How Judaism Tries to Hide the Deity of Messiah
Judaism teaches that the idea of a man being God—especially the man Yeshua—is in total conflict with the Hebrew Scriptures. Indeed, so staunchly is this believed that the translators of the Jewish Publication Society Tanakh (JPS) seemingly went to some lengths to reinterpret specific Scriptures, obscuring the plain sense that would otherwise overtly hint at a Messiah who is, in fact, God.
Take, for example, the prophecy from Isaiah 9:5-6. (We know that this passage is about the Messiah because it speaks of “the throne of David” which is being established “forevermore.”) A literal translation of the verse says that the Messiah will be called, “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace.” The JPS 1917 translators, however, chose to simply transliterate this passage from the Hebrew, representing it as the non-English “Pele-joez-el-gibbor-Abi-ad-sar-shalom.” In effect, the translators are indicating that they want us to see this passage not as a list of characteristics of the Messiah, but simply as one very long name. (And if one does not understand the transliterated Hebrew, the entire meaning is lost.) By comparison, the 1985 JPS shrouds the plain sense by altering the translation to: “He has been named ‘The Mighty God is planning grace; The Eternal Father, a peaceable ruler.’” This reinterpretation is an obvious attempt to soften the impact of “Mighty God” as a literal attribute of the Messiah.
Next, in Psalm 45:7, which again speaks of the Davidic king (45:1-2), the psalmist writes, “Your throne, O God, is everlasting and forever.” The fact that this is about Yeshua is affirmed by its citation in Hebrews 1:8. Yet the JPS once again attempts to obscure this allusion to the Messiah. The 1917 JPS retranslates it as, “Thy throne given of God is for ever and ever,” although there is no word in the Hebrew text to warrant the idea of a throne being “given.” And the 1985 JPS distorts the meaning even further, changing it to, “Your divine throne is everlasting.” But nothing in the underlying text indicates at all that “God” should be translated as “divine,” thus turning it into an adjective. On the contrary, the Hebrew is simply:
…the plain and obvious translation being, “Your-throne / God / everlasting / and-forever.”
Finally, John 19:37 says of Yeshua’s crucifixion, “They will look to him whom they pierced.” This is clearly a reference to Zechariah 12:10, in which the prophet credits God as saying, “they will have looked to Me whom they have pierced.” While this is one of the less obvious clues to Yeshua’s deity in the Hebrew Scriptures, the implication was certainly not lost on the translators of the JPS. While the above translation accurately reflects the underlying Hebrew, the 1917 JPS changes this verse to say, “and they shall look unto Me because they have thrust him through.” The translators added the word “because,” and then reordered the wording to take the object of the action away from God. And in the 1985 JPS, the original Hebrew is almost completely obliterated with, “they shall lament to Me about those who are slain,” even totally removing the concept of piercing. Why would the translators feel the need to deface this verse except that the unobscured text cries out to the reader: this is Yeshua!
Did this post bless you?
♥
The idea of a man also being God not only isn’t completely absent from the Hebrew Scriptures, but it isn’t as foreign to Jewish thought as one might be led to believe. The reason to call attention to this apparent practice of obfuscation among Jewish Bible translators is not to disparage them or their translations. Rather, it is only to point out that there is a deeply ingrained aversion within Judaism to seeing Yeshua in the Hebrew Scriptures, or allowing people to even consider that Yeshua can be found in the Tanakh. But instead of accepting these reinterpretations, the Jewish people should want—and have full access to—the truth. Because the truth is that no implicit bias or covert translation practices can hide Yeshua forever, nor can they conceal the reality that the Messiah of Israel is also God.
What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
WATCH or LISTEN TO the full teaching on The Biblically Correct Podcast!
Go to https://www.biblicallycorrectpodcast.org/ep76
Hi Kevin,
I recently purchased some of your literary material, the MJLT in particular. I appreciate the work you do. However, I am in disagreement with you concerning the interpretation that The Messiah, Yeshua, is God. When, even in the book of Matthew of the New Testament (New Covenant, as you describe it) as Yeshua receives the Baptism, God said to all present, and I am paraphrasing, “This is my Son of whom I am most pleased.”
I see that as proof of Yeshua being the “Son of God” and righteous in all he did. This strikes me that he is not the Creator but, is an aspect. He does have a distinct identity, however, is the right hand of Lord God. Probably, a lot to unpack there. I am sure you have discussed it. The reason I bring this up is that I think it is important not to turn Yeshua into a false idol placing him above The Creator God. Personally, this is what I am struggling with.
However, Yeshua walked a righteous path and taught his disciples (as in disciplined them) to do the same. What you describe as the requirements of a disciple of Yeshua would mean to become disciplined in his teachings, and apply them to our lives, or at least it would seem to me. Please, let me know your thoughts on what I wrote there.
I have more I would like to discuss with you. Not at this time though. I have your Discipleship series book as well. And you are the only one I have come across who has attempted a translation of the New Testament (again, I see that only as a second part of God’s mission given to the people of Israel, meaning, it was time to bring all the nations under the governing of Lord God, which he had spoken of in the first place to “his chosen people”.)
Anyway, I do enjoy the work you have done. It’s important to keep it up. I am only recently, come upon the Messianic Jewish Movement, and your podcasts were one of the first I discovered. And Just so you know I do believe Yeshua was/is the promised Messiah. I came to that understanding before I began digging deeper into the Holy Scriptures.
Look forward to corresponding with you.
Thank-you,
Chris J. Kalkbrenner
Shalom Chris. Sorry to hear you are struggling with this important topic.
Feel free to email me directly about anything you would like to talk about. In the meantime, I encourage you to not reject Yeshua’s deity by overcompensating for what has historically been an idolatrous understanding and application of it. I have demonstrated in several teachings how the Scriptures teach that Yeshua is both fully man and fully God. You can check those out here: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFs9MmpEQopGi_lJBHjCEpW7sYfGuZK3T
Blessings!
Shalom Kevin,
Thank-you for the quick response. I will correspond with you through email.
I do need to mention, I am not rejecting Yeshua in the least. I was pointing out what is mentioned in the Scripture. I still hold with his mission and it’s accomplishment, for those who accept it. Took me awhile before I got to that point. I will touch more on it by way of email.
Thank-you,
Chris J. Kalkbrenner
I’m sorry, Chris, but if you are denying Yeshua’s deity, you are rejecting Yeshua in a very significant way.