"Stranger still, the ancient religion of the Jews survives, when all the religions of every ancient race of the pre-Christian world have disappeared. Again it is strange that the living religions of the world all build on the religious ideas derived from the Jews" - The Ancient World, Professor T.R. Glover

"According to the materialistic and positivist criterion, this people ought to have perished long ago. It's survival is a mysterious and wonderful phenomenon demonstrating that the life of this people is governed by a special predetermination..."
- The Meaning of History, Professor Nicholas Berdkilaev of the Moscow Academy of Spiritual Culture

"It was Judaism that brought the concept of a God-given universal moral law into the world...the Jew carries the burden of God in history and for this he has never been forgiven" - Distinguished Catholic Scholar Edward H. Flannery

Fact: Judaism is the only religion in the world that lost its holy land and has regained it.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The Trinity - Part Two - "The Shema and Echad"

It must be noted that Jehovah declares Himself as being alone and without other deities more times than the rest of the Bible describes Him as being "one". This is important to keep this fact in mind when attempting to gain a complete understanding of the Shema. 1 The Shema (an imperative command to listen up) is a signature-scripture to the Hebrew Bible and is comparable to what John 3:16 is to the New Testament. Its opening line states: "Hear O Israel Jehovah is our God, Jehovah is one".
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Because the Shema is part of the foundational concept of Judaism, and because of the need to proof-text their doctrine, the Trinitarians twist the Shema totally out of its context of how it was originally given to the Jewish people by the hand of Moses. They wish to inject into the Shema the idea of a three-person Godhead, even though the Shema along with its complete original meaning and context out dates Christianity by more than a thousand years!
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The Trinity within the Shema is a mindset that reasons; if Adam and Eve can be considered "one" flesh2 and evening and morning can be "one" day3 so too could three God-persons of the Trinity be called "one" in the Shema. The Trinitarians then take it a step further in suggesting (even to the point of outright lying) that the Hebrew word, echad (meaning 'one') has only the meaning to "categorize things in number into a single unit". In other words, the word echad within the Shema is a sure signal that there is something plural within Jehovah whom the Shema described as one. It's almost laughable how these willful Trinitarian twisters of the Hebrew scriptures attempt to make the Shema say the exact opposite of what its true message is. I don't mean to stereotype, but perhaps its their Gentile nature (desire to worship multiple gods) coming out in them that causes them to do this?
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What they will willfully withhold and avoid is that echad, like out English word "one" is an adjective and is subject to the noun(s) it's describing. In English, as well as in Biblical Hebrew "one/echad" can be used to describe one set of eyes, as well as one nose on a face. Example:
"There is one [echad] alone, and there is not a second.." - Ecclesiastes 4:8
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There are not multiple subjects in the opening declaration of the Shema to be united with the adjective, echad. "God" is the single subject and "one" is that single subject's adjective. Again, there are no two or three subjects in the opening statement of the Shema to united under the adjective "one"! Multiple subjects such as three God-persons within the Shema are only a figment of a Trinitarian's imagination. It's simply not in the text. A Trinity can only be injected into the text outside the confine structures of the Biblical Hebrew and English languages. The Trinitarians not only try to superimpose three subjects unto one original subject but try also to alter the concept of written and spoken languages to meet their own superimposation. This is the lengths of which they will go in their desperate need to worship multiple god-persons while trying to hang unto the vindicated one true God of Israel.
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The correct doctrine of the Shema, "Hear O Israel Jehovah is our God, Jehovah is one/echad" can only be a description of its single subject (in this case God Himself) without the blinding of another subject to Him in set-descriptions. The Shema is clearly a declaration that their God (the God of Israel) is one in nature and that He is one in being. But don't take my word for it, let the very words of God Himself declare this truth of the Shema:
"I am Jehovah, and there is none else, there is no God beside me" - Isaiah 45:5
Just a thought, but this Jehovah that was using the personal pronoun "I" and "me" in the above scripture doesn't sound much like He's in favor of Trinitarianism Himself!
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The bottom line is that the Trinity doctrine undermines God's very nature and being as "one" as well as disregarding His own declaration of Himself being alone and knowing no other deities. One of the greatest rebukes to God is to call Him three, after He Himself has declares Himself is "one"!
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Scriptures regarding Jehovah's declared oneness
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"Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that Jehovah he is God; there is none else beside him." -Deuteronomy 4:35
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"Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that Jehovah he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else." - Deuteronomy 4:39
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The Shema: "Hear O Israel Jehovah is our God, Jehovah is one/echad - Deuteronomy 6:4
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"That all the people of the earth [including Trintarians] may know that Jehovah is God, and that there is none else. - I Kings 8:60
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"I am Jehovah, and there is none else, there is no God beside me" - Isaiah 45:5
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"That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am Jehovah, and there is none else." - Isaiah 45:6
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"For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else." - Isaiah 45:18
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"Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I Jehovah? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me." - Isaiah 45:21
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"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am El (not "Elohim" - see part 1) and there is none else." - Isaiah 45:22
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"Remember the former things of old: for I am El (not "Elohim" - see part 1), and there is none else; I am El, and there is none like me." - Isaiah 46:9
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"And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am Jehovah your God, and none else" - Joel 2:27
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Notes:
1. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is the full text of the Shema.
2. Genesis 2:12
3. Genesis 1:5

