STATEMENT OF ARGUMENTS WHICH PROVE THAT
JESUS WAS NOT THE MESSIAH OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
Most of our readers have, no doubt, heard from the pulpit, many
exclamations and declamations against the blindness of the Jews,
in not recognizing their Messiah in Jesus of Nazareth. The reasons
of this blindness are made, I think, by this time pretty
intelligible.
Nevertheless, for the further satisfaction of the reader, I will here
set down the principal reasons given by Rabbi Isaac, in his
Munimen Fidei, which cause the Jews to deny the Messiahship
of Jesus.
At a certain time, (says he,) a certain learned man of the wise men
of the Christians said unto me:--Wherefore are you Jews
unwilling to believe Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah, when yet
your veritable prophets testified of him, whose words you profess
to have faith in.
I gave him this answer. How, I require, could we believe him to
be the Messiah, when you can produce no genuine proof from the
prophets in his favour, since all those things adduced by the
evangelists from them, to prove Jesus the Messiah, are nothing to
the purpose? And we have many and evident reasons to prove that
he was not the Messiah. And of these, I will bring forward a few,
arising, 1, From his genealogy. 2. From his works. 3. From the time
of his appearing. 4. From the prophecies of the things to take place
in the time of the Messiah not having seen fulfilled in his age. And
in these things are contained the genuine marks characteristic of
our Messiah.
1. As to what concerns his genealogy; it does not prove this
necessary thing, that Jesus was the son of David, because he was
not begotten by Joseph, as the Gospel of Matthew testifies; for in
the first chapter of it, it is written, that Jesus was born of Mary
when she was yet a virgin, and had not been known by Joseph;
which things being so, the genealogy of Joseph has nothing to do
with Jesus. The descent and origin of Mary, is still less known, but
it seems from Lukes calling Elizabeth, who was of Levi, her
cousin, that Mary was of the tribe of Levi, and not of Judah, and,
consequently, not of David; and, if she were, still Jesus is not the
more the son of David; descents being reckoned from the males
only. Neither is the genealogy of Joseph rightly deduced from
David, but labours under great difficulties. Matthew, and Luke
also, not only disagree, but irreconcilably and flatly contradict
each other, in their genealogies of Joseph. Now, it cannot be that
the testimony of two witnesses, who directly contradict each other
in the matter to be proved by them, can be received as true. But the
prophets have directed us to expect no Messiah but one born of the
seed of David.
2. As to the works of Jesus, we object to what he said concerning
himself:--Do not consider me as come to establish peace on
earth, for I have come to send a sword, and to separate the son
from the father, and the daughter from her mother, and the
daughter-in-law from her mother-in-law, which words are written
in Mat. ch. x. But we find the prophecies concerning the Messiah
to attribute to him very different works from these; nay, the very
opposite. For, whereas Jesus testifies concerning himself, that he
did not come to establish peace in the earth, but division, fire
and sword, Zechariah says, concerning the expected Messiah, ch.
ix.:--He shall speak peace to the nations. Jesus says he came to
send fire and sword upon the earth, but Micah says, ch. ii., that in
the times of the true Messiah they shall beat their swords into
ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not
lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Jesus says that he came to put division between the father and the
son, &c. But in the time of the true Messiah, Elias, the prophet,
shall come, of whom Malachi prophecied that he shall convert the
heart of the fathers unto the children, and the heart of the children
to the fathers. Jesus says that he came to serve others, not to be
served by them Mat. xx. 29. But of the true Messiah it is said,
Psalm lxxii.:--All kings shall bow themselves before him, all
nations shall serve him. The same also is said by Zechariah, ch. ix.:--
His dominion shall be, from one sea to the other, and from the
river unto the ends of the earth; and so Dan., ch. vii.:--All
dominions shall serve and obey him.
