The Festival of weeks – Isaiah 41:8

Posted on June 5, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Festival of Weeks – Isaiah 41:8

 Love doesn’t calculate. Love does not hear the discouraging voices.  Love is innocent. Love yearns and it follows. But love does not ask: what will I gain? Could I really get there?

Scripture doesn’t throw around the term: “love” very lightly. In all of Scripture, Abraham is the only one that God describes as: “the one who loved me”. (It is said of Solomon: “and he loved the Lord” – 1 Kings 3:3, and David declares: “I love you Lord of my strength” – Psalm 18:2. Indeed, David’s love for God still inspires Israel today and Solomon wrote the ultimate love-song; Song of Songs, but Abraham still stands out with his love for God highlighted as a part of his very identity, and this from God, in the first person.)

Abraham did not know where his love would lead him to. Abraham did not know where it could possibly lead him to. How could a created being form a bond with the Creator of all? But love does not calculate – love just follows. Abraham saw that God is kindness, he followed kindness. Abraham saw that God is truth, he followed truth. He didn’t stop to ask himself: how could I ever reach God’s kindness or God’s truth? Abraham did not hear the discouraging voice that contended: “you will never be righteous in His eyes” – “you are inescapably tainted with the sin of Adam”. Abraham yearned and he followed.

Ruth didn’t calculate either. She didn’t ask herself: what hope is there for a Moabite widow in God’s nation? She just followed.

Israel didn’t calculate. They did not ask themselves: where will this relationship end up? How could we, created beings, form any meaningful relationship with the Creator of all? They just followed (Jeremiah 2:2).

The Festival of weeks is not about love. Passover is about love. Passover is when Israel followed God into the unknown, into the impossible. Passover is followed by seven weeks. Seven weeks of yearning. Seven weeks of following.

The Festival of weeks is God’s reciprocation to sincere love. On this day God reached out to Israel with an eternal embrace. He presented His beloved nation with the innermost expression of His will; His holy Torah. God formed an eternal bond with this nation that loved Him; a bond that would have been impossible to imagine. A bond between Creator and created. But love does not follow rules.

Ruth’s love brought David and Solomon to the world. Ruth’s love for God brought her to the center of God’s plan for the universe. She could never have dreamed of such an outcome. But love does not look at the outcome. Love simply follows.

God responded to Abraham’s love with Isaac, the child of laughter. Laughter – because it does not make sense. A child to a one hundred year old man?! Not just any child. But a child that will father a nation of human beings that will be granted an eternal commission from God – a commission to carry the truth, the holiness and the blessing of the Creator of all throughout the corridors of history. Is it possible for created beings to be entrusted with the work of the Creator of all?! Could Abraham have imagined that this is where his love would lead him to? Of-course not! But Abraham wasn’t looking for a payoff when he began his journey of love. Abraham simply loved, and love does not calculate.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Holidays, Judaism | 7 Comments

For the Record

Posted on May 30, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

For the Record

To my fellow member of the human race

Peace

It has come to my attention that certain members of my people have been promulgating a doctrine that distorts the essence of the teaching that we were entrusted with.

You have heard how the Creator of all took us out of Egypt with signs and wonders and how He taught us His Torah through national revelation and through His prophet. The open miracles that God preformed for us spread our reputation as the possessors of God’s Law. These men of whom I speak, exploited our reputation as possessors of God’s truth, and they spread a teaching that has no basis in the Torah that God has bequeathed to us.

These teachers taught you that all of mankind is damned before God to eternal punishment. They taught that if a person commits one sin it is as if he or she violated all of the commandments. These men taught that the God of Israel will not forgive your sins unless you present a blood sacrifice. These men taught that the God of Israel is unapproachable. And they taught that the good deeds that you do will not bring you any closer to God.

All of these teachings are blatant falsehoods. As a member of the people who were entrusted with God’s Law, I see it as my duty to correct these falsehoods that were taught as if they were the Law of my God.

God does NOT condemn everyone to the fires of eternal damnation. You can search the Jewish Scriptures from cover to cover; you will not find one verse that supports such a teaching.

A person who commits one sin is NOT equivalent in God’s eyes as if they violated the entirety of the Law. The Scriptures explicitly teach that God judges every deed, both bad and good (Ecclesiastes12:14). The conscience that God breathed into all of us tells us that there is a great difference in God’s eyes between a person who lived a moral life on the one hand and a person who lived a life of cruelty and immorality on the other hand.

