This is the material that I will be using in my response to another Muhammadan fraud claiming to be a former Christian missionary named Haroon the American Muslim Revert.

I address a clip of his where he encourages his fellow Muhammadan idolaters to cite four specific biblical texts to show Christians that Jesus denied that he was the Son of God (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x07e9qAt7GE). They are:

“Jesus replied, ‘The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.’” Matthew 8:20

“The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a gluttonous man, a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is justified by her children.’” Matthew 11:19

“When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’” Matthew 16:13

“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He spoken, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” Numbers 23:19

His point is to show that since Jesus called himself the Son of Man he, therefore, cannot be God since God is neither a man nor a son of man.

In this post I will cite the immediate contexts of these passages to show how they actually end up refuting Haroon’s shameless mishandling and distortion of God-breathed Scriptures. I will try to keep my comments as brief as possible.

MATTHEW 8:20: HAROON’S FIRST EXAMPLE

Here’s what Haroon failed to quote:

“Then He entered the boat, and His disciples followed Him.Suddenly a great storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep.His disciples went to Him and awoke Him, saying, ‘Lord, save us! We are perishing!’ He replied, ‘Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?’ Then He rose and rebuked the winds and the sea. And there was a great calm. The men were amazed, saying, ‘What kind of Man is this that even the winds and the sea obey Him!’ When He came to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met Him two men possessed with demons, coming out of the tombs, extremely fierce, so that no one might pass by that way. Suddenly they cried out, saying, ‘What have we to do with You, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?’ Now a good way off from them was a herd of many swine feeding. So the demons begged Him, saying, ‘If You cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of swine.’ He said to them, ‘Go!’ And when they came out, they went into the herd of swine. And suddenly the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place into the sea, and perished in the waters.” Matthew 8:23-32

In this passage, demons were terrified of Christ since they knew that he is God’s all-powerful Son who has the power to torture them.

These devils’ reaction to Christ is the very same response they have before God:

“You believe that there is one God; you do well. The demons also believe and tremble.” James 2:19

Hence, evil spirits exhibit the same terror in Christ’s presence that they do in God’s presence!

Moreover, Jesus demonstrates his sovereign power over the natural elements by commanding the winds and sea, a power which he displayed on another occasion:

“Then Jesus commanded His disciples to get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He sent the crowds away. When He sent the crowds away, He went up into a mountain by Himself to pray. And when evening came, He was there alone.But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was turbulent. During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.But when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, ‘It is a spirit.’ And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘Be of good cheer. It is I (ego eimi). Do not be afraid.’ Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord, if it is You, bid me come to You on the water.’ He said, “Come.’ And when Peter got out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.But when he saw the strong wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, ‘Lord, save me!’ Immediately Jesus reached out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshipped Him, saying, ‘Truly You are the Son of God.’” Matthew 14:22-33

The disciples worship Christ as the Son of God after seeing his ability to not only walk on the seas, but also because of his power to enable others to do likewise.

Christ’s ability along with Peter’s and the disciples’ confessing Jesus as Lord, in the context of their crying out to him to save them, are reminiscent of what the Hebrew Bible says of Jehovah.

For instance, it is Jehovah who commands and quiets down the winds and the waves of the sea:

“He who alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.” Job 9:8

“In righteousness You will answer us gloriously, O God of our salvation, You, who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of those who are afar off on the sea; who established the mountains by His strength, being clothed with might; who stills the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of peoples. Those who dwell in the uttermost parts are in awe because of Your signs; You make the going out of the morning and evening rejoice.” Psalm 65:5-8

Jehovah is the One who walks on the waters as he leads his people through the seas unto safe haven:

“Your way is through the sea, and Your path in the great waters, and your footsteps are not seen. You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” Psalm 77:19-20

And Jehovah is the Lord whom believers cry out to when they need to be saved from tumultuous waters:

“And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare His works with rejoicing. Some went down to the sea in ships, to do business in the vast waters; they saw the works of the LORD and His wonders in the deep water. For He commands and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the sea waves. The sailors went up to the sky, they came down to the depths; their strength melted because of the great danger. They reeled to and fro and staggered like drunken men, and were completely confused. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distress. He made the storm calm, and the sea waves were still. They were glad because the waters were quiet, so He brought them to their desired harbor.” Psalm 107:22-30

No wonder the disciples were stricken with fear and terror as they pondered over what kind of Man could Jesus possibly be after seeing his power over the natural elements.

As Jews steeped in the Hebrew Bible, they knew that this is an authority which the prophetic writings attribute to Jehovah God Almighty alone!  

MATTHEW 11:19: HAROON’S SECOND EXAMPLE

When this verse is read in context it becomes explicitly clear that Jesus identified himself as the God whom the Hebrew prophets foretold would come to live amongst his people:

“Now when John had heard in prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples, and said to Him, ‘Are You He who should come, or should we look for another?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see:The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who does not fall away because of Me.’ As they departed, Jesus began to say to the crowds concerning John, ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses.Then what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet. For this is he of whom it is written: “Look, I am sending My messenger before Your face. who will prepare Your way before You.”’” Matthew 11:2-10

Christ performed the very miracles which Jehovah will carry out when he comes to deliver Israel:

“Strengthen the weak hands, and support the feeble knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart, ‘Be strong, fear not. Your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; He will come and save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame man shall leap as a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. For in the wilderness waters shall break out and streams in the desert.” Isaiah 35:3-6

Jesus even identified the Baptist as that very messenger who would be sent to prepare for the coming of the Lord God to his temple:

“I will send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord (Ha Adon), whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. He is coming, says the LORD of Hosts.” Malachi 3:1

It must be kept in mind that the expression Ha Adon is only used of Jehovah all throughout the Hebrew Bible, as the following examples show:

“Therefore the Lord (Ha Adon), the LORD of Hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, says: Ah, I will get relief from My adversaries, and avenge Myself on My enemies.” Isaiah 1:24

“For now the Lord (Ha Adon), the LORD of Hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stock and the store, the whole supply of bread, and the whole supply of water;” Isaiah 3:1  

The Old Testament also proclaims that the Temple in Jerusalem was built for the worship of Jehovah alone:

“King David said to all the assembly, ‘Solomon my son, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced, and the work is great since the palace is not for a man but for the LORD God.’” 1 Chronicles 29:1

“Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke the message of the LORD to the people, saying: I am with you, says the LORD. And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of Hosts their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.” Haggai 1:13-15

These factors conclusively prove that the Lord whom John was sent prepare for is Jehovah God himself.

And yet the Baptist clearly testified that he was sent herald the coming of Jesus Christ,

“‘I indeed baptize you with water to repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean His floor and gather His wheat into the granary, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.’ Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. But John prohibited Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’ Then he permitted Him. And when Jesus was baptized, He came up immediately out of the water. And suddenly the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending on Him like a dove.And a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” Matthew 3:11-17

A fact which even the Islamic tradition confirms:

Then the angels called him, while he was standing in prayer in Al-Mihrab (a praying place or a private room), (saying): “Allah gives you glad tidings of Yahya (John), confirming (believing in) the Word from Allah [i.e. the creation of ‘Iesa (Jesus), the Word from Allah (“Be!” – and he was!)], noble, keeping away from sexual relations with women, a Prophet, from among the righteous.”…  (Remember) when the angels said: “O Maryam (Mary)! Verily, Allah gives you the glad tidings of a Word [“Be!” – and he was! i.e. ‘Iesa (Jesus) the son of Maryam (Mary)] from Him, his name will be the Messiah ‘Iesa (Jesus), the son of Maryam (Mary), held in honour in this world and in the Hereafter, and will be one of those who are near to Allah.” S. 3:39, 45 Hilali-Khan

And the angels namely Gabriel called to him standing in the sanctuary in the temple at worship that anna means bi-anna; a variant reading has inna implying a direct speech statement ‘God gives you good tidings read yubashshiruka or yubshiruka of John who shall confirm a Word being from God namely Jesus that he is God’s Spirit; he is referred to as God’s ‘Word’ because he was created through the word kun ‘Be’; a lord with a following and one chaste forbidden from women and a prophet of the righteous’ it is said that he never sinned and never so intended. (Tafsir al-Jalalayn, Q. 3:39 https://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=74&tSoraNo=3&tAyahNo=39&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=2; bold emphasis mine)

This means that Jesus is that very Jehovah God for whom the Temple was built, which explains why the Baptist attributed to Christ the unique functions and characteristics that the Hebrew Bible ascribes only to Jehovah.

