“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Isaiah 55: 6-7

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Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel (Part 4)

This is Part 4 in my series on ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel. The other 3 parts are listed below:

Daniel’s Background

As a boy in 605 BC, the prophet Daniel was taken to Babylon as a captive. He died in Babylon in 538 BC having never returned to his ancestral homeland.

In 539 BC, the year before Daniel died, Cyrus the Great conquered the Babylonian Empire and signed a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Cyrus’ decree took effect shortly before Daniel’s death.

Daniel prospered in Babylon. He became a powerful royal official under four kings:

Nebuchadnezzar II
Belshazzar
Darius the Mede
Cyrus the Great

Nebuchadnezzar II

Nebuchadnezzar II was King of the Chaldean Dynasty of Babylonia, i.e., the Babylonian Empire or more correctly, the Neo-Babylonian Empire. He died in 561 BC. He is mentioned in Daniel chapters 1 through 4. Nebuchadnezzar made Daniel an important government official in Babylon.

Below is a picture of the Babylonian Empire at the height of its glory:

Belshazzar

Belshazzar was Coregent of Babylon. His father, Nabonidus, was king, but Nabonidus took a 10-year hiatus from his official duties to build and restore temples in the Babylonian Empire for the moon god, Sin. Nabonidus left Belshazzar in charge in Babylon as coregent, and he served in that capacity until he died in 539 BC.

Belshazzar is mentioned in Daniel 5. He held a great feast for thousands of his nobles, and foolishly he decided to entertain his guests by using the gold implements from Yahweh’s Temple that his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, had brought to Babylon after the destruction of Jerusalem. That was the last straw.

During the feast, Belshazzar saw a human hand appear from out of nowhere and write these words on a plaster wall in the banquet hall: “mene, mene, tekel, upharsin”. Daniel interpreted the message for Belshazzar:

“‘MENE’ — Elohim has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. ‘TEKEL’ — you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. ‘PERES’ — your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.” (Daniel 5: 26-28)

That same night within hours of seeing the writing on the wall, the Babylonian Empire fell and Belshazzar was killed. Darius the Mede received his kingdom. Seventeen days later, King Cyrus entered Babylon as the conquering hero.

Darius the Mede

Darius took possession of Babylon and ruled there under Cyrus’ crown in much the same way that King Herod ruled Judea under Roman governors. Darius is mentioned prominently in Daniel 6 when he was tricked into signing a decree that resulted in Daniel being thrown into the lions’ den.

Cyrus the Great

Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire or the first Persian Empire that was centered in Pasargadae in modern-day Iran. Cyrus is best known for creating the largest empire the world had known until that time and for his decree liberating the Jews in Babylon following his conquest of the Babylonian Empire.

Below is a picture of the Persian Empire under Cyrus the Great:

Yahweh Told Isaiah about Cyrus Before He was Born

More than 150 years before Cyrus was born, Yahweh told Isaiah that Cyrus would liberate the Jews in Babylon:

“It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he will carry out all My desire.’ And he says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ and the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’” (Isaiah 44: 28)

But Yahweh went even further:

“This is what Yahweh says to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him and to undo the weapons belt on the waist of kings; to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: ‘I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places, so that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel, who calls you by your name. For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name; I have given you a title of honor though you have not known Me.’” (Isaiah 45: 1-4)

Along with freeing the Jewish captives in Babylon, Cyrus returned to Jerusalem the implements for temple worship that had been taken by the Babylonians. He also paid for rebuilding Yahweh’s Temple out of the Persian treasury:

Ezra 1: 2-11

“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘Yahweh, the Elohim of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to rebuild for Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his Elohim be with him! Go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of Yahweh, the Elohim of Israel; He is the Elohim who is in Jerusalem. And every survivor, at whatever place he may live, the people of that place are to support him with silver and gold, with equipment and cattle, together with a voluntary offering for the house of Elohim which is in Jerusalem.’”

Then the heads of fathers’ households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites rose up, everyone whose spirit Elohim had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of Yahweh which is in Jerusalem. And all of those around them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with equipment, cattle, and with valuables, aside from everything that was given as a voluntary offering. Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of Yahweh, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods; and Cyrus, King of Persia, had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the leader of Judah. Now this was their number: thirty gold dishes, a thousand silver dishes, twenty nine duplicates; thirty gold bowls, 410 silver bowls of a second kind, and a thousand other articles. All the articles of gold and silver totaled 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all up with the exiles who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem. (Ezra 1: 2-11)

Ezra 6: 1-5

Then King Darius issued a decree, and a search was conducted in the archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon. And in Ecbatana, in the fortress which is in the province of Media, a scroll was found; and the following was written in it: “Memorandum — In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: ‘Concerning the house of Elohim in Jerusalem, let the temple, the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt, and let its foundations be repaired, its height being sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, with three layers of large stones and one layer of timber. And the cost is to be paid from the royal treasury. Also the gold and silver utensils of the house of Elohim, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned and brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall put them in the house of Elohim.’” (Ezra 6: 1-5)

The Babylonian Captivity and the Birth of Judaism

Cyrus’ act of kindness and generosity helped to launch the religion we call “Judaism” today. Before the Babylonian Captivity began, no rational Jewish person who knew anything about Yahweh would have dreamed of calling their religion “Judaism”.

