Does Galatians 6:16 Teach that the Church Is Israel?

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network Podcast. Get it wrong.

We'll be right back. It's the line of fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH.

Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome, welcome to Thoroughly Jewish Thursday. Be sure to visit the Real Messiah website. We've got all kinds of treasures waiting for you there, full debates I've done with rabbis, answers in writing or video to a hundred major Jewish objections to Jesus being the Messiah, other outreach videos. We've done other materials that will help Edify build you up, answer questions.

Great for a seeker. Great if you've got a Jewish friend with questions. Send them there.

You'll find a ton of stuff is answered there in the free resources. Tell your friends. Share it.

Don't keep it to yourself. We have supporters that help us do these things. Some of you are those supporters.

Thank you for helping us to put out so much information for so many people for free. realmessiah.com Okay, I'm going to respond in a little while to a typical post from someone attacking our position as Jewish believers in Jesus, attacking me in particular. But what I want to do is show you the level of the rhetoric. The level of the rhetoric is exactly proportional to the weakness of the argument. In other words, the more the person posts and the uglier the vitriol and the harsher the accusations, that's directly proportionate to the emptiness of the arguments. We're going to look at that in a moment to illustrate this and to make it a teachable moment. But it reminds me of a court case where the client is reviewing things with his lawyer and the lawyer says, okay, here are the five points we're going to make in your defense. And the client says, right, when you get to number four get really emphatic, get really strong, because that's my weakest point. So, in other words, it's a little subterfuge. You get more aggressive with it to cover up the weakness of it. I imagine the person posting this is unconscious of doing that. But we're going to open that up and look at it.

It's an anonymous post, so I'm not even embarrassing anybody publicly, even though they posted it publicly on our YouTube channel. But we'll get into that. First, let's go to the phones. 866-34-TRUTH. Let's start with Anthony in Richmond, Virginia. Welcome to the Line of Fire.

Hi, Dr. Brown. I wanted to ask about Genesis, where it says, let us make man in our image. And I was always confused as to why it was written in a plural form, and I was thinking that, I know in some romance languages there's a construct where it kind of translates as, let us do something, even though it's not necessarily plural. And I was wondering if the same thing exists in Hebrew, and that might explain why it's written that way.

Yeah, I appreciate the nature of the question. Of course, it's a common question to ask why that's written. So, let me give you a number of different explanations. Some refer to what's called the plural of majesty, where royalty would say, let us, or we have decided. And it's just an individual, but it's because you're a king, you're a queen, you speak that way. We have decided, thus and such. The problem with that argument is that verbal forms are not only found like that, let us do this, or we will do this.

Rather, it's just speaking about the person himself or herself. We have decided, or this has come to our attention. So, the plural of majesty is very questionable there. Some have said it's the plural of deliberation. Let's do this.

Let's do this. The problem is it goes on to speak of our likeness and our image. So, the plural of deliberation is unlikely there as well. There are rabbinic explanations. One says it is God speaking to the angels, so here human beings will be made in the image of God and the angels as opposed to the rest of creation. The question is how directly were the angels involved in that creation. There is another rabbinic interpretation that God is speaking to the elements of creation here to the earth, saying let us make man. And the issue there is that man, Adam, comes from the ground, Adamah. So, let us make, again, but are human beings made in the image of the earth?

I wouldn't say so. So, a standard Christian explanation is that this is God revealing his triune nature, as happens at different places like Genesis 3, Genesis 11, Isaiah 6. There are references of God speaking about us, and this would be a hint of God's plurality and unity, God's complex unity that he is absolutely one as the scriptures declare, and yet he is complex in his unity. So, now say Adam but Selmaenu kidmutanu in Hebrew would be a hint at God's triune nature. So, there are other explanations, but they tend to fall short, and the idea that this is God speaking in Trinity is definitely a good possibility in terms of why it's done like that right at the beginning, right at the outset in Genesis 1.

Okay. Well, I kind of reject the Trinity explanation, but I was just kind of curious if Hebrew had that kind, but I guess that, yeah, when it does say our image, that does not kind of complicate it further. It does, and the reason you reject the Trinitarian explanation is? Oh, well, I'm kind of a Unitarian, so I just kind of wanted to... Well, listen, here's the deal on that, Anthony. That is not a primary argument I would use for God's triunity, but I would say since the Bible overwhelmingly speaks of his triunity throughout the Scriptures, that this is definitely in harmony with it. So, this is not my primary proof text.

