Notes

[1].  G. Wigoder and R. J. Werblosky, eds., The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997), 577.

[2].  Ibid.

[3].  As cited by Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Literacy: The Most Important Things to Know about the Jewish Religion, Its People, and Its History (New York: William Morrow, 1991), 392.

[4].  Interestingly, in 1897, Reform leaders initially condemned the Zionist movement for these very reasons, but their position was eventually reversed.

[5].  Wigoder and Werblosky, Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, 577.

[6].  There remains debate as to whether the shrimp meal was intentional, but most historians agree that it would have been difficult for such a gross oversight to have occurred without some foreknowledge on the part of the seminary. This event also helped lead to the formation of Conservative Judaism’s Jewish Theological Seminary.

[7].  Herbert Freeden, The Jewish Press in the Third Reich (Providence: Berg, 1993), 119.

[8].  Wigoder and Werblosky, Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, 172.

[9].  Rabbi Loel M. Weiss, “A Concurring Opinion to Rabbi Leonard Levy’s Tshuvah; ‘Same-Sex Attraction And Halakhah,’” 3. (This paper was submitted as a concurrence to “Same-Sex Attraction and Halakhah” by Rabbi Leonard Levy on 8 December 2006. Concurring and dissenting opinions are not official positions of the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards.)

[10].  Wigoder and Werblosky, Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, 173.

[11].  Telushkin, Jewish Literacy, 397.

[12].  See Isaiah 66:2.

[13].  Rabbi Jeffrey Wolfson Goldwasser, responding to the question, “Do Reform rabbis believe in God?” See http://judaism.about.com/od/beliefsandlaw1/f/belief_gd.htm. The fact that such a question can be asked is certainly telling. The American-Israeli journalist, Zev Chafets, writing with typical verve, describes his experience as a Reform Jew in Michigan in the mid-1960s: “Around this time a local Reform rabbi named Sherwin Wine announced that he didn’t believe in God and that he was starting a congregation for Jewish atheists. This seemed perfectly natural to me. Most of the Jews I knew in Pontiac were Reform Jews. Their denomination (and mine) in those days was almost entirely about civil rights. We didn’t speak to one another about God. Our prayers, such as they were, consisted primarily of reflections on an abstract being who resembled Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Bible was second-rate Shakespeare. To the extent we read it at all, we concentrated on those prophets whose teachings were in line with Pete Seeger. The Holocaust was never discussed. Israel was a foreign country.” A Match Made in Heaven: American Jews, Christian Zionists, and One Man’s Exploration of the Weird and Wonderful Judeo-Evangelical Alliance (New York: HarperCollins, 2007), 6.

[14].  Weiss, “A Concurring Opinion,” 3.

[15].  For a useful summary, see Ian Silver, “Homosexuality and Judaism,” http://www.betham.org/kulanu/iansilver.html.

[16].  Rabbi Steven Leder, cited by Silver, above.

[17].  See http://newsbusters.org/node/2905; see also http://rac.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=783&pge_prg_id=7037.

[18].  For this claim, see Ammiel Hirsch’s contributions in idem and Yaakov Yosef Reinman, One People, Two Worlds: A Reform Rabbi and an Orthodox Rabbi Explore the Issues That Divide Them (New York: Schocken, 2002).

[19].  http://www.artscroll.com/Talmud1.htm. To put this Orthodox revival into perspective, see Daring to Dream: Profiles in the Growth of the American Torah Community (New York: Agudath Israel of America, 2003).

[20].  For a good introduction to Jewish humor (and culture), see Rabbi Joseph Telushkin, Jewish Humor: What the Best Jewish Jokes Say About the Jews (New York: William Morrow, 1992); more broadly, see Leo Rosten, The Joys of Yiddish (New York: McGraw Hill, 1968).

[21].  H. Wayne House, Charts of World Religions (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006), Chart 26.

[22].  http://www.jbuff.com/c012501.htm. For some of the Baal Shem Tov’s ten principles, see http://www.baalshemtov.com/ten-principals.htm; http://www.baalshemtov.com/sayings.htm.

[23].  For a sampling of tales of the most famous Hasidic rebbes, beginning with the Baal Shem Tov, see Martin Buber, Tales of the Hasidim, new ed. (New York: Schocken, 1991); Elie Wiesel, Souls on Fire: Portraits and Legends of Hasidic Masters (Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1993).

[24].  For an attack on Lubavitch because of its distinctive Messianic beliefs—some of which, arguably, resemble the Gospel, specifically, the view that the rebbe’s death served as an atonement for the generation (a not uncommon, traditional Jewish belief; see Michael L. Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 2: Theological Objections [Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000], section 3.15), that he would rise from the dead, that he would return and that he represents the very embodiment of God Himself—see David Berger, The Rebbe, the Messiah, and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference (Oxford: The Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2001); for a good overview of the work of Lubavitch, see Sue Fishkoff, The Rebbe’s Army: Inside the World of Chabad-Lubavitch (New York: Schocken, 2003).

[25].  http://www.kjvoice.com/aboutkjDet.asp?ARTID=13; for some criticisms of the community—which are many—see the relevant entries in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiryas_Joel,_New_York.

[26].  For a compilation of some of Rav Nachman’s sayings (but not his famous, longer parables), see Moshe Mykoff, ed., The Empty Chair: Finding Hope & Joy—Timeless Wisdom from a Hasidic Master, Rebbe Nachmann of Breslov (Woodstock, VT: New Lights, 1998). For Internet links, see http://www.breslov.com/.

[27].  These 39 subdivisions are discussed in massive detail in the Talmudic tractate called Shabbat.

[28].  For an extensive critique of the concept of a binding, oral law going back to Moses, see Michael L. Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 5: Traditional Jewish Objections (forthcoming).

[29].  Foreword to H. Chaim Schimmel, The Oral Law: A Study of the Rabbinic Contribution to Torah She-be-al-Peh, 2nd ed. (Jerusalem/New York: Feldheim, 1996).

[30].  Nomos occurs 194 times in the New Testament, with meanings including “custom,” “rule,” “principle,” “norm,” “law,” “sacred ordinance” and “body of sacred writings.”

[31].  Published in 1975 by Tyndale House.

[32].  For caveats to this, see Michael L. Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 2, 60–69.

[33].  See Michael L. Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 4: New Testament Objections (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), 62–66.

[34].  For further thoughts on this, see Michael L. Brown, “Messianic Judaism and Jewish Jesus Research,” Mishkan 33 (2000): 38–51.

[35].  Published in 2006 by HarperSanFrancisco.