Sunday, January 18, 2009

The Trinity - Part One

The doctrine of the Trinity is simply a confederation of three different god-persons united in a Godhead call a single God (Colossians 2:9 / I John 5:7-8). Though the official Nicaea Council of 325 CE has the three god persons as part of the same substance, the god-persons themselves are completely separate from one another in "personhood" nonetheless. The Trinity is in a sense polytheistic in nature but operating under a monotheistic title.
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The Trinity and its god-persons can be broken down in the following way:
  • God the Father - god person #1 - separated in person from the other god-persons: God the Son and God the Holy Ghost.
  • God the Son - god-person #2 - separated in person from the other god-persons: God the Father and God the Holy Ghost.
  • God the Holy Ghost - god-person #3 - separated in person from the other god-persons: God the Father and God the Son.
To the Trinitarians who insists that they believe in one God and one God only, let me ask you a simple question: What is his [one] name? (See Zachariah 14:9) The last time I asked a Trinitarian this I got a long pause because the person knew where I was going with such a question. If you say the name of your one god is "Jesus" then who is the one god person Jehovah? Isn't Jehovah a different "person" in the Trinity with of different name than your one-god Jesus? If the name of your one god in indeed Jehovah as in the Jehovah Witness doctrine, then isn't Jesus "another" god in person form apart from Jehovah, making all that is to be consider God multiple and polytheistic via more than one persons with different names?
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Another question would be, what is the actual name of the third person in the Godhead? Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is not a name but a title or office position. If the other god-persons known as God the Father and God the Son both have specific names, why doesn't the person of the Holy Ghost have one. According to Matthew 28:19 and the Trinitarian mindset he is suppose to have one.
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Though falling short of its goal it was the Oneness Pentecostal movements that have tried to fix these "Trinitarian multiple god-person problems" within the Christian faith by simply making Jesus and his father the same "person" which goes against Revelation 3:5,21. But to truly fix the Trinity multi-god person problem, I believe one has to travel back to the original Bible - the Hebrew scriptures. There in the Hebrew scriptures (though the Trinintarians go to great lengths to try to prove otherwise) you won't find Trinity (multiple-person gods) issues. Though I have never received an answer, I love to ask Trinitarians, which person of the Trinity Godhead made the following statement:
"I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else." - Isaiah 45:5-6
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Check out all those singular personal pronouns. Just in the short statement above I counted three I's and another three me's along with four declarations of the personal pronoun speaker (God) of being alone. All three god-persons of the Trinity could not have made the singular personal pronouns at the same time without being the exact same in personhood. So, again to all Trinitarians, feel free to post a comment telling me what god-person in the Trinity made the above statement. If it was God the Father (as the original Hebrew states: "I am Jehovah") tell me why He didn't consider the other god-persons when He stated, "there is no God beside me".
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Also concerning the Hebrew scriptures, you won't find a need of a second-person in a Godhead Trinity to be your savior.
"...and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else." -Isaiah 45:21-22
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Christian Proof Text of the Trinity
One of the main arguments that pro-Trinity Christian groups use is that the Hebrew name "Elohim" (actually a title taken from the Canaanites' god El) is given in plural form revealing the Trinity Godhead plural nature within the one true God of Israel. 1 This shows their willingness to use a very limited knowledge of Hebrew while disregarding the rest. The Trinity scholars who know better still use this lie to convince their listeners.
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Out of the four main names of God used in the Hebrew Bible (Jehovah, Adoni, Shaddai, and Elohim) Elohim is the lest personal. It simply means "God" as in the title of an object of worship. Elohim is not a personal name just like the title "husband" is not my personal name though I carry that title and office. The title "Elohim" is also used throughout the Hebrew scriptures in reference to false gods 2 which definitely can't be said concerning the personal names of God: Jehovah, Adoni, Shaddai! Not only were false gods referred to as "Elohim" but also judges, angels, and even an altar were referred to as "Elohim"3 again, something the names Jehovah, Adoni, and Shaddai could not have been used for. Why don't the Trinity scholars point this out? They simply know that such information undermines their Trinitarian doctrine.
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The Canaanites who lived among the Israelites, had a pantheon of gods with the head of that pantheon called "El" who was the mythological father of Baal. The proper name of El meant "power" or "powerful". For the Israelite to take off the plural ending of Elohim when referring to their one God of Israel without tying it to personality trait of their God in such usage as in "El Shaddai" (God Almighty) in Genesis 28:3 (notice the singularity of Elohim in such a title)4 would seem to be referring to the Canaanite god of El or one of the gods under El. In other words, for an Israelite to refer to "El" by itself would seem to be referring to one of the many Canaanite gods (elohim), or El, the father of Baal. The Israelites therefore referred to their one God as "Elohim" (of which no one Canaanite god including the head of the pantheon is named) as all-powerful to imply that their God takes the place of the entire Pantheon of Canaanite gods in power and uniqueness. For the Israelites of the day, the one Hebrew God makes up and was the very source of all the many powers that the El-Canaanites gods represented (i.e. god of lightning, god of grain, god of rain, ect.) rolled into one by saying that He is "Elohim"!
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God explains His true non-truine name to his one-person "Elohim" named Moses. Did you caught that? God said unto the "one person" Moses: "I have made thee an "Elohim" to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet." (Exodus 7:1) Why didn't God say to the one person Moses, I have made thee an El (singular) to Pharaoh? Again, why isn't this made mention of by the Trinitarian Hebrew scholars, for they avoid expounding on that particular scripture like one of the ten plagues (pun intended)?
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The one true non-truine God explains His name to His personal Elohim (Moses) on earth this way:
"And Elohim spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of El Shaddai (singular form) but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them." - Exodus 6:2-3

