (Jewish people) none are with Him. He comes with a gentile. Jesus was a Jewish man who came from Nazareth. The Jewish people did not come from Edom. They began in the promised land (today called Israel), returned from Egypt in the Exodus and were not allowed to pass through Edom, and returned from Europe after the Holocaust.
The witnesses report that they had never heard the captain of the Lord’s host is a gentile and a harbinger of God’s righteous servant who is also a gentile, and who becomes a host of the Lord’s host, a man and divine beings, when God’s spirit alights upon him in Isaiah 11/1 -2.
That the divine beings are the Holy spirit who is the angel of His Presence of Isaiah 63, an angel whose angelic body is not the form of a human with wings, but the very spirit of God. The very angel who went before the Israelites in the Exodus and God was in him:
“I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have made ready. Pay heed to him and obey him. Do not defy him, for he will not pardon your offenses, since My Name [God] is in him; but if you obey him and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.” Exodus 23/ 20-22
God created all things, including spirit, and He is in His spirit, and His spirit is the body of the Angel of His Presence, and as revealed in Zechariah 1 the angel of the Lord. This is how the angel of the Lord is in the burning bush and God speaks to Moses. How a man and divine beings wrestled with Jacob and God spoke to Jacob renaming him Israel. How the ground was Holy where Joshua fell to the ground before a gentile with drawn sword and asked:
“What does my lord command his servant?” The captain of the Lord’s host answered Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.” Joshua 5/14-15
How Elijah the Tishbite, an inhabitant of Ramoth- Gilead, an Arab/Assyrian town and land east of the river Jordan, is also a gentile host of the Lord’s host:
As they were crossing, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?” Elisha answered, “Let a double portion* of your spirit pass on to me.” ll Kings 2/6
(Footnote in the Hebrew Bible) Let a double portion*: Translators note: Lit. “two-thirds”; of Zech. 13.8. 8Throughout the land—declares the Lord—Two-thirds shall perish, shall die, And one-third of it shall survive. Zech. 13/8.
How is a double portion of spirit two-thirds of a spirit? That is a question and it is also the answer to how Elijah is a host of the Lord’s host. The spirit of the Holy God who is a person had alighted on and entered Elijah. It is the only way to reconcile a double portion with a two-thirds portion of the spirit of Elijah.
Where the person of the spirit is so is the person and His Presence of the Holy God, whose person is also of spirit when My Name is in His spirit. The angel of His Presence and God are always together. That would be two persons of spirit with the spirit of Elijah or three persons within and without one man, but all three are separate and distinct never forming a one.
How Ezekiel is a host of the Lord’s host, a man and divine beings:
Ezekiel says: “And He said to me, “O mortal, stand up on your feet that I may speak to you.” As He spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet; and I heard what was being spoken to me.” Ezekiel 2/1-2
This is God speaking to a man (“O mortal”) who is Ezekiel, but he does not hear God speaking until at the same moment a spirit enters him and sets him upon his feet. A spirit of God entering a man and God speaking means the angel of God’s Presence who is spirit alighted upon him and that God is in him. Just as the spirit of God alights upon and enters the anointed one of Isaiah 11/1-2.
How the Lord is symbolized in the story where He appeared and spoke to Abraham by the terebinths of Mamre as three men standing near him. The three men represent a host of the Lord’s host. A man with divine beings. It is three persons. The Lord and the angel of His Presence with a man. Two of the men are described as angels in the next chapter of Genesis. They are only men in this chapter for the purpose of symbolizing a host of the Lord’s Host.
How all of the prophets who wrote God’s words were hosts of the Lord’s host.
the arm of the Lord: His vindication and redemption. From a sinful man whose life has been full of pain, suffering, and sorrows familiar with disease that the spirit of God, the Holy spirit, alights upon to the crown of God’s righteous servant who is David, Elijah and the prophet like Moses:
“The stock of Jesse that has remained standing Shall become a standard to peoples— Nations shall seek his counsel And his abode shall be honored.” Isaiah 11/10
The abode of the righteous servant is humble when the Lord cuts him off from the world of material things and society in Isaiah 53/8 and in the end the abode of the servant is one to be honored in Isaiah 11/10. From a poor man to a rich man with the many as his portion and the multitude as his spoil.
And God brings the redemption of the Jewish people through him with covenants and the third Temple:
“I will make a covenant of friendship with them—it shall be an everlasting covenant with them—I will establish them and multiply them, and I will place My Sanctuary among them forever. My Presence shall rest over them; I will be their God and they shall be My people. And when My Sanctuary abides among them forever, the nations shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel.” Ezekiel 37/26-28
And through His righteous servant God does not perfect the world, He has His vindication:
“Thus said the Lord, your Lord, Your God who champions His people: Herewith I take from your hand The cup of reeling, The bowl, the cup of My wrath; You shall never drink it again. “I will put it in the hands of your tormentors, Who have commanded you, “Get down, that we may walk over you—” So that you made your back like the ground, Like a street for passersby.” Isaiah 51/22-23
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 in the book of Revelation 1/7. It did not happen. His brazen oath to return quickly was not vindicated. Jesus called out on the cross to God “why have you forsaken me”. Forsaken means to abandon which is the opposite of vindication and redemption.
2And he came up like a sapling before it, and like a root from dry ground, he had neither form nor comeliness; and we saw him that he had no appearance. Now shall we desire him?
Rashi:
And he came up like a sapling before it: This people, before this greatness came to it, was a very humble people, and it came up by itself 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.
and we saw him that he had no appearance. Now shall we desire him?: And when we saw him from the beginning without an appearance, how could we desire him?
Now shall we desire him?: This is a question.
Keith:
Now shall we desire him?: If the dry land was a Christian country and his form was a gentile under the Jewish law, the Halacha (in the beginning), would he be attractive to the Jewish people. Not at all. But if he comes from a Christian country with God to Israel and converts orthodox to Judaism and becomes an Israeli citizen the answer is yes.