[36].  Associated Press, “Comedian Jackie Mason drops lawsuit against Jews for Jesus missionary group,” International Herald Tribune, 4 December 2006, quoted in Lee Strobel, The Case for the Real Jesus (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2007).

[37].  Hilchot Melachim (Laws of Kings), 11:4.

[38].  See the relevant articles in Leo Landmann, ed., Messianism in the Talmudic Era (New York: Ktav, 1979).

[39].  I address these themes in Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 2: Theological Objections, especially section 3.23.

[40].  B. Sanhedrin 98a, as rendered in Hayim Nahman Bialik and Yehoshua Hana Ravnitzky, The Book of Legends: Sefer Ha-Aggadah, trans. William G. Braude (New York: Schocken, 1992), section 18.

[41].  To explain one further detail, the vowel ə in yəhowah is the grammatical equivalent to the vowel ă in ’ădonai, which is why the wrong pronunciation came out yəhowah rather than yahowah.

[42].  The adjective kosher is derived from the Hebrew kasher, again meaning “suitable” or “fit for use.” For the root k-sh-r in the Tanakh, see Esther 8:5, where it means “it is right” or “acceptable,” and, in a causative verbal form, in Ecclesiastes 10:10; 11:6, where it means “to succeed.”

[43].  J. E. Hartley, Leviticus, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, 2002), 163.

[44].  For a refutation of the Talmudic interpretation of Deuteronomy 12:21, see Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 5, section 6.1.

[45].  For more discussion about the dietary laws, see Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 4, section 5.34. For examples of the tragic medieval baptismal confessions, see Michael L. Brown, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 1992), 95–97.

[46].  Nahum Sarna, Exodus, JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia/New York: Jewish Publication Society, 1991), 138.

[47].  Jeffrey H. Tigay, Deuteronomy, JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia/New York: Jewish Publication Society, 1996), 140.

[48].  Sarna, Exodus, 138.

[49].  http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm.

[50].  The Torah: A Modern Commentary (New York: Union of American Hebrew Congregations, 1985), 122. The preceding paragraphs drew on material that will be part of volume 5 of my series on Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus: Traditional Jewish Objections.

[51].  J. I. Durham, Exodus, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, 2002), 475.

[52].  Walter C. Kaiser Jr., “Exodus,” Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1990), 488.

[53].  Sarna, Exodus, 194.

[54].  Wigoder and Werblosky, Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, 400.

[55].  http://www.askmoses.com/article.html?h=407&o=315.

[56].  http://judaism.about.com/library/3_askrabbi_o/bl_simmons_shabbatcandles.htm.

[57].  Yehoshua Y. Neuwirth, Shemirath Shabbath: A Guide for the Practical Observance of Shabbath, trans. W. Grangewood, 3rd ed. (Jerusalem/New York: Philip Feldheim, 1995), 1:103.

[58].  http://www.kosherlamp.com/.

[59].  http://www.kosherlamp.com/rabbinic.html.

[60].  Shemirath Shabbath, 13:41b, 1:103.

[61].  http://michaelkress.com/_wsn/page13.html.

[62].  Ibid.

[63].  Ibid.

[64].  http://www.askmoses.com/article.html?h=208&o=262.

[65].  Another issue is that of moving an object from a private domain to a public domain, something also prohibited on the Sabbath based on an expansive interpretation of Jeremiah 17:19–27, and thus a car could not be driven for that reason as well. For Yeshua’s intentional challenging of this concept, see John 5.

[66].  Wigoder and Werblosky, Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, 179.

[67].  Telushkin, Jewish Literacy, 664.

[68].  Wigoder and Werblosky, Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion, 180. Note that while Isaiah 3:17 is subject to different interpretations, it is clear that in most cultures baldness and loss of hair is especially undesirable for women.

[69].  John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000), 589.

[70].  Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 476.

[71].  David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary (Clarksville, MD: Jewish New Testament Publications, 1992), 474, with further reference to his Messianic Jewish Manifesto (Clarksville, MD: Messianic Jewish Resources International, 1988), 170–71.

[72].  Ibid., 180.

[73].  Ibid.

[74].  Yet another answer was passed on to me by a former Hasid whose great-grandfather claimed to know the exact origins of the tradition, namely, that a problem arose when the Jewish women went into town “to party” while their husbands were working. To stop this behavior, the most respected rabbi of the generation ordered that the women shave their heads, and if they refused to comply they would not be buried in a Jewish cemetery, which to them would have been unthinkable. Another scholarly rabbi, however, disputed the correctness of this tradition based on sources that he studied.

[75].  For additional Talmudic discussion concerning questions about shaving with a razor or with scissors, see b. Makkot 20b–21a.

[76].  Jacob Milgrom, Numbers, JPS Torah Commentary (Philadelphia/New York: Jewish Publication Society, 1990), 160.

[77].  Although some scholars have pointed to some folk beliefs that there was special healing power in the fringes of a Jewish holy man’s garments, the evidence for this is scant at best, and there is no support at all for the notion that this was a well-known fact in Yeshua’s day, based on Malachi 4:2, which states, “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings.” This view is to be rejected for several reasons: (1) There is no evidence whatsoever for any such ancient interpretation of Malachi 4:2. (2) The verse in question has to do with solar imagery, not clothes, as noted in the IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, addressing Malachi 4:2: “It is not unusual in the Old Testament for Yahweh’s work to be depicted using this metaphor of solar terminology. ‘Healing in its wings’ is a symbolic use of the wings of a bird with the rays of the sun. The wings denote protective care (hence the healing). An ancient Near Eastern motif in astral religions has the sun depicted as a winged disk. This is especially pervasive in the Persian period.” (3) Although the Hebrew word kanaph, or “wing,” can be used for the end of a garment (see 1 Samuel 15:27), it is never used specifically to refer to the ritual fringe. (4) There is scant ancient evidence for the idea that the fringes of a Jewish holy man were thought of as having special healing power. (5) In Matthew’s gospel—the most “Jewish” of the gospels in terms of its intended audience—the woman with the issue of blood simply says, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed” (9:21) rather than, “If I only touch His (holy, healing) fringes.”

[78].  D. A. Carson, “Matthew,” Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 474.

[79].  For the minor (albeit significant) variations between the Dead Sea phylacteries and the rabbinic phylacteries, see Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 5, 6.3.

[80].  Nathan T. Lopes Cardozo, The Written Torah and Oral Torah: A Comprehensive Introduction (Northvale, NJ: Aronson, 1997), 84–85.

[81].  I am aware, of course, that there are critical biblical scholars who claim that Deuteronomy was not written until after the time of this inscription, and so the question of the application of Deuteronomy 6:9; 11:20 would be moot. I am assuming, however, the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch.

