Monthly Archives: March 2010

Micah 5: 2 reads as follows: “But as for you Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.” This verse says the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem, and it also says He was in the beginning. In other words, He existed before anything or anyone else. Only One Person has existed from the beginning—Yahweh. This is what Targum Jonathan says about Micah 5: 2—“And you, O Bethlehem Ephrath, you who were too small to be numbered among the thousands of the House of Judah, from you shall come forth before Me the Messiah, to exercise dominion over Israel, he whose name was mentioned before, from the days of creation.” The Jerusalem Talmud says this about Micah 5: 2—“Son of Judah, Judaean! Tie your ox and tie your plow, for the King Messiah has been born!….He asked him: ‘From where is he?’ He answered: ‘From the royal fort of Bethlehem in Judah.’” This is what Midrash Tehelim says about Psalm 2: 7—“When the time of the advent of Messiah will be near, then the blessed God will say to him: ‘With him I will make a new covenant.’ And this is the time when he will acknowledge him as his Son, saying, ‘This day I have begotten thee.’” Obviously, these interpretations are not Christian misunderstandings of the Hebrew Scriptures. They fall in line perfectly with the teachings of the ancient rabbis.

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“For here we are not afraid to follow the truth wherever it may lead, nor to tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it.” (Thomas Jefferson)

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Facebook Group His Name is Yahweh:

I use the Facebook group His Name is Yahweh to notify people when I post a new SnyderTalk.  If you are not already a fan, you should consider signing up.  Click here to visit the site.

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Email Distribution List:

I have created an email distribution list that I use to notify people when I post a new SnyderTalk.  If you would like to be on that list, send your email address to nhsny@yahoo.com.  If you know others who are interested in SnyderTalk content, tell them to send me their email address, and I’ll put them on the list.

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Websites you need to see:

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The Book of Isaiah:

I am now showing you the book of Isaiah from the New American Standard Bible with one significant change.  I am including Yahweh’s Name where it belongs.  Each day I will post one chapter of Isaiah until I have posted the entire book.

Isaiah 6

  1. In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw Yahweh sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.
  2. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
  3. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is Yahweh Sabaoth, the whole earth is full of His glory.”
  4. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.
  5. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined!  Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh Sabaoth.”
  6. Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.
  7. He touched my mouth with it and said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away and your sin is forgiven.”
  8. Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I.  Send me!”
  9. He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand.’
  10. “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and return and be healed.”
  11. Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, houses are without people and the land is utterly desolate,
  12. “Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
  13. “Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, and it will again be subject to burning, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains when it is felled.  The holy seed is its stump.”

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SnyderTalk® Commentary:

Currently, I am putting up bite sized pieces of His Name is Yahweh in SnyderTalk Commentary.  If you haven’t read it, it will be a treat for you.  If you have read it, you will probably enjoy reading it again.  Don’t hesitate to share it with your friends.  You can download the entire manuscript for free at His Name is Yahweh, or you can buy it in Kindle format from Amazon for just $5.

I have left out several footnotes.  Please go to the website His Name is Yahweh and download the manuscript.  It has all the footnotes, and it’s free.

Other Messianic Prophecies

There are hundreds of Messianic prophecies in the Old Testament that Jeffrey did not mention.  A few of them are presented below:

  • Psalm 2: 7-9—“I will surely tell of the decree of Yahweh: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You.  Ask of Me, and I will give the nations as Your inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Your possession.  You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.”

This is what Midrash Tehelim says about Psalm 2: 7—“When the time of the advent of Messiah will be near, then the blessed God will say to him: ‘With him I will make a new covenant.’  And this is the time when he will acknowledge him as his Son, saying, ‘This day I have begotten thee.’”

As you can see, the Messiah’s role in establishing the New Covenant was not lost on the ancient rabbis.  At least some of them understood perfectly that the Messiah would institute the New Covenant with His people, and the use of the word “new” unquestionably means the Messiah had to complete, or to fulfill, the Old Covenant.

  • Psalm 8: 4-5—“What is man that You take thought of him, and the Son of Man that You care for Him?  Yet You have made Him a little lower than God, and You crown Him with glory and majesty.”

Because of Psalm 2: 7-9 and Psalm 8: 4-5, the Messiah is referred to as the Son of Man.  He is also known as the Son of David because He came into the world through the line of David.  Jewish people call Him Ha Mashiach ben David (the Messiah Son of David).  To complete His mission, the Messiah had to become a Man and live His life in perfect obedience to the Torah.  Only then could He become the flawless sacrifice for the sins of mankind—the unblemished Lamb of Yahweh.  As I said before, the Bible points toward the fact that obeying the Torah by saying Yahweh’s Name led to His crucifixion.

  • Psalm 69: 3—While He was dying on the tree, He said, “I am thirsty.”
  • Psalm 69: 21—To mock and ridicule Him, they gave Him vinegar to drink while He was nailed to the tree dying for their sins.
  • Jeremiah 31: 31-33—“‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares Yahweh, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,’ declares Yahweh.  ‘But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,’ declares Yahweh, ‘I will put my Law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’”
  • Daniel 9: 26—“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.”