This could never describe Jesus. Jesus is thought of as perfect. A handsome and beautiful man. Everyone except for certain Jewish religious leaders found Jesus pleasing and charming.
3Despised and rejected by men, a man of pains and accustomed to illness, and as one who hides his face from us, despised and we held him of no account.
Despised and rejected by men: was he. So is the custom of this prophet: he mentions all Israel as one man, e.g., (44:2), “Fear not, My servant Jacob” ; (44:1) “And now, hearken, Jacob, My servant.” Here too (52:13), “Behold My servant shall prosper,” he said concerning the house of Jacob. יַשְׂכִּיל is an expression of prosperity. Comp. (I Sam. 18:14) “And David was successful (מַשְׂכִּיל) in all his ways.”
and as one who hides his face from us: Because of their intense shame and humility, they were as one who hides his face from us, with their faces bound up in concealment, in order that we not see them, like a plagued man who hides his face and is afraid to look.
Keith:
Despised and rejected by men: He will be despised and rejected and held of no account simply for declaring that he is the Lord’s righteous servant described in Isaiah 53. Christianity, with God’s wrath passed to them, and the Rabbis reckoned with and dismissed, “shall see what has not been told to them, shall behold what they never have heard” and they will not like him. Gentiles will reject and despise the man who startles gentiles and silences their leaders and the Jewish people will for the reason he is a gentile and the era of redemption they have been taught will not be occurring.
King David writes “More numerous than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without reason.” Psalm 69/5 David was God’s anointed of Jesse to be King of the Israelite’s but to others, he was David the lowly shepherd who “was said to be” God’s anointed King.
It is the nature of people to reject, despise and hold of no account a man who has no visible proof to substantiate his claims that God speaks to him as God spoke to Moses; that he is a man prophesied to come in the Hebrew Bible; that he is a messenger and deliverer of covenants of God; that the spirit of the Holy God has alighted upon him; and that he offered himself for guilt to God.
Jesus was not despised and rejected 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 infuriated religious leaders at synagogues and merchants at the Temple. But they could not attack him because of his legion of followers.
a man of pains and accustomed to illness [disease]: Rashi does not address how this could be the Jewish people. Jesus wept one time. He is never portrayed as a man of pains accustomed to illness (disease). He suffered at death as did many others in his time but he was not a man of pains accustomed to illness [disease]. God’s righteous servant will be a man who has a life full of injuries and wounds, accustomed to illness and disease.
and as one who hides his face from us: A man who is despised, rejected and held of no account is not going to go out among the people until the perception of him changes and he is asked to. Jesus had a legion of followers, was always out in public, and never hid his face from the people.
Rashi says: “Because of their intense shame and humility, they were as one who hides his face from us, with their faces bound up in concealment, in order that we not see them, like a plagued man who hides his face and is afraid to look.”
When have the Jewish people been intensely ashamed of being Jews? When have they bound (covered) their faces in concealment that the people not see them? The world often secluded them in ghettos but that is the shame of the gentiles, not God’s people.
4Indeed, he bore our illnesses, and our pains-he carried them, yet we accounted him as plagued, smitten by God and oppressed.
Rashi:
Indeed, he bore our illnesses: Heb. אָכֵן, an expression of ‘but’ in all places. But now we see that this came to him not because of his low state, but that he was chastised with pains so that all the nations be atoned for with Israel’s suffering. The illness that should rightfully have come upon us, he bore.
yet we accounted him: We thought that he was hated by the Omnipresent, but he was not so, but he was pained because of our transgressions and crushed because of our iniquities.
5But he was pained because of our transgressions, crushed because of our iniquities; the chastisement of our welfare was upon him, and with his wound we were healed.
the chastisement of our welfare was upon him: The chastisement due to the welfare that we enjoyed, came upon him, for he was chastised so that there be peace for the entire world.
Keith:
Indeed, he bore our illnesses, and our pains-he carried them: The illness is not being righteous. The witnesses suffer the sickness of not being righteous and not being in right standing with God. God’s righteous servant suffers by the chastisement, punishment, bruising, crushing and maltreatment laid on him by the words and power of God to make him suitable for His purpose that might prosper. A purpose that includes making the many righteous by his knowledge with long life. The righteous servant bearing up to this fire of refinement is bearing the illness and pain of unrighteousness of the Jewish people to be a recognized prophet of God, that in and of itself will draw the Jewish people back to Judaism, reconcile the families one to the other, and make the many righteous.
The book of Ezekiel is the key to understanding Isaiah 53. The purpose of Ezekiel was to be a prophet to the exiles of Assyria/Babylon and to prepare him God said He would make Ezekiel’s forehead like adamant, as hard as flint, because the exiles would not listen to him for they did not listen to God. And God maltreats and punishes him for the punishment of the houses of Israel and Judah for their sins. For 430 days he is pinned to the ground, crushed and bruised, eating nothing but bread, chastised by the words and hand of God. A fire of refinement similar to what a cadet goes through to become a marine or navy seal.
Rashi says “Indeed, he bore our illnesses: Heb. אָכֵן, an expression of ‘but’ in all places. But now we see that this came to him not because of his low state, but that he was chastised with pains so that all the nations be atoned for with Israel’s suffering. The illness that should rightfully have come upon us, he bore.”
This says that God chastised, which means to discipline, especially by corporal punishment all of the Jewish people, so that all of the gentiles will be atoned of their sins for Israel’s suffering. This is the ideology of the Christians. Vicarious suffering of one man for the sins of another contrary to God’s Teachings. I cannot make any sense of his last sentence. The illness that should have come upon the Jewish people Israel bore, is what I believe he is saying.