[82].  The actual meaning of Shaddai is a matter of scholarly dispute. It has been associated with Akkadian sadu, “steppe” or “mountain,” similar to concepts like “God is my Rock” (see Deuteronomy 32:4), and thus related to meanings such as “powerful” or “strong.” The ancient rabbis sometimes took Shaddai to mean “more than enough,” based on the Hebrew she (pronounced sheh), “that is,” and day (pronounced like English “die”), “enough,” but this is a popular etymology, not to be taken as a serious philological observation. Shaddai is used in a wordplay in Joel 1:15, literally, “it will come as a shod (pronounced like English “showed”)—destruction—from Shaddai,” but it is fairly certain that Shaddai itself is not derived from the verb meaning “destroy.” There is a popular Christian view that Shaddai means “the many-breasted one,” hence the Provider, related to the Hebrew word for “breasts,” shadayim. This, however, is the least likely view of all, since such imagery is associated with a female deity, as seen in some ancient iconography, not with a male deity.

[83].  http://www.jewfaq.org/signs.htm.

[84].  Shaye D. Cohen, “Was Timothy Jewish (Acts 16:1–3)? Patristic Exegesis, Rabbinic Law, and Matrilineal Descent,” Journal of Biblical Literature 105 (1986), 251–68.

[85].  Cited by Lisa Katz, “Who Is a Jew?” http://judaism.about.com/od/whoisajew/a/whoisjewdescent.htm. Katz plainly states: “Matrilineal descent, the passing down of a child’s Jewish identity via the mother, is not a biblical principle. In biblical times, many Jewish men married non-Jews, and their children’s status was determined by the father’s religion.”

[86].  This is the footnote to the Soncino Talmud, ad loc.

[87].  Other Talmudic references to the 613 commandments include: b. Shabbat 87a; b. Yevamot 47b; 62a; b. Nedarim 25a; b. Shevuot 29a.

[88].  To b. Sanhedrin 56a.

[89].  For one such example, see J. David Davis, Finding The God of Noah: The Spiritual Journey of a Baptist Minister from Christianity to the Laws of Noah (Hoboken, NJ: KTAV, 1996). To me, these accounts are terribly painful, and I cannot fathom how anyone who had a vibrant relationship with the Lord Jesus would ever abandon Him for this (or anything else).

[90].  See http://www.vendyljones.org.il/; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Jones.

[91].  Other books are cited on http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/reading-lists/general/section-8.html.

[92].  For refutation of Koestler’s theory, which is not taken seriously by the vast majority of scholars, see Brown, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, 66–68.

[93].  See http://www.radioislam.org/koestler/.

[94].  For a balanced discussion about the alleged African origins of the Israelites, see Glen Usry and Craig S. Keener, Black Man’s Religion: Can Christianity Be Afrocentric? (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), and remember that Moses’ wife was an Ethiopian.

[95].  See Nicholas Wade, “Geneticists Report Finding Central Asian Link to Levites,” 3 September 2003, NY Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/27/science/27GENE.html?ex=1169614800&en=0e6d3bb8fbd1c3ff&ei=5070. Wade writes, “If the patrilineal descent of the two priestly castes had indeed been followed as tradition describes, then all Cohanim should be descended from Aaron, the brother of Moses, and all Levites from Levi, the third son of the patriarch Jacob. Dr. Hammer and Dr. Skorecki found that more than half the Cohanim, in both the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities, did indeed carry the same genetic signature on their Y chromosome. Their ancestor lived some 3,000 years ago, based on genetic calculations, and may indeed have been Aaron, Dr. Skorecki said. But the picture among the Levites was less clear, suggesting that they had a mixed ancestry.”

[96].  See http://www.davidicdynasty.org/dna.php. Note that the DNA testing is still in its infancy with regard to alleged Davidic descendants.

[97].  Telushkin, Jewish Literacy, 88–89.

[98].  http://www.britishisrael.co.uk/; according to the website, this group considered itself Christian as well.

[99].  C. H. Gordon, “The Ten Lost Tribes,” in Shalom Goldman, ed., The Hebrew Bible and America: The First Two Centuries (Hanover, NH/London: University Press of New England, 1993), 61–69. Note that Gordon, who was known for his wide-ranging erudition, was also known for some highly speculative theories as well. For a refutation of the association between the Ten Lost Tribes and the American Indians, see Richard H. Popkin, “The Rise and Fall of the Jewish Indian Theory,” in The Hebrew Bible and America, 70–90.

[100].  Published in 2004 by Signature Books.

[101].  For Southerton’s response to some of his Mormon critics, see http://www.irr.org/MIT/southerton-response.html.

[102].  http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53068.

[103].  http://www.shavei.org/article.php?id=47.

[104].  Ibid.

[105].  http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=53068; for relevant DNA studies, see http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts-nonjews.html.

[106].  DNA studies have also confirmed the Jewish ancestry of many Spanish-speaking people who claimed that they are the descendants of Spanish-speaking Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism in past centuries, often secretly retaining their Jewish identity. See http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts-nonjews.html, under “Latinos with traditions of Spanish Jewish ancestry.”

[107].  For photos of recent high priests, see http://www.the-samaritans.com/gallery/gallerymain.htm.

[108].  http://www.the-samaritans.com/info.htm, italics in original. Today’s Samaritans speak modern Hebrew or Arabic, and the English website has clearly been produced by those whose first language is not English. In navigating through the site, one can quickly feel the historic rejection these ancient people have suffered.

[109].  Ibid.

[110].  According to Peidong Shen, Tal Lavi, and others, “Reconstruction of Patrilineages and Matrilineages of Samaritans and Other Israeli Populations from Y-Chromosome and Mitochondrial DNA Sequence Variation,” Human Mutation 24 (2004), “Based on the close relationship of the Samaritan haplogroup J six-microsatellite haplotypes with the Cohen modal haplotype, we speculate that the Samaritan M304 Y-chromosome lineages present a subgroup of the original Jewish Cohanim priesthood that did not go into exile when the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 b.c., but married Assyrian and female exiles relocated from other conquered lands, which was a typical Assyrian policy to obliterate national identities. This is in line with biblical texts that emphasize a common heritage of Jews and Samaritans, but also record the negative attitude of Jews towards the Samaritans because of their association with people that were not Jewish. Such a scenario could explain why Samaritan Y-chromosome lineages cluster tightly with Jewish Y-lineages (Fig. 2A), while their mitochondrial lineages are closest to Iraqi Jewish and Palestinian mtDNA sequences (Fig. 2B).” Cited on http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts-nonjews.html.

[111].  Merrill C. Tenney, “John,” Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 55.