The Jewish Scriptures do NOT teach that God requires blood sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin. The Scriptures openly declare that if you turn to God in sincere repentance, God will forgive you (Isaiah 55:7).

The Jewish Scriptures do NOT teach that God is unapproachable. On the contrary, our prophets declare that God is close to all who call upon Him in truth (Psalm 145:18).

If I were to say that the good deeds that you do will bring you closer to God, I will not have said enough. Our prophets taught us that the practice of justice IS intimacy with God (Jeremiah 22:16). When we follow the universal principle of justice: “that which you hate done unto yourself, do not do unto others”, we allow God’s truth to penetrate into our psyche. When we recognize the grace of God’s goodness that is expressed in every detail of existence, and we are moved to take the goodness that we were blessed with and allow it to flow towards another creation of God, we have then connected to the kindness and love of God. It is not that these activities bring us closer to God. The practice of kindness and truth are a connection to God in and of themselves.

There is one more false teaching that these men have propagated in the name of the Torah of my God. They have encouraged people to direct their hearts in worship of and in devotion to a man who walked God’s earth and breathed God’s air like the rest of us.

If there is any teaching that is contrary to the Torah with which we were entrusted it is this one.

My nation was called upon by God to serve as His witnesses (Isaiah 43:10). God taught us that there is none beside Him that is worthy of our worship and devotion (Deuteronomy4:35). Our core duty as a witness nation before God is to remain loyal to the truth that all created beings are equally subservient to the One Creator of all. Every facet of our existence, including our ability to love and to worship belongs to God and to God alone. It is my duty as a Jew to testify to you that your heart belongs to the One Almighty God who loved your heart into existence in the first place.

There is no greater joy on earth than approaching your Creator in heartfelt prayer. You don’t need anyone to plead for you and you don’t need to bring Him a blood sacrifice. The One who lovingly created every facet of your existence will accept you. All you have to do is to trust in His love.

A Jew

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Correspondence, The Ultimate Truth | 58 Comments

Response to the Line of Fire 8

Posted on May 29, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Response to Line of Fire 8

On the May 20 2011 edition of the “Line of Fire” radio show – http://lineoffireradio.askdrbrown.org/ , Dr. Brown addressed a presentation I made on the subject of the “second coming”.

The thrust of my presentation was that the concept of a “second coming” appears nowhere in the Jewish Scriptures. Furthermore, the disciples of Jesus are reported to have been shocked by his death. If the teaching of the “second coming” can be found in the Jewish Scriptures, the disciples should have been shocked if he didn’t die. The fact that the disciples were surprised at Jesus’ death proves that the “second coming” doctrine is but an invention of people desperately trying to hang on to their belief in a prophet after his prophecy has failed.

Dr. Brown responded with the argument that by contrasting Zechariah 9:9 with Daniel 7:13, we can see the concept of a “second coming” in the Jewish Scriptures. According to Dr. Brown, Zechariah is talking of the first coming while Daniel is talking about the second coming. Dr. Brown also points to Isaiah 53 which he sees as a prophecy that is fulfilled in Jesus’ rejection, suffering and death.

Dr. Brown then presents his explanation as to why the disciples were shocked by Jesus’ death. Dr. Brown points out that the Christian Scriptures teach that Jesus clearly told his disciples about his impending death – but that they were “supernaturally blinded”. The concept was right in front of them, both in the Jewish Scriptures and in the teachings of their beloved master – but they couldn’t see it. Dr. Brown quotes Deuteronomy 29:3 to support this theory of “supernatural blindness”.

Dr. Brown then goes on to say that all traditional Jews who don’t believe in Jesus are also “supernaturally blinded”. He encourages his audience to pray for the Jewish people.

This response of Dr. Brown reveals the weakness of his entire position.

I am not referring to the weakness of his Scriptural quotations. In order to get Zechariah 9:9 to talk of the “first coming” Dr. Brown is forced to put a 2000 year (-and counting) gap between verse 9 and verse 10 without any textual justification. In order to get Daniel 7:13 to be talking of the Messiah Dr. Brown is forced to ignore the explanation of this vision that is provided by the Scripture itself (- see https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/2010/11/23/daniel-713/ . As for Dr. Brown’s reference to Isaiah 53, please see the posts under the title “Isaiah 53”.