3. As to the time, we object to the Christians, that Jesus did not
come at the time designated by the prophets; for the prophets
testify, that the coming of the Messiah should be in the end of
days or, in the latter days, (which, surely, have not yet arrived) as
it is in Isaiah ch. ii.:--It shall come to pass in the latter days, that
the mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of
the mountains, and all nations shall flow unto it; and it
immediately follows, concerning the king Messiah, that he shall
judge among the nations, and rebuke many peoples, and they shall
beat their words into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning
hooks. See also Hosea, ch. iii, and also Dan., ch. ii., where it is
written:--God hath made known unto king Nebuchadnezzar
what shall come to pass in the latter days, (or, in the end of days.)
And this pertains to what follows, viz., to this:--In the days of
those kings, (i. e., of the kingdoms that arose out of the ruins of the
Roman Empire) the God of heaven will raise up a kingdom, which
shall never be destroyed. Thus you see, that the prophets
predicted, that the kingdom of the Messiah should be after the
destruction of the Roman Empire, not while it was in its vigour;
when Jesus came; in the latter days, and not before.*
4. Besides all these difficulties, neither were the promises made
to us by the prophets, concerning the things to come to pass at the
coming of the Messiah, fulfilled in the time of Jesus. For examples,
take the following:--1. In the time of the king Messiah, there was
to be one kingdom only, and one only king upon earth, viz., the
king Messiah--see Daniel, ch. ii.; but behold, we see with our
eyes, many independent kingdoms, distinct, and distinguished by
different laws and customs, religious and political, which things
being so, it follows, that the Messiah is not yet come.
2. In the time of the king Messiah, there was to be only one
religion and one law throughout the world; for, it is written in
Isaiah, ch. lii. and lxvi., that all nations shall come at stated times
to worship the Eternal at Jerusalem. See also Zechariah, ch. xiv.
and ch. viii., and indeed throughout the writings of the prophets.
3. In the time of the king Messiah, idols were to be cut off, and
utterly to perish from the earth; as it is said in Zechariah, ch. xiii.,
and so in Isaiah, ch. ii., it is written, And the glory of idols shall
utterly pass away; and so in Zephaniah, ch. ii., The Lord shall be
terrible among them, when he shall make lean (i. e., bring to
nothing) all the gods of the earth; and all the countries of the
nations shall bow themselves to Him, each out of his place.
4. In the times of the Messiah, there shall obtain no more sins and
crimes in the earth, especially among the children of Israel, as is
affirmed in Deut. xxx., Zephaniah, ch. iii and in Jeremiah, ch. iii.
And l., and so in Ezekiel, ch. xxxvi. and xxxvii.
5. In the times of the Messiah, there shall be peace between man
and beast, and between the tiger and the tame beast; and the little
child shall stroke, with impunity, the variegated skin of the serpent,
and,--as one of our own poets has beautifully said,--and with
his forked tongue shall innocently play. See in Isaiah, ch. xi. and
lxv., the original from whence he derived his beautiful poem.
6. In the time of the king Messiah, there are to be no calamities,
no afflictions, no lamentations throughout the world. But the
inhabitants thereof are to lead joyful lives in gratitude to the good
God, and in the enjoyment of his bounties. See Isaiah lxv.
Lastly. In the time of the king Messiah, the glory of God was
again to return to Israel, and the spirit of the most High God was to
be liberally poured out upon them, and they were to be endowed
with the spirit of prophecy, and with wisdom, and knowledge, and
understanding, and virtue; and God will no more hide his face from
them; but will bless them, and give them a ready heart and a
willing mind to obey his laws, and enjoy the felicities consequent
thereupon. And the Shechinah shall inhabit the temple for ever,
and the glory of God shall never depart from Israel; but they shall
walk amid the splendours of the glory of the Eternal, and all the
earth shall resound with his praise, as is written in Ezekiel, ch.
xxxvii., and xxxix., and xliii.; and in Joel, ch. ii., and in Zech., ch.
ii., and Isaiah, ch. xi., and throughout the latter part of his
prophecies, and in Jer. xxxi.