There are many, many other things I would point to, but certainly the parallel with the Romance language is no, it doesn't work in Hebrew A and B as you rightly understood my issue saying our image, our likeness, that disqualifies it as well. So, hey, chew on it. Maybe you need to rethink the paradigm, but thank you, sir, for the call. I appreciate it. 866-3-4-TRUTH. Let's go to Justin in Dallas, Georgia.

Welcome to the line of fire. Hey, God bless you, Dr. Bell. God bless.

Hey, so my question, so it's clear that we're not under the law any longer in the New Testament after Christ's coming, but how would you personally harmonize Matthew 5, 17-19, where Jesus talks about they didn't come to destroy the law, but to fulfill, something's gonna pass away, it'll all be fulfilled, you know, if you teach man to break these commandments, you know, it's... Yep, great question that comes up all the time. Hey, Justin, do you have me on speakerphone because it's a little echoey and hard to hear you. So, Justin, question for you.

Okay, so if we could switch off of that, that would be great for our listeners. Okay. So, question for you. How did Jesus fulfill the law in terms of animal sacrifices and atonement? I mean, he was the final atonement. You know, those things are no longer necessary. Right, okay, so there are aspects of the law that he fulfills by bringing to their full meaning or their full application, right?

Right. Okay, how about the moral commandments? Obviously, in his own life he lives them out, but if you look at the Sermon on the Mount that follows, what does Jesus do in an illustrative way with the moral commandments? How is he showing how he fulfills the law in his teaching on the Sermon on the Mount? What would you say he does with the moral commandments? If anything, it seems like he's actually raising the bar. Raising the bar, okay, exactly. Good, good.

All right. And then, what about the biblical calendar? Say, Passover, and he dies at Passover and is called our Passover Lamb, where he sends the Spirit at Pentecost. So, would you see him also in that way fulfilling the law?

Right, okay, so each thing has to be broken down, right? In other words, the Torah is multifaceted. So, everything having to do with atonement, our approach to God, the priest of the ministry, blood sacrifice, he fulfills by being our great high priest and by being the final sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world. The biblical calendar, he brings to a full meaning Passover, firstfruits with his resurrection, Passover with his death, firstfruits with his resurrection, shovel at Pentecost with the outpouring of the Spirit.

When he returns, he'll bring to fulfillment that which still remains, so the fall holidays, which have to do with the blowing of the trumpet, and then becomes Jewish New Year, and then atonement and tabernacles, the final harvest, et cetera. So, brings those to fulfillment with his return and establishing his kingdom on the earth. He takes the moral commandments of the Torah to a higher level. So, when he says whoever breaks the least of these commandments and teaches others, I believe what he's now saying is as I'm giving application to them, as I'm now showing you what they mean here in the Sermon on the Mount, that those who hold to these will be great in the kingdom of God, and those who don't will be least in the kingdom of God. So, he's now giving the explanation for how to live this out, and now what we look at is what did he teach, what did he transmit, what is taught and transmitted through the rest of the New Testament, and this is now how we live out the new and better covenant, which calls us to an even higher moral and spiritual level. So, again, if you read it to say he's just talking about the Sinai Covenant and therefore you have to keep every last detail of purity laws or stoning disobedient rebellious teenagers and so on, then obviously that would create all kinds of contradictions, problems, and issues, and would just undermine the message of the New Covenant writings. If you understand it all through the lens of who he is as Messiah and what he does and how he doesn't abolish, he brings to its full meaning or full application, then we can make sense of this. And some things are fulfilled in terms of done, we don't have to go to a temple for blood atonement, that's been done through the cross. Others are fulfilled by saying now, here's a calling to live in a higher moral way, here's what Teros said, now I'm going to bring it to its full meaning and application. So, that's as I understand the passage and it works with consistency then through the Sermon on the Mount.

Notice also Matthew 5.17 Law and Prophets is then repeated 7.12 Law and Prophets or Law or Prophets, it's basically saying everything in between, that's my application, that's my message. Alright, we'll be right back. Call me a fanatic, it's our world, they can never have it This is how we rise, oh It's our resistance, you can't resist us This is how we rise, oh It's the Line of Fire with your host, Dr. Michael Brown. Get on the Line of Fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again, Michael Brown. That Hebrew singing tells you it is thoroughly Jewish Thursday.