I.e., Jehovah is the One who baptizes or pours out the Holy Spirit upon believers:

“And it will be that, afterwards, I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; then your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions. Even on the menservants and maidservants in those days I will pour out My Spirit.” Joel 2:28-29

And it is Jehovah who uses his winnowing fan/fork to separate believers from unbelievers, and who consumes his enemies with unquenchable fire:

“For a fire has been inflamed by My anger, and it will burn to the lowest part of Sheol, and shall consume the earth and its produce, and ignite the foundations of the mountains.” Deuteronomy 32:22

“The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has seized the hypocrites: ‘Who among us can live with the continual fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?’” Isaiah 33:14  

“I will winnow them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children. I will destroy My people, since they did not repent from their ways.” Jeremiah 15:7

That’s not all.

Here’s what Christ went on to say in that very same chapter of Matthew:

“At that time Jesus said, ‘I thank You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to infants.Even so, Father, for it seemed good in Your sight. All things are delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son, except the Father. And no one knows the Father, except the Son and he to whom the Son will reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest.Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.’” Matthew 11:25-30

Jesus claims to be God’s unique Son who has been entrusted with all things in creation, something which no Muslim could ever affirm.

Something else a Muhammadan like Haroon could never accept is Christ making himself out to be God’s incomprehensible Son whom the Father alone truly knows, and who also fully comprehends and knows the Father.

Since the Holy Bible states that God alone is infinite and incomprehensible, and beyond the ability of any creature to fully understand and fathom,

“O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I get up; You understand my thought from far off. You search my path and my lying down and are aware of all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O LORD, You know it fully. You put Yourself behind and before me, and keep Your hand on me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is lofty, and I cannot fathom it.” Psalm 139:1-6

“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, and His greatness is unfathomable.” Psalm 145:3

This means that Christ is claiming to be the infinite and omniscient Son of God who is coequal to the Father in essence!

As if this weren’t amazing enough, Jesus plainly states that he possesses the ability to grant true and abiding rest to everyone who comes to him in faith.

Yet this is a divine work which the OT writings attribute to God alone, seeing that it requires omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence:

“The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When he returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tent. Moses said to the Lord, ‘See, You say to me, “Bring up this people,” but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, “I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.”Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You, and that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too that this nation is Your people.’ And He said, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’” Exodus 33:11-14

“As the cattle which go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD caused them to rest, so You led Your people, to make Yourself a glorious name.” Isaiah 63:14

The reason being is that Jesus must know all those who are turning to him in genuine, sincere faith, and must be able to preserve every single one of them from ever perishing.

MATTHEW 16:13: HAROON’S THIRD CASE

Amazingly, this verse is a part of the very context where God reveals to Peter that Jesus is his unique Son, and where Jesus claims to be the Son of Man who shall be killed and resurrected on third day, and who will then return with his angels to manifest his kingdom on earth and repay all mankind for what they have earned!  

“When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, ‘Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?’ They said, ‘Some say that You are John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.’ Then He commanded His disciples to tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. From that time on, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised on the third day. Then Peter took Him and began rebuking Him, saying, ‘Far be it from You, Lord! This shall not happen to You.’ But He turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things that are of God, but those that are of men.’ Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for MY sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come with HIS angels in the glory of HIS Father, and then He will repay every man according to his works. Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in HIS kingdom.” Matthew 16:13-28

This is immediately followed up by Jesus’ transfiguration where he not only manifests his inner aboding nature as Deity to three of the disciples, but also where Moses and Elijah appear along with the Father who descended in a visible bright cloud in order to permit the disciples to audibly hear his voice, as he bore witness to Jesus being his beloved Son whom he delights in, and whom the disciples must obey!

 “After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother and brought them up to a high mountain alone,and was transfigured before them. His face shone as the sun, and His garments became white as the light.Suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here. If You wish, let us make three tabernacles here: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.’ When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were filled with awe.But Jesus came and touched them and said, ‘Rise, and do not be afraid.’When they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. As they came down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, ‘Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.” Matthew 17:1-9

Christ again claims to do what God does, since the Hebrew Bible stresses the fact that it is Jehovah who comes to judge the world:

“But the Lord remains forever; He has established His throne for judgment. He will judge the world in righteousness; He will give judgment to the peoples in uprightness.”Psalm 9:7-8

“Also to You, O Lord, belongs mercy; for You render to each one according to his work.” Psalm 62:12

“before the Lord, for He comes, for He comes to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with His faithfulness.” Psalm 96:13

“if you say, ‘Surely we did not know this,’ does not He who ponders the heart consider it? And He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to every man according to his works?” Proverbs 24:12

“See, the Lord GOD will come with a strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; see, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him.” Isaiah 40:10

“I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give to every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his deeds.” Jeremiah 17:10

And here’s what the Quran itself says:

Wait they for naught else than that Allah should come unto them in the shadows of the clouds with the angels? Then the case would be already judged. All cases go back to Allah (for judgment). S. 2:210 Pickthall

Nay, but when the earth is ground to atoms, grinding, grinding, And thy Lord shall come with angels, rank on rank, And hell is brought near that day; on that day man will remember, but how will the remembrance (then avail him)? S. 89:21-23 Pickthall

This brings me to my final point.

DANIEL’S DIVINE SON OF MAN HAS COME

The prophet Daniel beheld a particular Son of Man who comes to reign forever and whom all the nations must worship:

“I saw in the night visions, and there was one like a Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. There was given to Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14

This clearly is no ordinary son of man!

Amazingly, Jesus identified himself as this very same heavenly Figure that the prophet Daniel foresaw:

“But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to Him, ‘I adjure You by the living God, tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have said so. But I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.’” Matthew 26:63-64

This means that Christ was claiming to be an eternal King who possesses an indestructible kingdom and whom all peoples in every language must worship forever, which includes all Muslims such as Muhammad and Haroon!

And being this very Son of Man, Jesus taught that he would return to the earth with the angels to sit on his glorious throne in order to judge and determine the destiny of all the nations whom he will gather before him on the day of judgment:

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. Before Him will be gathered all nations, and He will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep at His right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in. I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? And when did we see You sick or in prison and come to You?’ The King will answer, ‘Truly I say to you, as you have done it for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you have done it for Me.’ Then He will say to those at the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me no food, I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Then they also will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not serve You?’ He will answer, ‘Truly I say to you, as you did it not for one of the least of these, you did it not for Me.’ And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” Matthew 25:31-46

What makes the statements of our Lord truly remarkable is that Muhammad himself acknowledged that these are the actions of God Almighty, since Haroon’s false prophet plagiarized Christ’s words and put them in the mouth of the Islamic deity!

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah, who said that the Messenger of Allah said:

Allah (mighty and sublime be He) will say on the Day of Resurrection: O son of Adam, I fell ill and you visited Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I visit You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant So-and-so had fallen ill and you visited him not? Did you not know that had you visited him you would have found Me with him? O son of Adam, I asked you for food and you fed Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I feed You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant So-and-so asked you for food and you fed him not? Did you not know that had you fed him you would surely have found that (the reward for doing so) with Me? O son of Adam, I asked you to give Me to drink and you gave Me not to drink. He will say: O Lord, how should I give You to drink when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: My servant So-and-so asked you to give him to drink and you gave him not to drink. Had you given him to drink you would have surely found that with Me.

It was related by Muslim.

Hadith Qudsi 18 (sunnah.com https://sunnah.com/qudsi40/18)

By ascribing the words of Christ to Allah, Muhammad was unknowingly bearing witness that Jesus basically made himself out to be God Almighty since he does what only the true God shall do. I.e., only the true God comes to judge mankind on the last day, on the day of judgment!

So much for Haroon’s shameless butchering of God’s inspired Scriptures.