Furthermore, before the Babylonian Captivity began, no rational Jewish person would have referred to the descendants of Judah alone as “Yahweh’s chosen people”. All of Abraham’s descendants through Isaac and Jacob/Israel are Yahweh’s chosen people. In the Bible, they are called “the Children of Israel”, not “the Children of Judah”. The Children of Israel includes the descendants of Judah and the descendants of Jacob’s other 11 sons. Yahweh made that perfectly clear in the Tanach/Old Testament.

Moses was a Levite, not a Jew. He led the Children of Israel out of Egypt, not just the Children of Judah. Through Moses, Yahweh gave the Torah to the Children of Israel at Mount Sinai. He didn’t give the Torah to the Children of Judah alone. Moses led the Children of Israel through the wilderness for 40 years. He did not lead just the Children of Judah. Although they camped by tribes, all of the Children of Israel traveled together through the wilderness to the Promised Land.

The descendants of all Jacob’s sons are important, because Yahweh made promises to all of them. Even so, during the 70-year Babylonian Captivity, Jewish religious leaders wrote the Babylonian Talmud and created a new religion. They called it “Judaism”.

The Babylonian Talmud spells out in great detail what Judaism is and how Jewish people must live. To this day, it remains the pivotal text in Rabbinic Judaism, and it is the primary source of the Oral Law, a.k.a., the traditions of the Jews and Halacha.

When the Babylonian Captivity ended, the Jewish religious leaders who returned to the Promised Land brought Judaism with them. It bares only a slight resemblance to the faith of Abraham that Yahweh laid out in the Tanach. It is a man-made religion. See The Trilogy.

Most contemporary Jewish religious leaders believe that Yahweh gave them authority to make sweeping changes to His word, but He did not. Even so, they hold fast to that perspective, and they are offended when people challenge that belief. Some of them are openly hostile toward people who point out that Yahweh’s promises to the Children of Israel, not the Children of Judah alone, are irrevocable.

It makes no sense to conclude that Yahweh made His promises to Abraham’s descendants through Isaac and Jacob/Israel, i.e., the Children of Israel, and then He endorsed a religion called “Judaism”. That did not happen, and it never will happen.

Reuniting Israel and Judah

Getting Jewish people to admit that Judah’s descendants are a part of the Children of Israel, not all of them, will be the thorniest problem we face as Yahweh moves toward reuniting Israel and Judah. Even so, in Ezekiel 37, Yahweh said that He will reunite the two houses of Israel:

The word of Yahweh came again to me, saying, “Now you, son of man, take for yourself one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and for the sons of Israel, his companions’; then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.’ Then put them together for yourself one to another into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand. And when the sons of your people speak to you, saying, ‘Will you not declare to us what you mean by these?’ say to them, ‘This is what Adonai Yahweh says: “Behold, I am going to take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will put them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.”’ The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes. And say to them, ‘This is what Adonai Yahweh says: “Behold, I am going to take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king for all of them; and they will no longer be two nations, and no longer be divided into two kingdoms. They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their offenses; but I will rescue them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people, and I will be their Elohim. (Ezekiel 37: 15-23)

Isaiah prophesied about Yahweh reuniting the two houses of Israel, too:

Then on that day the nations will resort to the root of Jesse [the Messiah], who will stand as a signal flag for the peoples; and His resting place will be glorious. Then it will happen on that day that Adonai will again recover with His hand the second time the remnant of His people who will remain, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He will lift up a flag for the nations and assemble the banished ones of Israel [he is not talking about Judah here], and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Then the jealousy of Ephraim [Israel] will depart, and those who harass Judah will be eliminated; Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim. They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines on the west; together they will plunder the people of the east; they will possess Edom and Moab, and the sons of Ammon will be subject to them. And Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt; and He will wave His hand over the Euphrates River with His scorching wind; and He will strike it into seven streams and make people walk over in dry sandals. And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant of His people who will be left, just as there was for Israel on the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt. (Isaiah 11: 10-16)

I have a lot more to say about this issue, but now is not the time and this is not the place to say it. At this point, let it suffice to say that Yahweh will fulfill His promises. Nothing and no one can stop Him.

Babylon: Past, Present, and Future

Daniel Chapter 9 and the Messiah

Daniel 9 begins by explaining what Daniel was thinking about at the time he wrote his prophecy:

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans — in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. So I gave my attention to Adonai Elohim, to seek Him by prayer and pleading, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. I prayed to Yahweh my Elohim and confessed, and said, “Oh, Adonai, the great and awesome Elohim, who keeps His covenant and faithfulness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned, we have done wrong, and acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your Name to our kings, our leaders, our fathers, and all the people of the land. (Daniel 9: 1-6)

Daniel wanted to know exactly when the Babylonian Captivity would end. He prayed that Yahweh would tell him, but Yahweh did more than Daniel asked. He told Daniel about the Messiah:

When He would come,
the fact that He would be cut off (i.e., He would die),
and that He would return.

