- Isaiah - Jesus
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- Moshe Ben-Chaim
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- Question: Dear Mesora, I participate at a message board and
have learned many wonderful teachings about Judaism through the
participation of an Orthodox Jew. However, a Christian man came and
posted the message below to the Orthodox Jew and is attempting to show
that Isaiah is about Jesus and that it is not a Christian invention
but something that some Jews have believed in the past. Since I am
still learning Judaism, could you tell me if this guy is presenting
legitimate information? I do appreciate it Rabbi. I don't want him or
I taken in my misrepresentation.
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- Mesora: Without going through
the numerous mistakes which proponents of Christianity make, let me
say that the best proof against them is that not a single Talmudic or
Torah scholar ever entertained these empty interpretations of Isaiah
as referring to Jesus. These Rabbis were very honest, to the point
that the Talmud records their admission that the Greeks were correct
in a matter, and they were wrong. Since the Rabbis were devoted to
truth above all else as seen from this example, if they felt Isaiah
referred to Jesus, they would say so.
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- Now, if our true masters of the Bible (who are the original
recipients of the Divine law to the Christians' own admission)
unanimously did not interpret these few words in Isaiah as referring
to Jesus, then these few Christian novices who lacked Talmudic and
Biblical acumen have no means to approach proper interpretation, nor
grounds for claiming leadership in Bible understanding more than the
teachers themselves.
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- It is essential to understand that accurate, Written Torah
interpretation is only possible via the Oral Tradition - the
"Mesora" - which was entrusted to Moses in the form of God's
spoken words, (not included in the Written Law) and without having
such knowledge through the generations tracing back to Moses, one
cannot possibly have the correct understanding of the Written Torah,
Prophets or Writings - the only three components of the Scriptures
given by God. The Christians do not have this Mesora, and by
definition, do not have Torah. Even of they posess the Written Law
(which they distort, violate and add on to) without the Traditional
interpretation from Moses, they have nothing.
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- Furthermore, the fact that such twists of text idolizing Jesus are
so miniscule in number of occurrence compared to the rest of the body
of the Torah, is a powerful argument as well. Had Jesus been so
essential to God's plan, why does the Law pronounce so many other
figures with such clarity to their lineage, their locale, and their
deeds, but not so with Jesus? If the Torah sought to elevate Jesus, it
had the ability to do so very clearly as it did with Moses, Jacob,
Abraham and all the other authentic Torah leaders who actually had
divine inspiration, unlike Jesus who only carries baseless claims.
Just as we need not rely on strata of far fetched interpretations to
learn who Moses was and his connection to events, Jesus should have
been treated similarly based on the Christians supposed view of his
import.
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- Since however we see that they cannot support their claims without
distortions not sanctioned by the Oral Law, we completely and utterly
dismiss such farces.
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