I am also not talking about another obvious weakness in his position. If it is as Dr. Brown admits, that the disciples of Jesus had no clue that Jesus was to suffer and die, so in what way were they Christians? If one were to claim that he or she “believes in Jesus” – but doesn’t believe that Jesus’s suffered and died, would any denomination of Christianity accept this belief as “Christianity”? If Jesus’s disciples knew nothing about the suffering of the Messiah – so what DID Jesus teach them?

Furthermore, if the disciples were “supernaturally blinded” to such a critical teaching of Christianity, how can we be sure that there were no other critical points that they just “didn’t get”?

When I speak of the weakness of Dr. Brown’s position, I am referring to the theory that those who do not “see Jesus” are “supernaturally blinded”.

If we are dealing with “supernatural blindness” then how does Dr. Brown know that he is not “supernaturally blinded”? How does someone overcome this supernatural blindness if not through an honest search for truth, in humility towards God, and with respect for His word? If people who don’t “see Jesus” are “supernaturally blinded” – then why is it that many people who have “seen Jesus” – abandon their belief in Jesus after an honest study of the Scriptures? I am not referring to nominal Christians. I am referring to people who risked their lives for Jesus, people who walked with him for years upon years. These people realized that their faith in Jesus was misplaced simply through studying the issues.

The underlying premise of a discussion between people who disagree with each other is that we are all capable of identifying the truth. It is my firm belief that every human being who walks this planet possesses an ability to determine between truth and falsehood. Each of us possesses a breath of God in our nostrils (Genesis 2:7, Proverbs 20:27, Job 32:8) which takes pleasure in truth and despises falsehood.

Yes, we are all biased, and our biases often prevent us from seeing the truth – and this is what is spoken of in Deuteronomy 29:3. The passage is referring to a natural tendency towards rebelliousness which prevented the Jewish people from absorbing the full spiritual impact of the lessons that God had taught them.

But a bias is not a “supernatural blindness”. There is a limit to what a bias can prevent you from seeing. You will not walk into a brick wall because your bias prevented you from seeing it. The entire basis of this discussion is that we are both (Dr. Brown and myself) predisposed to our respective positions, but that through an honest and thorough discussion, the truth will be brought to light – with such clarity – that our respective biases will not prevent us from seeing the truth.  All that this blog is – is my struggle to bring more and more clarity to this discussion.

When Dr. Brown throws in the “blindness” card, he has admitted that he sees no way of bringing more clarity to his position. He is asserting that all the evidence that an honest human being needs to come to a decision is already on the table. It is only supernatural blindness that prevents us from seeing the “truth” of his position.

I address the following question to any believer in Jesus that may be reading these words. Are you satisfied with this argument? Are you comfortable with the belief that the tens of thousands of Jews who died with the love of God in their hearts were “supernaturally blinded”? Does the belief that your fellow human beings are “supernaturally blinded” sit well with your sense of honesty? Do you really believe that an honest and open discussion will not lead to the truth?

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Critique, Response to Dr. Brown Line of Fire | 11 Comments

Isaiah 2:22

Posted on May 26, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Isaiah 2:22

Many Christians have a difficult time understanding why it is that Jews view their faith in Jesus as idolatrous. Christians assert that Jesus is “one and the same” as the God of Israel. How could veneration of Jesus be considered idolatry?

It may come as a surprise to some Christians if they were to realize that many Jews have a difficult time understanding Christians. After everything is said and done, Christianity is pointing to a man, and calling him “god”. What else is there to discuss?

This article is written in an effort to help Christians see things from a Jewish perspective.

Imagine the following scenario.

The Messianic era is here. God is revealed to all mankind. Every human being clearly sees that the One Creator of heaven and earth is the only true power. Everyone understands that every facet of existence is just an expression of His will and His love. All the nations recognize that every bit of adoration that the human heart can generate belongs only to the Almighty God who called the universe into existence.

And Jesus is not there. The man from Nazareth is nowhere to be seen.

What will the Christian then feel about the relationship he shared with this man? How will they view all the adoration that they were persuaded to pour out towards that individual?

The fact that you could imagine this scenario, should tell you that Jesus is NOT one and the same with the Creator of heaven and earth. The fact that this scenario is hypothetically possible should help you separate between Jesus on the one hand and the God of Israel on the other.

This scenario is not just a hypothetical possibility. If you believe those God fearing Jews whose words are immortalized in the Jewish Scriptures, you will realize that this scenario was at the heart of their vision for the future.