Jesus did not bear the illness or endure the pains of the Jewish people. God does not accept or commit human sacrifice and by His Teachings no man bears the sins of another man. In the days after the crucifixion of Jesus people still bore their own sickness, disease and pains in a time of great brutality and oppression by the Romans.
we accounted him as plagued, smitten by God and oppressed: This describes a man that God does not like, a sinner whose life is full of bad events, sickness, and suffering. God’s righteous servant will have had persistent hardships and troubles; severely injured; and have been grievously affected especially by disease. None of which describe all of the Jewish people or Jesus.
These are the “qualities” that identify him as God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous. It is this life that has prepared him to be the teacher of righteousness and those who listen to and heed him and repent of their sins and iniquities are made whole and healed.
6We all went astray like sheep, we have turned, each one on his way, and the Lord accepted his prayers for the iniquity of all of us.
Rashi:
We all went astray like sheep: Now it is revealed that all the heathens (nations [mss.]) had erred.
accepted his prayers: He accepted his prayers and was appeased concerning the iniquity of all of us, that He did not destroy His world.
accepted… prayers: Heb. הִפְגִּיעַ, espriad in O.F., an expression of supplication.
Keith:
We all went astray like sheep: The Jewish people, who are the witnesses and the speakers of verse’s 1-6, stopped following the laws of God in one manner or another.
And the Lord accepted his prayers for the iniquity of all of us: This would occur in the day of the Lord when God requires a man to be His visible representation and speak His words (as Moses did). In the day of the Lord the righteous servant arrives with the new covenant of Jeremiah 31 with forgiveness of the iniquities and sins of the Jewish people.
This is the last of the verses by the witnesses of God’s righteous servant. The second speaker of Isaiah 53 is Isaiah in verses 7 through 10.
7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he would not open his mouth; like a lamb to the slaughter he would be brought, and like a ewe that is mute before her shearers, and he would not open his mouth.
Rashi:
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted: Behold he was oppressed by taskmasters and people who exert pressure.
and he was afflicted: with verbal taunts, sorparlec in O.F.
yet he would not open his mouth: He would suffer and remain silent like the lamb that is brought to the slaughter, and like the ewe that is mute before her shearers.
and he would not open his mouth: This refers to the lamb brought to the slaughter.
Keith:
7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted: This verse can be identified in the book of Ezekiel. God oppresses and maltreats him, not man. Oppression and maltreatment is a part of being chastised and punished by the words and power of God to be made suitable for His purpose. With God you are always submissive.
It is necessary to break the will of a man and to temper and calm his soul and emotions. Ezekiel was oppressed and maltreated but remained submissive bearing the punishment of others for 430 days. Ezekiel was not crushed with disease and did not offer himself for guilt as the righteous servant does. God just seized him and made him suitable to be a prophet of God for the Assyrian/Babylonian exiles. Ezekiel said he went in bitterness and the fury of his spirit in the hand of God. He was told the exiles would not listen to him for they did not listen to God. Not only did they not listen to him they laughed at him. He was rejected and held of no account.
yet he would not open his mouth: Ezekiel was sent to his house and God bound him with the cords of His power so that he could not go out among the people. To the people, Ezekiel was silent as a lamb. The man who is described and becomes God’s righteous servant will be cut off from the land of the living and be silent as a lamb to all that know him while God prepares him to be suitable for His purpose that might prosper. Just as He did with Ezekiel.
Rashi does not explain how or when this happened to the Jewish people as the man Israel. 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. He was not silent as a lamb.
8From imprisonment and from judgment he is taken, and his generation who shall tell? For he was cut off from the land of the living; because of the transgression of my people, a plague befell them.
From imprisonment and from judgment he is taken: The prophet reports and says that the heathens (nations [mss., K’li Paz]) will say this at the end of days, when they see that he was taken from the imprisonment that he was imprisoned in their hands and from the judgment of torments that he suffered until now.
and his generation: The years that passed over him.
who shall tell?: The tribulations that befell him, for from the beginning, he was cut off and exiled from the land of the living that is the land of Israel for because of the transgression of my people, this plague came to the righteous among them.
Keith:
From imprisonment and from judgment he is taken: The oppressive judgment is being guilty and receiving a sentence of imprisonment in his home and of maltreatment, chastisement, punishment, bruising and crushing for the sins of the Jewish people, until suitable for God’s purpose. A purpose that includes making the many righteous.
The judgment 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 an oppressive judgment. It was not a judgment of being taken away. It was a sentence of death. He was executed by crucifixion. With a judgment of death, you do not receive the long life that is part of the covenant between God and His righteous servant.
For he was cut off from the land of the living: Cut off from the land of the living by a man given long life means cut off from society and material things of the world. Ezekiel was cut off from the land of the living bound by God’s power in his house as he went through a process of refinement of soul and self to be made suitable for God’s purpose of being a prophet to the Assyrian/Babylon exiles:
“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
because of the transgression of my people: Ezekiel suffers the punishment of the houses of Israel and Judah for 430 days. The houses of Judah and Israel did suffer their punishment in exile. This is just a part of the refinement of Ezekiel. It would have infuriated the spirit of the priestly man who spent his life trying to bring the Jewish people to repentance to be told he is suffering their punishment for their sins. A spirit that God was calming by infuriating it on purpose, over and over again.
Jesus was never confined to his abode away from everyone that he knew. Being cut off from the land of the living does not mean death. Jesus was not cut off from the land of the living. He was executed. Cut off means you cannot get to or have something.
9And he gave his grave to the wicked, and to the wealthy with his kinds of death, because he committed no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
And he gave his grave to the wicked: He subjected himself to be buried according to anything the wicked of the heathens (nations [mss., K’li Paz]) would decree upon him, for they would penalize him with death and the burial of donkeys in the intestines of the dogs.
to the wicked: According to the will of the wicked, he was willing to be buried, and he would not deny the living God.
and to the wealthy with his kinds of death: and to the will of the ruler he subjected himself to all kinds of death that he decreed upon him, because he did not wish to agree to (denial) [of the Torah] to commit evil and to rob like all the heathens (nations [mss., K’li Paz]) among whom he lived.
and there was no deceit in his mouth: to accept idolatry (to accept a pagan deity as God [Parshandatha]).