It must be noted that the name Jehovah derives from the meaning "I am" (see Exodus 3:14) to "He is". Both personal pronouns in these most personalized names are singular in nature. God was telling Moses His "mystery" name of which He didn't even reveal to "His friend" Abraham! (II Chronicles 20:7 / Isaiah 41:8)! O ye Trinitarians, let me ask again, what Godhead "person" of the Trinity spoke unto Moses and used the personal pronoun "I" for His name when He said, "ahyeh-ahshear-ahyeh" I Am that I AM? For it is through this singular personal pronoun natured name that He stated the following: "this is "my" name for ever, and this is "my" memorial unto all generations." (Exodus 3:15). Moreover, the prophet Zechariah states that during the Messianic Age: "And Jehovah shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Jehovah, and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9) So how is it that you can come up with a three-person Godhead based Trinity when comparing and considering Exodus 3:15 and Zechariah 14:9 together? Why have countless Jews been murdered down through the ages in the shadows of your Trinity crosses, while no Jewish movements ever killed or even sought to kill Christians based upon their trinitarian beliefs?5
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Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness..." - Genesis 1:26
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Most serious trinitarians understand that Genesis 1:26 is a royal majestic decree made before a heavenly court (see Isaiah 6:1-2, 8). However, I don't think that they fully understand the significance of the statement "our image". The "creation of man" of which this scripture is concerning, is the very last of the creation events and is the very climax of all creation, and is given dominion over all that already had been up until that point, created (Genesis 1:26). The sum of all creation i.e. image of all creation is reflected in Adam. Even the adomah (land / ground / earth) is reflected in Adam (man / mankind) from which the first man is so named. It becomes easy to see that the original Hebrew gives even New Testament texts such as I Corinthians 15:47 a deeper meaning. Does the "Us" and "Our" image that God uses in Genesis 1:26 mean, "God and the earth" as in Jeremiah 22:29? Does it mean "God and the angels" (not to be confused with winged seraphims as in Isaiah 6:2) that appeared in the exact same "image" and even called "man" in the Bible as with Abraham (Genesis 18:2) and to Jacob (Genesis 32:24). Does it mean "God and all of creation" where God being the King makes a decree to His creation being His willing subjects as when a president making a State of the Union address states "Let us" do such and such. The answer to all these questions is "yes". What it doesn't refer to is the Father-person of the Trinity speaking to the others (Son-person and Holy Spirit-person) urging them of the same God-person status to following His leading idea. My question to the Trinitarians is why isn't man "three persons" like the image of the Trinity when man was made in the same image? 6
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...and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me. - Isaiah 48:16
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I heard one woman a few years ago who had called into a Hal Lindsey's radio show really complaining and wanting to know why the Christian non-trinitarians (also including those bad O Jews) can't plainly see the Trinity all through the above verse. She probably wouldn't like me telling her that, that very verse she was holding so dear to her trinitarian heart, was not only translated by Christan Trinitarians but that it by itself actually proves the Trinity doctrine wrong. When reading the text word for word in the Hebrew it goes (flows) like this: "And now, Adoni Jehovah has sent me and His Spirit". Right away one can see the context meaning change from a Trinity proof text to a sort of "Oneness" proof text. Of course questions should now be raised.
1. Why wasn't the text translated in the same manner and method as the Hebrew gave it?
2. Does the Hebrew reading imply that Jehovah's Spirit is a whole other person, separated in personhood from that of Jehovah?
3. Why didn't the second Son-God person have anything to do with the sending of Isaiah? I mean Isaiah according to the KJV text, took time to specifically name the first and third persons of the Trinity, so why not included the Son-God person too?
4. Is the "spirit" of Elijah different in personhood than Elijah himself? (See II Kings 2:15)
5. Can we determine by continuing in the text what the proper name of "the Spirit" is that sent Isaiah? I mean, the Trinitarians really don't have a proper personal name for Him, just the title of "Holy Spirit"?
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Actually, the very next verse (Isaiah 48:17) reads: "Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am Jehovah thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go." So if we place together the two verses (16 and 17) along with following the context through, a complete picture emerges. It is not that God and His other-person Spirit is sending out Isaiah to declare something on his own as the KJV might indicate in the minds of Trinitarians, but God places His very person in Spirit form on Isaiah (anointing Isaiah) for a declaration to the people of Israel. And with that anointing the "Spirit of the "one" God of Israel" upon Isaiah, the anointing-causing Spirit speaks of "Himself" giving His proper name while stating in the Hebrew: "I am Jehovah your God"! Come on Trinitarians, learn some Hebrew and get Hebrew real! It's absolutely asinine to willfully believe in twisted translated scriptures while stretching to denying the easy to understand text of what the Hebrew Bible clearly states and its contextual meaning!
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Notes:
1. The plural masculine noun suffix in the Hebrew is generally (but not always) given and pronounced "eem" or "im" at the end of the noun. It has the same effect as adding the letter "s" at the end of a noun in English. "Elohim" can be translated as "gods" in the Hebrew Bible. For example, the words "God" and "gods" are spelled the same in the Hebrew in Deuteronomy 8:19
2. Even though the KJV and other Christian translation carry it, there are no term "false gods" as in "false Elohim" in the Hebrew Bible, just Elohim. Example: "Thou shalt have no other gods (Elohim) before me" - Exodus 20:3
3. Judges are called Elohim: Exodus 21:6 / Exodus 22:8.
An altar is called Elohim: Genesis 33:20.
Angels are called Elohim: Psalms 8:6
4. To the Trinitarians; if the name "Elohim" denotes the triune nature of God, why doesn't the truine God refer to Himself as Elohim or Elyai Shaddai instead of the singular "El Shaddai"? Isn't it ironic that Elohim states: "I am the El Shaddai; walk before me, and be thou perfect." - Genesis 17:1 (Also see Genesis 35:11).
5. Though the later writings of the New Testament gave hints of a Trinity (I John 5:7) the doctrine of the Trinity wasn't ratified by Christianity until the Nicene Council in 325 CE. The picture at the top is taking from the Nicene Council decree. Paul (the New Testament chief overseer) never implies that Jesus was one of three "persons" making up the Trinity (I Corinthians 11:3) but rather the "Godhead" was a system that God (singular) used for revealing Himself (Romans 1:20 / Colossians 1:15).
6. Some will use the male and female of mankind (Genesis 5:2) as a type of the Trinity. However, there is a reason why out of all the creation Adam was originally alone and without a mate. If God had created two separate individuals as He did with the animal kingdom in an original creation that was to be after His image then we could say God was indeed multiple in personhood. The reality is that man in singular form is an attribute of God, and woman (also in singular form) is the image of man. The New Testament scriptures of Ephesians 1:4 and I Corinthians 11: 7-8 should confirm this to the Trinitarians. Besides, giving man is both male and female doesn't add up to there being "three" as to somehow reflect a truine Trinity Godhead called God.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