I will provide a list of Scriptural references for you to study. Please bear in mind that when these words were originally written, no one had heard of Jesus. When the Jewish prophets penned their words, the concept: “trinity” – was not yet invented. Please realize that for a Jew who would have read these words before the advent of Christianity, the words “God”, “Lord”, and “Almighty” would mean one thing and one thing only – The One Creator of heaven and earth.

Deuteronomy 32:39, Ezekiel 37:28, 38:1-48:35, Isaiah 2:17, 24:23, 40:9, 52:7,10, 60:19,  Joel 4:16-17, Micah 7:15-18, Zephaniah 3:9, Zechariah 14:9, Psalm 47:3, 83:19, 86:10, 97:6-9, 102:16, 148:13,

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in The Ultimate Truth | 242 Comments

Supplement to “Hope Faithfulness and Joy”

Posted on May 25, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Supplement to Hope Faithfulness and Joy

Dear P. J.

Thanks for your thoughtful questions. Your questions encourage us to try to find more light and more clarity in our search for truth.

You asked me if Isaiah really predicted that the Jews will remain faithful to God throughout this long exile.

My response: Yes, he did.

Look my friend. Isaiah tells us that the one who bears the glad tidings to Israel will just say one phrase: “Your God has reigned” (Isaiah 52:7; see also 40:9). That is all he will have to say to bring joy to the heart of Israel.

Furthermore, Isaiah describes how the nations will serve Israel in the Messianic era. Isaiah tells us that the purpose of this is: “so that you know that those who hope to Me will not be shamed” (Isaiah 49:23). It is clear that Israel will be identified as the people who had been hoping to God.

The verses I quoted in my original article (Isaiah 25:9; 26:2,9,13) all put words of hope and yearning for God in the mouth of Israel.

Yes, Isaiah does describe Israel as a nation that yearns for God.

Let us now focus on the revelation of God’s arm described in Isaiah 52:10.

The prophet associates this revelation with the consoling and the comforting of Israel(52:9). This concept is mentioned by Isaiah several times – 12:1; 49:13; 51:3; 54:4, 66:11,13, – all in relation to the final redemption.

This revelation is associated with the joy that Israel experiences in the Messianic era (52:9). Another theme that Isaiah keeps coming back to – 12:3,6; 35:10; 41:16; 51:3,11; 54:1; 55:12; 61:3,7; 66:10,14.

The revelation of the “arm of the Lord” is associated with a return to Zion, a return that will take place on a path that is pure (52:11). Isaiah provided another vivid description of this same return (35:8 – see also Psalm 126).

Throughout Isaiah we learn that the revelation of God’s glory will remove Israel’s shame, bring her glory before God, and bring shame upon her enemies – 24:23; 25:8; 41:11; 44:23; 45:16,17,24,25; 46:13; 49:23; 51:7; 60:15; 61:3,7; 62:3.

So how could you accept the Christian interpretation which propounds that a prominent theme of the Messianic era will usher in period of shame and embarrassment for the Jewish people for not accepting Jesus?

Do you really think it is just a wild coincidence that the very same term: “arm of the Lord” appears twice, just a few verses apart (52:9 – 53:1)?

“But is there no shame for Israel?” you ask. “Doesn’t Ezekiel speak of Israel experiencing shame in the Messianic era (Ezekiel 20:43; 36:31)?”

That is another good question, and I am glad you raised it. It will bring more clarity to our discussion.

On a simple level we can say that the Jewish people are divided into two camps; the righteous remnant and the rest of the people. We would then say that Isaiah was referring to the righteous remnant while Ezekiel was referring to the nation as a whole.

That is not a bad answer, and there is truth to it, but I think it runs much deeper than that. Please read Micah 7:7-10. The prophet speaks on behalf of Israel, an Israel that has sinned before God – but an Israel that still longs and yearns for God. An Israel that will be glorified by the revelation of God’s glory – to the utter consternation of her enemies.

Let me give you a parable.

In a village in the far reaches of the kingdom lived a people who were very far from the king. Not only were these people far in the sense of geographical location, but they were so coarse and unrefined, that they had no connection to the King’s cultured and refined ways. They all feared the King and had a grudging respect for him, but they did not try to follow his rules.