[112].  http://www.karaite-korner.org/history.shtml; emphasis in the original.

[113].  Ibid.

[114].  For the online edition, see http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1460&letter=A (the “Anan ben David” entry).

[115].  See, conveniently, http://www.karaite-korner.org/salmon_ben_yeruham.shtml#canto1, citing from Salmon’s Book of the Wars of the Lord, as translated by Leon Nemoy.

[116].  According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the Karaites “were a Jewish sect, professing, in its religious observances and opinions, to follow the Bible to the exclusion of rabbinical traditions and laws. But Karaism in fact adopted a large part of rabbinical Judaism, either outright or with more or less modification, while at the same time it borrowed from earlier or later Jewish sects—Sadducees, Essenes, ‘Isawites, Yudghanites, etc.—as well as from the Mohammedans. The founder of the sect being Anan, his followers were at first called Ananites, but as the doctrines of the sect were more fully developed, and it gradually emancipated itself from Ananism, they took the name of ‘Karaites.’ ” See Jewish Encyclopedia, “Karaites, Karaism,” http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=108 &letter=K&search=karaites.

[117].  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karaite_Judaism. As far as I can tell, this statement is accurate.

[118].  Edward H. Flannery, The Anguish of the Jews: Twenty-three Centuries of Anti-Semitism (New York/Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1985), 284, cited in Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, 221, n. 7. Note also that some scholars, especially Jewish thinkers, prefer to use the spelling antisemitism, since, technically speaking, there is no such thing as racial “Semitism” (“Semitism” is a linguistic term, not a racial term, referring to a Semitic style of expression), and the term Semite includes the Arabs as well.

[119].  This is documented throughout my book Our Hands Are Stained with Blood. Amazingly, a popular (and quite sensationalist) Christian ministry is now pushing the notorious and completely fictitious Protocols of the Elders of Zion; see http://www.texemarrs.com/, where another libelous book, The Synagogue of Satan: The Secret History of Jewish World Domination, has been prominently offered (as of February–March 2007). With reference to the Protocols, the website states, “The most banned book in all the world! It is a crime in many nations to even possess this incredible book. Coming out of Russia in the early 20th Century, it was said to be the Zionist Jews’ Secret Plan for global domination. Henry Ford, industrialist and inventor of the auto assembly line, believed it to be legitimate. So, too, did famous aviator Charles Lindbergh and many others. Read and study it for yourself; but hurry: at any moment, this book may be declared illegal by opponents of Free Speech! ‘This ingenious, yet monstrous plot surely was hatched from the pit of hell.’—Texe Marrs.” See http://www.texemarrs.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=catalog&Product _Code=bboa_learned_elders_of_zion. It is truly remarkable to read such quotes from a professing evangelical, Christian author, especially in the 21st century, but this simply underscores the point we have been making.

[120].  http://www.rael.org/rael_content/rael_summary.php.

[121].  http://rael.org/.

[122].  I am not sure if Rael’s current message has been modified, given the fact that his materials are now available in Hebrew. The anti-Israel message can be found at http://www.rael.org/int/english/raelspeaks/raelspeaks/april56.html, entitled, “If only there was a Palestinian Gandhi,” and dated 2 April 2002.

[123].  Irving Greenberg, “Cloud of Smoke, Pillar of Fire: Judaism, Christianity and Modernity after the Holocaust,” in E. Fleischer, ed., Auschwitz: Beginning of a New Era? (New York: Knopf, 1977), 25.

[124].  Article Seventeen of the Hamas Covenant, 18 August 1988, http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/mideast/hamas.htm.

[125].  The statement was made in 1927, but I do not have the original source.

[126].  Brown, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, 221, n. 5.

[127].  Ibid., 163–164.

[128].  In His humanity, Yeshua remains the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Root and Offspring of Jesse; see Revelation 5:5; 22:16.

[129].  For a convenient introduction to the Amidah online, see http://www.he brew4christians.com/Prayers/Daily_Prayers/Shemoneh_Esrei/shemoneh_esrei.html.

[130].  http://www.nkusa.org/; this official website features articles explaining all of their positions.

[131].  For video footage of this, which is almost surreal to watch, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GsdC_ZboeE.

[132].  See http://www.templemountfaithful.org/.

[133].  Taken verbatim, in abbreviated form, from http://www.templemount faithful.org/obj.htm. See the same for their short-term objectives.

[134].  See their “Challenge to the Believers from the Nations,” http://www.templemountfaithful.org/challeng.htm.

[135].  See Mitchell G. Bard, Complete Idiot’s Guide to Middle East Conflict (New York: Alpha, 2005). As reviewers have pointed out, the book’s title belies its depth and balance.

[136].  This position has been argued strongly by Joan Peters in her controversial but copiously documented book From Time Immemorial: The Origins of the Arab-Jewish Conflict over Palestine (New York: Harper & Row, 1984); a convenient summary of the controversy surrounding the book can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_Time_Immemorial. For a good example of a strongly opposing view, see Rashid Khalidi, Palestinian Identity (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998). While Peters is a journalist rather than a trained academic—hence some of the searing academic criticisms of her work—it appears clear that her overall arguments carry some real merit, as other scholars such as Professor Daniel Pipes have pointed out. For a recent, popular presentation by a leading attorney, see Alan Dershowitz, The Case for Peace: How the Israeli-Arab Conflict Can Be Solved (Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, 2005).

[137].  The third edition was published in 2006 by the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE).

[138].  Mitchell G. Bard, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths/mf1.html.

[139].  This was spoken in 1946 when Professor Hitti testified before the Anglo-American Committee.

[140].  See www.shoebat.com. Shoebat had a life-changing encounter with Jesus and now works tirelessly on behalf of the Jewish people worldwide. His 2005 book, Why I Left Jihad: The Root of Terrorism and the Return of Radical Islam (n.p.: Top Executive Media, 2005), gives important insights from someone who was on the inside.

[141].  Myths and Facts, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths/mf1.html#b.

[142].  Yehoshua Porath, Palestinian Arab National Movement: From Riots to Rebellion: 1929–1939, vol. 2, (London: Frank Cass and Co., Ltd., 1977), 81–82.

[143].  Samuel Katz, Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine (New York: Bantam Books, 1977), 55. Katz’s book, although dated, remains essential reading on the subject at hand.

[144].  For documentation of this and much more, see Arieh L. Avneri, The Claim of Dispossession: Jewish Land Settlement and the Arabs, 1878–1948, trans. Kfar-Blum Translation Group (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1984).

[145].  Brown, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, 70.

[146].  From Innocents Abroad, 1867; although some have challenged this description, other sources point to its accuracy; see http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_early_palestine_zionists_impact.php.

