Monday night I was in my study praying before going to sleep. I felt an ungency to pray for my new Jewish friends. For the Jews have many reasons for rejecting ‘Jesus’ as their Messiah to include: 1) lack of freeing Israel from Rome (political messiah), 2) alternate interpretations of the gospel (salvation thru prayer and study of Torah), 3) lack of adherence to Torah teachings (church divorced from Judiasm), and 4) pogroms which Christians have carried out most effectively for 2000 years. So today I decided to take a fresh look at some Messianic scriptures. These are prophetic passages that point both forward and backward to the Messiah, Yeshua ben Joseph (aka Messiah ben Ephraim), Joseph being the first names of both the son of Jacob and the father of Yeshua.
This will be a multi-week study.
— The Birth of a Future Ruler
Rachel gives birth to Benjamin on the road to Bethlehem:
Gen. 35:19 says ‘Rachel died, and she was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)’
Rachel had been traveling from Schechem (later Ephraim) south through Bethel when she died during childbirth. It is a sad story.
It is not mere coincidence that Yeshua was born in Bethlehem. The book of Ruth makes an interesting point about Elimelech, Ruth’s husband. It says they were Ephrathites from Bethlehem (Ruth 1:2) and that likely means that children of Ephraim migrated to Bethlehem of Judah. Ruth ends up marrying Boaz after the death of her father-in-law and then death of her husband in Moab. Boaz was the great grandfather of King David but Ruth was a Moabitess. Boaz was also of the clan of Elimelech so possibly also a displaced Ephraimite.
Furthermore, Prophet Micah expresses a similar story in chapter 2:
Oh you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days (Micah 5:2)
Why is Bethlehem too little to be amongst the clans of Judah?
ṣāʿîr (tsaw-eer’) can mean little/small or younger supporting even the idea of migration.
— A son to please and to rule (Ps. 2)
Ps. 2:2:: The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed
Note here that the LORD is actually Jehovah in hebrew (praise his holy name). The Anointed however is meshiack which is Messiah in English.
Ps. 2:4:: He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord (Adonai) holds them in derision.
The ‘them’ here is pointing back to verse 3 which is the kings of the Earth. Ps. 59:8 makes it clear that it is the LORD who laughs at the nations. Another name for the LORD is Adonai so he not only laughs but holds nations in derision. Then we get to verse 6 it says ‘as for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill’. So the verse could be spoken about David being the King on Zion. Verse 7 speaks more propetically about a Son and not only that but about begetting a son:
Ps. 2:7:: I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son (ben); today I have begotten you.
If we continue on this line of reasoning then the LORD begot King David. This line of reasoning makes no sense because nobody considers David as physically begotten of the LORD and the Hebrew word ‘yalad’ everywhere else speaks of physically birthing a son.
Verse 8 says ‘ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession’. This is well beyond the earthly realm of King David so it must be specifying some other future King. So either King David is coming back at some point in time to rule over the whole earth or the reference is to another King of the same type as King David to rule over the Earth.
Verse 12 says ‘Kiss the Son (bar), lest he be angry, and you perish in the way’,
I want to point out here that the son in verse 7 uses the standard hebrew ‘ben’ but in verse 12 switches to the Aramaic term for son ‘bar’. Some argue that using an Aramaic term for son here and hebrew before makes no sense so a better translation for verse 12 is the kiss or embrace discipline. My source does point out that the common phrase “bar mitzvah” is also Aramaic and means “son OF commandments’. So whatever the proper interpretation of this one verse we are still left with remainder of Psalm 2 which speaks about a son being born to rule the whole world.
— The Forsaken Servant (Ps. 22)
Ps. 22:1:: A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
Actually the LORD hid his face from the son and abandoned him upon the cross.
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46)
Ps. 22:6-8:: I am a worm and not a man, scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him!
The gospel account in Matthew pretty much echo’s Psalm 22:
Matt. 27:39-42::
those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying,
“He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
Then we have the manner of crucifixion:
Ps. 22:16:: they have pierced my hands and feet[Septuigint,Vulgate,Syriac, not all hebrew manuscripts] others translate ‘like a lion [they are at] my hands and feet’ (vs. 22 says ‘save me from the mouth of the lion’). It seems all of Judah has become a roaring lion no matter the exact translation.
An then there is the issue with dividing his garments for he was naked upon the cross:
Ps. 22:18:: they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.
As did the Roman soldiers divide his garments and cast lots for them
— The New Covenant (Jer. 31)
I leave you with the words of Jeremiah the Prophet:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
Not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
This is powerful. It does not deny the law itself but makes a new covenant, a new testament for us in place of the old. It is God’s eternal promises to mankind.
Sources:
https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/studies-verses/psalm-2-12-kiss-the-son-or-embrace-purity.htm