Gabriel was Yahweh’s Messenger to Daniel

While I was still speaking and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before Yahweh my Elohim in behalf of the holy mountain of my Elohim [Mount Moriah, especially the City of David], while I was still speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel [the angel Gabriel], whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering. And he instructed me and talked with me and said, “Daniel, I have come now to give you insight with understanding. At the beginning of your pleas the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, because you are highly esteemed; so, pay attention to the message and gain understanding of the vision.”

“Seventy weeks [literally, 70 units of 7] have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the wrongdoing, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. So you are to know and understand that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with streets and moat, even in times of distress. Then after the sixty-two weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing, and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And he will confirm a covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come the one who makes desolate, until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, gushes forth on the one who makes desolate.” (Daniel 9: 20-27)

Daniel’s 70 Weeks Vision

Daniel’s 70 weeks vision is one of the most important and hotly debated prophetic visions in the Bible. In it, Daniel is shown a timeline that includes the Messiah’s first coming, His crucifixion, the emergence of the anti-messiah, and the Messiah’s second coming and with it, the time of the end.

At this point, I can’t explain the vision with certainty, but we know that the 70 weeks is literally about 70 units of 7, and it refers to years. It is divided into into 3 parts:

Part 1 begins with a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem: “from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks”. Part 1 lasts for 69 weeks or for 483 years: (7 x 7 = 49) + (62 x 7 = 434) = 483 years. Part 1 ends when the Messiah is “cut off”, i.e., when He is crucified. Many believe that the decree mentioned refers to Xerxes’ decree in 457 BC. That may be true.
Part 2 is a gap of indeterminate length. Currently, we are in the gap. Yahweh knows when it will end, and no one can know when it will end unless Yahweh tells Him.
Part 3 is a resumption of the counting. It lasts for 7 years, and it is divided into 2 segments:
1. Segment 1 begins when the anti-messiah emerges and cuts a 7-year deal with Jews in Israel to rebuild the temple and restore animal sacrifices. It lasts for 3½ years. At the end of 3½ years, the anti-messiah declares that he is god and takes a seat in the temple.
2. Segment 2 begins at that point. It lasts for the remainder of the 7-year deal, or for 3½ years. At the end of the 7-year period, the Messiah returns.
3. Segments 1 and 2 are called “the Tribulation”.
4. Segment 2 is called “the Great Tribulation”.

That is the gist of it, but as I said, the specifics are hotly debated. Below are 2 videos that provide interesting insights:

Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Judea Expected the Messiah

Many ultra-Orthodox Jews in Judea during the Messiah’s day expected His arrival. They were well aware of Daniel’s prophecy, and they knew that it was time for Him to appear. But they expected the King Messiah: A warrior referred to in the Bible as the Messiah son of David. They expected Him to defeat Judah’s enemies, and then to rule with a rod of iron.

They didn’t expect the suffering servant Messiah that Isaiah talked about in Isaiah 53. He was a Man who came to conquer sin and death. That was His first order of business. He accomplished that mission on the cross, and He is our Savior and Redeemer. He is the same Person that the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Judea expected, but they failed to grasp the Messiah’s two roles. They were fixated on something that still hasn’t happened, but it will happen, probably sooner than a lot of people think.

To unbelievers, the idea of defeating sin and death is a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, but to believers, it is the linchpin of Yahweh’s plan for humankind. The ultra-Orthodox Jews in Judea rejected Yahweh’s plan and substituted their own plan in its place. Judaism was the vehicle through which they planned to exercise power, garner prestige, and accumulate wealth.

Things didn’t work out the way the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Judea planned. In the 330s BC, about 200 years after the Babylonian Captivity ended, Judea lost its independence again when Alexander the Great conquered the Levant. It became part of the Greek state under the Seleucid Empire. Below is a picture of the Seleucid Empire:

From 167 BC to 160 BC, Judah Maccabee led the Maccabean Revolt against Greek rule in Judea. In 164 BC, Maccabee recaptured Jerusalem by defeating the armies of Antiochus IV. He cleansed the Temple and rededicated the altar, thus giving rise to the Hanukkah festival. In the New Testament, it is called “the Feast of Dedication”:

At that time, the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and the Messiah was walking in the temple area, in the portico of Solomon. The Jews then surrounded Him and began saying to Him, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us plainly.”

The Messiah answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s Name, these testify of Me. But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are One.”

The Jews picked up stones again to stone Him. The Messiah replied to them, “I showed you many good works from the Father. For which of them are you stoning Me?” (John 10: 22-32)

Maccabee founded the Hasmonean dynasty. It ruled in Judea from 110 BC to 63 BC. Then, a bitter dispute arose between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II over which of them would ascend to the Hasmonean throne. That dispute threatened to become an all-out civil war, so they asked Pompey the Great, a Roman, to intervene and settle the dispute.

Judean independence was lost yet again in 63 BC when Pompey came in, conquered Jerusalem, and turned Judea into a client kingdom in the Roman Republic. In 37 BC, the Romans installed Herod the Great as a puppet king. The Messiah was born shortly before Herod’s death.