And now, reader, let me ask you this question, has any one of the
foregoing prophecies been yet fulfilled, either in the days of Jesus,
or ever since? Thou canst not say it! Now, then, hear the
conclusion, which, in sincerity, and with the hand upon the heart, I
am compelled to draw from these precedents. Since these
distinctive characteristics predicted by the Hebrew prophets, as to
be found in their Messiah, were certainly, and evidently, never
found in Jesus; and since these conditions and circumstances, and
many others beside, which, to avoid prolixity, have been omitted,
most assuredly did not take place in the time of Jesus, nor ever
since, and since they were according to those prophets, certainly to
be expected in the time of their Messiah; therefore, from all this, it
seems to be demonstrable (allowing the prophets to be true,) that
Jesus of Nazareth was not this true Messiah. And I would ask the
candid Christian, in which link of this chain of proofs he can find a
flaw? And I would ask him, too, as a moral and honest man,
whether any Jew, in his right mind, could, without setting at
nought what he conceived to be the word of God, receive him as
the Messiah? The honest and upright answer, I believe, will be,
that he could net. And, accordingly, it is very well known, that the
Jewish nation have never done so. And this their obstinacy, as it is
called, will not by this time, I think, appear unreasonable to any
sensible man; and he will now be able to appreciate the justice of
that idle cant about the carnal Jews, and their worldly-minded
expectation of a temporal prince, as their Messiah. Certainly, the
Jews had very good reason, from their prophecies, to expect no
Messiah but a Messiah who should sit on the throne of David, and
confer liberty and happiness upon them, and spread peace and
happiness throughout the earth, and communicate the knowledge
of God, and virtue, and the love of their fellow-men to every
people. Whether this (carnal or not,) would have been better than a
spiritual kingdom, and a throne in heaven; together with the ample
list of councils, dogmas, excommunications, proscriptions,
theological quarrels, and frauds, and an endless detail of blood and
murder, I leave to the judgment of those capable of deciding for
themselves.
Neither, in fact, is it true, that the Jews were so carnally minded
as to refuse Jesus as their Messiah, because he was poor and in a
low estate. On the contrary, did they not ask him not to evade, but
to speak plainly? How long (said they) dost thou mean to keep us
in suspense? If thou be the Messiah, tell us plainly. These very
men were willing to hazard, in his favour, their fortunes, their
families, and their lives, in his cause, against the whole power of
the Roman empire. Nay, so urgent were they, that they were going
to make him their king by force, and he concealed himself from the
honour. The evasions he used to avoid their pressing questions
upon the subject, are known to all who have read the evangelists;
and so timed was he in acknowledging himself as the Messiah, that
he did not do so, till Simon Peter told him that he was. And can
any candid man, after all this, wonder at, or condemn, the
blindness, as it is called, of the Jews? or can he refrain from
smiling at the frothy declamations in which divines load that nation
with so much unmerited reproach? These Jews had just reason, we
think, to doubt his Messiahship; and they had a right to satisfactory
and unambiguous proof of his being so: even the proofs laid down,
by their prophets. And this, it must be now acknowledged, they
wanted; and, certainly, the wise and learned of the Jewish nation,
might be allowed to have understood their sacred books upon the
subject, as well, at least, if not better, than the illiterate apostles,
who manifestly put new interpretations upon them, and those,
confessedly, not agreeable to the obvious and literal meaning of
those books; but contrary to the sense of the Jewish nation. And
for this scepticism they might plead the example of the apostles
themselves, who, at first, like other unbelieving Jews, expected a
temporal prince; and did disbelieve Jesus to be the Messiah on
account of his death, notwithstanding his miracles. And they
continued in these thoughts, till it seems they come to understand
the spiritual sense of the scriptures; which spiritual sense, it is said,
they obtained by the traditionary rules of interpretation in use
among the Jews. Yet, it is rather inconsistent and singular, that
they should place so much dependence upon these traditionary
rules, and yet pay so little regard to the traditionary explication of
the scriptures, with respect to the temporal kingdom of the
Messiah--inconsistent and singular is it, that they should "cry
aloud" for that which would support their peculiar views, but reject
it when militating against these views.*