[147].  For further pertinent data, see Avneri’s The Claim of Dispossession.

[148].  Propagandists put this number at one million; the UN, at the time, put it at 427,000; see Bard, Myths and Facts.

[149].  Brown, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, 72.

[150].  http://www.forzion.com/full-article.php?news=3497.

[151].  Accounts such as that of Elias Chacour, with David Hazzard, Blood Brothers (Grand Rapids: Chosen, 1984), have greatly influenced the thinking of some Christian leaders who have sided with the Palestinians on humanitarian grounds, often vilifying the Israelis in the process. It is not surprising, then, that some recent books advocating replacement theology—namely, that the Church has replaced Israel and that national Israel has no special place in God’s redemptive plan—have also been influenced by perceived humanitarian issues. See Stephen R. Sizer, Christian Zionism: Road-Map to Armageddon? (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005). Sadly, both the theology and the assessment of human suffering in works such as this are quite skewed; for more on this, see #58.

[152].  http://www.palestinefacts.org/pf_early_palestine_name_origin.php.

[153].  Ibid.; see also http://christianactionforisrael.org/isreport/july01/history_ palestine.html.

[154].  Walter W. Wessel, “Mark,” Expositor’s Bible Commentary, 751.

[155].  Keener, IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 248.

[156].  For the position that, generally speaking, Jesus adhered to the Pharisaic oral traditions, see David Bivin, New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus: Insights from His Jewish Context (Holland, MI: En-Gedi Resource Center, 2005).

[157].  This view was communicated to me privately by the Messianic Jewish scholar Dr. Dan Gruber.

[158].  Nehemia Gordon, The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus: New Light on the Seat of Moses from Shen-Tov’s Hebrew Matthew (Chicago: Hilkiah Press, 2005), 48.

[159].  Ibid., for discussion of the Shem-Tov manuscript. In addition to the treatment in Gordon, see especially the studies of G. Howard, W. Horbury, W. L. Petersen, and R. F. Shedinger cited in Gordon, The Hebrew Yeshua vs. the Greek Jesus, 103–7.

[160].  For a more full discussion, see volume 5 of my series Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus: Traditional Jewish Objections (forthcoming), section 6.15.

[161].  The King James actually reflects the fact that yehōshu‘a could sometimes be called yeshu‘a, referring to both Joshua and Jesus by the same name in Hebrews; see Hebrews 4:8, where “Jesus” refers to Joshua. (The Greek name Iesus is used in the Greek for both Jesus and Joshua in Hebrews, but most modern translations distinguish between the two simply as an aid to the reader.)

[162].  For a more detailed explanation, with easy-to-follow charts, see http://www.aramaicnt.org/NEW/index.php?p=23.

[163].  Here is a typical, error-filled statement: “Although some would argue ‘YAHUshua’ -vs- ‘Yâhuwshú`a’ -vs- Yahshua’ -vs- ‘Yeshua’ -vs- ‘Jesus’ till the Messiah returned, my studies and belief, as well as the works of experts in the Hebrew language, show me that Yahushua [YAH-hoo-shu-ah] is probably the most accurate pronunciation of the Messiah’s name. It makes perfect sense as this pronunciation is the exact name of the Messianic ‘Branch’ prophesied in Zechariah 6:11–12 as well as Moshe’s (Moses’) successor (known in English as Joshua) who led the Israelites over the Jordan, therefore, with abundant and scholarly evidence [sic], I personally use Yahushua.” See http://www.wwyd.org/. The alleged experts in Hebrew are found at the www.eliyah.com website, specifically the http://www.eliyah.com/yahushua.html. Anyone with a scholarly knowledge of Hebrew will recognize at once that there is no Hebrew expertise on this website at all.

[164].  http://www.sacrednamemovement.com/JesusZeus2.htm.

[165].  Ibid.

[166].  http://www.wwyd.org/. This is the aptly named “What Would Yahushua Do?” website. It begins with the comment, “As my brother in Messiah, Michael Rood would say, ‘First off, he would answer to HIS REAL NAME!’”

[167].  http://www.sacrednamemovement.com/JesusZeus2.htm.

[168].  As stated by former Hasidic Jew Menachem Korn, jesusoverisrael.blog spot.com/2006/11/daniel-code-christian-zionism.html. On other subjects, Korn has some very unusual views—to say the least—especially regarding modern Israel.

[169].  Simply stated, this is the etymological history of the name Jesus: Hebrew/Aramaic yeshu‘a became Greek Iēsous, then Latin Iesus, passing into German and then, ultimately, into English, as Jesus.

[170].  For this and other views, see http://www.truthnet.org/islam/Islam-Bible/5MuslimJesus/index.htm.

[171].  The expected Aramaic form would have been koumi, which is reflected in some Greek manuscripts, as opposed to koum. Aramaic scholars, however, recognize that this could reflect a dialectical variant in colloquial Galilean Aramaic.

[172].  The Aramaic is actually shabaqtani, but Greek did not have the “sh” sound, so, e.g., Hebrew Shaul would become Saul in Greek. For a recent, nonscholarly (and, candidly, quite unsuccessful) attempt to minimize the presence of Aramaic here, see Douglas Hamp, Discovering the Language of Jesus (Santa Anna, CA: Calvary Chapel Publishing, 2005).

[173].  A typical case in point would be Hamp.

[174].  Notice also Acts 2:7, recording the surprised reaction of the Jews who heard the 120 speaking in new languages at Shavu’ot/Pentecost, “Utterly amazed, they asked: ‘Are not all these men who are speaking Galileans?’”—which would refer either to their accent or to their expected native language, namely, Aramaic.

[175].  Richard Bauckham, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 205–206, citing M. Bockmuehl, “Simon Peter and Bethsaida,” in B. Chilton and C. Evans, eds., The Missions of James, Peter, and Paul, NovTSup 115 (Leiden: Brill, 2004): 82. See also J. N. Sevenster, Do You Know Greek? How Much Greek Could the First Jewish Christians Have Known? trans. J. de Bruin (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1968).

[176].  Bauckham, 206, n. 9.

[177].  For further discussion of the degree of Peter’s knowledge of Greek, see Bauckham, 205–10.

[178].  Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 338.

[179].  Bivin, New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus, xxv (this section was written by the editors, Lois Tverberg and Bruce Okkema, not David Bivin, although he would surely concur with these words).

[180].  For details on this, see Michael L. Brown, “Recovering the Inspired Text? An Assessment of the Work of the Jerusalem School in the Light of Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus,” Mishkan 17/18, 30, with n. 108. The article can be accessed online at http://caspari.com/mishkan/zips/mishkan17-18.pdf. For other issues of Mishkan online, see http://caspari.com/mishkan/.