Below is a picture of the Roman Empire:

As I said, ultra-Orthodox Jews in Judea expected the Messiah’s arrival, because they read Daniel. But they misunderstood it. They didn’t get the part about the Messiah being “cut off”. They certainly didn’t realize that they would play a part in cutting Him off.

The Messiah came and died (He was “cut off”) as the atoning sacrifice for His people’s sins. (See Isaiah 53: 8 below.) As I said, His death on the cross defeated sin and death. That was His primary mission during His first advent. Isaiah 53 discusses His mission in detail. That chapter is the best description of the suffering servant Messiah in the Bible:

Isaiah 53: 5—But He was pierced for our offenses. He was crushed for our wrongdoings. The punishment for our well-being was laid upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.
Isaiah 53: 8—By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and as for His generation, who considered that He was cut off from the land of the living for the wrongdoing of My people, to whom the blow was due?
Isaiah 53: 10—But Yahweh desired to crush Him, causing Him grief; if He renders Himself as a guilt offering…
Isaiah 53: 11—As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied. By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, for He will bear their iniquities.
Isaiah 53: 12—Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the plunder with the strong, because He poured out His life unto death, and was counted with wrongdoers. Yet He Himself bore the sin of many and interceded for the wrongdoers.

Isaiah wrote his prophecy in about 742 BC. Daniel wrote his prophecy in the 530s BC. That’s about 200 years later than Isaiah’s prophecy. Both of them state clearly that the Messiah would be “cut off”. Isaiah said it more than 700 years before He was born, and Daniel confirmed it more than 500 years before He was born.

Many modern scholars debate the dates of Bible prophecies. For example, they think Daniel was written between 168 BC and 165 BC instead of in the 530s BC, but that is not possible. The ancient historian Josephus records that Alexander the Great was shown the Book of Daniel in the 330s BC when he took his army through the Levant on his way to Egypt:

Although Alexander the Great conquered Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and surrounding countries, modern historians have little to say of him visiting the Holy Land. Yet ancient history says that he had a most remarkable encounter there, not only visiting the temple in Jerusalem but also making a sacrifice to the God of Israel.

Most modern historians dismiss the story, but one wonders just why they do. Could it be they would have to admit there is a God of history who controls the course of nations?

The noted first-century Jewish historian Josephus records the king’s visit to Jerusalem and a meeting between Alexander and the high priest, Jaddua.

In 332 B.C. Alexander besieged and defeated the coastal cities of Tyre and Gaza in his march toward Egypt. During this campaign he turned toward Jerusalem. Alexander had already demanded men and supplies from the Jews, who were under the rule of Alexander’s mortal enemy, the Persian king Darius. The high priest hesitated, saying that while Darius lived they would honor their pledge. Alexander was angry and began a move on the city.

Well aware of the danger, Jaddua asked the people to pray to God for His mercy and protection. Then, says Josephus, Jaddua had a dream as to how to entreat the Macedonian king. He and the other priests dressed in their priestly robes and, accompanied by others dressed in white garments, formed a pro-cession that went out of the city to a carefully chosen place to meet the king. [That place is Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. It is called “Mount Scopus”, because that’s where Alexander scoped out Jerusalem on his way to Egypt.]

Alexander then did the unexpected. Alone, he approached the high priest and members of the procession and greeted them.

When asked by one of his generals why he welcomed this group, Alexander replied: “I did not adore him, but that God who hath honoured him with his high priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit [garment], when I was at Dios in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and would give me the dominion over the Persians; whence it is, that having seen no other in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision, and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind” (Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 11, chap. 8, sec. 5, William Whiston translation, 1981).

Josephus records that Alexander then accompanied the priest into Jerusalem and the temple, where he “offered sacrifice to God, according to the high priest’s direction, and magnificently treated both the high priest and the priests.”

Alexander’s visit was capped by a briefing from the book of Daniel, written several centuries earlier, which foretold the rise and conquests of Alexander. “And when the book of Daniel was shewed him, wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended; and as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present . . .” (ibid.) (Alexander Reads About Himself in the Book of Daniel)

Some “scholars” have a bad habit of dating Scripture to make it comply with their unbelief. They did it to the Book of Daniel, and they did it to Isaiah, too. I have pointed out already that Isaiah wrote about Cyrus more than 150 years before Cyrus was born, but many scholars believe Isaiah must have been written after Cyrus became king and freed the Jews from captivity in Babylonian. They refuse to accept the fact that an all-knowing Elohim can tell us intricate details about the future well in advance of the events taking place. That problem will persist until the Messiah returns, even though we know when the books were written. Their dates are revealed in the books themselves.

