The Errors of Rabbinical Judaism & the Talmud
A Biblical Perspective on Jewish Rabbis’ teaching against Jesus, Prophecy and Christianity
Christians are not dumb. We who go to Israel and love Israel know:
1. Rabbinic Judaism does NOT focus on the Bible directly, but relies more on the TALMUD.
2. Jewish rabbis teach their disciples to curse JESUS and hate the Goyim (non-Jews), especially the Christians. They teach that JESUS their Jewish Messiah is in Hell.
3. None of this is surprising behavior in any way. The Bible depicted and predicted the Jews’ rejection of their own saviors. The Messiah’s rejection was foretold overtly and through typology:
(a) the Israelites rejected Moses the first time He came to them—that’s why Moses ran away to hide in Midian with Jethro. The Jews accepted Moses at his second coming, though they reluctantly followed His lead during the 40 years of wilderness—precisely why they wander among the nations now! Moses then predicted that they will be saved when they believe a “prophet like unto me” (Deut 18:15). In other words, the true Messiah will also be rejected by Jews just like they did Moses at his first coming!
(b) Joseph was rejected by his 10 brothers the first time he told them he was their savior (as per his dream). The brothers threw him down a well and lied about the true nature of his death. It turned out 22 years later that Joseph was ordained by God to be their Savior!
Remember they met Joseph twice. The first time they met him in Egypt, they did not recognize him. The second time He revealed himself to them and they acknowledged him as their savior. Why does the Bible add these details? Because they point to the Messiah’s story. He would come twice. The first time Jesus would be accepted by the Gentiles, just as Joseph was accepted by and ruled over Egypt. The second time Jesus would be accepted by the Jews, just as the Hebrew brothers eventually bowed to Joseph. They knew about Joseph’s dream long ago, but they chose to hate him. In Bible prophecy, Joseph represents Yeshua the Messiah; the 10 brothers represent the tribes of Israel.
(c) Isaiah 53 is a prophecy about the rejected Messiah. The rabbis twist this chapter (which is prohibited to be read in synagogues) and claim it is about Israel as a collective. But there is a grammatical problem given the two pronouns God used: “he” and “we”.
Isaiah 53:3-5
3 He (singular) is despised and rejected by men (plural…which men?), A Man (singular) of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we (Jews) hid, as it were, our faces from Him (Messiah); He was despised, and we (Jews) did not esteem Him.
4 Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we (Jews) esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But He (Yeshua) was wounded for our (Jews’) transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we (Jews) are healed.
If “he” is Jews, who are “we”? Clearly, “we” refer to the people of Isaiah.
What if we turn the “we” to Gentiles? The question then becomes: When did the Jews as a nation carry the sins of the Gentiles, so Gentiles could be saved, healed and have peace with God? Never.
“We” refers to Isaiah’s audience—the Jews. “He” refers to the most famous Jew who ever lived. He is famous for precisely the Biblical reason the prophet Isaiah gave—for taking away our sins and healing us so we may have peace with God our Creator.
(d) Rabbis do not teach any of this to their people; many more examples exist in the Bible.
4. During Jesus’ time, the Talmud was already a source of corruption, but not as bad as it is now. Let’s define our terms.
The Talmud is the “Oral Law” or legal commentaries on the Bible, comprised of the MISHNAH (compiled around 200 years Before Christ), and the GEMARA (commentaries on the commentaries of the Bible compiled after Christ). There are 2 version of the Talmud: The Jerusalem Talmud (compiled in Galilee by 350 A.D.) & the Babylonian Talmud (compiled in Mesopotamia by 500 A.D.). Anything with the word “Babylon” should give us pause and cause us to reflect, as the end of the New Testament refers to Babylon as the final enemy of God-fearing believers (Revelation chapters 17 and 18).
This is not to say there’s no value in studying the Talmud. I study extra-Biblical Jewish sources for history and context. But it is never a source of doctrine and it must never contradict the Holy Bible. The Bible alone is our final authority for matters of faith, not the Talmud. Listen to some of the commandments of the Talmud—judge for yourself whether they are inspired by God or unsanctified?
5. Jesus combatted the errors of Rabbinical Judaism.
Mark 7:13 (KJV)
13 Making the word of God of none effect through your TRADITION (Mishnah), which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
Jesus was a BIBLE ONLY type of believer. We are too.
6. If you rely only on the Bible, you will easily arrive at the fact:
Jesus is the Jewish Messiah who fulfilled Jewish prophecies in the Jewish Bible, including the prophecies He would be despised by the Jews until such time of persecution that they will turn to Him, like they reluctantly turned to Moses and Joseph.
7. The writers of the Talmud, if you put yourself in their shoes, had little choice.
God had allowed the destruction of the Temple, so they could no longer perform blood sacrifices for the Atonement of sins. They were under guilt according to Torah.
God had allowed the Diaspora of Israel twice, both times for their sins. They MUST explain away these deficiencies: why does evidence show the Jews are wrong or the Christians are right?