All scriptural references taken from the Modern English Version (MEV) of the Holy Bible.

FURTHER READING

How can Jesus be God when the Hebrew Bible says God is not a man?

The Old Testament on God Becoming a Man

The Lord Jesus – the Maker and Ruler of Creation

The Markan Jesus – The Physical Embodiment and Visible Appearance of Israel’s God

Addressing Williams’ False Allegations Pt. 3

John the Baptist Proves that Muhammad Was a False Prophet! [Part 1]

John the Baptist Proves that Muhammad Was a False Prophet! [Part 2]

Daniel’s Son of Man as the Messiah

A Further Illustration of James White’s Inconsistency

James White has built his reputation by debating Roman Catholics where he employs arguments which sound reasonable at first glance. Yet once a person begins to dig a little deeper it then becomes apparent that White’s claims are either shallow, inconsistent, or just outright deceptive and dishonest. As one studies the issues deeply it becomes clear that White engages in circular reasoning and is grossly inconsistent.

Take, for instance, the form of argumentation White employs against the Catholic interpretation of Luke 1:28 where the blessed Mother is called kecharitomene by the angel Gabriel, a term which has led many to see a strong hint to Mary being conceived without the corruption of sin in order to become a befitting vessel for the Son of God to tabernacle in for the express purpose of taking on human flesh from her holy, consecrated flesh.

Here’s what White wrote in response to Catholic apologist Patrick Madrid:

Mr. Madrid’s sole comment on this passage is, “This is a recognition of her sinless state.” How does Pat know this? He doesn’t say. But Pat’s boss, the head of Catholic Answers, Karl Keating, at least attempted a fuller discussion in his book, Catholicism and Fundamentalism. In speaking of the Greek term, kecaritomene, he alleged:

The newer translations leave out something the Greek conveys, something the older translation conveys, which is that this grace (and the core of the word kecharitomene is charis, after all) is at once permanent and of a singular kind. The Greek indicates a perfection of grace. A perfection must be perfect not only intensively, but extensively. The grace Mary enjoyed must not only have been as “full” or strong or complete as possible at any given time, but it must have extended over the whole of her life, from conception. That is, she must have been in a state of sanctifying grace from the first moment of her existence to have been called “full of grace” or to have been filled with divine favor in a singular way. This is just what the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception holds… (p. 269).

Perhaps Pat just didn’t have the room to put all that into his article. Or, we could hope, he didn’t include it, because he recognizes that the above quotation goes so far beyond anything a serious exegete of the passage in Greek could possibly say that it rivals the attempts made by Mormons to substantiate the concept of men being exalted to the status of a God by citing Romans 8:17. This can be seen by examining the term in question, the perfect passive participle kecaritwmenh. Does the term carry an entire doctrine, unknown in the rest of the New Testament, unheard of by the first three centuries of the Christian Church, in itself? Or are modern Roman Catholic interpreters reading into this term a tremendous amount of material that was never intended by Luke? (James White: A Biblical Basis for the “Immaculate Conception”?, April 29, 1998; bold emphasis mine)

And in his Oct. 9, 1996 debate with Gerry Matatics concerning the Marian doctrines (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7k614h-28A&t=3852s), here’s what White said in his opening statements regarding Luke 1:28:

“Did Luke mean to indicate when he wrote Luke 1:28 that Mary was immaculately conceived? Or when he recorded the Magnificat and Mary talks about “God my Savior,” did Luke mean to indicate… did Mary mean to indicate that she actually knew that she had been peremptorily redeemed–a concept that did not develop for over a thousand years after the writing of the New Testament?  That was rejected by the majority of the fathers when it was brought up? Are we to actually understand that’s what she understood? We have to put ourselves in the context of the writers themselves and ask ourselves the question is this what they meant? Or is someone taking a doctrine that comes from another source?”

He went to repeat this assertion in his concluding statements:

“I submit to you yet once again when Luke wrote Luke 1:28, when Mary uttered the words of the Magnificat and talked about “God my Savior,” did she have in her mind the idea that she was immaculately conceived? Is that what you really believe is going on here?”

White is infamous for repeating the mantra, “inconsistency is a sign of a failed argument,” and yet he proves to be inconsistent since elsewhere he rejects this precise form of argumentation when used against the Deity of Christ.

Note what White wrote in response to leading Arian polemicist and former Jehovah’s Witness apologist Greg Stafford’s explanation of Thomas’ confession to Jesus being his Lord and God in John 20:28:

5. Attempts by Stafford in Jehovah’s Witnesses Defended (Huntington Beach, Calif.: Elihu Books, 1998), 202-206 (Stafford mainly follows David D. Schuman’s unpublished work, Did the Apostle Thomas Call Jesus “God” at John 20:28?), to obscure such a plain passage are circular at best. Stafford and others point to the fact that Thomas uses the nominative forms Kyrios and Theos rather than the vocative forms (the vocative case being the case of direct address). However, as A. T. Robertson pointed out, this is hardly relevant. In his A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1934), 465-466, Robertson points out uses of the nominative in the place of the vocative (such as Revelation 4:11, Axios ei, ho Kyrios kai Theos hemon, “Worthy are You, O Lord our God–”, where both “Lord” and “God” are identical in form to John 20:28, and yet no one would argue that God himself is not being directly addressed), and says of our passage:

In Jo. 20:28 Thomas addresses Jesus as ho Kyrios mou kai ho Theos mou, the vocative like those above. Yet, strange to say, Winer calls this exclamation rather than address, apparently to avoid the conclusion that Thomas was satisfied as to the deity of Jesus by his appearance to him after the resurrection. Dr. E. A. Abbott follows suit also in an extended argument to show that Kyrie ho Theos is the LXX way of addressing God, not ho Kyrios kai ho Theos. But after he had written he appends a note top. 95 to the effect that “this is not quite satisfactory. For xiii. 13, phoneite me ho Didaskalos kai ho Kyrios, and Rev. 4:11–ought to have been mentioned above.” This is a manly retraction, and he adds: “John may have used it here exceptionally.” Leave out “exceptionally” and the conclusion is just.

Therefore, we have examples of the use of the nominative used for the vocative in John (John 13:13 and Revelation 4:11). Therefore, there can only be one reason why the plain, obvious meaning of this passage is denied, and that reason comes out plainly in Stafford’s comments. While admitting that Jesus can be called “Lord and God,” he limits this to a mere representative position, focuses not upon the passage but upon John 20:17 (see comments in text), and concludes, “What is certain about John 20:28 is that Thomas’ words are in no way an affirmation of anything agreeable to Trinitarianism, for Thomas had no concept of a consubstantial Trinity.” This merely begs the question while ignoring the impact of the words of Thomas. (James R. White, The Forgotten Trinity: Recovering The Heart of Christian Belief [Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis, MN 1994], p. 204; bold emphasis mine)

We couldn’t have said it any better since White’s objection “merely begs the question while ignoring the impact of the words of” the Angel Gabriel to the blessed Mother!

As the old adage goes, “Physician, heal thyself!”

The fact of the matter is that the Holy Bible itself testifies that a text’s deeper, richer meaning may not be apparent to the original recipients or even to the inspired emissary commissioned to record the text of Scripture.

In some cases, this may be due to a person’s unbelief and/or unwillingness to accept God’s revelation because of certain traditions or presuppositions which hinder an individual from accepting God’s truth.

Note what the following passages state:

“But as for me, I heard but did not understand; so I said, ‘My lord, what will be the outcome of these events?’And he said, ‘Go your way, Daniel, for these words will be kept secret and sealed up until the end time.’” Daniel 12:8-9 

“And He could not do any miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.And He was amazed at their unbelief.” Mark 6:5-6

“And the disciples had forgotten to take bread, and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them.And He was giving orders to them, saying, ‘Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, and the leaven of Herod.’ And they began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread.And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, ‘Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet comprehend or understand? Do you still have your heart hardened?Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears, do you not hear? And do you not remember,when I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?” They said to Him, ‘Twelve.’ ‘When I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?’ And they said to Him, ‘Seven.’And He was saying to them, ‘Do you not yet understand?’” Mark 8:14-21

“I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them at the present time. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come.” John 16:12-13

“And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but only as fleshly, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to consume it. But even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like ordinary people? For when one person says, ‘I am with Paul,’ and another, ‘I am with Apollos,’ are you not ordinary people? What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.” 1 Corinthians 3:1-5

“Concerning him we have much to say, and it is difficult to explain, since you have become poor listeners.For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the actual words of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unacquainted with the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to distinguish between good and evil.” Hebrews 5:11-14

Therefore, just because Thomas may not have had later theological formulations of the Trinity in view, which took centuries to hammer out, this does not mitigate the plain import of his confession to Jesus being God Almighty in the flesh, since he is the unique divine Son who is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit in essence.