Be that as it may, Isaiah 7: 14 tells us that the Messiah is Immanuel, Elohim with us. Isaiah 9: 6 tells us more about Him:

“For a Child will be born to us. A Son will be given to us, and the government will rest on His shoulders. His Name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty El [El Gibbor], Everlasting Father [Aviad], and Prince of Peace [Sar Shalom].” (Isaiah 9: 6)

Through Jeremiah, Yahweh told us the Messiah’s Name:

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch. He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will live securely. This is His Name by which He will be called, ‘Yahweh Our Righteousness.’” (Jeremiah 23: 5-6)

He is the same Jeremiah whose prophecies Daniel was studying to determine when the Babylonian Captivity would end. In other words, Daniel knew the Messiah’s Name, and Yahweh told Daniel about Him.

The Messiah is Yahweh. He is the only One qualified to be our Savior and our Redeemer. He has defeated sin and death already. He is also the only One qualified to rule with a rod of iron. His people will rule with Him, but He is the Sovereign King, Yahweh Sabaoth. That day is coming. See His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition.

The Messiah’s Second Coming

The Messiah will return, as Daniel said. When He returns, He will defeat and judge His enemies.

Zechariah 12 tells us about the Messiah’s Second Coming. This will be the Messiah that the ultra-Orthodox Jews in Judea expected when He came the first time:

The pronouncement of the word of Yahweh concerning Israel:

Yahweh who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of a person within him, declares: “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. It will come about on that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will injure themselves severely. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. On that day,” declares Yahweh, “I will strike every horse with confusion and its rider with insanity. But I will watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a strong support for us through Yahweh Sabaoth, their Elohim.’”

“On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again live on their own sites in Jerusalem. Yahweh also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be greater than Judah. On that day, Yahweh will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them on that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like Elohim, like the Angel of Yahweh before them. And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.”

“And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of pleading, so that they will look at Me whom they pierced; and they will mourn for Him, like one mourning for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be great, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo.” (Zechariah 12: 1-11)

Zechariah 14 tells us more about the Messiah’s Second Coming:

Behold, a day is coming for Yahweh when the spoils taken from you will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be taken, the houses plundered, the women raped, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be eliminated from the city. Then Yahweh will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. On that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west forming a very large valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and the other half toward the south. And you will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then Yahweh, my Elohim, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!

On that day there will be no light; the luminaries will die out. For it will be a unique day which is known to Yahweh, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at the time of evening there will be light. And on that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter. And Yahweh will be King over all the earth; on that day Yahweh will be the only one, and His Name the only one. (Zechariah 14: 1-9)

Joel gives us another perspective on the Messiah’s Second Coming:

Proclaim this among the nations:

Prepare for holy war; stir up the warriors! Have all the soldiers come forward, have them come up! Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak man say, “I am a warrior.” Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down, Yahweh, Your warriors. Let the nations be awakened and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat [the Kidron Valley], for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread the grapes, for the wine press is full; the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of Yahweh is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon have become dark, and the stars have lost their brightness. Yahweh roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake. But Yahweh is a refuge for His people, and a stronghold for the sons of Israel. Then you will know that I am Yahweh your Elohim, dwelling on Zion, My holy mountain. So, Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will no longer pass through it. (Joel 3: 9-17)

Ultra-Orthodox Jews need to give careful consideration to what they are doing and what their predecessors did. When the Messiah returns, if they have not repented they will have no one to blame but themselves. They should repent now while there is still time.

Many Ultra-Orthodox Jews will Oppose the Messiah When He Returns

Below is a picture that I took in 2014 in the Wohl Museum in the Old City of Jerusalem. The museum is in the Jewish Quarter near Hurva Synagogue. Excavations in this area started immediately after the Six-Day War in 1967 when Israel regained control of Jerusalem.

The object in the center of the picture was unearthed during excavations of a priestly dwelling that existed at the time of the Messiah. The house was extremely large and lavish, almost like a palace. It was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD, and the object in the picture remained buried underneath tons of dirt for more than 1,900 years. Some of the ashes from the fire that destroyed the house are still there today. You can see them. They are under glass for protection.

The object in the picture is a representation of the goddess Asherah. She is mentioned by name in the Tanach/Old Testament 39 times. She is also called the mother goddess and the wife of god.

The person who owned the house in which this idol was found was an ultra-Orthodox Jew, a religious leader, and a ruler of the people of Judea. In all likelihood, he was a member of the Sanhedrin. He may have been with the High Priest Caiaphas and other members of the Sanhedrin the night they voted to crucify the Messiah. I am pointing this out because the religious leaders during the Messiah’s day were corrupt. They betrayed Yahweh in every way imaginable.

Why was the Asherah idol in that house? Its very presence there violated the 1^st and greatest Commandment:

“I am Yahweh your Elohim, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, Yahweh your Elohim, am a jealous Elohim, inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.” (Exodus 20: 2-6)

The Owner of that House Had No Excuse

Ahab was arguably the worst king Israel (not Judah) ever had. He and his wife Jezebel were notorious for committing crimes against Yahweh and the people of Israel. To this day, the name “Jezebel” is synonymous with sexual promiscuity, larceny, and murder. Obviously, she made a lasting impression.

Ahab was a dolt. Figuratively speaking, Jezebel led him around by the nose. He was a Ba’al worshiper. Jezebel worshiped Ba’al and Asherah.