Keith:
And he gave his grave to the wicked, and to the wealthy with his kinds of death: This translation of the Hebrew text to English seems to say he gave his grave to the wicked and he also gave it to the wealthy, who either had his kind of death or were like him. The translation of the Hebrew Bible by the Jewish Publication Society begun in 1955 and published in 1985 is “And 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.”
This verse says the righteous servant of God was poor but dies a rich man. The righteous servant of God becomes poor when God cuts him off from the world and then he is given the many as his portion and receives the multitude as his spoil. He will die a rich man.
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. The Gospels say Jesus was buried in a tomb purchased by a rich man. But even with his grave set among the rich he was still among the wicked and he was still poor.
10And the Lord wished to crush him, He made him ill; if his soul makes itself restitution, he shall see children, he shall prolong his days, and God’s purpose shall prosper in his hand.
Rashi:
And the Lord wished to crush him, He made him ill: The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to crush him and to cause him to repent; therefore, he made him ill.
If his soul makes itself restitution, etc.: Said the Holy One, blessed be He, “I will see, if his soul will be given and delivered with My holiness to return it to Me as restitution for all that he betrayed Me, I will pay him his recompense, and he will see children, etc.” This word אָשָׁם is an expression of ransom that one gives to the one against when he sinned, amende in O.F., to free from faults, similar to the matter mentioned in the episode of the Philistines (I Sam. 6:3), “Do not send it away empty, but you shall send back with it a guilt offering (אָשָׁם).”
Keith:
After World War II, 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 and published in 1985 directly from the original Hebrew text, the Leningrad Codex. The Leningrad Codex is the oldest complete edition of the Hebrew Bible in existence. It dates to around 1008-1010 A.D. However, the Leningrad Codex, although complete, is not the best quality Hebrew manuscript. Although carefully hand-written, it was corrected against the Aleppo Codex – and the Aleppo Codex remains the best quality manuscript. The Leningrad Codex is so reliable that it is the Hebrew text from which nearly all modern translations have been translated.
The translation of Isaiah 52 and 53 by Artscroll and Rashi’s commentary can be found online at Chabad.Org. They are identical. Chabad says their Tanakh is the “English translation of the entire Tanakh (Tanach) with Rashi’s commentary. This Hebrew Bible was edited by esteemed translator and scholar, Rabbi A.J. Rosenberg.”
I have been unable to find the source of the Artscroll translation. It is not directly from the Leningrad Codex or the Aleppo Codex. It is not from the Greek translation called the Septuagint later translated to English that is the source of the Christian Holy Bible. However, with the translation of Artscroll and Chabad, like the Christian Bible, two of the most important parts of the verse ten translation changes the meaning and purpose of this passage.
The primary purpose is to make certain that the animal sacrificial and atonement Laws of Leviticus cannot be used for the man described. It is the only reason God would crush a man with disease to make him be His servant. You cannot offer a blemished animal. First, no man will refuse God. Second, God does not need a man’s permission to make him a servant. He is God. In the book of Ezekiel God seized him and made him suitable for the purpose of being a prophet to the Assyria/Babylon exiles, making his forehead like flint (adament) and calming the fury of His spirit.
The translation of Artscroll, the Holy Bible (KJV), and the translation used by Jews for Judaism change the meaning of the verse with “if his soul makes itself restitution”, “when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin”, and “if his soul would acknowledge guilt”, respectively.
Rashi’s commentary says Israel is God’s righteous servant. That cannot be. He is one of the people Israel. When did his soul make restitution along with every other Jew in the world? When did the Jewish people as one man become righteous? The Christians are to make the soul of Jesus an offering for sin. How is accepting Jesus as your Lord and savior an offering of his soul for your sin. Does Jesus die again every time a gentile believes in him?
Jews for Judaism in their commentary in “Jews For Judaism: Isaiah 53 Verse by Verse”: says that “In order for the suffering to accomplish its purpose the servant needs to acknowledge and to recognize his own guilt.” What Jews for Judaism does not tell us is when this happened. Or how it will happen. When will all the Jews of the world collectively acknowledge their guilt? Why do they need to? In the day of the Lord the new covenant with forgiveness of the iniquities and sin of all the Jewish people arrives with Elijah as the messenger.
The purpose and meaning of Isaiah 53 is completely changed if it is not fulfilled by a particular man in the day of the Lord by making himself an offering for guilt without any reference or association to the animal atonement and worship laws of Leviticus for the forgiveness of sin or guilt, with the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb (Jesus) or unblemished rams (the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust) according to Rabbi Tovia Singer of Outreach Judaism.
The translation of the Hebrew Bible by the Jewish Publication Society with learned academic professors selected for the task, who spent 30 years of their lives creating a completely new translation of the Hebrew, is the most current and best translation of the Hebrew Bible to English available today. My commentary on Isaiah 53/10 is based on their translation:
“But 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.” Isaiah 53/10 (Jewish Publication Society, 1985)
But the Lord chose to crush him by disease: God’s righteous servant will be familiar with disease and his life crushed because of disease that he is afflicted with by the hand and power of God.
That, if he made himself an offering for guilt: It is an offer; an offering of one’s self and soul to God for the guilt (of sinning) of the Jewish people as a covenant in return for long life, and to be God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous by his knowledge, and by his devotion and reverence for the Lord. The offering is only a test of his devotion to God as was the binding of Isaac.
When the test of devotion is set before the righteous servant the new covenant has arrived, and all of the iniquities and sins of the Jewish people are forgiven and God remembers them no more. The guilt, an emotion, is from not following the Laws and Teachings of God by the Jewish people. The test of devotion is revealed in Malachi 3 and God’s final words on the day of the Lord. This is when God says He is coming:
“1Behold, I am sending My messenger to clear the way before Me, and the Lord whom you seek shall come to His Temple suddenly. As for the angel of the covenant that you desire, he is already coming.”