Michael Brown delighted to be with you. 866-348-7884 I was just looking at an email I had received during the break and it reminded me, reminded me that there's a lot of censorship out there these days. There are messages that we seek to get out and they get shut down as inappropriate or different social media won't carry it. We want to make sure you don't miss anything, any of our updates, any of the articles, videos we put out to equip you, so go to AskDrBrown.org AskDrBrown.org, this way you can get our regular emails, our updates, information special resource office, just sign up for the emails there and you will be blessed as you do this way. You won't miss anything on a weekly basis, you'll know what's happening and right at your convenience boom, latest articles, latest videos, latest Jewish outreach materials things like that, answering the rabbis, all the for you. AskDrBrown.org sign up for our emails. I want to reply to a very interesting comment that was posted on YouTube. First, let me take another call or two we go to James in Macon, Georgia. Welcome to the line of fire. Hey Dr. Brown, how are you?

Doing very well, thank you. Dr. Brown, I grew up in South Florida in the Jewish community, Oakland, home and when I became a believer, I realized that a lot of the modern Jews they are not affiliated with a Hebrew-Israelite tribe. I just want to ask you your opinion since you're a Hebrew scholar, when did the Jewish community just stop claiming their heritage from Israelite tribal heritage?

Right, well they would still assume there's a tribal heritage, it would just be limited to a few. In other words, it's not that there's no tribal heritage, but things really got amalgamated largely with the tribe of Judah and then others preserved their priestly descent as Levites. Now very, very religious Jews, they will often have preserved things better through the ages and will say no, I know what tribe I'm from and it goes back generations and it may be accurate information, it may not. Some things can be confirmed via DNA, for example those who would say they're the priestly tribe of Levi or more specifically the high priestly lineage, the Kohane, so many times people with the last name Cohen or the last name Levi or Levi, they can confirm that by DNA. But what happened overall, James, is that in 721 BC, so over 2500 years ago, when the northern 10 tribes were decimated by the Assyrians, they were scattered to different parts of the world, others that left were now intermingled with Gentiles and things like that, so a lot of their tribal identity got lost at that point. Some of them fled to the south and became part of the kingdom of Judah, so you had Judah, Benjamin, Simeon may have been partly involved with that, you also have the tribe of Levi scattered among the different tribes and then after 586 BC when the temple is destroyed, so again over 2500 years ago, and the many Jews scattered to Babylon, so many remained there after 70 years when others returned, but those that returned now, they were part of the province of Judah, so if you lived there you were a Yehudi, you were a Jew. So there still were tribal affiliations, the New Testament does talk about people from different tribes, and Paul references it and Jacob James referenced the 12 tribes of Israel, so there was still recognition of it but because you didn't have tribal inheritance anymore because everyone was kind of put in the larger category of being a Judean or a Jew, Yehudi, that that became the primary marker, so the marker has remained strong through the centuries because it's normally been very difficult to be a Jew, it's been difficult to be affiliated with the Jewish people, it's been difficult to hold to Judaism in the midst of a Christian, Muslim world in terms of most of the places where Jews have lived, but knowing a specific tribe, that's been largely lost for many centuries now, so it doesn't mean that there's not a tribal affiliation, it just means it's difficult to trace directly and the largest tribal affiliation would be that of Judah, just naturally from there.

But that's the answer, again, it doesn't mean there's no affiliation, it just means that it's not certain what the tribal affiliation ultimately would have been through history. Hey, thank you for asking and alright, I'm going to grab one more call for the moment and then go to this YouTube comment and then we'll get some more calls. 866-34-TRUTH Let's go to Gloria in Texas, welcome to the line of fire. Hi Dr. Brown, I hope you can hear me. Yeah, a little hard to hear you, it sounds like I'm on speaker or something echoey.

I took you off speakerphone, can you hear me? Alright, there we go, that's better, thank you. Okay, so my question is two-fold, it's more about when you talked about what Paul said to the Galatians about circumcision, I grew up in Africa, I came to this country a couple of years ago, but my understanding is that he's saying that circumcision doesn't save you, and I say this because of the fact that growing up, the males were circumcised in my tribe, but when the missionaries came, they said that we don't have to do that anymore, that Jesus did away with that. Now obviously my tribe they didn't start circumcising their boys, we didn't understand what circumcision was, we didn't know where it came from, we just know that that's one of our traditions to circumcise the male kid on the eighth day. So now that being said, you can be circumcised in our tribe, but you'll still be as wicked as anyone, as the devil himself. So my understanding of what he was saying was that circumcision isn't what's going to save you, but you know, belief in Jesus, understanding of what he's completed work is what's going to save you.