The story of Ahab and Jezebel was well-known in Judea at the time of the Messiah. The power couple did their part to lead Israel (not Judah) down the slippery slope toward total annihilation. In the 700s BC, about 100 years after Ahab and Jezebel died, Yahweh called in the Assyrians to destroy Israel, take the people captive, and scatter them throughout the world. Captives from Israel became known as “the ten lost tribes of Israel”. They remain scattered to this day. The few people from Israel who remained in the land became a racially mixed group with pagan and Israeli ancestry. By the Messiah’s time, they were referred to disparagingly as “Samaritans”.

With that information as background, consider Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Ba’al and Asherah at the top of Mount Carmel:

So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”

“I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned Yahweh’s commands and have followed the Ba’als. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Ba’al and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”

So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If Yahweh is Elohim, follow him; but if Ba’al, follow him.” (1 Kings 18: 16-21)

The prophets of Ba’al went first. They slaughtered a sacrifice, placed it on an altar, and called on Ba’al to send fire down to consume it. They chanted and danced and cut themselves. Blood was everywhere, but nothing happened.

Elijah mocked them:

“Shout louder! Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” (1 Kings 18: 27)

Next, it was Elijah’s turn:

Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of Yahweh, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of Yahweh had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones he built an altar in the name of Yahweh, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”

“Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.

“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.

At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Yahweh, the Elohim of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that You are Elohim in Israel and that I am Your servant and have done all these things at Your command. Answer me, Yahweh, answer me, so these people will know that You, Yahweh, are Elohim, and that You are turning their hearts back again.”

Then the fire of Yahweh fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. (1 Kings 18: 30-38)

That was an amazing sight, and it had the desired effect:

When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “Yahweh — He is Elohim! Yahweh — He is Elohim!”

Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Ba’al. Don’t let anyone escape!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there. (1 Kings 18: 39-40)

The exact spot where that happened is still revered today. It’s called “Al-Mukhraqa”. It’s an Arab name that means the place where fire came down. When you visit Israel, go to the Deir Al-Mukhraqa Carmelite Monastery. It’s about 11 miles from Haifa. That’s where you will find it.

Katie and I owe a debt of gratitude to Ishai Avraham for locating Al-Mukhraqa for us many years ago. We had searched for it for on several visits to Israel, but we couldn’t find it. It helps to have friends in Israel. Below is a video I took on our second trip to Al-Mukhraqa. We were there that day with Ishai and his daughter, Noam:

At the time of the Messiah, the Tanach was complete. It included 1 Kings and every other book in the Tanach today. Anyone in Judea at that time who had a household idol of Asherah in his possession would have known that he was violating the 1^st Commandment.

The religious leaders in Judea in particular knew better. All of them were ultra-Orthodox Jews. The man in whose house that idol was found was an idol worshipper. He had abandoned Yahweh. After the Messiah’s crucifixion, people like him took it upon themselves to attack Him in their religious writings and to drive Jewish people out of the synagogues if they believed what the Messiah said.

The religious leaders’ efforts produced a lot of bad fruit. Thanks to them, Jewish people who understand who the Messiah is suffer in the Jewish community and even in their own homes. It’s a travesty.

The problem they created persists to this day. It is common for Jewish people today to believe that the Messiah was a deranged Jewish lunatic or a demon-possessed Jewish person, because that is what they have been taught by their rabbis. What Jewish religious leaders say about the Messiah has no bearing on who He is, but it does tell us a lot about who they are and what they are up to.

Below is a video that I took in Wohl Museum. It shows how the religious aristocracy in Jerusalem lived at the time of the Messiah. All of them were ultra-Orthodox Jews. They were very rich. They would do just about anything to protect their power, prestige, and wealth, including killing the Messiah. His teachings threatened everything they held dear.

As I was walking thorough the museum, I kept thinking about something the Messiah said:

As He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace — but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of Elohim’s coming to you.” (Luke 19: 41-44)

Forty years later, that happened. Wohl Museum is evidence that it happened.

Doctoring the Scriptures

When I was writing His Name is Yahweh, for the most part, I tried to avoid criticizing any Bible translation. Translating from one language to another can be challenging, and I didn’t want to bore my readers with lengthy explanations about the meanings of words unless it was absolutely necessary.

In two instances, I had no choice. In The Stone Edition Tanach, The ArtScroll Series^®, a highly regarded version of the Tanach, Rabbi Nosson Scherman translated Genesis 4: 26 and Proverbs 30: 4 incorrectly. I needed to address those errors in my book, because they were flagrant attempts to rewrite the Tanach to make it comply with Halacha. That is not permissible.

I called Rabbi Scherman on the phone and asked him if he would read what I said about his translations of those two verses. He said he would. So, I sent him a copy of the manuscript for His Name is Yahweh, and I identified the pages on which I had addressed my concerns.

A few days later, I received this reply from him in writing:

“My translation is based on Talmudic and Rabbinic sources going back hundreds—indeed, according to our faith—thousands of years. Judaism rejects your contention that the recipients of the Torah doctored its meaning, which pre-dates the Common Era.”