There are only two covenants that have not been delivered. The new covenant for a time to come in Jeremiah with sin forgiveness and the covenant of friendship. The covenant of friendship comes with the shepherd, servant, and anointed one of God whom He calls David. The angel of the covenant must be the angel of the “new” covenant. The phrase “he is already coming” means he arrives before God and the messenger, who is Elijah.
That, and the fact that God has to speak to the man to tell him that it was He that afflicted him with disease and crushed his life. It must be a life threatening disease for God must tell him that he “might” receive long life if he agrees to offer himself for guilt (of sinning by the Jewish people). God is not asking the man to give up his life as a sacrifice. That would be against His Teachings to the Israelites not to sacrifice their children through His prophet and the purpose of the offering of himself is to receive long life.
The reality is there is no guilt or sin for the man to bear. The new covenant with sin forgiveness of all the Jewish people on earth has arrived before the offering is made and no vicarious suffering for the sins of others has occurred. God knows this before He covenants with the man. A covenant that if he makes himself an offering for guilt God “might” not let him die of the disease. A test of devotion. Trusting that God will not let him die.
He might see offspring and have long life: God’s righteous servant has or will have children.
This is the last of the verses by Isaiah. The third and last speaker is the Lord in verses 11 and 12.
11From the toil of his soul he would see, he would be satisfied; with his knowledge My servant would vindicate the just for many, and their iniquities he would bear.
Rashi:
From the toil of his soul: he would eat and be satisfied, and he would not rob and plunder.
with his knowledge… would vindicate the just: My servant would judge justly all those who came to litigate before him.
and their iniquities he would bear: He would bear, in the manner of all the righteous, as it is said (Num. 18:1): “You and your sons shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary.”
Keith:
“Out 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;” Isaiah 53/11 (Jewish Publication Society, 1985)
Out of his anguish, he shall see it; He shall enjoy it to the full through his devotion: The anguish is the emotional and physical pain Ezekiel suffered by punishment in the power of God to be made suitable for His purpose. God’s righteous servant, when he comes out of God’s fire of refinement, and the anguish of it, is devoted to God and will enjoy being the teacher of righteousness by his knowledge with long life. This is also a reference to Isaiah 11/2 where one of the attributes of the spirit that alights upon the anointed one is “A spirit of devotion and reverence for the Lord.”
My righteous servant makes the many righteous, It is their punishment that he bears: God’s righteous servant, a man of pain, suffering, and wounds throughout his life, with persistent hardships and troubles, grievously affected especially by disease, and severely injured at one time or another, as though plagued, smitten and afflicted by God.
These are the “qualities” that identify him as God’s righteous servant who makes the many righteous. It is this life that has prepared him to be the teacher of righteousness and those who listen to and heed him and repent of their future sins (the new covenant having forgiven all past sins) in the practice of Judaism and returning to synagogue are made righteous. Entered into the scroll of remembrance of Malachi 3.
12Therefore, I will allot him a portion in public, and with the strong he shall share plunder, because he poured out his soul to death, and with transgressors he was counted; and he bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors.
Rashi:
Therefore: Because he did this, I will allot him an inheritance and a lot in public with the Patriarchs.
he poured out his soul to death: Heb. הֶעֱרָה. An expression like (Gen. 24: 20), “And she emptied (וַתְּעַר) her pitcher.”
and with transgressors he was counted: He suffered torments as if he had sinned and transgressed, and this is because of others; he bore the sin of the many.
and interceded for the transgressors: through his sufferings, for good came to the world through him.
Keith:
“Assuredly, 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.” Isaiah 53/12 (Jewish Publication Society, 1985)
For he exposed himself to death: God’s righteous servant is crushed with disease that exposes him to death but given long life. Rashi says the Jewish people as one man Israel “poured out their soul unto death”, but does not tell us when this happened. Jesus was not exposed to death. He died.
And was numbered among the sinners: God’s righteous servant will have been a sinner, not a religious man, in the beginning.
Jesus is said to be without sin. That he was crucified with a sinner to his right and a sinner to his left and counted as one of them in the story of Jesus as the Christians interpret and explain this verse does not fulfill this verse. Jesus may have looked and been thought of as a sinner for being among them, but he was still said to be sinless. This verse, as with every verse of Isaiah 53, is descriptive for the identification of a man in the day of the Lord. Appearing to be a sinner is not the same as being a sinner.
21
Rashi’s Commentary on Isaiah 52 and Isaiah 53
A verse by verse commentary on Isaiah 52 to show that the description of God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 begins with Isaiah 52/14 and not Isaiah 52/13 in an interpretation that God’s righteous servant is Israel.
Rashi’s commentary on Isaiah 53 that Israel is described shows that the purpose and meaning of Isaiah 53/10 is completely changed if it is not fulfilled by a particular man in the day of the Lord by making himself an offering for guilt, without vicarious suffering for others (Rashi) or an association to the animal atonement and worship laws of Leviticus for the forgiveness of sin or guilt with the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb (Jesus) or unblemished rams (the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust) according to Rabbi Tovia Singer of Outreach Judaism.
22.
The Leper Scholar vs. Jesus in Isaiah 53
A verse by verse commentary on how Jesus cannot be God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 and how a man in the day of the Lord will fulfill every verse. Jesus, Paul and Peter claimed that he was the man described and all of Christianity claims he is today. Jesus was never crushed with disease so that he would offer himself for guilt and receive long life and see his children to serve the purpose of God with devotion and make the many righteous by his knowledge. Jesus was unblemished and died young without children.
23.
The Leper Scholar vs. Israel in Isaiah 53
(Guilt-Offering)
Rabbi Singer says: “The offering of guilt in this verse is actually literally translated as guilt-offering. The significance between the guilt-offering and the Holocaust is so astounding, even as grotesque of a thought as it was, I could not over look it. A guilt-offering is defined in Leviticus chapter 7 and goes something like this. 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.”