After all, the Scriptures are emphatic that Jehovah is the only Lord God that a believing Israelite can ever confess and put their trust in:

“Now God spoke all these words, saying: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.” Exodus 20:1-3

“(for you shall not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),” Exodus 34:14

“Rouse Yourself and awake for my judgment, for my cause, my God and my Lord.” Psalm 35:23

Hence, the only way Thomas could ever confess Jesus as his very Lord and God, with Christ accepting his confession, is if the Son is Jehovah God in the flesh.  

In the same manner, just because Mary or Luke’s original audience may not have understood the deeper spiritual significance of Gabriel’s words to the blessed Mother, this does not rule out the fact that such a meaning was intended by the Holy Spirit, and which awaited subsequent generations of believers to discover and to unpack its richer spiritual significance as they were guided and illuminated by God’s Spirit.

White is, therefore, being inconsistent and engaging in circular reasoning at this point, since he has assumed what he has yet to prove. I.e., the ancient understanding of Luke 1:28 cannot possibly be correct since there is no way Mary could have been created in such a way as to be protected from the stain of sin.

In this respect, White is no better than Stafford since, like the latter, he is letting his biases and uninspired traditions affect the way he handles and interprets the text of God-breathed Scriptures.

In other words, it is no longer Sola Scriptura and Tota Scripture, but rather Sola Whitia and Tota Whitia, “only White” and “all of White”, since what really matters to White is how he explains the inspired Scriptures and what he thinks the Holy Bible means.

All scriptural references taken from the Modern English Version (MEV) of the Holy Bible.

FURTHER READING

One Mediator and One God Pt. 1

One Mediator and One God Pt. 2

Mary’s Purity and Sinlessness in the Church Fathers

ON MARY BEING FULL OF GRACE

MARY: ISRAEL PERSONIFIED

PATRISTIC INTERPRETATION OF GEN. 3:15 PT. 1

PATRISTIC INTERPRETATION OF GEN. 3:15 PT. 2

PATRISTIC INTERPRETATION OF GEN. 3:15 PT. 3

PAPAL INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS 3:15

MARY AS QUEEN MOTHER

What the Early Church Believed: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary

“The Greek ‘heos hou’ in Matthew 1:25 disproves Mary’s Perpetual Virginity”?

MARY AND JOSEPH’S “COMING TOGETHER”

THE REFORMERS ON MARY’S PERPETUAL VIRGINITY

EPIPHANIUS ON THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY

PROTESTANT SCHOLARSHIP ON LUKE 1:26-56 AND MARY AS GOD’S ARK

NOTES FOR THE DISCUSSION ON THE MARIAN DOCTRINES

EARLY CHURCH ON MARY AS THE NEW AND GREATER EVE

In this post I will cite from a few of the early Christian writers who viewed Mary as the new Eve, just as Christ was the new Adam, who through her obedience undid what Eve’s disobedience did to creation.

JUSTIN MARTYR

Chapter 100. In what sense Christ is [called] Jacob, and Israel, and Son of Man

Justin: Then what follows—’But You, the praise of Israel, inhabit the holy place’— declared that He is to do something worthy of praise and wonderment, being about to rise again from the dead on the third day after the crucifixion; and this He has obtained from the Father. For I have showed already that Christ is called both Jacob and Israel; and I have proved that it is not in the blessing of Joseph and Judah alone that what relates to Him was proclaimed mysteriously, but also in the Gospel it is written that He said: ‘All things are delivered unto me by My Father.’ and, ‘No man knows the Father but the Son; nor the Son but the Father, and they to whom the Son will reveal Him.’ Matthew 11:27 Accordingly He revealed to us all that we have perceived by His grace out of the Scriptures, so that we know Him to be the first-begotten of God, and to be before all creatures; likewise to be the Son of the patriarchs, since He assumed flesh by the Virgin of their family, and submitted to become a man without comeliness, dishonoured, and subject to suffering. Hence, also, among His words He said, when He was discoursing about His future sufferings: ‘The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the Pharisees and Scribes, and be crucified, and on the third day rise again.’ Matthew 16:21 He said then that He was the Son of man, either because of His birth by the Virgin, who was, as I said, of the family of David and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham; or because Adam was the father both of Himself and of those who have been first enumerated from whom Mary derives her descent. For we know that the fathers of women are the fathers likewise of those children whom their daughters bear. For [Christ] called one of His disciples— previously known by the name of Simon — Peter; since he recognised Him to be Christ the Son of God, by the revelation of His Father: and since we find it recorded in the memoirs of His apostles that He is the Son of God, and since we call Him the Son, we have understood that He proceeded before all creatures from the Father by His power and will (for He is addressed in the writings of the prophets in one way or another as Wisdom, and the Day, and the East, and a Sword, and a Stone, and a Rod, and Jacob, and Israel); and that He became man by the Virgin, in order that the disobedience which proceeded from the serpent might receive its destruction in the same manner in which it derived its origin. For Eve, who was a virgin and undefiled, having conceived the word of the serpent, brought forth disobedience and death. But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy, when the angel Gabriel announced the good tidings to her that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her, and the power of the Highest would overshadow her: wherefore also the Holy Thing begotten of her is the Son of God; and she replied, ‘Be it unto me according to your word.’ Luke 1:38 And by her has He been born, to whom we have proved so many Scriptures refer, and by whom God destroys both the serpent and those angels and men who are like him; but works deliverance from death to those who repent of their wickedness and believe upon Him. (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, Chapters 89-108)

IRENAEUS

1. Those, therefore, who allege that He took nothing from the Virgin do greatly err, [since,] in order that they may cast away the inheritance of the flesh, they also reject the analogy [between Him and Adam]. For if the one [who sprang] from the earth had indeed formation and substance from both the hand and workmanship of God, but the other not from the hand and workmanship of God, then He who was made after the image and likeness of the former did not, in that case, preserve the analogy of man, and He must seem an inconsistent piece of work, not having wherewith He may show His wisdom. But this is to say, that He also appeared putatively as man when He was not man, and that He was made man while taking nothing from man. For if He did not receive the substance of flesh from a human being, He neither was made man nor the Son of man; and if He was not made what we were, He did no great thing in what He suffered and endured. But every one will allow that we are [composed of] a body taken from the earth, and a soul receiving spirit from God. This, therefore, the Word of God was made, recapitulating in Himself His own handiwork; and on this account does He confess Himself the Son of man, and blesses the meek, because they shall inherit the earth. Matthew 5:5 The Apostle Paul, moreover, in the Epistle to the Galatians, declares plainly, God sent His Son, made of a woman. Galatians 4:4 And again, in that to the Romans, he says, Concerning His Son, who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, who was predestinated as the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 1:3-4

2. Superfluous, too, in that case is His descent into Mary; for why did He come down into her if He were to take nothing of her? Still further, if He had taken nothing of Mary, He would never have availed Himself of those kinds of food which are derived from the earth, by which that body which has been taken from the earth is nourished; nor would He have hungered, fasting those forty days, like Moses and Elias, unless His body was craving after its own proper nourishment; nor, again, would John His disciple have said, when writing of Him, But Jesus, being wearied with the journey, was sitting [to rest]; John 4:6 nor would David have proclaimed of Him beforehand, They have added to the grief of my wounds; nor would He have wept over Lazarus, nor have sweated great drops of blood; nor have declared, My soul is exceeding sorrowful; Matthew 26:38 nor, when His side was pierced, would there have come forth blood and water. For all these are tokens of the flesh which had been derived from the earth, which He had recapitulated in Himself, bearing salvation to His own handiwork.