[181].  James Trimm, http://www.isr-messianic.org/.

[182].  Ibid.

[183].  David Bivin and Roy B. Blizzard Jr., Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus (Arcadia, CA: Makor Foundation, 1983), 21.

[184].  Ibid., 105, my emphasis.

[185].  Ibid., 105, 37; for further discussion of such statements, see Brown, “Recovering the Inspired Text?”

[186].  For typical conspiratorial rhetoric, see http://www.remnantofyhwh.com/Hebrew%20Origin%20NT.htm.

[187].  The problems involved in such an undertaking can be well illustrated by means of the children’s game called “telephone”—but played with the following rules: The first player speaks several sentences in German into the ear of the player to his right; that player then translates the words into Arabic and passes them on secretly to the next player, who puts the Arabic sentences into a nonchronological, topical order and passes them on. The next player, who knows Arabic very well, improves the grammar of the previous player, shortens the sentences, attempts to put them back in their original order and then whispers them into your ear. Now it’s your turn: Translate these Arabic sentences back into the original German, word for word. You will need more than good luck to succeed in this endeavor! And playing this game with written sources would not make the task any easier, since the difficulties are created by the distance from the original source—be it oral or written.

[188].  From the ninth century to 1976, there have been as many as 68 different Hebrew reconstructions of the Lord’s Prayer. There have also been many Aramaic reconstructions.

[189].  Brown, “Recovering the Inspired Text?” 41.

[190].  For convenient reference to some of the evidence, see http://www.biblical hebrew.com/nt/hebrewgospel.htm.

[191].  Most recently, see Gordon, Hebrew Yeshua.

[192].  I take for granted that most readers will understand that Paul’s letters were written in Greek to Greek-speaking congregations, while Mark and Luke in particular also had Gentile audiences in mind, and so for them, it would also be quite natural to write in Greek.

[193].  According to www.peshitta.org, it means “straight.”

[194].  A very rough comparison in terms of the closeness of these languages would be this: Hebrew is to Aramaic as Italian is to Spanish; Aramaic is to Syriac as Spanish is to Portuguese.

[195].  http://www.peshitta.org/, following the link “Peshitta”; I have removed the various fonts and emphasis in the original.

[196].  Modern Aramaic today is spoken in only a few parts of the world, primarily in the Middle East.

[197].  George M. Lamsa, Holy Bible: From the Ancient Eastern Text (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1985); among his other writings, see Idioms in the Bible Explained and a Key to the Original Gospels (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1985).

[198].  http://www.aramaicnt.org/NEW/index.php?; links are provided on the website in support of these claims.

[199].  For details, see Brown, “Recovering the Inspired Text?”

[200].  See Andrew Gabriel Roth, RUACH QADIM: Aramaic Origins of the New Testament (Malta: Tushiyah Press, 2005); idem, Ruach Quadim: The Path to Life (Malta: Tushiyah Press, 2006).

[201].  Ibid., n. 33.

[202].  Keener, IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, 283. He also notes, “Because the water of verse 38 flows to and not from the believer (v. 39), 7:37–38 may be punctuated to read: ‘If anyone thirsts, let this one come to me; and let whoever believes in me drink. As the Scripture says . . .’ (The original manuscripts had no punctuation.) Verse 38 may thus declare that Jesus fulfills the Scriptures read at the feast, as the foundation stone of a new temple, the source of the water of life (see 19:34; Revelation 22:1).”

[203].  Michael L. Brown, Revolution in the Church: Challenging the Religious System with a Call for Radical Change (Grand Rapids: Chosen, 2002), 174.

[204].  Even the Spanish “Santiago” is actually a corruption from Jacob, being a contraction of San Diego (Saint Diego = Jacob).

[205].  Brown, Revolution in the Church, 175–76.

[206].  Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 1–13, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, 2002), 158.

[207].  Some would argue that it is wrong to speak of “Jewish roots,” since “Jewish” speaks of the Jewish religion, which developed in its own way after the time of Jesus, and it would therefore be better to speak of “biblical roots.” The problems with this are: (1) the church has effectively made Jesus and the apostles into Gentiles; (2) Jesus Himself said that “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22) while Paul spoke clearly of Israel’s place in world redemption (see Romans 11:11–15, 25–27); (3) Jesus was part of the Jewish religion of His day (see #36 and #46); (4) if we speak of “biblical roots,” most of us assume that we are being faithful to the Bible already, so this may not adequately challenge us to reexamine the Scriptures; and (5) speaking of “recovering our Jewish roots” calls for a tangible connection with Jews today, also revealing any latent anti-Semitism that may exist in the lives of some believers.

[208].  Most recently, David Klinghoffer, following Hyam Maccobby.

[209].  The paragraphs that follow are adapted from Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 4, 192–94, with permission. See there for further discussion of Paul’s Jewish background.

[210].  Joseph Klausner, From Jesus to Paul (New York: Macmillan, 1945), 453–54.

[211].  Ibid., 452.

[212].  Ibid., 453–54, with examples on 454–58.

[213].  Ibid., 458; also for an explanation of why he quoted the Septuagint. In addition, Klausner notes, “But sometimes he quotes precisely according to the Hebrew text,” with reference to the Finnish scholar Antti F. Puuko.

[214].  David Daube, The New Testament and Rabbinic Judaism (Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994), 336ff. See further Michael L. Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 1: General and Historical Objections (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2000), 1.5.

[215].  Alan F. Segal, Paul the Convert: The Apostolate and Apostasy of Saul the Pharisee (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990), xi–xii.

[216].  Daniel Boyarin, A Radical Jew: Paul and the Politics of Identity (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994), 2.

[217].  Cited by Harvey Falk, Jesus the Pharisee (Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2003), 18.

[218].  Peter J. Tomson, Paul and the Jewish Law (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991), 52–53.

[219].  John Dominic Crossan and Jonathan L. Reed, In Search of Paul: How Jesus’s Apostle Opposed Rome’s Empire with God’s Kingdom. A New Vision of Paul’s Words & World (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2004), 4.

[220].  W. R. Stegner, “Paul the Jew,” in Gerald F. Hawthorne and Ralph P. Martin, eds., Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1993), 506, 500.

[221].  Jaroslav Pelikan, Jesus through the Centuries (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1999), 18, my emphasis.

[222].  See also Risto Santala, Paul the Man and the Teacher: In Light of the Jewish Sources (Jerusalem: Keren Ahvah Meshihit, 1995); the entire book can be accessed online at http://www.kolumbus.fi/hjussila/rsla/Paul/paul01.html. The early church leaders Eusebius and Jerome testified to Paul’s fluency in Hebrew.