The man is exposed to death (near death) not killed or murdered or sacrificed. He is given long life receiving as his portion the many he makes righteous and as his spoil the multitude in Isaiah 53/11. The Jewish people cannot be guilt offerings. “Israel” was blemished before and during the Holocaust. You cannot offer blemished animals. You cannot offer humans. Offering yourself and soul for guilt is not a guilt offering.
24.
The Leper Scholar vs. Israel in Isaiah 53
(Exaltation)
Jews for Judaism believes Israel is the teacher of righteousness primarily by an exaltation saying “With the servant’s exaltation, the kings will finally realize that the ultimate goal toward which God was leading all of mankind was not the exaltation of the object of their own devotion, but that it was the exaltation of the object of Israel’s devotion that all of history was leading to. They will realize that much of what they considered Godly was directly opposing God’s plan. And they will realize that the servant’s activities were pleasing to God all along. They will recognize that any blessing that they merited was because of their association with the servant. The purification process that the servant had to undergo was more for the general benefit of mankind than for his own benefit.”
Jews for Judaism has taken a phrase from God that His servant will be exalted and everything stated here is simply the thoughts of the writer on what that could mean. There is nothing in the scripture to support any of it. What Kings will realize and recognize from an exaltation that may or may not happen is not from God. He did not say these things would result from an exaltation of the Jewish people.
25.
The Resurrection of the Dead
Ezekiel 1 and 10 are together a vision of the resurrection of the spirits of the dead to heaven. Ezekiel 37 gives a vivid account of raising the dead to life into new bodies of flesh and bone. The resurrection of the dead in a human body is said to be a sign that Moshiach has arrived or that it will happen in his lifetime. A resurrection of the dead would be a nullification of the natural order and innovation in the work of creation. Something Rambam and the Sages said will not happen in the era of Moshiach.
The burden on Israel and the practicalities of such an event of millions of people suddenly appearing in the land from the time of Abraham to today is unimaginable. Millions from the Holocaust alone. It would be a prophecy that destroyed the government and the state of Israel. Judaism’s reliance on everything the Sages say in the Oral Law is important for the laws of the Torah. The day of the Lord through the prophets must be interpreted with the evolution of humanity from the ancient age to the age of information in mind. And again in the eras to come.
26.
Reckoning and Dismissal
God said “I am going to deal with the shepherds! I will demand a reckoning of them for My flock, and I will dismiss them from tending the flock.” “Then 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. I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David shall be a ruler among them—I the Lord have spoken. And I will grant them a covenant of friendship.” All Rabbis are dismissed when the anointed one David arrives. Not from their synagogues and constituents as that is not possible. The Rabbis will not be in right standing with God even though they are sin free and God remembers their sins no more. They join those in Malachi 3 who do not heed and fear Him. They will not be entered onto the scroll of remembrance without atonement and repentance.
27.
Avenge the Revenge
Rashi’s commentary on Malachi 3/1 “and the angel of the covenant: who avenges the revenge of the covenant.” Rashi’s interpretation is that the covenant of the angel had been revenged and the angel avenges that revenge. The covenant is not described nor is there an explanation as to how this covenant was “revenged” or how the angel avenges the revenge. In Malachi 3/1 the covenant is described as the covenant “that you desire”. There are only two specific covenants of the scripture that had not been delivered in the time of Rashi and until this day. The covenant of friendship and the new covenant with sin forgiveness.
28.
Ezekiel
God does not crush Ezekiel with disease so that he would offer himself for guilt to God. God seizes him. God does not have to ask you to do anything. You do not say no to God. He is God. All of this makes Ezekiel suitable for God’s purpose with him to prosper as a prophet to the Assyrian/ Babylon exiles. To have Ezekiel do and say whatever he is commanded to do and say by God without hesitation, anger or remorse (hurt feelings). To remove his bitterness at being maltreated by God. Just as God does with His righteous servant of Isaiah 53.
29.
God’s Purpose Which Might Prosper
God’s righteous servant as Elijah shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents by being “mindful of the Teaching of My servant Moses, whom I charged at Horeb with laws and rules for all Israel.”, so that, when God comes to return to His Temple He does not strike the whole land with utter destruction. Jesus had nothing to do with this purpose of Elijah that might prosper of Isaiah 53 and Malachi 3 saying in Matthew 10/34-36:
Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Matthew 10/34-36 Holy Bible
30.
Another Proof of Elijah
God specifically took Elijah to heaven and has him return. His knowledge of heaven is proof that he is Elijah. God’s righteous servant as Elijah will have knowledge of the heaven God is creating for only the Jewish people. He will know the environment; how the spirits of the Jewish people will be able to think without a mind; how spirits communicate; be familiar with the angel of His Presence and angels in general; what it means for God to answer you before you pray; how God is in you as He is in the angels of heaven; and how it is that the former things of your life will be remembered no more.
31.
Victory and Vindication
(Isaiah 61)
Sin forgiveness in the book of Isaiah is for the Assyrian/Babylon exiles and the second Temple and sin forgiveness for the Roman dispersal and the third Temple is in the book of Jeremiah for a time to come. The time to come is the day of the Lord. “I will put My Teaching into their inmost being and inscribe it upon their hearts” of the new covenant is a way of saying the purpose of Elijah to bring the families of the Jewish people back to practicing Judaism and righteousness will prosper. Those that heed and fear God will return to synagogue learning and practicing the Teachings and laws of God to be righteous and in right standing with Him effectively putting God’s Teaching into their inmost being and inscribing it upon their hearts.
32.
The New Heaven
God’s scripture is written for eras gone by and eras to come. People of ancient times and the middle ages thought of the dead coming back to life and living long lives in a brutal, savage time of humanity. Planting vineyards and enjoying the fruit and not having it taken by others; dwelling in a home they had built; and not toiling for others was the heaven they thought of. Not a spiritual heaven where you rise to God and live with Him. To them, God was always angry and the cause of their troubles.