3. Wherefore Luke points out that the pedigree which traces the generation of our Lord back to Adam contains seventy-two generations, connecting the end with the beginning, and implying that it is He who has summed up in Himself all nations dispersed from Adam downwards, and all languages and generations of men, together with Adam himself. Hence also was Adam himself termed by Paul the figure of Him that was to come, Romans 5:14 because the Word, the Maker of all things, had formed beforehand for Himself the future dispensation of the human race, connected with the Son of God; God having predestined that the first man should be of an animal nature, with this view, that he might be saved by the spiritual One. For inasmuch as He had a pre-existence as a saving Being, it was necessary that what might be saved should also be called into existence, in order that the Being who saves should not exist in vain.

4. In accordance with this design, Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to your word. Luke 1:38 But Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey when as yet she was a virgin. And even as she, having indeed a husband, Adam, but being nevertheless as yet a virgin (for in Paradise they were both naked, and were not ashamed, Genesis 2:25 inasmuch as they, having been created a short time previously, had no understanding of the procreation of children: for it was necessary that they should first come to adult age, and then multiply from that time onward), having become disobedient, was made the cause of death, both to herself and to the entire human race; so also did Mary, having a man betrothed [to her], and being nevertheless a virgin, by yielding obedience, become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race. And on this account does the law term a woman betrothed to a man, the wife of him who had betrothed her, although she was as yet a virgin; thus indicating the back-reference from Mary to Eve, because what is joined together could not otherwise be put asunder than by inversion of the process by which these bonds of union had arisen; so that the former ties be cancelled by the latter, that the latter may set the former again at liberty. And it has, in fact, happened that the first compact looses from the second tie, but that the second tie takes the position of the first which has been cancelled. For this reason did the Lord declare that the first should in truth be last, and the last first. Matthew 19:30, Matthew 20:16 And the prophet, too, indicates the same, saying, instead of fathers, children have been born unto you. For the Lord, having been born the First-begotten of the dead, Revelation 1:5 and receiving into His bosom the ancient fathers, has regenerated them into the life of God, He having been made Himself the beginning of those that live, as Adam became the beginning of those who die. 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 Wherefore also Luke, commencing the genealogy with the Lord, carried it back to Adam, indicating that it was He who regenerated them into the Gospel of life, and not they Him. And thus also it was that the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith. (Against Heresies, Book III, Chapter 22 Christ assumed actual flesh, conceived and born of the Virgin)

1. That the Lord then was manifestly coming to His own things, and was sustaining them by means of that creation which is supported by Himself, and was making a recapitulation of that disobedience which had occurred in connection with a tree, through the obedience which was [exhibited by Himself when He hung] upon a tree, [the effects] also of that deception being done away with, by which that virgin Eve, who was already espoused to a man, was unhappily misled — was happily announced, through means of the truth [spoken] by the angel to the Virgin Mary, who was [also espoused] to a man. For just as the former was led astray by the word of an angel, so that she fled from God when she had transgressed His word; so did the latter, by an angelic communication, receive the glad tidings that she should sustain (portaret) God, being obedient to His word. And if the former did disobey God, yet the latter was persuaded to be obedient to God, in order that the Virgin Mary might become the patroness (advocata) of the virgin Eve. And thus, as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so is it rescued by a virgin; virginal disobedience having been balanced in the opposite scale by virginal obedience. For in the same way the sin of the first created man (protoplasti) receives amendment by the correction of the First-begotten, and the coming of the serpent is conquered by the harmlessness of the dove, those bonds being unloosed by which we had been fast bound to death. (Ibid., Book V, Chapter 19 A comparison is instituted between the disobedient and sinning Eve and the Virgin Mary, her patroness. Various and discordant heresies are mentioned)

TERTULLIAN

Chapter 17. The Similarity of Circumstances Between the First and the Second Adam, as to the Derivation of Their Flesh. An Analogy Also Pleasantly Traced Between Eve and the Virgin Mary

But, leaving Alexander with his syllogisms, which he so perversely applies in his discussions, as well as with the hymns of Valentinus, which, with consummate assurance, he interpolates as the production of some respectable author, let us confine our inquiry to a single point — Whether Christ received flesh from the virgin?— that we may thus arrive at a certain proof that His flesh was human, if He derived its substance from His mother’s womb, although we are at once furnished with clear evidences of the human character of His flesh, from its name and description as that of a man, and from the nature of its constitution, and from the system of its sensations, and from its suffering of death. Now, it will first be necessary to show what previous reason there was for the Son of God’s being born of a virgin. He who was going to consecrate a new order of birth, must Himself be born after a novel fashion, concerning which Isaiah foretold how that the Lord Himself would give the sign. What, then, is the sign? Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. Isaiah 7:14 Accordingly, a virgin did conceive and bear Emmanuel, God with us. Matthew 1:23 This is the new nativity; a man is born in God. And in this man God was born, taking the flesh of an ancient race, without the help, however, of the ancient seed, in order that He might reform it with a new seed, that is, in a spiritual manner, and cleanse it by the re-moval of all its ancient stains. But the whole of this new birth was prefigured, as was the case in all other instances, in ancient type, the Lord being born as man by a dispensation in which a virgin was the medium. The earth was still in a virgin state, reduced as yet by no human labour, with no seed as yet cast into its furrows, when, as we are told, God made man out of it into a living soul. Genesis 2:7 As, then, the first Adam is thus introduced to us, it is a just inference that the second Adam likewise, as the apostle has told us, was formed by God into a quickening spirit out of the ground — in other words, out of a flesh which was unstained as yet by any human generation. But that I may lose no opportunity of supporting my argument from the name of Adam, why is Christ called Adam by the apostle, unless it be that, as man, He was of that earthly origin? And even reason here maintains the same conclusion, because it was by just the contrary operation that God recovered His own image and likeness, of which He had been robbed by the devil. For it was while Eve was yet a virgin, that the ensnaring word had crept into her ear which was to build the edifice of death. Into a virgin’s soul, in like manner, must be introduced that Word of God which was to raise the fabric of life; so that what had been reduced to ruin by this sex, might by the selfsame sex be recovered to salvation. As Eve had believed the serpent, so Mary believed the angel. The delinquency which the one occasioned by believing, the other by believing effaced. But (it will be said) Eve did not at the devil’s word conceive in her womb. Well, she at all events conceived; for the devil’s word afterwards became as seed to her that she should conceive as an outcast, and bring forth in sorrow. Indeed she gave birth to a fratricidal devil; while Mary, on the contrary, bare one who was one day to secure salvation to Israel, His own brother after the flesh, and the murderer of Himself. God therefore sent down into the virgin’s womb His Word, as the good Brother, who should blot out the memory of the evil brother. Hence it was necessary that Christ should come forth for the salvation of man, in that condition of flesh into which man had entered ever since his condemnation. (On the Flesh of Christ)

EPHRAIM THE SYRIAN

Hymn 12

The Babe that I carry carries me, says Mary, and He has lowered His wings, and taken and placed me between His pinions, and mounted into the air; and a promise has been given me that height and depth shall be my Son’s.

I have seen Gabriel that called him Lord, and the high priest the aged servant, that carried Him and bare Him. I have seen the Magi when they bowed down, and Herod when he was troubled because the King had come.

Satan also who strangled the little ones that Moses might perish, Exodus 1:16 murdered the little ones that the Living One might die. To Egypt He fled, Who came to Judea that He might labour and wander there: he sought to catch the man that would catch himself.

In her virginity Eve put on the leaves of shame: Your Mother put on in her Virginity the garment of Glory that suffices for all. She gave the little vest of the Body to Him that covers all.

Blessed is she in whose heart and mind You were! A King’s palace she was by You, O Son of the King, and a Holy of Holies by You, O High Priest! She had not the trouble nor vexation of a family, or a husband!