The Conclusion of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 - Part 5


The Gentile / Christian interpretation of Isaiah 53 denotes the Jesus-accepting "New Israel" (Galatians 6:13) as holy and righteous while depicting the true physical nation of Israel as a Jesus-denying evil people. Many Gentile Christians became persecutors and many Jews were persecuted based upon the Christian interpretation of this chapter. On the other side of the coin, the Jewish interpretation concludes Israel the nation is venerated at the End of Days which is an undeniable theme that is consistent with the rest of the Hebrew scriptures. One must spiritually travel outside this very biblical theme in order to take up the Gentile interpretation of the Hebrew scriptures.
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I would challenge the Christian /Gentile concept of Isaiah 53 with not only the Hebrew text itself, but with all the other Gentile concepts found within Christianity that are foreign with the Jewish scriptures as well such as:
Man-deity: "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent" -Numbers 23:19 (see also I Samuel 15:29)
Human sacrifice: "There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire....For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD." -Deuteronomy 18:10,12 (see also Jeremiah 32:35)
Vicarious atonement: "
The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin." - Deuteronomy 24:16 (see also Ezekiel 18:20)
The Trinity: :Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.... Is there a God beside me yea, there is no God; I know not any....I
am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself" - Isaiah 44:6,8,24
(Did you notice all 7 single personal pronouns in these verses? See also Deuteronomy 32:39)
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Many Christian apologists try to use Jewish rabbinical sources such as Targum in order to try to prove their interpretation. This only demonstrates their weakness by having something that they must "prove" outside their own sources. There is a spiritual reason why you don't see Jewish rabbis trying to use Christians commentary sources against Christians to prove their Jewish case. That is, Jews don't use deception in purposely misapplying or purposely mistranslating a Christian commentary to prove to the Christians the Jewish belief for the purpose of converting Gentiles to Judaism.
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Christian apologists end up doing the same thing with rabbinical sources as they do with the Hebrew scriptures, which is the usage of partial quotes and an outright changing its meaning and context to fit their predrawn conclusions. They cleverly try to make rabbinical Judaism to appear as believing that Isaiah 53 was speaking strictly of the End of Day messiah and not the nation of Israel. Because the Christian apologists have such a hard time proving the Jewish interpretation of Isaiah 53 to be wrong, they seek out rabbinical sources (of which they personally don't place any spiritual value) that they can misrepresent the source to try and prove their Gentile interpretation. They do this knowing darn well that if they could ask that same rabbi who gave the source whether or not Isaiah 53 is speaking about the messiah or Israel, what the rabbi's answer would be!
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Deception concerning Rashi (Rabbi Shlomo Yitzhaki 1040-1105 C. E.)
is also prevalent among Christian apologists. Because Rashi is so revered among religious Jews he is a special targeted of Christian missionaries and apologists. Their claim is that it wasn't until Rashi that the Jewish world changed their view of Isaiah 53 from speaking of the messiah to the nation of Israel. As Outreach Judaism points out
http://www.outreachjudaism.org/sin.html this Christian deception is blasted into smithereens by the 3rd. century church father Origen in his writings "Origen Contra Celsum" in which he stated concerning Isaiah 53: "I remember that once in a discussion with some whom the Jews regard as learned I used these (Isaiah 53) prophesies. At this the Jew said that these prophesies referred to the whole people as though of a single individual."
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The learned Jew that Origen was talking about who believe Isaiah 53 was speaking of the whole nation of Israel wasn't Rashi, since Origen (185 - 254 C.E.) died 786 years before Rashi was born. Yet, this Christian deception that Rashi was the culprit in guiding the wayward Jews to misapply Isaiah 53 away from its messianic meaning is wide spread among Christian missionaries and messianics. Go figure.
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Not all Christian theologians disagree with the Jewish interpretation of Isaiah 53. This is remarkable since there are no Jewish sources (non-messianics) who agree the Christians on Isaiah 53. Again, as Outreach Judaism points out, The New English Bible - Oxford Study Edition (with a big Crusader cross on the front cover) has footnotes pertaining to Isaiah 52-53 that totally (and I do mean totally) agree of the Jewish view. In fact, as one who has studied much on this subject as well as these footnotes, I can truthfully say, that these footnotes given by Gentile Christian theologians with doctorate degrees are the best that I have ever seen. They make points from other biblical scriptures as to the regard to the nation of Israel that I hadn't seen coming even from Jewish scholars! Hey, chalk one up for the Gentile Christian theologians who don't look through an interpretation-window of the New Testament in order to understand what Isaiah 53 is talking about.
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The bottom line of Isaiah 53 is simply this:
  • When examined, the Christian version is deceptive concerning the original Hebrew, its context, and how it is presented by Christian apologists and missionaries, especially when it comes to Jews.
  • The Jewish interpretation is inline and even dove-tails with the rest of the Hebrew scriptures especially the Torah by which the Jews have maintained since the text of Isaiah 53 was first written and given to the Jews!
Who can better explain the American Bill of Rights, an American civics teacher from Des Miones, Iowa or a foreign political student from Beijing, China? Likewise, Who stands more suited to explain the Hebrew scriptures such as Isaiah 53, a Jewish rabbi from Jerusalem whose past generations of two millenia are connected to Jerusalem, or a Gentile religious leader from America bent on destroying Judaiasm, the Jewish people as a people, and Israel as a Jewish state through conversion to their Gentile faith?
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Who can speak the American English language better, an native born American from Utah or a an Asian who has taken English 101 in Korea?1 Likewise, who is more qualified in the Hebrew Biblical language, a Jew whose name and prayers are in that very language, and to whom the text of Isaiah 53 was originally given, or a religious Westerner with predrawn Gentile conclusions who has studied Hebrew under another non-Jewish teacher, who also has predrawn Gentile conclusions of the Hebrew text?2
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I really don't mind the Christian interpretation of Isaiah 53 as long as it stays among the Gentiles. It's when Isaiah 53 is used to attack the Jewish nation for the purpose of assimilating them to be like the other Christian nations (contrary to Deuteronomy 14:2) that I have a real problem of which has inspired this five-part blog.
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Notes:
1. In 1985, I worked with a German man in Tucson, Arizona who had grown up and lived in Germany during the Nazi era and carried a heavy German accent. The place we worked at was on Broadway Blvd. While on the telephone he began trying to relay the street "Broadway" to the person on the other end of the line. He keep saying, "Vradvay", "Vradvay". The person on the other end never could understand him. He finally got very irritated yelling in a load voice, "Vrad-Vay" before hanging up. Afterward, I began to poke fun at him about his English as did others who also heard the conversation. He ask me how old I was which at the time I was 20. He informed me that he had been speaking English longer that I had been born. I ask him, then why can't you say "Broadway" I've been able to say "Broadway" since I was about three or four? This all goes to show that you can't the Germany out of the German no matter how Americanized he becomes, and in like manner, you can't get the Gentile out of Gentiles who learn and teach Hebrew for a Gentile cause.
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2. I can always tell by looking at the Hebrew translation whether or not a Hebrew-Biblical dictionary or lexicon has been edited by Christian or Jewish scholars. Aside from the English dead give-away introduction of the "Old Testament" which means it's coming from Christians, the translation of two certain Hebrew words (one is not even an actual word) tells me a Christian has been here. The word "alma" spelled "ayin-lamed-mem-hay" means "young maiden" but Christians will learn and teach it as to mean "virgin". There is a Isaiah 7:14 reason as to why this is. Even though the Hebrew word for virgin is "betulah" (bet-tav-vav-lamed-hay) is used in close proximity of Isaiah 7:14 (Isaiah 23:4,12) and from which its root is used as the sign of virginity "batulim" (see Deuteronomy 22:15) Christians still must stick with "alma" to mean virgin. Many Christian Bibles will have a footnote number beside their translation that will indicate in real small letters at the bottom of the page, 'young maiden'. Perhaps, they mean that the little Emanuel that is connected with the two kings Pekah and Rezin in the very next verses 15 and 16 (compared with II Kings 16:5, 9 / II Kings 15:29-30) are indeed from a non-virgin young women, but because of a "duel prophecy" of which somehow excludes verses 15 and 16 from the prophecy, the Emanuel to come 700 years later would be from a virgin, adding an all new meaning to the word alma?
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The second Hebrew word found in a Christian dictionary is not even that, a word. There is a reason why Paul or any other New Testament writter had never jumped all over the KJV Psalms 22:17 "pierced hands and feet" as a "proof text" for their new faith. The reason is simple, it wasn't originally there and had not been yet been tampered with during the first century CE. The Hebrew word for pierced is, "dakar" or "ratza". Whomever, tampered with Psalms 22:17 (probably a 3rd. century Christian monk) was skillful in changing the words of David, "like a lion" (of which "lion" is mentioned throughout the 22nd. Psalm) to mean pierced. They took the Hebrew word "kar" meaning "to dig" or "excavate" disregarded the letter aleph in the word, and passed it off as "pierced". As a result, the Christian Hebrew dictionary has at least one extra word that the Jewish dictionary don't have. Of course, there is only one single place in all the Hebrew scriptures that their new word for pierced can be found. Go figure.

Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53 - Verses 10-12 (Part 4)

The Gentiles confessions concerning Israel start at Isaiah 52:13 and end at Isaiah 53:9. Christian and Jewish views of Isaiah 53 both see verse 10 as starting a new pattern that is non-confessing while still maintaining the context concerning the servant. Verse 10 begins with the relationship between God and the servant.
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"Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief..." - Isaiah 53:10
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Why would it please the Lord to bruise/crush his servant and make him ill? And why does God wish to cause ill on the servant who seemed so righteous and victimized during the confession verses? These questions are answered in the following words of the text, but one needs to understand God's dichotomy of judgment concerning Israel and the Gentile nations to better understand the following words within the text.
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Israel has been, and always will be, God's chosen people and nation. But that fact doesn't mean that as a whole Israel has been a righteous nation. So when verse 10 begins to address the relationship between God and Israel, a thing called sin emerges that must be dealt with. This is where God's dichotomy of judgment comes in. God allows the Gentile nations to persecute the Jewish nation as God's army (see Habakkuk 1:6). Notice that the context though changed from a confession to a statement of fact is still staying with an overall pattern of Gentile persecution of Israel. However, when the Gentile nations overstep their commission in punishing Israel, God's anger then becomes directed at the Gentile nations for their persecution on His chosen people. It kind of runs something like this:
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A. God allows Hitler to rise in Germany in order to persecute the "reformed" German Jews for assimilating and totally rejecting their prophets by declaring Berlin as their Jerusalem.
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B. The Holocaust forces destroy one-third of the "enlightened" assimilated European Jews and force the rest into the land of their forefathers - Israel.
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C. Hitler goes to hell, Germany is destroyed, the State of Israel is born among the modern nations as an ultimate rebuke to Hitler overstepping his commission that God allowed so He could be glorified in His chosen people.
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I know what I just wrote is not politically correct but is it biblical? Of course it is. I wouldn't wrote it if it hadn't been.

"...Thus saith the Lord of Host; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very angry with the nations that are at ease, for I was wroth a little, and they helped to do harm." Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.- Zachariah 1:15 (also see Isaiah 40:2)
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Now the next line will be even clearer, that is when we straighten it out with the original Hebrew of course:

"...when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand." - Isaiah 53:10
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One thing the KJV totally and I believe willfully leaves out of the text is the Hebrew word that is spelled, aleph-mem pronounced "eem" meaning "if". If the word "if" was left in the Christian translation it would seem to make it less messianic, therefore, the translators substituted the word "if" for "when". This was done even though the Hebrew word "when" / "as" is spelled with the letter "caph" in front of a word or is spelled "caph-aleph-shen-raysh".
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However, if the text of Isaiah 53 is talking about Israel, this prophecy, as so many other prophesies do, can easily be referring back to the Torah and its mentioning of the nation of Israel. Deuteronomy chapters 28-30 specifies blessings and curesing based upon Israel's choices that they make toward their God and His commandments. This is why the word "if" is so important in the Isaiah 53 text, because a choice has to be made. Now with that, notice the direct comparisons""if he places (acknowledges) guilt his soul shall see seed (progeny). -Isaiah 53:10

"And thou shalt return (by acknowledging guilt) and obey the the voice of the Lord, and do His commandments which I command thee this day, And the Lord thy God will make thee plenteous in every work of thine hand, in the fruit of thy body....If (there's that word again) thou shall hearnen unto the voice of the Lord the God, to keep His commandments and His statues which are written in this book of the Law... - Deuteronomy 30:8-10

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The Hebrew word for "seed" is "zerah" and it literally means "semen" or "physical offspring". What "zerah" never means is "spiritual metaphoric children".1 Therefore, if Isaiah 53 is only talking about Jesus, what's he doing having physical children? Most Christians (as well as myself) has a big problem with the Da Vinci Codes and their number one factor for having a problem with the Da Vinci Codes is that Jesus' deity comes into question if he has normal relations with a mortal woman. But being blessed in having normal relations with mortal women is the very context of Isaiah 53:10 (see Isaiah 59:20-21 for a comparison).

...he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. - Isaiah 53:10

Again, we must go back to Deuteronomy 30 as we did with the first part of the verse concerning the servant's seed to get conformation as to whom Isaiah's prophecy is refering concerning the servant's days being prolonged:

"That thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey His voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him: for He is thy life, and the length of thy days..." -Deuteronomy 30:20 (also see Deuteronomy 5:16 / 6:2)

Now, the question now as to what the text doesn't say. It doesn't say that the servant will cut-off (meaning a shortened life) as in Daniel 9:26 - a scripture Christians relate to Jesus. Psalms 90:10 proclaims a normal man's life is 70-80 years yet Jesus lived not even half of that before his death. Also, something prolonged doesn't mean forever and ever as Christians try to imply when challenged with this. As in Deuteronomy 6:2 (letting the scriptures interpeeate themselves as to their meaning) a prolonged life still refers to one that will eventually come to an end. Even Isaiah's own depiction of righteous Israel seemingly has an end of very "prolonged" days. See Isaiah 65:20-23

"He shall see of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied..." - Isaiah 53:11

Staying with the context of Gentile presecution upon Israel and Israel's now acceptence of it because he knows that it pleased God to get his servant Israel to repent and have their days prolonged (as well as the Gentile recognition of their presecuting sin) he will be satisfied with the "travail of his soul".

