HERALD

OF THE

KINGDOM AND AGE TO COME.

JOHN THOMAS, Editor.  NEW YORK,    February, 1853—

JEWISH OBJECTIONS TO JESUS.

            Mr. Benjamin Dias, the Jewish unbeliever in Jesus referred to in a former article, in his sixth letter published in the Occident, says:

            “The Old Testament being, without dispute, the only Scripture both of Jews and Christians, from that alone are we to judge of the office and character of the Messiah; and for this purpose it will be proper to extract a few of the many prophecies concerning the Messiah, his Kingdom, and the events to happen in his time, the better to compare them with what is related of Jesus in the New Testament, in which they are said to be fulfilled.

1. “In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the North to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers”—Jeremiah 3: 18.
2. “Thus saith the Lord God, Behold I will take the children of Israel from among the nations whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land, and will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one King shall be king to them all, and they shall no more be two nations: neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all: neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling places wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them, so shall they be my people, and I will be their God. And David my servant shall be king over them, and they shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell in the land which I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children’s children, for ever. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant, and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My tabernacle, also, shall be with them, yea I will be their God, and they shall be my people; and the nations shall know that I, the Lord, do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore”—Ezekiel 37: 21-36.
3. “And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. And I will set up shepherds over them who shall feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed; neither shall they be lacking, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a Righteous Branch, and a king shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his day Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is the name whereby he shall be called, Yehowah Tzidkainu—JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Therefore, behold the days come, saith the Lord, that they shall no more say, The Lord liveth who brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; but the Lord liveth who brought up and who led the seed of the house of Israel out of the North country, and from all countries wherein I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land”—Jeremiah 23: 3-8.
4. “And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign (nais ammim, an ensign or leader of the peoples—Editor Herald) of the people; to it shall the nations seek: and His rest shall be glorious. And it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord (Adonai) shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim. And they shall fly (not “fly,” but ahphu, from the Syriac ahphah, they shall flourish—Ed. Her.) upon the shoulders of the Philistines westward; they shall spoil the children of the east entirely; Edom and Moab the putting out of their hand; and the children of Ammon their obedience”—Isaiah 11: 10-14.
5. “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name; after that they have borne their shame and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land and none made them afraid. When I have brought them again from the peoples, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I ma sanctified in them in the sight of many nations; then shall they know that I am Jehovah their God, who caused them to be led into captivity among the nations; but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there, neither will I hide my face any more from them, for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith Adony Yehowah—the Lord Jehovah”—Ezekiel 39: 25-29.
6. “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall beat off from the channel of the river (Euphrates) unto the stream of Egypt (the Nile), and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount of Jerusalem”—Isaiah 27: 12-13.
7. “Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle. And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David (i.e., Beloved—Ed. Herald) he shall feed them, and he shall be shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God (Waani Yehowah ehyeh lahlem lailohim, and I Jehovah will be to them for Elohim—Ed. Herald), and my servant David a prince among them; I the Lord have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land, and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them, and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in its season; there shall be showers of blessing. And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them. And they shall no more be a prey to the nations, neither shall the beasts of the land devour them; they shall dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. And I will raise up for them A PLANT OF RENOWN, and they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the nations any more”—Ezekiel 34: 22-29.
8. “And there shall be no more a pricking briar unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God: When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the nations, there shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob. And they shall dwell safely therein, and shall build houses, and plant vineyards; yea, they shall dwell with confidence, when I have executed judgments upon all those that despise them round about them; and they shall know that I am Adony Yehowah—Lord Jehovah”—Ezekiel 28: 24-26.
9. “As I live, saith Lord Jehovah, surely with a mighty hand, and with an out-stretched arm; and with fury poured out, will I rule over you. And I will bring you out from the peoples, and will gather you out of the countries wherein ye are scattered, with a mighty hand, and with a stretched out arm, and with fury poured out. And I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples, and there will I plead with you face to face. Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith Lord Jehovah”—Ezekiel 20: 33-36.
10. “I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the peoples, and gather you out of the countries wherein you have been scattered, and I will be sanctified in you before the nations”—Ezekiel 20: 41.
11. “Hear the word of Jehovah, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock. For Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he”—Jeremiah 31: 10-11.
12. “Fear not, for I am with thee; I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west; I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; even every one that is called by my name; for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him”—Isaiah 43: 5-7.

After adducing these testimonies, parts of which we have italicised, and inserted here and there a parenthesis, Mr. Dias proceeds to remark, “It is needless to transcribe more passages declarative of these great events of which the prophetic writings are full. From these, and many other prophecies of a like nature, we may collect the office and character of Messiah. But, before we proceed, it is certainly necessary to explain the meaning of the word Messiah. Messiah, or Mashiah, as pronounced in Hebrew, signifies Anointed, or THE ANOINTED ONE. It is applied to kings, priests, and prophets, as they were anointed to their office. Jews, therefore, by way of eminence and emphasis, called, and continue to call, that person whom God should raise up, and make the instrument for the accomplishment of such prophecies, as particularly describe and foretell the deliverance and glory of the nation, by this name. Now, if Christians will prove that Jesus fulfilled these prophecies, they will convert the Jews, for they require nothing else.”

Upon this the editor of the Occident remarks, “With due deference to the author, we wish to observe that only the mission of Jesus as the Messiah would thereby be proved, but not the character which Christians (Catholics and Protestants he means) assume for him; since the one whom we expect is to be a man acting under the power and guidance of the Lord, but not a part of the divinity. Such a being is contrary to Scripture, and is not the Christ whom we expect.”

In a note appended to Mr. Dias’ letter by Mr. Isaac Leeser, the editor of the Occident remarks, “The above letter is, according to our own view, the most important of the series thus far. It states truly that in arguing with Christians, we need not prove as a preliminary the truth of the books of the Covenant, for these are emphatically as requisite to them as to us. Mr. Dias is, therefore, perfectly correct to step forward at once to the character of the Messiah, as laid down in Scripture. And this, we think, far more important than his preceding discussion concerning the authenticity of the gospels, acts, and epistles; for our religion is true, not because the grounds of Christianity are not proven, but because it is a system, one and entire in itself, and was instituted by God, and sprung from Him long before the followers of the self-styled Messiah of Nazareth was in existence. The prophets speak of a Messiah, or, if you prefer the word, a Christ, who is to accomplish all that has been predicted of Him. Now, precisely such a one and no other can be received as the fulfiller of Scriptural prediction; but if he omit any of these, he is not the one whom we expect: —though he accomplish all the gospels say of him, though by his agency, the blind see, the deaf hear, the sick are made whole, and the dead are called to life. Such acts are not his mission; for this is the redemption of Israel and the world; and unless this have been, or be accomplished, the personage under question cannot be the King of the Jews.”

We shall reserve our comments upon the premises now before us until another issue. In the meantime, the reader will please to make himself familiar with the passages quoted by Mr. Dias from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. They have, indeed, never been fulfilled as yet; this admission, however, is no objection to Jesus; it only argues their future accomplishment—but by whom? The Jews cannot answer the question. They think it will not be by Jesus: —we have the full assurance of hope and faith that it will.

EDITOR.

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