Let me explain it in a little bit more depth though, and then I've got a specific question for you about your tribe, okay? So the point Paul's making, when you convert it to Judaism, you would, if you were a male, be circumcised, both men and women would be immersed in water, and then you would pledge to keep the 613 commandments of the Torah as applicable to you, alright? So what these Galatians were told was, oh no, you're now following the Jewish Messiah, so you basically have to become Jews, therefore you have to be circumcised, alright? We weren't talking about circumcising babies at that point, but adults in particular, you have to become circumcised and obey the law of Moses. So that was the point that was being made. Everybody understands that physical circumcision alone doesn't save you, right? You can be physically circumcised and a wicked person and fall under God's judgment. Jewish people understood that.

They thought this was their entry right, that this was now a requirement, so that's the difference there. But Gloria, what part of Africa were you from? I'm Nigerian, well I would rather not speak our tribe's name because we're small people and I don't want to put them out there. So within Nigeria, there are a good number of groups that have been discovered that still practice various Jewish customs, including circumcision of males on the eighth day.

The question is where did that come from? And one likely explanation is as the Jewish people were scattered around the world, and they got settled in different parts of the world, like in Ethiopia for example, or in Zimbabwe, that they then began to intermarry with the people there. Some of them left their Jewish heritage entirely, others the people converted to Judaism and married in, and over a period of time they just looked like the local population. That's why you have white Jews and black Jews and Jews of different skin color and ethnicity because we've been scattered around the world. So there's a good chance, or I should say some chance, that this was preserving a custom because you actually have literal Israelite roots, and the way to test that of course is DNA. And there are Jewish organizations that go around the world to do this very thing, and they see, okay, you do have Jewish blood you do have Jewish heritage. So in a case like that if I was a missionary and I came across people doing this I would make clear that salvation is through Jesus the Messiah not through a physical mark on the body, etc.

However, I would not stop them from doing it. I would find out, okay, what's your history? Tell me your traditions.

How far back do you go? Do you believe you have a connection to the twelve tribes of Israel? And do our best to find it out because it's not the average custom that people are gonna just adapt, you know what I'm saying?

Oh, we just happen to come up with this on our own. So that's a separate question entirely. And it's one that's worth, if you want to write to us through the website askdrbrown.org, askdrbrown.org and just confidentially we can give you further information about this or what we know about the tribe, we're happy to do that, okay? Alright, thank you very much for the call. I appreciate it. I tell you what, I'm gonna take one more call and then I'm gonna dive into this other interesting comment and give you some really good feedback that'll help you in sharing the good news with our Jewish friends.

Let's go to Lewis in Jackson, Tennessee. Welcome to the Line of Fire. Praise the Lord. Michael, this is Lou from Beth Messiah. I'm ninety years of age now, sir, and it's nice to hear you on the air, over.

Ninety? Wow, you sound terrific. I'm grateful for everything, Michael.

I mean, I've been in this Bible now for forty-five or fifty years. Wonderful, wonderful. God's amazing, isn't he?

Yeah, the Word is so rich. Oh, it's beautiful. I fell in love with the last chapter of the New Testament, the last few verses. It's so powerful, it fits everything in that Bible. Yeah, there's a wonderful call, you know, as Yeshua is returning. Let the Spirit and the Bride say come, and let him who's thirsty say come. And there's the invitation, whoever's willing, let them come and drink of the water of life freely. And from there, we move into the eternity with him.

No more sorrow, no more pain, no more death. Hey, thank you for calling just to say hi. I appreciate it, and boy, what a great testimony at ninety. May we all be thriving, healthy, strong, sharp minds, hearts in love with the Lord as we come into our later years. Thank you, sir, for the call. God bless.

Get on the line of fire by calling 866-34-TRUTH. Here again is Dr. Michael Brown. Welcome, friends, to our Thoroughly Jewish Thursday broadcast where we serve not just on this day, but every day as your voice for moral sanity and spiritual clarity. Our goal to build you up in the faith, to infuse you with courage, with strength, with truth, to see you healthy and thriving in God. You know, we encourage you to visit our partner website, vitaminmission.com with Dr. Mark Stengler for health supplements. That's the physical body. We want to see you physically healthy and thriving.