We Christians have nothing to explain concerning inconsistencies with the Bible. We don’t need the Temple because Jesus is the anti-type who fulfilled the eternal Blood sacrifice once and for all. He placed His blood in the eternal mercy seat in Heaven.
Hebrews 9:12 (NKJV - fulfilling Leviticus 16)
12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
Rabbis chose to say they’re not wrong. So a new religious framework had to be devised to prop up their lack of atonement for sins, lack of obedience in keeping Torah, lack of obedience in performing the Temple rituals, and lack of capital and homeland.
Rabbis also chose to aggressively defame Jesus, which is ironic because the only Jewish response I’ve heard to the clarity of these Scriptures is, “Leave us Jews alone!” I wish Rabbinical Judaism left Jesus alone. But they don’t.
Rabbis are threatened by the possibility that Bible-studying Jews will open their eyes to the falsehoods about Jesus, embrace Him as their true Messiah, and become “Messianic Jews” as many Jews do.
Rabbinical Judaism is an incomplete system without the Temple and its sacrifices. The turning point came after they rejected Jesus. God will not allow them peace on earth until they acknowledge their sin towards His only Son, their Jewish Messiah.
The Bible predicts they will turn.
Zechariah 12:10 (KJV)
10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have PIERCED, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son [the only Son of whom? The Son of God], and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
The prediction of a pierced Messiah whom the Jews will reject until such time that they repent and mourn for Him doesn’t get more specific than that! Historically, crucifixion is the only form of capital punishment that could fulfill this Scripture. Crucifixion was invented by the Assyrians to bring about a slow death by piercing the hands and feet. It was adopted and perfected by the Romans. So horrific was the death its use as lawful punishment by any nation was discontinued after the Romans.
Who is the Person whom God said the Jews must look? The One who was pierced. In case you doubt which parts of the Messiah’s body was pierced, the Bible stipulates:
Psalm 22:16 (KJV)
For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.
Undeniably only one historical Jew qualifies for these two prophecies to be fulfilled.
When will the Jews recognize Yeshua as their Mashiach? Soon, during the coming “Time of Jacob’s Trouble” (Jeremiah 30:7), also known as the Tribulation. Unfortunately national salvation will not come until the next Holocaust that will cost the lives of 66% of Israelis.
Romans 9:27-29 (NKJV)
27 Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved.
28 For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.”
29 And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We (Jews) would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.”
7. Knowing Jews would reject Jesus and their fellow brothers (we Christians) does not make us love them less. Why would God tells us to “bless the seed of Abraham” and to love Jews as Paul loved them if they were naturally easy to love? Paul was a rabbi trained under the great rabbi Gamaliel. He expressed his great longing for Jews to come to Jesus in Romans chapters 9 to 11.
Romans 9:3 (NKJV) For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh [the Jews],
God’s love for Jews is so great that the last prophecy in the Tanakh (the very last sentence of our Old Testament) predicts this turning of the Jews to Jesus.
Malachi 4:6 (NKJV) And he [Elijah] will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”
On a superficial level, this could mean any unspecified father will turn back to his children, and any unspecified children will turn back to their father, but why would that be prophetic? There are lots of bad fathers children could not and should not return to, and vice versa. Why would this return require Elijah’s return? And why would this turning of hearts involve a curse over the earth (Hebrew eretz refers to Israel).
Interestingly the early church leaders were always referred to as Church “Fathers” and the Jews are nearly always referred to as the “children” of Israel. Another layer of fulfillment of this prophecy could mean the children of Israel must return to the early Church fathers (who were 90% Jewish in the first century), and the current Church leaders must turn their hearts toward the children of Israel.
Until they do, the Lord will strike eretz Israel with a curse, which is what we’re seeing now. This is not what God wants or what we Christians want. So we are to love the Jews into the Kingdom and provoke them to jealousy by our peace, strength and blessings (Romans 10:19, 11:11).
It’s our commandment to be like Moses and Joseph: to wait patiently for the “children of Israel” who are blinded, easily upset and throw false accusations at every true messenger. The day will come, soon, when their eyes will be opened, and they will return to Torah and Tanakh, instead of believing the false Talmud.
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Great article that shows that the hearts of Jews and the hearts of Gentiles will need divine intervention as we move into the last seconds of the last days. Without a doubt, there is no people group that can deny we are living in “unprecedented” times. As a revelation can turn into a denomination and a move of God can turn into idolatry, in the end times religion is replaced by the “sudden” moves of God that will be required to fulfill Malachi 4:6.. We need to be ready to give a reason for what we believe and make room for God to do a deep work in our hearts. Thanks for this article, which lists a few ways to close up the gap between Rabbinical Jews and the modern day believers. Close adherence to the written Word of God is imperative as the full number of the Gentiles come into the Kingdom of God, the church is no longer mentioned in the Bible and God’s attention turns back to opening the eyes of the Jews to Jesus, the true Messiah. Thank you , Pastor Steve, for equipping both sides with a few scriptures that bring us to the common ground always intended…”For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 NKJV