God says He is creating a new heaven and a new earth. The new heaven where the seed and name of Israel shall endure. And God will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in her people while the new earth is being formed. God calls the new heaven “Jerusalem” as a direct reference to heaven being for the Jewish people where the name Israel shall endure.
33.
God’s House of Prayer and His House in Heaven
A house of prayer for all peoples means a house of prayer for all Jewish people who are people from the nations of the earth. God knew they would be defeated, deported and dispersed throughout the world. This was a part of God’s plan when He formed Israel for the new heaven He was creating. He chose them and a land for them and had the Hebrew Bible written at His command and direction through His anointed ones and His prophets.
God is creating a new heaven of the spirits and souls of the Jewish people for the name of Israel to endure. Those who are righteous and in right standing with Him will be placed in angelic bodies as a new host of the Lord of Hosts in heaven. A host of angels representing the people of the world. The angels of Israel.
34.
God’s Power in Creation
God prepared for a day of the Lord when creation can turn one of two ways for the Jewish people. God living among them in His Temple or utter destruction to the land. In some manner not spoken of in the Torah, Moses was put through punishment and chastisement just as Ezekiel was and the righteous servant of God of Isaiah 53 is put through. God incites and brings out emotions with chastisement and punishment and tempers the spirit and soul of a man in His power. It humbles a man. When God uses His power to change the spirit and soul of a living man in His creation it is an event not to be taken lightly. God enjoys watching creation unfold naturally as He knew it would not as He can make it happen. Not changing it in His power. That is nothing to Him. If He thinks it and wills it, it is.
35.
Stirring the Spirit of Armies
There was a time when believing God stirred up armies and nations against the kingdoms of Samaria and Judah and took the sword, pestilence, and famine against the Jewish people for not obeying Him fit with how people explained bad events. And God had His prophets write His stories accordingly for the ancient age and the middle ages. When He says He stirred up the armies against Israel He had a purpose. Whether it was the defeat by an enemy or loss of a Temple and exile God says He had something to do with it because He was angry. The reality is that the defeat and loss was already on the way as part of His creation and God is His creation.
36.
Born with Iniquity
In Psalms 51/7 King David said “Indeed I was born with iniquity; with sin, my mother conceived me.” The iniquity came from his father Jesse fathering a child with a woman outside of the tribes. He is confessing a deep emotional pain in a Psalm for all to read and it is a lesson of the pain of interfaith marriages for children. Today, under the Halacha David would be a gentile of the tribe of Judah if he could not prove his mother was Jewish.
This would explain a story creating a Jewish mother for David who is not in the Hebrew Bible. The Sages and Rabbis did not know who his mother was to confirm he was Jewish. This is an example of the stories and lore of the Talmud at times taking from the meaning and lessons of God’s stories and Psalms. “Be careful to observe only that which I enjoin upon you: neither add to it nor take away from it.” Deuteronomy 13/1
37.
Maimonides (The Rambam)
Rambam and the Sages believed that a prophetic spirit would rest upon Moshiach and that he was the purger and refiner. The attributes of God’s spirit that alights upon Moshiach in Isaiah 11/2 do not include a prophetic spirit. The Rambam and the Sages left this out of their interpretation: “But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can hold out when he appears? For he is like a smelter’s fire and like fuller’s lye.” And: “But [first] I will step forward to contend against you, and I will act as a relentless accuser against those who have no fear of Me:” Those who have no fear of Me would be the priestly tribe of the Levites and not pertaining to genealogy or tribal lineage but to Ezekiel 34: “Thus said the Lord God: I am going to deal with the shepherds! I will demand a reckoning of them for My flock, and I will dismiss them from tending the flock” Malachi 3/3 says that “he shall purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver so that they shall present offerings in righteousness.” This is God. It is not Elijah or David.
38.
The Sign of the Prophet
The righteous servant of God of Isaiah 53 is a prophet who serves God with devotion to His purpose. He is the fulfillment of this prophecy of Isaiah by his description. He is not a prophet who predicts the future like a seer. He is a servant. From the Laws of the Basic Principles of The Torah, Chapter Ten: “Moses vouched for Joshua, and all of Israel believed in him before he performed a sign.” Isaiah vouches for God’s righteous servant by describing him. The unnamed man who fulfills all the verses is a prophet of God and all of the people are to believe in him.
39.
Jonah and the Righteous Servant of Isaiah 53
Jonah is so emotionally distressed knowing God will relent of his anger on Nineveh he desires to die. So God prepares another lesson for Jonah. He comforts him with a shade plant so he is happy and loses his anger. Then God takes it away and brings wind and heat that physically make Jonah so miserable he desires to die again. God will cause the circumstances and expose a prophet to death to get him to do as he is told or to offer himself for guilt. The righteous servant of Isaiah 53 is stricken and crushed with disease and then is chastised, punished, maltreated, crushed and bruised until he is suitable for God’s purpose and taught the scripture so that by his knowledge the many are made righteous.
40.
Job and the Righteous Servant of G-d
In the book of Job God tests the devotion of a righteous man whom God knows will think that God owes him an explanation for his suffering by indirectly crushing him with disease. In the book of Isaiah God creates the devotion of a sinner by directly crushing him with disease and accepting the offering of his self and soul for guilt.
41.
The Man Clothed in Linen is Elijah
This is the new covenant with sin forgiveness that comes with Elijah and the angel of the covenant. The man dressed in linen (a priest) represents Elijah and the spirit within the wheels with the cherubs is the Holy spirit (the angel of God’s Presence). The wheelwork and cherubs with the fire and coals are first seen in chapter one of Ezekiel going to and fro in all directions throughout the land gathering eyes which are the spirits of the Jewish people and in chapter ten they are delivered to God in heaven.
42.