[223].  For further discussion, see Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 4, section 5.26.

[224].  Flannery, The Anguish of the Jews, 1. This quote is so poignant that I have cited it numerous times in my books, lectures and debates, and it always resonates with the Jewish audiences that hear it.

[225].  For a vivid example of the sensitivities involved, see the debate between Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and myself, “Who Really Killed Jesus?” available on DVD or video; http://www.icnministries.org/resources/video.htm.

[226].  For a detailed discussion of 1 Thessalonians 2:13–16, see Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 1, 164–67.

[227].  See again Brown, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood.

[228].  John Nolland, The Gospel of Matthew: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 217–18.

[229].  For an interesting treatment of this passage in the context of answering Muslims, see http://answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/fulfilled.htm.

[230].  Michael L. Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 4: New Testament Objections (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006), 209–10.

[231].  Ibid., 174–75.

[232].  “For the goal at which the Torah aims is the Messiah, who offers righteousness to everyone who trusts” (Romans 10:4, Jewish New Testament; note that this verse was cited, above, as one of Paul’s negative statements about the law).

[233].  For a very useful summary, see Stephen Westerholm, Perspectives Old and New on Paul: The “Lutheran” Paul and His Critics (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004).

[234].  For a more detailed treatment of Paul and the Law, see Brown, Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, vol. 4, section 5.29.

[235].  See ibid., 282, for further details.

[236].  I am, of course, oversimplifying this, but the overall point stands; for another view, see Peter Tomson, Paul and the Jewish Law: Halakha in the Letters of the Apostle to the Gentiles (Assen/ Minneapolis: Van Gorcum/Fortress, 1990).

[237].  I address this subject in the first lecture of my DVD series Homosexuality, the Church, and Society. The first lecture is titled, “The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Separating Fact from Fiction.” See http://www.icnministries.org/re sources/resources.htm.

[238].  The most comprehensive argument for this is Dr. Mark Kinzer’s Postmissionary Messianic Judaism: Redefining Christian Engagement with the Jewish People (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2005). Kinzer brings excellent scholarship to the table and raises many important issues. He should not, however, be followed: (1) in a number of his scriptural interpretations, especially those that make it mandatory for Jewish believers to observe the Torah; (2) in his opening the door to the possibility of Jews being saved without explicit faith in Yeshua; (3) in his call for Jewish believers to submit to rabbinic traditions; and (4) in his calling to lessen the bold, forthright, “missionary” proclamation of our faith to other Jews. I hope to address these issues at greater length in an article to be published in an honorary volume for Moishe Rosen. See also my paper, “Is a Postmissionary, Truly Messianic Judaism Possible?” delivered April 18, 2007, at the annual North American gathering of the Lausanne Consultation on Jewish Evangelism, where I take strong issue with some of Kinzer’s main conclusions. The paper is available online at http://www.icnministries.org/resources/resources.htm.

[239].  For further, practical insights, see Jews for Jesus, The Messianic Movement: A Field Guide for Evangelical Christians (San Francisco: Purple Pomegranate Publications, 2005), 97–105; see also 131–47.

[240].  http://www.messianicliturgy.com/spiritual_biography_of_jeremiah_.htm. Jeremiah’s special contribution to the Messianic movement has been the development of Messianic Jewish liturgy, since synagogue worship is completely liturgical and it is important for many Messianic Jewish congregations to have some form of liturgy.

[241].  For a still-useful study of ancient proselytes to Judaism, see Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah (electronic edition; Albany, OR: AGES Software, 1999), Appendix 12, “The Baptism of Proselytes,” 2:640–43.

[242].  See the discussion in the recent major Romans commentaries, including those of James D. G. Dunn, Douglas J. Moo, and Thomas R. Schreiner. For a different but highly questionable approach, see Mark D. Nanos, The Mystery of Romans: The Jewish Context of Paul’s Letter (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1996).

[243].  Samuele Bacchiocchi, From Sabbath to Sunday: A Historical Investigation of the Rise of Sunday Observance in Early Christianity (Rome: Pontifical Gregorian University, 1977); D. A. Carson, ed., From Sabbath to Lord’s Day: A Biblical, Historical and Theological Investigation (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982).

[244].  http://www.worldslastchance.com/full_article.php#topic15.

[245].  As to the fact that December 25 was originally a pagan holiday, a common, traditional Christian understanding is that the Catholic Church moved the celebration of Jesus’ birth to this day so that pagan converts to Christianity would have something spiritual to celebrate in place of their historic, idolatrous celebration. So then, there is no attempt to deny the (originally) pagan significance of December 25, but the argument is that the date has been redeemed for holy purposes. I have no interest in either defending or attacking this position; I am simply explaining how some Christians defend their reason for celebrating Jesus’ birth on December 25.

[246].  Michael J. Rood, The Pagan-Christian Connection Exposed (Gainesville, FL: Bridge-Logos, 2004), 87. This pales, however, in comparison to his attacks on Easter: “Easter is the rehearsal of child sacrifice and fertility rites of pagan sun god worshipers” (64); “I will not subject myself to their perverted, disgusting forms of satanic worship. . . . I have died to their world, and I will not return to the vomit of Tammuz worship” (91–92).

[247].  While it is possible to interpret 1 Corinthians 5:7–8 as a command to celebrate the Passover, it is best to understand Paul’s language there as metaphorical.

[248].  For various interpretations, see the Galatians commentaries of Ronald Y. K. Fung, F. F. Bruce, and Richard N. Longenecker. For a different approach, see Mark D. Nanos, The Irony of Galatians: Paul’s Letter in First-Century Context (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2001). Contrast Vincent M. Smiles, The Gospel and the Law in Galatia: Paul’s Response to Jewish-Christian Separatism and the Threat of Galatian Apostasy (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1998).

[249].  Although Matthew Henry in his commentaries oversimplifies things by speaking of the difference between Judaism and Christianity, his overall observation is absolutely correct: “He would do this after Easter, meta to pascha—after the passover, certainly so it ought to be read, for it is the same word that is always so rendered; and to insinuate the introducing of a gospel-feast, instead of the passover, when we have nothing in the New Testament of such a thing, is to mingle Judaism with our Christianity” (see Acts 12:4).

[250].  See Kinzer, Post-Missionary Messianic Judaism, 200.

[251].  Ibid., 199.

[252].  Ibid., 201.

[253].  Ibid., citing Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, second series, vol. 14, The Seven Ecumenical Councils, eds., Philip Schaff and Henry Wave (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 54.

