The Messiah & The Jewish People – Mishpatim – Feb. 6

Why can’t the Jewish people see that Yeshua is the Messiah?

I often have this question posed to me by Christians who visit Israel.  Christian friends will often tell me that they are confused by the lack of general interest by the Jewish people in investigating Yeshua as the Messiah when the Scriptures seem to be so clear.  They will often mention Isaiah 7:14 and Isaiah 53 as the most obvious Messianic prophecies that were fulfilled in Yeshua’s life and they wonder why the Jewish people can’t see this for themselves and believe.

One of the main reasons for this lack of revelation about Yeshua as the Messiah is that Orthodox Judaism explains away the clear prophecies about the Messiah and generally presents another side of the prophecies which make it appear that these prophecies could not be referring to Yeshua.  There is another fundamental factor, however, and it has to do with the person of God.

The Orthodox Jewish Perspective of God

The more I study the Bible from an Orthodox Jewish perspective the more I am confronted with the claim of Judaism that states that God does not and cannot take on human form.  The rabbis and sages of Judaism are continually trying to teach the Torah from a position that protects the essence of God from ever taking on human characteristics or what is known as “anthropomorphic” depictions.  The word “anthropomorphic” is a Greek word which means “human form.”

A perfect example of Orthodox Judaism protecting God’s essence is found in Targum Onkelos, which is an Aramaic translation of the Torah which is highly respected in Orthodox Judaism.  In this translation there are 1,650 occurrences of changes in the original text where there is an anthropomorphic depiction of God.  In the book of Exodus alone there are 409 instances where wording was changed in the translation of the Torah in order to protect God’s honor.  The reason for this, as stated in the introduction to Targum Onkelos, is as follows:

Our targumist shuns anthropomorphisms and anthropopathisms that might give the populace an unseemly conception of the incorporeal God. – (Israel Drain & Stanley M. Wagner. Targum Onkelos, Exodus. Gefen Publishing. 2011. p. xxiv)

Onkelos was trying to protect the reader from considering the possibility that God could in anyway exist in a human body or demonstrate human emotions.  In other words, in agreement with Orthodox Judaism, God is not human and cannot have a body.

The Jewish Prayers and Creed

We see this theology further spelled out in the daily prayers of religious Jews.   In the Jewish prayer book, called a “siddur,” there is a morning prayer which states the following about God:

He has no form of a body and He has no body, neither is there anything that we can compare to Him. (Siddur. excerpt taken from the Shacharit prayers)

Note that this is not a Scripture quote but rather a prayer that is to be prayed.  This concept of God not having a body is written into the creed of Jewish theology through the form of a prayer.  It is repeated day after day and it is considered to be blasphemous to believe otherwise.

The Jewish Paradox

In understanding the Orthodox Jewish position, we can now understand why the average Jewish person does not even consider the possibility that Yeshua is the Messiah.  How can they believe in a Messiah who claims to be the Son of God?  How can they believe in a God who has taken on human form?

Jewish people often claim that Christians are committing idolatry by worshipping a “Messiah” who claims to be God Himself.  This is one of the main reasons why the Jewish people do not believe in Yeshua as the Messiah and struggle to even contemplate the idea.  This barrier most be removed in order to move forward in faith.

Can God Be Human?

In understanding the Orthodox Jewish mindset, we need to investigate from the Scriptures, especially in the Torah, to see if the concept of God taking human form is even biblical.  This week’s Torah Portion presents an encounter between God and man that sheds some light on this subject.

An Invitation From God

The LORD called to Moses and commanded him to come up the mountain with a few others whom God designated:

Then He said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance. Moses alone, however, shall come near to the LORD, but they shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him.” – Ex. 24:1-2

This invitation was personal and specific, to a select group of people, and it was purposeful, to meet with God and worship Him.  God also gave very specific boundaries regarding this meeting; Moses alone was to draw near to God.  The others who were invited up to the LORD were not to draw near to the LORD and the rest of the people were not to come up at all.

Moses and the others did not ascend the mountain immediately to meet with God.  Moses came to the people, he told them the words of the LORD, and then he wrote down the words in the Book of the Covenant.

We then read how Moses built an altar and had the young men of Israel offer sacrifices there.  Moses took the blood of the sacrifices and sprinkled half of it on the altar.  He read the Book of the Covenant to the people and the people agreed to it.  Moses then sprinkled the blood on the people and confirmed the covenant between the LORD and the people (Ex. 24:3-8).

Ascending the Mountain of the LORD

It was immediately after confirming the covenant between the LORD and the people of Israel that Moses and the others went up the mountain.  We only get a glimpse into what occurred on the mountain, however, this glimpse is amazing:

Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank. – Ex. 24:9-11

To see God, to draw near to His presence, and to dine in his midst must have been an awesome sight to behold.  There are quite a few details here that I want to investigate one by one.

Seeing God

One of the first things that stands out in this scenario is that all of those who went up the mountain saw God.  The Hebrew text could not be more clear, “ויראו את אלוהי ישראל” – “vayiru et Elohei Israel” – “And they saw the God of Israel.”  Since the text tells us that “they saw the God of Israel,” there must have been someone to see.  Exactly what God looked like we don’t know, however, we do know that they saw God.