Moses and the Angel
God had Moses set a rule before the Israelite’s regarding the angel He sent to guard them on the way and to bring them to the place that He had made ready: “Pay heed to him and obey him. Do not defy him, for he will not pardon your offenses, since My Name [God] is in him.” There are no orders, instructions, rules or commandments between an angel and Moses or the Israelite’s. They all come from Moses who receives them from God. This angel is in Moses. Moses is a man with divine beings who is a messenger of God’s laws. The divine beings are God and the angel of His Presence. A man with divine beings is a host of the Lord’s host. The descendant of King David that the spirit of God alights upon is a host of the Lord’s host. One God, one angel and one man. The prophets of God.
43.
Moses and Joshua the Attendant
On the first ascent of Moses to the Mountain and return his attendant Joshua was with him. After Moses descended and would enter and exit the Tent of Meeting the Lord would speak to Moses and then he would return to the camp; but his attendant, Joshua son of Nun, a youth, would not stir out of the Tent. Joshua’s name was Hosea at this time and the face of Moses was not seen as radiant. When Moses ascends the Mountain the second time and returns the skin of his face is radiant. And Hosea is not mentioned again on the Mountain or in the Tent. Joshua the attendant represents the angel of God’s Presence who has alighted upon and dwells within (and without) Moses of the radiant face. Moses had become a host of the Lord of Hosts. A man and divine beings.
44.
Moses and the Seventy Elders
God tells Moses “I will draw upon the spirit that is on you and put it upon them; they shall share the burden of the people with you, and you shall not bear it alone.” What was drawn from Moses was the spirit of God and the spirit of God is also a person. When each heard the angelic voice of the spirit of God speak to them they became very excited depending on what the person of the spirit of God was saying to them. The important part for Moses is that each of the seventy would now in one accord have the idea and thought that they would share the burden of the people with Moses. There is no account of God commanding the seventy elders to share the burden of the people with Moses. The spirit of God told them to.
45.
The Word of the Lord and Elijah
The “word of the Lord” is at the cave with Elijah and speaks the same words that God speaks to Elijah away from the cave after He passed by and revealed His power at the cave (but He was not at the cave). The person of the spirit of the Holy God speaks the words of the Lord to man as one person to another person and is the “word of the Lord” throughout the Hebrew Bible. The person of the spirit of the Holy God is an angelic messenger of the Lord’s words. He is the angel of His Presence and the Holy Spirit. An angel whose angelic body is the spirit of God.
46.
Psalms 2 and the Day of the Lord
(A commentary for today. The day of the Lord)
1Why do nations assemble, and peoples plot vain things;
Why do nations assemble: antisemitism and hatred of the Jewish people.
and peoples plot vain things: Throughout the world and particularly the middle east there are plans and schemes to destroy Israel and the Jewish people.
47.
David Shunned and Despised (Psalm 69)
God’s righteous servant was despised and shunned by men but ends up making the many righteous and recieving as his portion the many, and the multitude as his spoil. Psalm 69 reveals that like God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53 King David was shunned and despised before he became King after his anointment by Samuel.
48.
The Twelve Tribes of Israel Returned to Judah
“The first to settle in their towns, on their property, were Israelite’s, priests, Levites, and temple servants, while some of the Judahites and some of the Benjaminites and some of the Ephraimites and Manassehites settled in Jerusalem;” 1Chronicles 9/2-3
Ephraim and Manasseh were not lost tribes as many believe from writings outside of the Bible. It is said in writings by Sages and Rabbi’s that ten of the twelve tribes of Israel became lost and did not return to Judah to build the second Temple. There never were lost tribes according to the Hebrew Bible.
“When the seventh month arrived—the Israelites being settled in their towns—the entire people assembled as one man in Jerusalem.” Ezra 3/1
When the people Israel gather as one man it is all twelve tribes and the Levites (the priestly tribe without an allotment of the promised lands).
49.
The Last Prophet of God
Muslims believe that the Quran was orally revealed by God to the final Prophet, Muhammad, through the archangel Gabriel (Jibril), incrementally over a period of some 23 years, beginning on 22 December 609 CE, when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632, the year of his death. Muslims regard the Quran as Muhammad’s most important miracle, a proof of his prophethood, and the culmination of a series of divine messages starting with those revealed to Adam and ending with Muhammad.
God chose His last messenger long before the time of Mohammad in Malachi 3. Elijah, to arrive in a time to come and that time is here to deliver the new covenant to the Jewish people and reconcile the families one to the other through Judaism. With Elijah comes God’s servant David and the prophet like Moses. They are all one man and that man is God’s righteous servant of Isaiah 53. God’s righteous servant is the final prophet of God. Not Mohammad.
50.
The Day of the Lord
The term “day of the Lord” appears in the books of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Amos, Obadiah, Zephaniah and finally in the last book of the Prophets, Malachi. In Ezekiel and Zechariah the day of the Lord is said to be only against the nations and in Obadiah against Edom and Esau (Christianity) and the nations. The prophets warn that the day of the Lord is near, but it is not the end of the world. The wicked and sinners will be punished and justice established. The destiny of the world will be changed. God returns to the earth to dwell among His people in His sanctuary on His Holy Mount Zion in Jerusalem and the world will know that He sanctifies Israel.
Taking all of these verses of Malachi 3 together, including God returning to His Temple which must be rebuilt with His messenger clearing the way before Him; a new covenant where God forgives the iniquities of the Jewish people and remembers their sins no more; the preparing of a scroll of remembrance for those that revere and esteem His name and heed Him and entry to heaven; and being mindful of His Teachings and laws as observant Jews rather than strict compliance, the concept of the day of the Lord by all previous prophets is changed. The utter destruction prophesied save for a surviving remnant is alleviated.
There is no mention of the destruction of the nations. It is implied there will be destruction in the land of Israel though not necessarily utter destruction. To build the third Temple there will be war in the middle east causing destruction in Israel and the loss of life among the Jewish people. But it is the building of the third Temple that prevents utter destruction by the nations against Israel.