Eve, again, was a nest and a den for the accursed serpent, that entered in and dwelt in her. His evil counsel became bread to her that she might become dust. You are our Bread, and You are also [of] our race and our garment of glory. (On the Nativity of Christ in the Flesh)

FURTHER READING

MARY: ISRAEL PERSONIFIED

PATRISTIC INTERPRETATION OF GEN. 3:15 PT. 1

PATRISTIC INTERPRETATION OF GEN. 3:15 PT. 2

PATRISTIC INTERPRETATION OF GEN. 3:15 PT. 3

PAPAL INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS 3:15

MARY AS QUEEN MOTHER

Mary’s Purity and Sinlessness in the Church Fathers

ON MARY BEING FULL OF GRACE

What the Early Church Believed: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary

“The Greek ‘heos hou’ in Matthew 1:25 disproves Mary’s Perpetual Virginity”?

MARY AND JOSEPH’S “COMING TOGETHER”

THE REFORMERS ON MARY’S PERPETUAL VIRGINITY

EPIPHANIUS ON THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY

PROTESTANT SCHOLARSHIP ON LUKE 1:26-56 AND MARY AS GOD’S ARK

NOTES FOR THE DISCUSSION ON THE MARIAN DOCTRINES

This post needs to be read with the following: MESSIANIC PROPHECIES SERIES PT. 2.

As he lay in his bed dying, the patriarch Jacob prophesied over the fate of his twelve sons. In respect to Judah, Jacob proclaimed that the Ruler of the nations would come forth from his loins:

“Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness; who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his foal to the vine and his ass’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes; his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.” Genesis 49:8-12

Note how the following translation renders the verse in question:

“The scepter will not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” Genesis 49:10 NASB

Some view the expression Shiloh as one of the names of the coming King. As I am going to show, the rabbis took this to be a descriptive noun for the Messiah.

CORRESPONDING TEXTS

Subsequent prophets and canonical writings unpack Jacob’s prophecy concerning Judah, indicating that this Ruler will spring forth from the line of David:

“The sons of Reuben the first-born of Israel (for he was the first-born; but because he polluted his father’s couch, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph the son of Israel, so that he is not enrolled in the genealogy according to the birthright; though Judah became strong among his brothers and a prince was from him, yet the birthright belonged to Joseph),” 1 Chronicles 5:1-2

“David assembled at Jerusalem all the officials of Israel, the officials of the tribes, the officers of the divisions that served the king, the commanders of thousands, the commanders of hundreds, the stewards of all the property and cattle of the king and his sons, together with the palace officials, the mighty men, and all the seasoned warriors. Then King David rose to his feet and said: ‘Hear me, my brethren and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and for the footstool of our God; and I made preparations for building. But God said to me, “You may not build a house for my name, for you are a warrior and have shed blood.” Yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all my father’s house to be king over Israel for ever; for he chose Judah as leader, and in the house of Judah my father’s house, and among my father’s sons he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel. And of all my sons (for the Lord has given me many sons) he has chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. He said to me, “It is Solomon your son who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father. I will establish his kingdom for ever if he continues resolute in keeping my commandments and my ordinances, as he is today.’” 1 Chronicles 28:1-7

God made an irrevocable covenant where he made David an unchangeable and immutable promise that his kingdom would never be destroyed, and that he would never fail to have a man from his loins who would sit on God’s throne on David’s behalf:

“Thou hast said, ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to David my servant: “I will establish your descendants for ever, and build your throne for all generations.”’ Selah… Of old thou didst speak in a vision to thy faithful one, and say: ‘I have set the crown upon one who is mighty, I have exalted one chosen from the people. I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him; so that my hand shall ever abide with him, my arm also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him, the wicked shall not humble him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. He shall cry to me, “Thou art my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.” And I will make him the first-born, the highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love I will keep for him for ever, and my covenant will stand firm for him. I will establish his line for ever and his throne as the days of the heavens. If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my ordinances, if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with scourges; but I will not remove from him my steadfast love, or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant, or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. His line shall endure for ever, his throne as long as the sun before me. Like the moon it shall be established for ever; it shall stand firm while the skies endure.’ Selah” Psalm 89:3-4, 19-37

God further swore that this Davidic King would reign over all the nations, as they worship and serve him forever and ever:

“Give the king thy justice, O God, and thy righteousness to the royal son!… May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth! May his foes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust! May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles render him tribute, may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts! May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!… May his name endure for ever, his fame continue as long as the sun! May men bless themselves by him, all nations call him blessed!” Psalm 72:1, 8-11, 17 

“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he, humble and riding on an ass, on a colt the foal of an ass. 10 I will cut off the chariot from E′phraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall command peace to the nations; his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will set your captives free from the waterless pit.” Zechariah 9:9-11

The prophet Ezekiel even echoes the prophecy of Jacob when identifying the coming Potentate as God’s servant David:

“A ruin, ruin, ruin I will make it; there shall not be even a trace of it until he comes whose right it is; and to him I will give it.” Ezekiel 21:27

“And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken. I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing. And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them.” Ezekiel 34:23-27

“and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. They shall not defile themselves any more with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes. They shall dwell in the land where your fathers dwelt that I gave to my servant Jacob; they and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there for ever; and David my servant shall be their prince for ever. I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I the Lord sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is in the midst of them for evermore.” Ezekiel 37:22-28

Other texts make it abundantly clear that it isn’t the historical David whom God would raise up to rule once again, but rather to a Davidic type, a descendant of David whom the former king foreshadowed:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’” Jeremiah 23:5-6 – Cf. 30:8-9, 21; 33:15-16

Astonishingly, this Davidide is said to be named YHVH our righteousness, a rather clear indication that this coming One is both human and divine!

In fact, the coming Davidic Ruler is even named the Mighty God,

“But there will be no gloom for her that was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zeb′ulun and the land of Naph′tali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined… For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called ‘Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.’ Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David, and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and for evermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”  Isaiah 9:1-2, 6-7

Which happens to be one of the titles of YHVH!

“In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean upon him that smote them, but will lean upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.” Isaiah 10:20-21

JEWISH INTERPRETATION

Here’s how some of the Jewish sources explained Jacob’s prophecy. All emphasis shall be mine.

(Gen. xlix, 10)

V The sceptre [shall not] depart from the tribe of Judah … [xlix, 10]. Whenever Israel rules, there shall [not] fail to be a descendant of David upon the throne (Jer. xxxiii, 17). For the ruler’s staff (xlix, 10) is the Covenant of kingship, [and the clans] of Israel are the divisions,⁹⁵ until the Messiah of Righteousness comes, the Branch of David. For to him and his seed is granted the Covenant of kingship over his people for everlasting generations which he is to keep… the Law with the men of the Community, for… it is the assembly of the men of… (Geza Vermes, The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls in English [Penguin Books, Revised Edition 2004], 4Q252, fr. I (Gen. vi, 3—XV, 17)p. 549)

Jehuda, thou art praise and not shame; thy brethren shall praise thee;^[11]thy hand shall prevail against thine adversaries, thine enemies shall be dispersed; they will be turned backward before thee, and the sons of thy father will come before thee with salutations. The dominion shall be (thine) in the beginning, and in the end the kingdom shall be increased from the house of Jehuda, because from the judgment of death, my son, hast thou withdrawn.^[12] He shall repose, and abide in strength as a lion, and as a lioness, there shall be no king that may cut him off. He who exerciseth dominion shall not pass away from the house of Jehuda, nor the saphra from his children’s children for ever, until the Meshiha come, whose is the kingdom, and unto whom shall be the obedience of the nations (or, whom the peoples shall obey). Israel shall pass round about in his cities; the people shall build his temple, they will be righteous round about him, and be doers of the law through his doctrine. Of goodly purple will be his raiment, and his vesture of crimson wool with colours.^[13] His mountains shall be red with his vineyards, and his hills be dropping with wine; his valleys shall be white with corn, and with flocks of sheep. (Targum Onkelos, translated by J. W. Etheridge, M.A., First Published 1862 http://targum.info/onk/Gen47_50.htm)