[254].  In D. R. W. Wood, and I. H. Marshall, eds., New Bible Dictionary (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), “Easter.”

[255].  Rood, The Pagan-Christian Connection Exposed, 64.

[256].  The New Living Translation completely misses the mark here, rendering, “May God’s peace and mercy be upon all who live by this principle. They are the new people of God.” The footnote, however, contains the correct translation: “this principle, and upon the Israel of God.”

[257].  Some have pointed to Revelation 2:9 and 3:9, which speak of “those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan,” to argue that Jews who deny Jesus—or, more specifically, who oppose the Gospel—are not really Jews. There are several responses to this charge: (1) Even if this was the correct interpretation of these verses, it would be in keeping with prophetic usage in which God indicted Israel for not really living as Israel (see Hosea 1). (2) In keeping with this, throughout the Old Testament, God still addressed His people as Israel (or, the people Judah, etc.), even while saying that they were not really His people. (3) Some interpreters, especially Messianic Jews, take the verses at face value: These were people who claimed to be Jews but were not—in other words, they were Gentiles! In any case, regardless of which interpretation is followed, these two verses can hardly negate the overwhelmingly clear, cumulative evidence of the New Testament.

[258].  Kay Silberling, Ph.D., “The Ephraimite Error,” 1; http://mdl.heartofisrael.org/EphraimiteError.pdf

[259].  Ibid., 1.

[260].  For further references to the primary writings of the Two House camp, with clear refutation of this erroneous teaching, see The Messianic Movement: A Field Guide for Evangelical Christians, 121–129. See also Tim Hegg, “The Two-House Theory: Three Fatal Flaws,” http://www.torahresource.com/English% 20Articles/Two%20House%20Fatal%20Errors.pdf.

[261].  Silberling, 2, points out that in the New Testament, the equivalent Greek term for Hebrew goy, namely ethnos, “refers to the Jewish people in Luke 7:5; 23:2; John 11:48–52; 18:35; Acts 10:22; 24:2,10,17; 26:4; 28:19; 1 Corinthians 10:18; Philippians 3:5.”

[262].  Ibid., 3.

[263].  For a convenient overview, see David Sedaqa, “The Rebirth of Messianic Judaism,” http://www.imja.com/rebirth.html. See also, The Messianic Movement: A Field Guide for Evangelical Christians, 1–85.

[264].  Even for those who are sympathetic to Messianic Judaism, there can be some ambiguity with the statement that someone is an “ordained rabbi.” By what Jewish authority has this person been ordained? On the other hand, there is a similar ambiguity when someone states that he or she is an ordained minister. Ordained by what Christian authority? In the case of the title of “ordained rabbi,” however, believers might mistake this title with that of someone who was an ordained rabbi before coming to faith in Yeshua, which is an entirely different matter in terms of being able to say to the larger Jewish community, “Here’s the testimony of a rabbi who is a believer!”

[265].  http://www.orthodoxrabbis.org/halachic_ruling.htm.

[266].  This means that all marriages performed within the Land are performed by Orthodox rabbis, while marriages performed outside the Land—be they civil or religious—receive full status within Israel but are “registered” rather than recognized.

[267].  http://www.orthodoxrabbis.org/halachic_ruling.htm.

[268].  Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary, 68.

[269].  Ibid., 68–69.

[270].  For this concept of “soulish spirituality,” expressed in Greek with the word psuchikos, literally, “soulish,” see 1 Corinthians 2:14 (nasb); see also James 3:15; Jude 19.

[271].  A good example of a respected, contemporary Christian voice speaking against Israel specifically because of its handling of the Palestinian crisis would be David Hazzard.

[272].  For some recent books, see Sizer, Christian Zionism; Colin Chapman, Whose Promised Land? (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002); idem, Whose Holy City?: Jerusalem and the Future of Peace in the Middle East (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2005); for two articles in major cult-watch publications, see Alan Morrison (a Jewish believer), “The Two Jerusalems: A Biblical Look at the Modern State of Israel, Judaism and the Church” in the Spiritual Counterfeits Project (2004) and Stephen Sizer, “Modern Israel in Bible Prophecy: Promised Return or Impending Exile?” in the Christian Research Journal (2006). For a clear and healthy antidote to these recent books and articles, see Sandra Teplinsky, Why Care about Israel?: How the Jewish Nation Is Key to Unleashing God’s Blessings in the 21st Century (Grand Rapids: Chosen, 2004). See also #32 above.

[273].  Preterists believe that Matthew 24 and related passages found their complete fulfillment in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in a.d. 70, seeing no future application to any of the verses, including those that speak of the glorious return of Jesus.

[274].  A good starting point is Dan Juster and Keith Intrater, Israel, the Church, and the Last Days, repr. (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image, 2005); see also Teplinsky, Why Care about Israel; Brown, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood (with documentation and a bibliographical supplement). For a dispensational approach, see Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, The Footsteps of the Messiah: A Study of the Sequence of Prophetic Events (rev. ed.; San Antonio: Ariel Ministries, 2003).

[275].  Islamic radical Fayiz Azzam, addressing a gathering in Atlanta, 1990, documented in the film Jihad in America.

[276].  See Brown, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, 165–`73.

[277].  http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46178; the article was by Aaron Klein and was posted 7 September 2005, offering detailed parallels between the two tragic events.

[278].  William R. Koenig, Eye to Eye: Facing the Consequences of Dividing Israel (n.p.: About Him, 2006); John P. McTiernan, As America Has Done to Israel (Longwood, Fla.: Xulon Press, 2006).

[279].  See http://www.masada2000.org/geography.html.

[280].  See further Brown, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, 43–57, with reference to other important works.

[281].  Jimmy Carter, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006).

[282].  http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/11/carter.resignations/index.html. Mr. Carter did, in fact, apologize for one statement that was especially poorly worded, implying that terrorists should continue to kill Israelis until a peaceful settlement was negotiated. See http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7006261535.

[283].  As noted above, #53, in Romans, Paul speaks of “Israel” only in Romans 9–11, making reference to “Jews” in the other chapters, but not here. This underscores the fact that he is referring to God’s purposes for the nation as a whole in these chapters.

[284].  Once again, I refer the reader to my 1992 study, Our Hands Are Stained with Blood, which has been translated into more languages than anything I have written, reflecting Christian interest in the subject; among many other important studies, see Dan Cohn-Sherbok, The Crucified Jew: Twenty Centuries of Christian Anti-Semitism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997).

[285].  See the works cited above in part 4, n. 15.

[286].  I only cite this because it gained some circulation in the article by Alan Morrison in the Spiritual Counterfeits Project magazine, cited above in part 4, n. 45.