The irony should be obvious to anyone. It should be especially obvious to someone as intelligent as Rabbi Scherman.

I was right about his mistranslations of Genesis 4: 26 and Proverbs 30: 4, but instead of addressing my concerns, he simply justified his actions by referencing “Rabbinic sources” dating back thousands of years. In other words, he was saying that those “Rabbinic sources” are more authoritative than Yahweh’s word.

I can be precise about the dates of those “Rabbinic sources”. They date back to the Babylonian Captivity in the 500s BC. They are the Talmud (especially the Babylonian Talmud), the Mishnah, and other Jewish religious writings that make up the Oral Law, i.e., Halacha.

Rabbi Scherman suggested that I was accusing him of doctoring the Torah. That’s exactly what he did, and the evidence is in his translation.

For instance, Yahweh’s Name appears almost 7,000 times in Hebrew texts of the Tanach, but it doesn’t appear even one time in Rabbi Scherman’s translation. Instead, he substituted “HASHEM” where Yahweh’s Name should have been.

HASHEM is a Hebrew word. It means “the Name”, so Rabbi Scherman was complying with Sanhedrin 7: 5 by expunging Yahweh’s Name from the Scriptures. That is a perfect example of doctoring the Scriptures to make it comply with Jewish tradition.

Sanhedrin 7: 5 prohibits saying Yahweh’s Name. When that prohibition was written, the definition of “blasphemy” was changed so that simply saying “Yahweh” was blasphemy, and the penalty for violating the prohibition was death:

A blasphemer is not culpable until he pronounces God’s Name. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Korcha says that during a blasphemer’s trial, they use a euphemism in place of God’s Name, i.e., they say “May Yosi smite Yosi.” Once the trial has concluded, they do not execute the defendant based upon a euphemism. Rather, they send everyone out and ask the most senior of the witnesses to repeat verbatim what they heard the defendant say, which he does. The judges stand up, they tear their garments upon hearing the blasphemy and they never mend them. The second witness says, “I heard what he heard” and each additional witness does likewise. (Sanhedrin 7: 5)

Unbeknownst to most Christians, that misguided Jewish tradition has been adopted by the translators of virtually every English version of the Bible going all the way back to the original 1611 edition of the King James Bible. Instead of putting Yahweh’s Name in the Scriptures where it belongs, they have substituted “LORD”, “the LORD God”, “the Lord GOD”, and “LORD of hosts”. Below are the correct translations for each of those words and phrases:

“LORD” is Yahweh.
“the LORD God” is Yahweh Elohim.
“the Lord GOD” is Adonai Yahweh.
“LORD of hosts” is Yahweh Sabaoth.

Notice that all the letters in the words “LORD” and “GOD” are capitalized when Yahweh’s Name belongs there. When you see the word “Lord” in the Old Testament with only the “L” capitalized, the Hebrew text of the Scripture says “Adonai”.

I wrote His Name is Yahweh to help solve that problem. It’s working, but it’s a long, slow process. Misguided Christian traditions are just as difficult to overcome as erroneous Jewish traditions.

The Messiah and the Religious Aristocracy

The religious aristocracy in Jerusalem served under the Roman occupiers of the Promised Land, but they still had great autonomy and authority. If you read the 4 gospels in the Bible carefully, you will see that the Messiah came to restore Yahweh’s order. His Sermon of the Mount is a perfect example.

The Sermon on the Mount appears in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7. Five times in Matthew 5, the Messiah started an explanation to His followers with the phrase “You have heard that it was said….”:

“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'” (Matthew 5: 21)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.'” (Matthew 5: 27)
“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to Yahweh the vows you have made.'” (Matthew 5: 33)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.'” (Matthew 5: 38)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'” (Matthew 5: 43)

Then the Messiah told the people what Yahweh really meant. For instance, murder doesn’t mean just the act of killing someone in cold blood. He said,

“But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.” (Matthew 5: 22)

He also told them,

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5: 27-28)

Whose job was it to teach people these things? It was the priests’ job, and they had failed.

Instead of doing what Yahweh expected them to do, they and their forefathers made up a set of laws called the Oral Law, a.k.a., the traditions of the Jews and Halacha, taught the people their laws, and told them that their laws supersede Yahweh’s Law.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Yahweh’s Law was, is, and always will be supreme. That should be obvious to anyone, but it should have been especially obvious to ultra-Orthodox Jews since profess to be Torah scholars. They are not Torah scholars. They are Talmud, Mishnah, and Gemara scholars, i.e., they are Oral Law or Halacha scholars.

This is what the Messiah said about them:

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.”

“Everything they do is done for people to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long. They love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues. They love to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces and to be called ‘Rabbi’ by others.”

“But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Matthew 23: 2-11)

For example, the Oral Law goes to great lengths to tell Jewish people what they can and cannot do on the Sabbath. The 4^th Commandment in Yahweh’s Law says,

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to Yahweh your Elohim. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” (Exodus 20: 8-11)

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish religious leaders and Jewish Sages over the millennia took it upon themselves to write out in meticulous detail exactly what “not do any work” means. For instance, Jewish people were allowed to take a “Sabbath Day’s journey”. It is the distance between the City of David where Yahweh’s Temple stood and the top of the Mount of Olives. (Josephus, Ant., XX, viii, 6.) Jewish people were allowed to travel that far, but they were not allowed to pick any olives along the way, because that was considered work.