Although this phrase seems clear enough, it portrays an anthropomorphic depiction of God and therefore Orthodox Judaism prefers to understand the text in a different way.  The simple phrase, “And they saw the God of Israel,” is translated in Targum Onkelos as “They saw the glory of the God of Israel.”  So instead of seeing God directly this Aramaic translation desires to communicate that they only saw God’s glory and not a physical reality of God.

This is an example of one of the 1,650 occurrences of a change in the text to avoid anthropomorphic depictions of God.  The explanation given for this change of wording according to the notes of Targum Onkelos is as follows:

The targumist…inserted ‘the glory of’ into the phrase ‘they saw the God of Israel’ to avoid the impossible notion that the people saw a physical God. – (Ibid. p. 161)

So in other words, it is impossible for people to see a physical God, therefore the text needs to properly be altered to protect God’s honor and the reader’s understanding of who God is.

Scripture itself testifies to a God that can be seen and make Himself visible in Ex. 24:10.  A physical reality of God does not need to be covered up or altered but rather accepted as a possibility, according to the Scriptures.  God reveals Himself to man because He wants man to know Him and to have relationship with Him.

The Feet of the LORD

In the same context in these verses, we read of how they saw a majestic view under God’s feet: “…and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself” (Ex. 24:10).  The view must have been breathtaking as they gazed upon God Himself and the light that must have surrounded them.

In this particular phrase there is a description of what it looked like beneath the feet of God.  This is a clear depiction of God having a human-like form, as He is described as having feet.  The Hebrew is very simple, “ותחת רגליו” – “vetachat raglev” – “and under His feet.”  The Aramaic translation, however, in agreement with Orthodox Judaism, translates this phrase as “Under His throne of glory…”  The word for “feet” which is clearly in the Hebrew text is replaced with the phrase “throne of His glory.”  According to Orthodox Judaism, God cannot have feet because this would attribute to God a human characteristic.  This is another attempt to avoid an anthropomorphic depiction of God.

As Moses and the others saw God and described the brilliance of the pavement under His feet, we are faced with the reality that God indeed appeared in human form.  It is only by a conscious decision to change the text that one can deny human characteristics described to us in Scripture.

Can God Really be Like One of Us?

As much as Orthodox Judaism attempts to deny that God could possibly have any type of human form, it is clear from the text of the Bible itself that it is possible.  I in no way want to diminish God’s holiness or deny the mystery of who God is.  We can only understand Him as much as He allows us by His Word and through His Spirit.  However, at the same time, we must be honest with the text which we are reading and admit that man has seen God in some form which contains human characteristics.

In my research on these verses I have even found that there are respected rabbis from the past who accept this biblical text as it is and agree that Moses and the others actually saw God at this time:

Ibn Ezra and Nachmanides state that the Israelites actually “saw God,” but through prophecy.  Curiously, Rashi suggests that the Israelites saw God, and thereby committed a sin punishable by death.  More rationally, his grandson Rashbam states that the people saw how God is manifested in this world… (Ibid. p. 161)

In one way or another, all of these rabbis agree that Moses and the crew who journeyed up the mountain actually saw God.

Some Objections to Consider

In regard to Rashi’s comment that they deserved death because they saw God, this is biblical and has a clear provision in the text as well.  In a later scenario in the book of Exodus, God responded to Moses’ request to see Him with the following words: “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” (Ex. 33:20)  We can derive from these words of God that the penalty for seeing God is death.  If this is true, than how did Moses and the others see God and live in the situation as depicted in Exodus 24?

We find the answer to this question in the text of the verses we are studying: “Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank” (Ex. 24:11).  Moses and the others should have died for seeing God but He spared them, “He did not stretch out His hand against them.”  God is God and He makes the rules.  We see the exception to this rule granted several times in the Scriptures (Gen. 16:13. Gen. 18. Gen. 32:30. Judges 13:22-23).

There is another verse in the Bible that seems to give credence to the fact that God cannot be a man.  This verse is found in the prophecy of Balaam:

God is not a man, that He should lie,

Nor a son of man, that He should repent;

Has He said, and will He not do it?

Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? – Numbers 23:19

In stating that “God is not a man…Nor a son of man” the context is centered around the character of God and not on the inability of God to take on human form.  Balaam was simply making it clear that whatever God says will surely come to pass and that he himself was not able to say anything against what God has declared.  Men lie, but God cannot.  That was the point that Balaam was making.

God With Us!

As we have seen in this week’s Torah study, in agreement with the whole of Scripture, it is possible to see God and He can take on human form.  A person has to work hard to deny the reality of the anthropomorphic depictions of God throughout the Scriptures from the very beginning.  We see an example of this in the Garden of Eden:

They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden – Gen. 3:8

God so clearly walked in the garden and related to Adam and Eve in a personal way, calling to them as they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD because of their sin.  The interaction between God and humanity has always been a personal one that has been on the human level and it will be that way until the end.

God is the Creator and in His Divine plan He has also chosen to dwell with us in our humanity for the purpose of redeeming us from our fallen state.  This is the essence of the prophecy given to the Jewish people (the house of David) in Isaiah 7:14:

Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

When this verse is read in the context of the Old Testament, it should not take a Jewish person by surprise.  God had already revealed Himself in human form at various times before this prophecy was ever given.  Through this prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 God has clearly declared that there would come a day when He would come to earth through the natural means of a woman and He would be Immanuel, God with us!

Shabbat Shalom!

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Torah Portion: Ex. 21:1 – Ex. 24:18

Hafatara: Jeremiah 33:25-26.  Jeremiah 34:8-22

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