One day a new kid appeared on the block. He too, was not that refined and not that cultured, but this fellow tried to keep the King’s laws in his own uncultured way. The villagers gathered around this newcomer and asked him: “what are you doing?” The newcomer answered: “I am the King’s son, and this is what I do”. The villagers burst out in laughter. “You are the King’s son?!” – “No way!” The newcomer stuck to his story, and the villager’s resentment for this newcomer grew. They taunted him day and night and they made life difficult for him in every way they could imagine. They spread rumors about him that he is actually the son of the King’s greatest enemy (John 8:44), and after a while began believing the rumors that they themselves had spread. Every time this newcomer would violate one of the King’s rules, which would happen once in a while, the villagers would exaggerate the violation and announce it from the roof-tops so as to shame the newcomer. As time went on, and the newcomer’s suffering increased, the villagers argued that if he would really be the King’s son, the King would never allow him to suffer like this – but the newcomer ignored their taunts.

The day came, and suddenly the King himself appeared in the village and there they were in the village square – the King and the newcomer in a loving embrace – an embrace that could only mean one thing – he really is the King’s son.

The King of my parable is the God of Israel, the Creator of heaven and earth. The newcomer is Israel, God’s firstborn son (Exodus 4:22; Jeremiah 31:8). The villagers are those who pointed to Israel’s suffering as “evidence” that they are not God’s elect.

Yes, perhaps God will rebuke Israel, His son, for not doing a better job – but that is something between a Father and a son – and it is that limited rebuke that Ezekiel was talking about. That does not compare in the slightest to the shame that the persecutors of Israel will feel for their rejection of the King and his son, neither does it diminish the joy of the son’s ultimate vindication – the vindication that Isaiah described.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Isaiah 53, Messiah | 4 Comments

Hope, Faithfulness and Joy

Posted on May 24, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Hope, Faithfulness and Joy

The prophets describe the great joy that the Jewish people will experience at the time of the ultimate redemption. Isaiah declared: “And the redeemed of the Lord shall return, they will come to Zion with song, with eternal happiness on their heads, they will attain joy and gladness, and sadness and sighing will flee” (Isaiah 35:10, 51:11).

The prophet also taught us what it is that will bring Israel such joy.

The Scriptures tell us that the Jewish people will have been hoping to God throughout this bitter exile. They will remain faithful to Him through fire and water (Isaiah 26:2,9,13; Psalm 44:18). When the God that Israel has been hoping for finally reveals His glory and His might, Israel’s dearest hope and their deepest longing will have come to pass. Their trust in the One Creator of heaven and earth will have been fully vindicated. Israel will then exult: “Behold, this is our God, we hoped to Him that He would save us, this is the Lord to Whom we have hoped, let us exult and rejoice in His salvation” (Isaiah 25:9)

The Psalmist tells us that the same revelation of God’s glory that brings joy to Israel will bring shame to those who worship idols (Psalm 97:6-8). Moses and Isaiah both prophesied that God will then take revenge on behalf of the Jewish people who had been so cruelly persecuted for their loyalty to God (Deuteronomy 32:43; Isaiah 34:8; 35:4; 61:2; 63:4; 66:14).

The prophets referred to this revelation of God’s glory, which will bring joy to Israel, and shame to her enemies as: “The revelation of God’s arm” – Isaiah 40:9,10; 52:10; 63:5; Psalm 98:2,3.

With this information in mind, let us approach the question posed in Isaiah 53:1: “On whose behalf is the arm of the Lord revealed?”

By now you should know the Bible’s answer to this question.

(The Hebrew words: “al mi” – which I translated: “on whose behalf” can also be translated as: “upon whom”. The Biblical answer will remain the same. Isaiah explicitly declared that God’s glory will be revealed upon Israel to the consternation of her enemies (Isaiah 60:1,2).)

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Isaiah 53, Messiah | 4 Comments

Response to The Line of Fire 5

Posted on May 23, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Response to The Line of Fire 5

On the May 19 2011 edition of his radio show: “The Line of Fire”  http://lineoffireradio.askdrbrown.org/ , Dr. Brown takes issue with a presentation I had made on the Christian interpretation of Leviticus 17:11.

Christians point to Leviticus 17:11 as a support for the doctrine of “no atonement without blood”.