"with his knowledge my servant will vindicate the righteous before many..." Isaiah 53:11

Notice again what it doesn't say. It doesn't say the righteous are to be justified / vindicated through faith in messianic shed blood. However, the "knowledge" that the Jewish nation obtains is vital to the world as to the Gentile nations seeking righteousness:2

"Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statues, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." - Deuteronomy 4:6

"The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law" - Deuteronomy 29:29 (also see Deuteronomy 30:11-14)

Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. - Proverbs 1:7
Also, the making of many righteous occurs at the End of Days when the Gentiles realize their spiritual mistakes and recognize Israel for her knowledge.
"And it shall come to pass, that as ye were a curse among the heathen, O house of Judah, and house of Israel; so will I save you, and ye shall be a blessing..." - Zechariah 8:13
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us (with spiritual knowledge) of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." - Isaiah 2:2-3
Notice: all nations go to meet the specified God of Jacob (Israel) to what is holy territory in Judaism -Zion, to learn the righteous paths the Torah (Law) from which is the holiest place in Judaism - Jerusalem.
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They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. - Isaiah 11:9
"Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." -
Isaiah 60:5
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"...their iniquities he shall carry - Isaiah 53:11

This is a repeat on verse 6 but stressing the fact that it is because of the knowledge that the servant obtains whereby fear of the Lord begins, the servant will be burdened with Gentile iniquity. It is through this great knowledge (Deuteronomy 4:6) that I as well as many other Gentiles have sought righteousness / justification even before the End of Days with the one true God of Israel.

"Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death..." - Isaiah 53:12

In staying with the entire context of all prior eleven verses, notice that the "pouring out of the servant's soul unto death" is directly connected with receiving vast booty (as a conquering nation does after it defeats another nation) among the great and mighty nations. In other words, because the Gentile nations have unjustly taken Israel as a criminal to the edge of death, Israel who is least among the nations (Deuteronomy 7:7) will therefore be given portions as to what the great Gentile nations have acquired. The question then arises, "what does the death as Jesus have to do with booty"?

"...and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors." - Isaiah 53:12

Again, we cannot separate these words with the rest of the entire context. The servant who receives great booty among the great is the same servant who is numbered with transgressors and bares the sin of those who falsely numbered him as such. The Crusades, Inquisitions, Pogroms, Mein Kamph, the Koran, and the Hamas covenant all have one thing in common besides being responsible for murdering Jews. They all have numbered the Jewish people (therefore the Jewish nation) among the tranagressors! In fact, being numbered among the transgressors has been the main cause behind Jewish persecution and murder throughout all of Jewish history.

Notes:
1. When challenged as to the "only" meaning of word "zerah" the best a learned messianic Jew could give me is Malachi 2:15. At first glance one might see a reference of a "godly seed" as in a metaphoric meaning, but when the context is read it becomes plain to see that the "zerah" was to be "physically produced" by a man and women who are spiritually one. The "wife" (the bearer of the seed) is mentioned both in verse 14 (prior verse) and after the "zerah" in verse 15 is mentioned.

2. If Hitler and the Nazis were even remotely Torah observant the entire Holocaust nor the war and death that Axis of Evil waged would have never occurred. However, because they had rejected all of the Jewish Torah, the Holocaust and all the death and destruction that followed it did happen. The same principle can be said for Al-Queda today.

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The Suffering Servent of Isaiah 53 - Verses 7-9 (Part 3)

Isaiah 53:7
"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth."
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About two years ago I was watching a History Channel 2006 documentary entitled, "Hitler's Holocaust". This documentary contains several interviews of Nazis from that era in order to allow the viewers into the mindset of the Nazis. One particular interview caught my eyes and ears more than any other. It was a former lieutenant of the German Military Police who was responsible for supervising the lines of Jews awaiting their turn to enter the gas chambers. As I was hearing this Nazi speak I was caught up into what Isaiah 53:7 states. I immediately went to get pen and paper and began the process of starting and stopping the taped video so I could write down each sentence and word according to the English subtitles of his German statement, and this is what he said:
“They were always very quite, I never heard the cry. I never heard railing. Although they were being pushed forward by the Germans, this was usually without shouting. There was such a deathly silence over everything that it was very oppressive.” - Peter V.D. Osten-Sacken Lieutenants German Military Police
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It is noteworthy that this speaker like the ones speaking in Isaiah 53:7 is a Gentile, and not just any Gentile, but one who was among Israel's most notorious persecutors - an actual Nazi. What he is not, is a religious Jewish rabbi confessing his faults for not recognizing what the Gentile had persecuted him to believe for two thousand years, that Jesus was his messiah. So with that in mind, let's compare this Nazi's statement along with the scripture of Isaiah 53"7 back to back and see just how close they actually relate to each other.
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"He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth." “They were always very quite, I never heard the cry. I never heard railing. Although they were being pushed forward by the Germans, this was usually without shouting. There was such a deathly silence over everything that it was very oppressive.”
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The text of Isaiah 53 is completely allegorical. However, because the Holocaust was so extraordinary in the history mankind, many things in the text that are allegorical almost becomes literal. The reality of Jews being transported on "cattle cars" to places like Treblinka and Auschwitz where their heads (including women) were shaven, and lines were formed (many of them naked) to await their slaughter via gas chamber or crematorium, seems almost to fulfill the text in a literal sense of "sheep before her shearers" and "lambs being 'brought' to the slaughter". This fact becomes even more extraordinary when David's statement concerning his Jewish people is added:
"Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter" - Psalms 44:22
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Isaiah 53:8
"He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living..."