So go to vitaminmission.com to find out more about that. But even more, we want to see you spiritually healthy and thriving. So thank you for praying for our work. Thank you for supporting us. Thank you for helping us help others. In particular, those who support us regularly, thank you. And those with one-time gifts, thank you for helping us reach the Jewish people with the good news of the Messiah. Okay, so we've been releasing a series of videos on answering the rabbis and started with some of those volatile videos out there from Rabbi Tovia Singer.

And if you said, why don't you debate them face-to-face any time? We'd love to. Be glad to. It comes up a lot because many times I've been asked to and I always say, yeah, of course, but he's declined for what?

Going back to early 90s, so 30 years now. In any case, in any case, because the videos are out there, we're taking time to cut through the confusion, reveal the errors, reveal in some cases the outright deception, and set things right with truth. And they're very detailed, they're in depth, and then people respond that have been helped and it's opened their eyes or they recognize the deception or the misinformation that was put out by Rabbi Singer. And then others, of course, will agree with him, especially religious Jews, and will challenge and attack. So I spotted this the other day in the YouTube comments, and I just want to read it to you. And it was anonymous, just some screen name.

When he, speaking of me, does that laugh, when he pretends to answer Rabbi Singer's news issues with the first bit, it makes me cringe. So the first point about that is simply, there's no pretending anything. Dig in. I'm giving you the data.

I'm giving you the information. This is not sleight of hand. This is dig deep. Look at it. That's what will put things up in Hebrew and Aramaic and in Greek and other languages. Say, here, look, dig.

Here's the information for you. The deception Brown engages in is so apparent and so appalling. Singer said Jesus is never explicitly in the Bible, and this is true. Saying it is hinted to somewhere using a high priest from half a millennium before Jesus existed to claim Jesus is in there is just so disingenuous. What does Joshua the high priest have to do with anything before?

Because he wore crowns, therefore he must be Jesus? I think he's going off the deep end. What's he talking about? So, again, when you see someone using this type of rhetoric and insult and mockery, it's often in direct proportion to the bankruptcy of their arguments. That's why sometimes people get really nasty and aggressive. It's because they've got nothing of substance to deal with. I'm happy to say, look at the substance. Look at the facts. Look at the reality. So, number one, to say that Jesus is never mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, of course, that's false.

Why? Because the name Yeshua occurs about 27 times for five different people. So, that name Yeshua, which would be Jesus in the original Hebrew slash Aramaic, so that name occurs number seven. You say, well, what's just the name got to do with anything?

Okay, how about this? That this man, Yehoshua, Joshua, the high priest, we are told by God in the book of Zechariah, the sixth chapter, that he is a type and symbol. He is a sign of the branch. Who is the branch? The branch is the Messiah. Look in Jeremiah chapter 23. There have been rabbinic commentaries that recognize that.

There are even Jewish translations that recognize that, that the branch is the Messiah. So, this man, Yehoshua, whose name is more frequently, more commonly referred to as Yeshua in the Hebrew Bible, got it? This man, Yeshua, the high priest, Jesus, the high priest, sits on a throne wearing crowns, which priests do not do.

That's what kings do. So, he is a sign of the royal priestly Messiah. He is a sign that the Messiah will be king and priest. This man with the same name, Jesus, Yeshua, we are told is a sign of the coming one, the branch, who elsewhere is clearly identified as the son of David, the Messiah. That's what it's got to do with. No deception here, no subterfuge, just factual information.

Yeah. He goes on, how is it possible in the 24,000 verses in the Old Testament, it never says God is one of three parts, or God will be sending his only son to die on a cross, or God has a son and you can only get to God through his son, or God will send himself here as a man, or God will send his son to die for your sins, all you need to do is believe and you'll be saved and the Messiah will come, fulfill none of the prophecies and then return later to fulfill all of them, or I'll eventually reject the Jews in favor of non-Jews, he says the opposite in Leviticus 26, you get the point. Brown knows perfectly well Jesus in every distorted Christian doctrine is completely absent from the Old Testament to claim that the absurd hints that Christianity uses to show he is in the Old Testament, somehow that Jesus actually is right there and seeing your life is such a joke. So, again, I feel bad for people who post these things assuming they believe what they're writing, they're not just trying to be silly or obnoxious, they believe that they're writing. The idea that I know I'm deceiving everyone, I mean, think of how far you have to go, how far you have to say I don't want to see or hear anything contrary to accuse someone who's given 50 years of their life to preaching this message and has lost much for preaching this message, that I know it's all false and I'm making it up, you really, why would a person hold to that?