The Messiah died on the tree (i.e., He was “cut off”) 40 years before the Romans destroyed the Temple of Yahweh in 70 A.D.  The “desolations” Daniel mentioned refer to End of Days judgments that are yet to occur.  At the End of Days, the anti-Messiah will take his seat in the rebuilt Temple of Yahweh and declare his divinity.  Jesus refers to this as “the abomination of desolation.” (Matthew 24: 15 and Mark 13: 14)

  • Hosea 2: 16—The Messiah will be referred to as our Husband (Ishi), not as our owner (Baali).

This verse says the Messiah will join Himself with us, and we will be united with Him the way a husband becomes one flesh with his wife.  This is a description of the New Covenant in its purest and simplest sense.  In John chapter 17, Jesus uses analogous symbolism to describe His role in uniting Yahweh the Father with His people.

  • Hosea 11: 1—Yahweh called Him “out of Egypt.”

After the Messiah’s birth, His parents took Him to Egypt to flee Herod the Great’s persecution.  Herod wanted to kill Him because he understood that the King Messiah had been born.  This verse makes reference to the Messiah’s return to Israel following Herod’s death.

  • Micah 5: 2— He will be born in Bethlehem and descended from Judah.

Jeffrey includes this verse as one of his 17 prophecies because it says the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem, but it does much more than that.  Micah 5: 2 reads as follows: “But as for you Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.  His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.”  This verse says the Messiah will be born in Bethlehem, and it also says He was in the beginning.  In other words, He existed before anything or anyone else.  Only One Person has existed from the beginning—Yahweh.  This is what Targum Jonathan says about Micah 5: 2—“And you, O Bethlehem Ephrath, you who were too small to be numbered among the thousands of the House of Judah, from you shall come forth before Me the Messiah, to exercise dominion over Israel, he whose name was mentioned before, from the days of creation.” The Jerusalem Talmud says this about Micah 5: 2—“Son of Judah, Judaean!  Tie your ox and tie your plow, for the King Messiah has been born!….He asked him: ‘From where is he?’  He answered: ‘From the royal fort of Bethlehem in Judah.’”  Obviously, this interpretation is not a Christian misunderstanding of the Hebrew Scriptures.  It falls in line perfectly with the teachings of the ancient rabbis.

  • Micah 2: 12-13—He will lead His children the way a shepherd leads his flock.

Repeatedly in the Scriptures, the Messiah is referred to as the Shepherd of His people.  For instance, Ezekiel chapter 34 explains Yahweh’s role as Shepherd, as does Psalm 23.  It begins with these words: “Yahweh is my Shepherd…”  Later in this chapter, you will see that the Messiah and Yahweh are One, and in the next chapter you will see that Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of this prophecy.

  • Zephaniah 1: 14-18—He will return at the End of Days as the Righteous Judge and the Mighty God.

This prophecy deals with Yahweh returning to earth at the End of Days to redeem the Children of Israel and to liberate the Promised Land.

  • Isaiah 52: 14—He was brutally treated and disfigured to the point that He did not even resemble a man.
  • Isaiah 53: 4-6—He is our sin offering.
  • Isaiah 53: 7—He is the Lamb of Yahweh.
  • Zechariah 13: 7-9 and Isaiah 53: 10—Yahweh struck, or crushed, Him for our sins.

In fact, human beings killed the Messiah (i.e., they “struck” or “crushed” Him), but Yahweh allowed it to happen for our redemption and salvation.  Thus, in essence Yahweh struck, or crushed, Him because of His deep and abiding love for us and because He promised that He would when He ratified the covenant.  The Messiah’s death for our sins initiated the New Covenant.

  • Isaiah 53: 12—He is our intercessor before Yahweh the Father.
  • Isaiah 8: 14-15—He is a stumbling stone for both houses of Israel.

This prophecy was fulfilled following the Messiah’s crucifixion, and to this day the Messiah remains a “stumbling stone” for most Jewish people.  At the End of Days, Yahweh will solve this problem.

  • Isaiah 11: 10—Gentiles followed Him.
  • Isaiah 53: 3—He was rejected by His own people.

Overwhelming evidence presented in the Scriptures compels us to conclude that the Messiah’s birth, life, and death were divinely inspired.  How could I believe otherwise?  The probability of anyone fulfilling all the Messianic prophecies in the Bible by chance is so small that Yahweh had to make it happen.  There is no other rational explanation.  Furthermore, we must conclude that there is, and can be, only One Messiah.

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News Items of Interest:

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His Name is Yahweh:

There is a wealth of material available for free download on www.hisnameisyahweh.org including the book His Name is Yahweh.  His Name is Yahweh is also available at Amazon on Kindle for just $5.  If you haven’t read His Name is Yahweh, you should.  The importance of Yahweh’s Name is becoming more apparent with each passing day.

Available on Amazon Kindle and it can be downloaded at www.hisnameisyahweh.org