The salient points of my presentation were:

  1.  The verse is not placed in a context that would indicate that a teaching on atonement is about to be presented.
  2. Even according to the Christian interpretation, the verse only supports one fragment of the Christian doctrine on atonement. The verse speaks of blood on the altar and not about a human sacrifice that was in no way connected to the altar in the Temple.
  3. The verse does not say that there is no atonement without blood. Saying that blood provides atonement is not the same as saying that there is no atonement without blood.

It is obvious that of these three points, it is the third point that is the most important. The verse does not say what the Christian claims that it says. Dr. Brown did not respond to my third point. There is not one verse in the Jewish Scriptures that comes close to saying – “there is no atonement without blood”.

Why? According to Christian theology this is one of the most foundational principles, yet the Scriptures never mention it.  Even Dr. Brown will admit that there is no EXPLICIT statement in the Jewish Scripture that states “there is no atonement without blood”. Why did God see no need to mention this “foundational” principle? God did say that no one born of a woman can be righteous. He actually wrote that twice (Job 15:14, 25:4) directly contradicting the Christian doctrine of a sinless Messiah – a doctrine that has not a shred of Scripture to hang on to (see also Ezekiel 45:22). Yet the doctrine that is most “critical for the salvation of mankind” – according to Dr. Brown – is not mentioned once!

Dr. Brown’s response to my first point is that by placing the text in the book of Leviticus, this teaching is placed in an “atonement” context.

It is not necessary to point out that the majority of the book of Leviticus does not have to do with atonement. This is especially true when we take Dr. Brown’s own argument into consideration. On page 182 of volume 2 of his “Answering Jewish Objections” series, Dr. Brown argues that when Isaiah speaks of burnt offerings and “zevachim” (-sacrifices), he is not necessarily referring to atoning sacrifices. If this is true, then the majority of the sacrifices mentioned in the book of Leviticus were not necessarily atoning sacrifices.

Dr. Brown did not really respond to my argument. The point I was making in my presentation was that in the case of repentance, the Divine Author introduces the passage with a sentence that makes abundantly clear that a teaching on the subject of forgiveness from sin is about to be presented (Ezekiel 33:10). Why did God not do the same for Leviticus 17:11?

The second point in my presentation contends that even according to the Christian interpretation, Leviticus 17:11 only supports a fragment of the Christian doctrine on atonement. The verse speaks of atonement on the altar. How do they get from the altar in the Temple, to Jesus.

Dr. Brown attempts to counter this argument by pointing to Isaiah 53:10 where he sees justification for the doctrine of a human substitutionary offering.

I will again refer the reader to my article: https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/isaiah-53-teaches-that-jesus-is-not-the-messiah/ and to Contra Brown where I demonstrate how Dr. Brown’s interpretation of Isaiah 53 is unfounded.

But even according to Dr. Brown’s interpretation, the Jewish Scriptures still do not support the complete doctrine of Christianity on the subject of atonement. Scripture never speaks of faith in an individual as a prerequisite to atonement. Even according to Dr. Brown’s understanding of Scripture there is no justification for the Christian doctrine that outside of faith in Jesus there is no atonement for sin.  Christian theology actually takes this concept one step further. Not only today, when there is no Temple, is there no atonement outside of Jesus, but according to Hebrews 10:4 – even the offerings of the Temple did not really atone. On this same radio program, Dr. Brown discusses this concept and he presents the position that the Temple sacrifices did not provide a complete atonement.

Let us recap. According to Dr. Brown Leviticus 17:11 tells us that there is no atonement without blood. We are supposed to then understand that this concept is not limited to the animal sacrifices that the passage in Leviticus 17:11 is actually speaking about, but applies to a sacrifice that is not mentioned in the book of Leviticus altogether. Then we are supposed to go back to Leviticus 17:11, and realize that the sacrifices that the verse speaks of, namely the animal sacrifices, didn’t really provide a full atonement to begin with.

This is the “Scriptural support” for one of the central doctrines of Christianity.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

Posted in Atonement, Response to Dr. Brown Line of Fire | 6 Comments

Response to The Line of Fire 4

Posted on May 22, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Response to The Line of Fire 4

On the May 19 2011 edition of his radio show: “The Line of Fire”  http://lineoffireradio.askdrbrown.org/ , Dr. Brown made the argument that the rabbinic interpretation of Exodus 23:2 is inexcusable. The verse tells us not to follow a crowd to pervert justice, while some of the respected rabbinical commentators – including Maimonides, understand that the verse teaches to follow the majority. According to Dr. Brown this is an unpardonable distortion of the Biblical text.