XLIX. And Jakob called his sons and said to them, Purify yourselves from uncleanness, and I will show you the hidden mysteries, the ends concealed, the recompense of reward for the righteous, the retribution of the wicked, and the bower of Eden, what it is. And the twelve tribes of Israel gathered themselves together around the golden bed whereon he reclined, and where was revealed to him the Shekina of the Lord, (though) the end for which the king Meshiha is to come had been concealed from him. Then said he, Come, and I will declare to you what shall befall you at the end of the days. Gather yourselves together and hear, ye sons of Jakob, and receive instruction from Israel your father…

Jehuda, thou didst make confession in the matter of Tamar: therefore shall thy brethren confess^[4] thee, and shall be called Jehudain from thy name. Thy hand shall avenge thee of thy adversaries, in throwing arrows upon them when they turn their backs before thee; and the sons of thy fathers shall come before thee with salutations. I will liken thee, my son Jehuda, to a whelp, the young of a lion; for from the killing of Joseph my son thou didst uplift thy soul, and from the judgment of Tamar thou wast free. He dwelleth quietly and in strength, as a lion; and as an old lion when he reposeth, who may stir him up? Kings shall not cease, nor rulers, from the house of Jehuda, nor sapherim teaching the law from his seed, till the time that the King the Meshiha, shall come, the youngest of his sons; and on account of him shall the peoples flow together. How beauteous is the King, the Meshiha who will arise from the house of Jehuda! He hath girded his loins, and descended, and arrayed the battle against his adversaries, Slaying kings with their rulers; neither is there any king or ruler who shall stand before him. The mountains become red with the blood of their slain; his garments, dipped in blood, are like the outpressed juice of grapes. How beautiful are the eyes of the king Meshiha, as the pure wine! He cannot look upon what is unclean, nor on the shedding of the blood of the innocent; and his teeth, purer than milk, cannot eat that which is stolen or torn; and therefore his mountains are red with wine, and his hills white with corn, and with the cotes of flocks.

[8. JEHUDA, thee shall all thy brethren praise, and from thy name shall all be called Jehudaee; thy hand shall avenge thee of thy adversaries; all the sons of thy father shall come before thee with salutation. I will liken thee, my son Jehuda, to a whelp the son of a lion: from the slaying of Joseph thou wast free, from the judgment of Tamar thou, my son, wast acquitted. He remaineth tranquil in the midst of war, as the lion and as the lioness; nor is there people or kingdom that can stand against thee. Kings shall not cease from the house of Jehuda, nor sapherim teaching the law from his children’s children, until the time that the King Meshiha shall come, whose is the kingdom, and to whom all the kingdoms of the earth shall be obedient. How beauteous is the King Meshiha, who is to arise from the house of Jehuda!

[Binding his loins, and going forth to war against them that hate him, he will slay kings with princes, and make the rivers red with the blood of their slain, and his hills white with the fat of their mighty ones; his garments will be dipped in blood, and he himself be like the juice of the winepress. More beautiful are the eyes of the king Meshiha to behold than pure wine; they will not look upon that which is unclean, or the shedding of the blood of the innocent. His teeth are employed according to the precept rather than in eating the things of violence and rapine; his mountains shall be red with vines, and his presses with his wine, and his hills be white with much corn and with flocks of sheep. (Etheridge, Targum Jonathan Ben Uzziel On the Pentateuch With The Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum From the Chaldee http://targum.info/pj/pjgen47-50.htm)

Kings shall not cease from among those of the house of Judah, and neither (shall) scribes teaching the Law from his sons’ sons until the time of King Messiah shall come whose is the kingship; to him shall all the kingdoms be subject.

How beautiful is King Messiah who is to arise from among those of the house of Judah. He girds his loins and goes forth to battle against those that hate him; and he kills kings with rulers, and makes the mountains red from the blood of their slain and makes the valleys white from the fat of their warriors (²). His garments are rolled in blood; he is like a presser of grapes.

How beautiful are the eyes of King Messiah; more than pure wine lest he see with them the revealing of nakedness or the shedding of innocent blood. His teeth are purer than milk, lest he eat with them things that are stolen or robbed. The mountains will become red from his vines and the vats from wine; and the hills will become white from the abundance of grain and flocks of sheep. (Targum Neofiti)

אמר רב לא אברי עלמא אלא לדוד ושמואל אמר למשה ורבי יוחנן אמר למשיח

Rav says: The world was created only for the sake of David, by virtue of his merit. And Shmuel says: It was created by virtue of the merit of Moses. And Rabbi Yoḥanan says: IT WAS CREATED BY VIRTUE OF THE MERIT OF THE MESSIAH.

מה שמו דבי רבי שילא אמרי שילה שמו שנאמר (בראשית מט, י) עד כי יבא שילה דבי רבי ינאי אמרי ינון שמו שנאמר (תהלים עב, יז) יהי שמו לעולם לפני שמש ינון שמו דבי רבי חנינה אמר חנינה שמו שנאמר (ירמיהו טז, יג) אשר לא אתן לכם חנינה ויש אומרים מנחם בן חזקיה שמו שנאמר (איכה א, טז) כי רחק ממני מנחם משיב נפשי ורבנן אמרי חיוורא דבי רבי שמו שנאמר (ישעיהו נג, ד) אכן חליינו הוא נשא ומכאובינו סבלם ואנחנו חשבנוהו נגוע מוכה אלהים ומעונה

Apropos the Messiah, the Gemara asks: What is his name? The school of Rabbi Sheila says: SHILOH IS HIS NAME, AS IT IS STATED: “Until when Shiloh shall come” (Genesis 49:10). The school of Rabbi Yannai says: Yinnon is his name, as it is stated: “May his name endure forever; may his name continue [yinnon] as long as the sun; and may men bless themselves by him” (Psalms 72:17). The school of Rabbi Ḥanina says: Ḥanina is his name, as it is stated: “For I will show you no favor [ḥanina]” (Jeremiah 16:13). And some say that Menaḥem ben Ḥizkiyya is his name, as it is stated: “Because the comforter [menaḥem] that should relieve my soul is far from me” (Lamentations 1:16). And the Rabbis say: The leper of the house of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi is his name, as it is stated: “Indeed our illnesses he did bear and our pains he endured; yet we did esteem him injured, stricken by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4). (Talmud, Sanhedrin 98b https://www.sefaria.org/Sanhedrin.98b.13?lang=bi&with=all&lang2=en)

The scepter shall not depart from Judah: from David and thereafter. These (who bear the scepter after the termination of the kingdom) are the exilarchs (princes) in Babylon, who ruled over the people with a scepter, [and] who were appointed by royal mandate. — [From Sanh. 5a]

until Shiloh comes: [This refers to] the King Messiah, to whom the kingdom belongs (שֶׁלוֹ), and so did Onkelos render it: [until the Messiah comes, to whom the kingdom belongs]. According to the Midrash Aggadah, [“Shiloh” is a combination of] שַׁי לוֹ, a gift to him, as it is said: “they will bring a gift to him who is to be feared” (Ps. 76:12). – [From Gen. Rabbah ed. Theodore-Albeck p. 1210]

and to him will be a gathering of peoples: Heb. יִקְּהַת עַמִּים denoting a gathering of peoples, for the “yud” of (יִקְּהַת) is part of the root [and not a prefix], like “with your brightness (יִפְעָת‏ֶ)” (Ezek. 28: 17), and sometimes [the “yud” is] omitted. Many letters are subject to this rule, and they are called defective roots, like the “nun” of נוֹגֵף (smite), נוֹשׁ‏ֵ (bite), and the “aleph” of “and my speech (אַחְוָתִי) in your ears” (Job 13:17); and [the “aleph”] of “the scream of (אִבְחַת) the sword” (Ezek. 21:20); and [the “aleph”] of “a jug (אָסוּ‏) of oil” (II Kings 4:2). This too, is [a noun meaning] a gathering of peoples, [meaning: a number of nations who unite to serve God and join under the banner of the King Messiah] as it is said: “to him shall the nations inquire” (Isa. 11:10). Similar to this is “The eye that mocks the father and despises the mother’s wrinkles (לְיִקְּהַת אֵם)” (Prov. 30:17), [i.e., meaning] the gathering of wrinkles in her face, due to her old age. And in the Talmud [we find]: “were sitting and gathering assemblies וּמַקְהו ֹאַקְהָתָא in the streets of Nehardea” [Pumbeditha] in Tractate Yebamtoh (110b). He (Jacob) could also have said: קְהִיּת עַמִּים [Since the “yud” of יִקְהַת is not a prefix denoting the third person masculine singular, but is a defective root, the form קְהִיּת עַמִּים would be just as appropriate.]- [From Gen. Rabbah 98:9] (The Complete Jewish Bible with Rashi Commentary https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/8244/showrashi/true#v10)

FULFILLMENT

The historical data points to Jacob’s prophecy reaching its complete fulfillment during the time of Jesus’ birth, since that coincides with the period when Jews were no longer permitted to carry out capital punishments in accord with the Mosaic Law.