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When you take the KJV translators preconceived notion of influence from out of the verse, one ends up with an English translation sounding something like this:
"(Seeing) him being released from captivity and from judgment, who could have imagined this generation? For he was cut off from out of the land of the living and was afflicted due to my people's sin."
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One of the greatest end-time events that gets a lot a air-time so to speak in the Hebrew scripture is the promised return of Jews to the land of their fathers - Israel. The return of the exiles, Israel becoming righteous before the Gentile world while keeping (doing) the Law of Moses, the messiah, and the messianic age are all connected together as one single fulfillment (see Ezekiel 34:13 / Ezekiel 36:24 / *Ezekiel 37:21-28 / Isaiah 11:12 / Isaiah 43:6).
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In verse 8 the Gentiles begin to marvel over the Jewish return to Israel (as many non-Christian Gentiles already have) - http://www.geraldschroeder.com/age.html They marvel because of two reasons. One, they realize that there is a spiritual reason as to why after all that they have done to the nation of Israel it wasn't enough to bring him to an end, and that their desired to blot out his name forever (see Psalms 83: 4) was spiritually evil. Two, the return to the land is so great that the Gentiles begin to understand that such a return could not have been possible without God being on Israel's side (See Ezekiel 36: 33-36). Israel becoming a state in 1948 was the beginning and not the conclusion of a world-wide Jewish return to Israel. There is something in the form of "return" even far more greater in the near future.
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Of the two things verse 8 mentions, one being the servant being taken from captivity and two, the servant being cut-off from the land of the living, are both connected together in persecution of the servant, and not as two separate events unrelated to each other. Being cut off from the "land of the living" was to be "cut off" from the land of Israel (see Deuteronomy 30:19-20 / Ezekiel 37:11-12). This "cutting off from the land of the living" occurred in 586 BCE and and again in 70 CE that resulted in Israel's long Diaspora. The Jews also have also been historically "cut off" from Gentile "lands of living" such as Spain-1492, Germany-1939, and not to mention Gaza (which is again was Jewish land) 2005.
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Therefore, what verse 8 reveals is in fact the Diaspora (a very significant part of Jewish history - if a Gentile can even imagine important Jewish history actually being contained in the Hebrew Bible). This Diaspora was caused by the Gentiles that forced Jewish exiles into Gentile foreign lands where they were held captive from entering into the land of their fathers. But verse 8 hints of the massive return to the land (a return to "the land of the living") and the confessing Gentiles who now see in a spiritual perspective what they have historically done to the Jews.
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"...for the transgression of my people was he stricken."
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In part 1 of this blog we saw how an original singular pronoun was translated in the plural in Isaiah 52:4. Here in Isaiah 53:8 it is a plural masculine pronoun that is translated in the masculine singular by the King James translators. The Hebrew word "la-mo" (spelled: lamed-mem-vav) that is found here in verse 8 is a poetic expression of "la-hem" meaning "to them". It is a word that the King James translators had no problem at all with translating "lamo" as the pural pronoun "them" in all the other places throughout the Hebrew scriptures including the book of Isaiah (see Isaiah 16:4, 23:1, 30:5, 44:7, 48:21).
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So the question then becomes, why here in Isaiah 53, does the King James translators find it necessary to translate "lamo" as the singular pronoun "him"? Maybe because they needed to read the Gentile messiah-Jesus into the verse? The Hebrew reading of this portion is: "My people's sin (rebellion) had struck them".
Examples: The Inquisition and Holocaust rebellion against the God of Israel, struck the Jews!
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Isaiah 53:9
"And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death..."
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Following the flow of the context, "the servant" didn't "make" anything as the KJV might seem to be suggesting, because the servant was forced into it. The opening line of verse 9 is easier understood as, "he submitted [Hebrew root: na-ton 'gave'] himself to his grave among (along beside) the wicked." The following words, "and with the rich in his death" doesn't mean that the servant is buried in a rich man's tomb as the New Testament indicates (St. Matthew 27:57-60). That would make the flow of the context of a servant being persecuted to not make any sense. How is a innocent victim being buried in a rich man's tomb denote any derogation when derogation of the innocent servant is the theme of the entire context? I'm sorry, but to me the Gospel writer(s) of Matthew had to come up with a filler to fulfill this portion within the prophecy text, and Jesus being placed in a rich man's tomb was the best that they could come up with in using a history concerning only one man.
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The Hebrew is a little tricky here with its usage of the "Definite Direct Objects" but it's better translated and understood as: "He gave / submitted (himself) to his grave and the rich (gave / submitted) in their deaths.1
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The switching of a plural for the singular happens yet again here in verse 9. This time it is a plural possessive noun that is translated in the singular.

Hebrew Lesson:
In Hebrew, the root verb or noun is first given with the pronoun-suffix attached at the end of the word. To indicate that a possessive noun is plural in connection with the pronoun, the letter “yod” is placed in between the noun and the pronoun. Its use is like the plural-making “s” in English coming at the end of a noun. The word “bamotav” in the text is spelled, “bet-mem-tav-yod-vav”. The letter bet meaning, “in, by, of, on”. The letters mem-tav mean “death“. The letter yod changes “death” to “deaths” and the letter vav is the singular-male pronoun. The correct Hebrew translation is “his deaths".2 Therefore, if the original text reads "deaths" in verse 9, how does the one man death of Jesus fit into the text when it's "deaths" that the text is talking about?
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Getting back to the "wealth" portion of the text, the Jews are the only people who are stereo-typed as a race with wealth. The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion is largely based on this notion. Even the oil-rich Arabs are not stereo-typed for their wealth by race but only because of the "oil-rich" land in the Middle Est they happen to live on. I live in a state that has a Jewish population of about 6,ooo. Yet, even with such a low population the antisemtic mindset is still here. There are two incidents in recent past that I witnesses personally. In my training class at work a fellow co-worker asked the instructor whose last name was Goldstrum if he was Jewish because according to him, the word "gold" appears mostly in Jewish names. And one antisemite ask me in a Social Security office when seeing a Jewish man wearing a kippah (religious head covering) sitting at the service window, "What's he doing filing for social security, I thought they already had all the money?"
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The Jews do have a long history of having a high rate of success in finance. A large part of this history of was due to Gentile persecution. In Muslims lands is was forbidden for Muslims to handle gold whereby the Jews in Muslims lands became very skillful in the art of crafting gold, and money-leading was one of the few things the Jews in Christian Europe were allowed to do. The Jews became so good at managing money they were actually called upon to go to certain areas to rescue the local economies. And I'm of the opinion that our USA has been going downhill financially ever since a Jew named Alan Greenspan retired.
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The Webster Dictionary defines "usury" as the following: 1. the act or practice of lending money at a rate of interest that is excessive or unlawfully high. 2. the workings of the Jewish people during the Medieval period.
Just kidding. Webster doesn't say that. But see, you had "logical reason" to believe Webster could in fact (though insensitive) say something to that effect about the Jews. If any other race on earth was given with that same description you would have known right off I wasn't repeating Webster.
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The fact is however, the Holocaust is a great indicator of Gentile history towards the Jews. Many things that happened in the Holocaust had already taken place in the Spanish Inquisitions, such as purity of blood decrees, the wearing of yellow badges, Jewish ghettos, and of course, massive Jewish murder. The Jews were a wealthy people in Germany, Poland, and in every location across Europe. So when Hitler revolted against the World War I Treaty of Versailles the Jewish wealth was targeted. Jewish homes, property, jewelry, and even the gold in their teeth was striped from them before they were sent away in banishment or to the Nazi death camps stationed throughout Europe.
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The Christian Crusades, Inquisitions, Pogroms, and Mohammad's Arabian raids were no different to the Jewish communities that were subject to them. Everywhere the Jews have been persecuted it has always been their wealth that was taken from them and never their religion.
It was Jewish booty and slaves that built such places as the Roman Coliseum and stolen Jewish wealth during the Dark and Middle Ages that financed the Vatican.
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It has been Jewish wealth being stripped from them and distributed to the Gentile persecuting powers that fulfills the scripture, "He gave / submitted (himself) to his grave and the rich (gave / submitted) in their deaths."3
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There is something very spiritually symbolic that occurred at Brunnlitz that the ending part of "Schindler's List" - the movie brought to our attention. A gold filling is taken from out of one of the prisoner's mouth and made into a gold ring that states the Talmudic saying, "He who saves a single soul , saves the world entire". For a Jewish Holocaust victim to freely give his personal gold (even from his own mouth) to a righteous Gentile with Hebrew words of life inscribed on it for the Jewish lives he saved by his "List" was in fact the ultimate rebuke to the unrighteous Gentiles who took Jewish gold by murder that would forever represent Jewish death.
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What is ironic, the Gentiles never saw themselves in the same light as they saw the Jews as evil, rich, and conspiring, once they had illegally obtained the wealth of the Jews. This is why the "wealth portion" of the text is mentioned at all - the Gentiles who once viewed the Jews (as they do now) as owning all the banks and Wall Street for the purpose of an evil "Protocol" will see themselves as unrighteous slayers of this wealthy people and that their own illegal wealth condemns them in the same way that they historically condemned the Jews.
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Isaiah 53:9
(continued)
"...because he had done no violence..."