I would assume the person writing this believes what they're saying, but they're wrong, they're in serious error, but to say no, no, no, they know it's all a myth, that's really, why would someone think like that unless they're just closing their eyes and saying I don't want to see, covering their ears, I don't want to hear. Now, of course, I could ask the question, well, to a traditional Jew, the whole foundation of your life is the oral law. Without the oral law you'd say the written law is impossible to understand and practice, where, using this number, 24,000 verses of the Old Testament, how come it never says I'm giving you an oral law? How come it never says there are going to be two Torahs, one that is oral and one that is written? Specifically, two Torahs, how come it never says that? How come it never says that without the oral interpretation you can't understand what's written?

How come it says the opposite over and over and over and over and over and over and over again? Namely, that the covenant is made based on what is written, what is written, what is written, what is written. You have the book of the law, the book of the law, the book of the law.

As for the objections here, we've dealt with all of them. God has clearly revealed us a complex unity in the Hebrew Bible. He's seen physically in human form while also filling the universe with his presence and sitting enthroned in heaven. You have the whole of the sacrificial system pointing towards him, the priestly ministry pointing towards him, other aspects that are clear. How about the beginning of Isaiah 53 where the question is asked, who's believed our report?

What's the report? It's about the sacrificial death of the Messiah. But, I mean, we've answered all these things time and time and time again. You know, he says towards the end of his post, the use of Jewish sources always cracks me up.

The fact that he has to resort to the very people who vehemently would disagree with everything Brown says shows how desperate he is to justify himself. It's so irrelevant if this is some sort of exalted angel responding to my video. It's not God.

It's definitely not Jesus. Why do I quote Jewish sources? To say, hey, you think I'm making this up. You say I'm just coming up with something that no one ever came up with. No, you're a rabbi saying the same thing. I'll give you a quick example and read as much of this as I can before we are out of time here. This is Rabbi Beryl Wine.

All right? He says this in his book. Oh, let me just get the title of the book here so you can look it up. The Triumph of Survival. The Story of the Jews in the Modern Era, 1650 to 1990. He is a highly respected Orthodox Jewish historian. He said another consideration tinged the Jewish response to the slaughter of its people. It was an old Jewish tradition dating back to biblical times that the death of the righteous and innocent served as an expiation for the sins of the nation of the world. The stories of Isaac and Ifnadav and Avihu, the prophetic description of Israel as the long-suffering servant of the Lord, the sacrificial service of the Temple, this is Orthodox Jewish rabbi, all served to reinforce this basic concept of the death of the righteous as an atonement for the sins of other men.

That's the gospel except we say it's the perfectly righteous one, the Messiah. He continued, Jews nurtured this classic idea of death as an atonement, and this attitude towards their own tragedies was their constant companion throughout their turbulent exile. Therefore, the wholly bleak picture of unreasoning slaughter was somewhat relieved by the fact that the innocent did not die in vain and that the betterment of Israel and humankind somehow was advanced by their stretching their neck to be slaughtered. What is amazing is that this abstract, sophisticated theological thought should have become so ingrained in the psyche of the people that even the least educated and most simplistic of Jews understood the lesson and acted upon it, giving a precious life in a soaring act of belief and affirmation of the better tomorrow. The spirit of the Jews is truly reflected in the historical chronicle of the time. Quote, Would the Holy One, blessed be He, dispense judgment without justice?

This is going back 400 plus years. Would the Holy One, blessed be He, dispense judgment without justice? But we may say that he whom God loves will be chastised. For since the day the holy temple was destroyed, the righteous are seized by death for the iniquities of the generation. That is from the chronicle Yevon Mitzvah, end of the 15th chapter, as quoted by Orthodox Jewish Rabbi Beryl Wine. For those who say, well, this is a non-Jewish concept, the atoning power of the death of the Messiah, think again. Our friends on YouTube, Ask Dr. Brown, Ask Dr. Brown on YouTube. We'll be back in 15 minutes with our exclusive weekly Q&A chat. Another program powered by the Truth Network.