Before we answer this question, we will note that Maimonides knew how to read Hebrew (an understatement if there ever was one) and that he was well aware of Dr. Brown’s arguments because they were already articulated by Rashi and the Ibn Ezra before him. It is also known that Mimonides had tremendous repsect for the Ibn Ezra, so if he took a position against the Ibn Ezra in a matter of Scriptural interpretation we can be sure that there is a logical explanation that supports his opinion.

We do not have to go too far to find it.

The oldest Jewish commentary on the text, which actually predates the advent of Christianity, the Targum Yonatan, provides an answer for Dr. Brown’s problem.

The first thing we must realize is that the word “crowd” appears nowhere in the original Hebrew. The correct translation is “numerous”. According to the Targum, the verse teaches us not to misuse the court procedure of following the “numerous” – i.e. the majority, to pervert justice. The clear implication is that the natural system would have us follow the majority, and the Torah is teaching us not to use this court procedure as an excuse to pervert justice.

It is interesting to note that according to Dr. Brown, the Torah never tells us what court procedure we ought to follow when the judges disagree. Neither does the Torah tell us the correct number of judges that ought to adjudicate, or the method of electing judges. According to Dr. Brown, the fact that the Written Torah does not address these matters, means that there is no Divine legislation on these matters. This would then mean that even according to Dr. Brown, the community’s decision to adopt a “follow the majority” procedure does not violate any Scriptural law.

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Response to The Line of Fire 6

Posted on May 22, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Response to The Line of Fire 6

In the May 19 2011 edition of his radio show, “The Line of Fire”  http://lineoffireradio.askdrbrown.org/ , Dr. Brown attempts to defend his arguments relating to the Biblical book of Jonah.

The book of Jonah describes how the wicked people of Nineveh were threatened with destruction. They repent, and the Divine decree is rescinded.

The obvious message of this book is that God accepts repentance for the forgiveness of sin.

Christian theology contends that there is no forgiveness of sin without a blood sacrifice. The book of Jonah presents a serious problem for Dr. Brown. Where was the blood sacrifice of the Ninevites?

In volume 2 of his “Answering Jewish Objections” series, Dr. Brown presents an inventive solution to this Christian problem. Dr. Brown argues that the blood offering for the people of Nineveh was offered on their behalf by the Jewish people in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Dr. Brown attempts to prop up this fanciful theory with a passage in the Bible. In Exodus 19:6, God tells the people of Israel that they will be a “kingdom of priests”. Dr. Brown then jumps to the conclusion that Israel is now enjoined to offer sacrifices for the gentile nations, and that these sacrifices will be a critical requirement for the gentile nations to achieve forgiveness for their sins.

I have corresponded at length with Dr. Brown about this particular issue. At the end of this article I share two sections of this correspondence, one of which is available on this blog in its entirety – https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/letter-to-aryeh-leib/ .

At this point I will just make a few general observations.

The entire thrust of the book of Jonah is that repentance is efficacious. God saw that this message was important enough so that He devoted a full book of the Bible to accentuate this message. If it is as Dr. Brown says, that the repentance of the gentiles is meaningless without the blood sacrifices of Israel, why does God not devote at least the same amount of space in Scripture to articulate this message? Why is it that even according to Dr. Brown’s interpretation, this “critical” message is presented in only one segment of one verse in such a backhanded way?

The passage in exodus singles out Israel from all the nations of the earth. We would then expect that whatever the verse is referring to would be limited to the nation of Israel to the exclusion of the gentiles. The fact is that the gentiles were allowed to bring blood sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple on their own behalf. The Scriptures never limit the bringing of blood offerings to the Jewish people alone. According to Torah law, even in the absence of the Temple, gentiles are still permitted to bring blood offerings to the Creator of heaven and earth. When God singles out the people of Israel, He is NOT stating that members of no other nation may bring blood offerings.

Finally, the people of Israel are referred to as priests in the Messianic era (Isaiah 61:6). If it is as Dr. Brown contends, that the title “kingdom of priests” denotes the bringing of offerings to atone for the nations, then why will this be necessary in the Messianic era – when according to Dr. Brown’s theology, Jesus will have already fulfilled that requirement?