As the following Evangelical authors explain:

1. The Removal of the Scepter

As the patriarch Jacob blessed his sons and their descendants, he told his son Judah, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Gen. 49:10).

The word that is translated “scepter” in this passage means a “tribal staff” or “a ruler’s staff.” The “tribal staff” of Judah was not to pass away before Shiloh came. For centuries Jewish and Christian commentators alike have taken the word Shiloh to be a name of the Messiah, for it means “peace-bringer.”

The southern kingdom of Judah was deprived of its national sovereignty during the seventy-year period of the Babylonian captivity; however, it never lost its “tribal staff” or “national identity” during that time. They still possessed their own lawgivers or judges even while in captivity (Ezra 1:5, 8).

According to this scripture and to the Jewish interpreters at that time, two signs were to take place soon at the advent of the Messiah:

• Removal of the scepter or identity of Judah

• Suppression of the judicial power

After the return from Babylon, there was no king. The Maccabean princes, who ruled for a time, were of the tribe of Levi. Herod the Great, who had no Jewish blood, succeeded the Maccabean princes and was appointed as an agent of Roman rule. Though the tribe of Judah existed, it provided no kings: the Idumean line of Herod continued to rule, under the authority of Rome.

The power of the Jewish lawgivers was also sharply restricted at the time of Christ. This restriction involved the loss of the power to pass the death sentence, and occurred after the deposition of Archelaus, the son and successor of Herod. (Josephus, AJ, XVII.13.1–5) The Roman rulers took direct rule then and removed the supreme power of the Sanhedrin in order to exercise by themselves the jus gladii, that is, the sovereign right over life and death sentences. All the nations subdued by the Roman Empire were similarly deprived of their ability to pronounce capital sentences.

The Sanhedrin, however, retained certain rights: • Excommunication (John 9:22)

• Imprisonment (Acts 5:17, 18)

• Corporal punishment (Acts 16:22)

The Talmud itself admits that “a little more than forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the power of pronouncing capital sentences was taken away from the Jews.” (Talmud, Jerusalem, Sanhedrin, fol. 24, recto) Rabbi Rachmon says, “When the members of the Sanhedrin found themselves deprived of their right over life and death, a general consternation took possession of them; they covered their heads with ashes, and their bodies with sackcloth, exclaiming: ‘Woe unto us, for the scepter has departed from Judah, and the Messiah has not come!’” (LeMann, JBS, 28–30). Sadly, they did not recognize that their Messiah had been walking in their midst. (Josh and Sean McDowell, Evidence That Demands A Verdict: Life-Changing Truth For A Skeptical World [Thomas Nelson, Nashville, Tennessee, a trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc., 2017], pp.  469-470; bold emphasis mine)

Here is the original source from which the McDowells quoted:

Twenty-three years before the trial of Christ the Sanhedrim lost the power of passing the death -sentence.

This took place after the deposition of Archelaus, son and successor of Herod, 11 A.D., or 7 V.E. * Judea had become a Roman province, and the procurators who administered justice in the name of Augustus deprived the Sanhedrim of its supreme power in order that they themselves might exercise the jus gladii; that is to say, the sovereign right over life and death. Every province annexed to the Roman Empire had to submit to this; and, as Tacitus says, the Romans reserved to themselves the right of the sword, and neglected all else.

The Sanhedrim still, however, retained the right to excommunicate,* to put in prison,† and to inflict corporeal punishment; but the principal right of its sovereignty-namely, the right over life and death-it possessed no longer. The Talmud itself, jealous as it is of the independence of the Jewish nation, is constrained to admit this fact: A little more than forty years before the destruction of the Temple, the power of pronouncing capital sentences was taken away from the Jews. ll. This was a terrible blow to Judea, from which neither the Jews con temporary with Christ nor their descendants have ever recovered. Rabbi Rachmon says: “When the members of the Sanhedrim found themselves deprived of their right over life and death, a general consternation took possession of them; they covered their heads with ashes, and their bodies with sackcloth, exclaiming:’ Woe unto us, for the scepter has departed from Judah, and the Messiah has not come!”* They even tried on several occasions to free themselves from the royal decree; and they have always endeavored to persuade themselves that although they had lost the power of carrying a capital sentence into execution, they still preserved the power to pronounce judgment in matters pertaining to religion. What an illusion! Every time they pronounced a sentence of death, as in the case of Christ, of Stephen,† and of James the son of Alpheus, they did it in manifest violation of the Roman laws.

Josephus, the most eminent of Jewish historians, an eye-witness of this decadence, says expressly: “After the death of the procurator Festus, when Albinus was about to succeed him, the high-priest Ananus considered it a favorable opportunity to assemble the Sanhedrim. He therefore caused James the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, and several others, to appear before this hastily assembled council, and pronounced upon them the sentence of death by stoning. Albinus was about to succeed him, the high-priest Ananus considered it a favorable opportunity to assemble the Sanhedrim. He therefore caused James the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, and several others, to appear before this hastily assembled council, and pronounced upon them the sentence of death by stoning. All the wise men and strict observers of the law who were at Jerusalem expressed their disapprobation of this act.… Some even went to Albinus himself, who had departed to Alexandria, to bring this breach of the law under his observation, and to inform him that Ananus had acted illegally in assembling the Sanhedrim without the Roman authority.”* This incident and the testimony of Josephus prove indisputably that in his eyes, and in those of the wisest and strictest observers of the law in the nation, the power of the Sanhedrim over life and death was gone.

*John ix. 22.

† Acts v. 17, 18.

| Acts xvi. 22.

|| Talmud, Jerusalem, Sanhedrim, fol. 24, recto. These forty years, says the learned Israelite, M. Dérembourg, form a round number, and it designates the epoch of the procuratorship of Pontius Pilate (18~37). It is hardly possible, however, that the jus gladii had remained in the Jewish power until that period. It must have ceased since Coponius, 7 A.D. (Essai sur l’histoire et la géographie de la Palestine, d’après les Talmuds et les autres sources Rabbinique, p. 90: Paris, 1867.)

*Raymond Martin, Pugio fidei, 872; Leipsic edition.

† Acts vi. 12–15; vii, 56-57.

* Josephus, Ant., xx., Chapter ix. 1. (Jesus Before the Sanhedrim, by Julius Magath, A.M., Professor in Emory College, Oxford, Ga., Translated from the French of MM. Lemann [Southern Methodist Publishing House, Nashville, Tenn., Third Edition 1887], pp. 29-31)

Hence, all the historical evidence points to Shiloh having arrived in the first century AD, and his name is Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

“You know the word which he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace by Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all),” Acts 10:36

“For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.” Romans 14:9

“Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11

“I charge you to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; and this will be made manifest at the proper time by the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.” 1 Timothy 6:14-16

“and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the first-born of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” Revelation 1:5-6

“And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints; and they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy art thou to take the scroll and to open its seals, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and hast made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on earth.’ Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’ And I heard EVERY CREATURE in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and ALL THEREIN, saying, ‘To him who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for ever and ever!’ And the four living creatures said, ‘Amen!’ and the elders fell down and worshiped.” Revelation 5:8-14  

“they will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.” Revelation 17:14

“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses. From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords.” Revelation 19:11-16

Unless indicated otherwise, scriptural citations taken from the Revised Standard Version (RSV) from the Holy Bible.

FURTHER READING

MESSIANIC PROPHECIES SERIES PT. 1

MESSIANIC PROPHECIES PT. 3: THE TIME OF MESSIAH’S APPEARANCE