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"Violence"
as in crime-violence, is not a Jewish characteristic. Different sects within Judaism such as the Orthodox and Reform are miles apart in how they each express their Judaism, but they don't murder each other in the name of their God like the Christian sects of East and West, and Catholic and Protestant have done in their past. The Islamic sects of Sunnis and Shiites are in the process of killing each other everyday and have been since the murder of Husayn ibn Ali in 680 CE. The Jews not only didn't murder each other over doctrine but neither have they sought to conquer Gentile lands outside their own "promised land". Modern Israel has fought many wars but has yet to initiate one or even threaten war outside of a defensive military mindset. Israel's military armed forces are known as IDF - Israel "Defense" Force".
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It is not a coincidence that the Hebrew word for violence (or crime) used in this ancient text is spelled "chet-mem-samech" pronounced "hamas" when a terrorist group by the same name is the closest to the peaceful (in-gathered) Israelis, and are the most "violent-cultured" people in all the earth!
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Ponder this:

The most commonly known Hebrew word in the West is, "Shalom"4 of which I don't have to tell you what it means.
The most commonly known Arabic word in the West is, "Jihad" of which I also don't have to tell you what it means.
Now, notice the opposite meanings that each culture is based upon!
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Isaiah 53:9 (continued)
"...neither was any deceit in his mouth."
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Judaism is the only monotheistic religion that simply tells you what it is all about from the get-go. The reason simply being, Judaism doesn't seek new converts to join in with the religion. They actually discourage (but not prohibit) Gentile conversion into the religion. A Gentile can be righteous outside of Judaism by blessing the God of Israel (Numbers 24:5,9 / Micah 6:8). Judaism has no reason to sugar-coat nor threaten with hellfire in order to fill the pews and tithe boxes.
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Deceit can be found in the mouths in Islamic tactics of al-takiah deception. An Imam-spokesman from C.A.I.R. (Council on American-Islamic Relations) for example, stating on national television that "Jihad only means an inner spiritual struggle" or "the Koran states there is no compulsion in religion, and therefore, Islam is a religion of peace." is a lying deception for the sake of the religion itself! The religion is a religion of war and terrorism whose prophet and founder was a murdering child-marrying (molesting) warlord!
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Deceit and sugar-coating (a form of deceit) can be found in "Christian training cards" on how to "witness" to the Jews. A typical training card can read something like this:
"Don't say, "New Testament" say, 'New Covenant".
"Don't say, 'Jesus' say, 'Yashuah."
"Don't say, 'cross' say, 'torture rack."
"Don't say, 'born-again' say, 'completed Jew".5
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From the early Catholic Church taking money from the widow and the poor to pray a dead loved one out of purgatory, to the modern televangelists taking money from the widows and poor for "that special miracle" the Church has been full of spiritual deceit. On the other hand, I don't recall ever hearing of the rabbis demanding money for "Synagogue contribution" to pray someone out of hell, nor have I heard of them selling "holy water" for the people's healing needs. Neither have the Jews charged a fee of around twelve bucks to resolve other Jews from all their sins including adultery, robbery, and murder, otherwise known as "Indulgence"6 to help fund their Synagogue.
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I believe Paul was sincere and more righteous than most of Christendom that followed him, but even he didn't much care if a little deceit helped promote the faith.
"What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." - Philippians 1:18
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It also must be noticed that it is the Gentiles of whom the Hebrew scriptures view as the "inheritors of lies" all the way until the End of Days.
"the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit." - Jeremiah 16:19
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The Jews however are to be God's witnesses (see Isaiah 43:10-12, Isaiah 44:8,) and as such they must speak righteous truth without any deceit as the Gentile confession proclaims in Isaiah 53:9. The book of Zephaniah reinforces this issue using the same wording "deceit in his mouth" as we find in Isaiah 53:9, making it easier to know who Isaiah 53;9 is talking about.
"The remnant of Israel shall not do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth: for they shall feed and lie down, and none shall make them afraid." - Zephaniah 3:13
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Notes:
1. The King James translators played upon the Definite Direct Object indicator "et" (a word in Hebrew that has no comparison in English) as meaning "with". For an explanation of this Definite Direct Object, see Yale University published "Biblical Hebrew: A Text and Workbook" by Bonnie Pedrotti, Vivki Hoffer, and Rebecca Abts Wright - Lesson 7 - page 31
2. To view the differences between the singlar and plural pronouns in their relationship to nouns see ibid page 216
3. Other places of scripture show the singular pronoun with a plural noun. > Hosea 11:1,2
4. "Shalom" (peace) is offered in typical greetings, "Mah Slalom chah?" - "How is your peace" not "How are you doing?". "Solomon"(Shlomo in Hebrew) is a popular name that is derived from "shalom" (peace). Jerusalem - the Jewish spiritual capital literally means, "city of peace".
5. Also see how deliberate lying-tracts were intended to save Jewsih souls >