4) A kingdom of priests

The reason this subject entered our dialogue was because I was trying to demonstrate that without the rabbinical writings you will have no answer for objection 3.14. You went on to argue that on a purely scriptural basis, you would say that the Jews were supposed to bring offerings for the gentiles – this based on the kingdom of priests passage in Exodus. (Even if I were to agree with the interpretation, this is still a far cry from the concept that the gentiles have no atonement without Israel’s offerings – in a sense that the plain meaning of the book of Jonah is utterly negated.) I wrote back to you saying, that if you would only have Jewish scripture to go with (and not the rabbinic writings or the Christian scriptures) you would never have come to this conclusion. The role of the priests towards the rest of Israel as bringing offerings for them is not paralleled in scripture’s description of Israel’s role towards the nations. The role of the priests as teachers is paralleled. I think this is pretty straightforward.

You respond by asking me if I do not believe that the priests were intercessors for the rest of Israel. They certainly were intercessors for the people in the sense of praying for the people (Joel2:17) – paralleled by Jeremiah 29:7 in describing Israel’s role towards the nations amongst whom they were dispersed. The Priests were intercessors in the sense that they were a “lightening rod to attract God’s wrath upon themselves” (what a vivid expression!) As stated in Numbers 18:1 and as paralleled in Isaiah 53 in describing Israel’s role towards the nations. But as for the priests being intercessors in the sense of the bringing of offerings, I cannot find a parallel in scripture where this is described as Israel’s role towards the nations. So if one were to go on a strictly scriptural basis, he would sooner conclude that Israel is to pray and suffer for the nations before he would conclude that Israel must bring offerings for the nations.

5) A Kingdom of Priests

I must thank you for bringing this subject into focus for me. It seems that we both see in this quotation from Exodus 19:6, support to our conflicting positions. You see the chief role of the priests as the affecting of atonement. You also happen to believe that there is no atonement without the offering of blood sacrifices. Therefore you see in this passage a support to the philosophy that the gentiles do not have atonement only through the blood offerings of the people of Israel.

I see the chief role of the priests as being directly responsible for the service of God that is necessary for His divine presence to dwell in our midst. This certainly includes the processing of blood offerings for atonement, but in no way is it limited to this. The priests were assigned many responsibilities that related to the open manifestation of God’s presence here on earth. I believe that the gentiles can achieve expiation for their sins without the people of Israel (as the book of Jonah openly teaches), but they cannot merit an open manifestation of God’s presence without the people of Israel.

I think that the overwhelming weight of scripture supports my understanding of this passage. If indeed this passage (Exodus 19:6) is talking exclusively about blood offerings and is highlighting their fundamental importance, then what is God saying in Jeremiah 7:23? If the chief role of the priests is to provide atonement, then why does scripture so often describe the role of the priest as “le’shareis”( – to serve) and not as “le’chaper” (- to atone)? If the chief role of the priests is to provide atonement, and since Jesus came on the scene, the blood offerings of Israel no longer atone, so why is the nation spoken of as being Kohanei Hashem (- the priests of the Lord) by Isaiah (61:6) in the messianic era? The role that the nation of Israel played in the offering of blood offerings – namely bringing the animals to the temple and paying for and supporting the temple service, is a function that is clearly permitted to the gentiles. If the entire point of Israel’s designation as a kingdom of priests is limited to the blood offerings, then in what way is Israel as a nation different than the gentiles?

The way I understand this passage (Exodus 19:6) is that just as the priests were designated by God to be involved in the service related to the manifestation of His presence in a more direct and explicit way than the rest of the nation of Israel. So were the Jewish people as a whole designated by God to be involved in His service as it relates to the manifestation of His presence in a more direct and explicit way than the rest of the nations. This was clearly true when the temple was standing and it will be obvious again when the temple will be restored, but it is also true now. Ezekiel 11:16 (note Matthew Henry’s commentary) tells us that even in exile we are in God’s sanctuary. The covenantal sign of the Sabbath, tells us that God’s sanctity is still with us. The glimmer of God’s sanctity that dwells in this fallen world dwells amongst the Kingdom of Priests – those who love God and are loyal to His word.

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

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Response to The Line of Fire 7

Posted on May 22, 2011 by yourphariseefriend

Dr. Brown presented his counter-arguments to a presentation I had made on the subject of “original sin” on the May 19 2011 edition of his radio program – The Line of Fire  http://lineoffireradio.askdrbrown.org/ .

My response has been published on this blog on March 15 2011.

https://yourphariseefriend.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/not-by-your-righteousness/

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Yisroel C. Blumenthal

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