I have walked from the City of David to the top of the Mount of Olives. That’s real work. If you have doubts, try it and see for yourself.

On the Sabbath, ultra-Orthodox Jews today are not allowed to ride in an elevator, drive a car, turn on a light switch, and many other things that are supposed to constitute work. Even more, if they see you doing those things, they may stone you, and I mean that literally.

I am not minimizing the importance of Yahweh’s commandments. I am simply saying that in most instances ultra-Orthodox Jews don’t know what they are talking about. Nowhere is that clearer than it is in Sanhedrin 7: 5, which forbids saying Yahweh’s Name.

Yahweh commanded us repeatedly to declare His Name boldly. For that reason, I believe Sanhedrin 7: 5 is the most egregious example in the Oral Law of ultra-Orthodox Jewish religious leaders reducing Yahweh’s commands to naught, and forcing Jewish people to comply with their edicts.

As I said, violating Sanhedrin 7: 5 is a capital offense. It is important to note that the Messiah was charged with “blasphemy” according to Sanhedrin 7: 5, convicted of “blasphemy”, and sentenced to death for simply saying, “Yahweh.” See His Name is Yahweh: Revised Edition:

“Then the high priest [Caiaphas] tore his robes and said, ‘He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? See, you have now heard the blasphemy.'” (Matthew 26: 65)

The Messiah performed many miracles on the Sabbath to show the religious leaders and ordinary Jewish people just how wrong the religious leaders were. A few of them are mentioned in the gospels:

He healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law. (Mark 1: 29-31)
He healed a man with a withered hand. (Mark 3: 1-6)
He healed a man who was born blind. (John 9: 1-16)
He healed a crippled woman. (Luke 13: 10-17)
He healed a man with dropsy. (Luke 14: 1-6)
He drove out an evil spirit. (Mark 1: 21-28)
He healed a lame man. (John 5: 1-18)

Every time the Messiah performed a miracle on the Sabbath, the religious leaders accused Him of breaking the law, and they wanted to kill Him for it. Below are 2 examples:

Example 1

Another time the Messiah went into the synagogue, and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Him, so they watched Him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. The Messiah said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.”

Then He asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent.

He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees [the religious leaders] went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill the Messiah. (Mark 3: 1-6)

Example 2

On a Sabbath, the Messiah was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When the Messiah saw her, He called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then He put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised Elohim.

Indignant because the Messiah had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue leader said to the people, “There are six days for work. So, come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

The Messiah answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

When He said this, all His opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things He was doing. (Luke 13: 10-17)

Of course, the religious leaders were angry. The Messiah exposed them and called them hypocrites. They were humiliated in front of the people over whom they held authority. If He had continued teaching and performing miracles, they would have lost everything including their wealth and their dignity. They ended up losing everything anyway.

In Matthew 23, the Messiah’s disgust with the ultra-Orthodox Jewish religious leaders in Jerusalem is abundantly clear:

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.”

“Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gold of the temple is bound by that oath.’ You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred? You also say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but anyone who swears by the gift on the altar is bound by that oath.’ You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, anyone who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And anyone who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And anyone who swears by heaven swears by Elohim’s throne and by the One who sits on it.”

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.”

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!”

“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation.” (Matthew 23: 13-36)

The Messiah concluded His condemnation of the religious leaders in Jerusalem by saying,

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see Me again until you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the Name of Yahweh.’” (Matthew 23: 37-38)

It’s easy to understand why the religious leaders were angry with the Messiah. It’s also easy to understand why they wanted to kill Him.

It’s not so easy to understand why they couldn’t comprehend what the Messiah was saying. They were intelligent men. Besides, the miracles He performed were proof that He was right and they were wrong. The miracles also proved that He is who He claimed to be: Yahweh.

The Talmud openly admits that the Messiah performed many great miracles, but it claims that the miracles were from Satan. That, my friends, is the “unpardonable sin”. They attributed to Satan things that Yahweh did. It’s also called “blaspheming the Holy Spirit”:

“Whoever is not with Me is against Me, and whoever does not gather with Me scatters. And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” (Matthew 12: 30-32)

When I consider all of these things, I can’t help but wonder what that Asherah idol was doing in the home of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish religious leader who lived during the Messiah’s time? He was an educated man, and he was not ignorant. He knew exactly what he was doing. As I said, he has no excuse.

People like him voted in the Sanhedrin to crucify the Messiah. As I said, ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel need to think carefully about what they are doing and what their forefathers did. If they don’t repent, they are in serious trouble. Thankfully, their influence in Israel today is not as great as it was during the Messiah’s day.

“Everyone who is seriously interested in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a Spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe — a Spirit vastly superior to man, and one in the face of which our modest powers must seem humble.”

Albert Einstein

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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”

John 10: 14-18