"Micah 5 [a]Marshal your troops now, city of troops,
for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel’s ruler
on the cheek with a rod.
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans[b] of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
5 And he will be our peace
when the Assyrians invade our land
and march through our fortresses.
We will raise against them seven shepherds,
even eight commanders,
6 who will rule[c] the land of Assyria with the sword,
the land of Nimrod with drawn sword.[d]
He will deliver us from the Assyrians
when they invade our land
and march across our borders.
7 The remnant of Jacob will be
in the midst of many peoples
like dew from the Lord,
like showers on the grass,
which do not wait for anyone
or depend on man.
8 The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations,
in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
which mauls and mangles as it goes,
and no one can rescue.
9 Your hand will be lifted up in triumph over your enemies,
and all your foes will be destroyed.
10 “In that day,” declares the Lord,
“I will destroy your horses from among you
and demolish your chariots.
11 I will destroy the cities of your land
and tear down all your strongholds.
12 I will destroy your witchcraft
and you will no longer cast spells.
13 I will destroy your idols
and your sacred stones from among you;
you will no longer bow down
to the work of your hands.
14 I will uproot from among you your Asherah poles[e]
when I demolish your cities.
15 I will take vengeance in anger and wrath
on the nations that have not obeyed me.”"
There is a ruler promised to the people of Israel who will govern over them and save them from the Assyrian people and then God will do away with the idolatry that has taken root within the Land of Israel. The ruler in the context will act as a protector and a comfort to Israel when the Assyrians come to invade their land. To this day, the people of Israel are scattered among the nations, even as far as America and Australia, considering Jews4Judaism and Outreach Judaism operate in those areas.
Jesus came from a manger in Bethlehem to first save his people from their sins, especially the lost sheep of the house of Israel and eventually when he returns shall bring his recompense with him against those who have attacked his people, his people being made up of Jews and Gentiles who have come to faith in him. The Father sends the Son to accomplish this task. Evil and sin will be uprooted from the world and shall not pollute it again.
Hopefully this article has been of help to you.
Answering Judaism.
While I agree this is a prophecy about the mashiach and the messianic age, it is obvious that none of what is described by the prophet occurred during the time of Jesus. Therefore once again, you have to fall back on the Christian invention of the second coming of which there is no teaching in the Hebrew Bible. Furthermore, as one who seems to be a trinitarian who subscribes to the birth of Jesus by the holy spirit, according to the law given by G-d, Jesus would have no tribal affiliation and thus no connection to Judah or King David.
ReplyDeleteWith respect to the subject of tribal lineage, I speak in this in Rabbinic Dilemma 101 and its appendices.
DeleteAs for the two comings, Zechariah 9:9 speaks of Jesus' advent into Jerusalem and in Mark 14 he refers to Daniel 7:13-14 and applies that passage to himself.
I will have to read your comments regarding the "dilemma".
ReplyDeleteLooking at the Zechariah prophecy- another example of Christianity looking at one verse and omitting v10 which is clearly connected to v 9. by the Hebrew letter "vav"
ie. 10. And I will cut off the chariots from Ephraim, and the horses from Jerusalem; and the bow of war shall be cut off. And he shall speak peace to the nations, and his rule shall be from the sea to the west and from the river to the ends of the earth. Did any of this happen in 1st century Judea? Yes I know- that will all happen in the second coming. According to G-d's word in the Tanakh, the mashiach will accomplish many things in his first and only coming.
eg.“In His Days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell securely” (Jeremiah 23:6) Jesus had his days. According to Christian theology, he died was resurrected and ascended to heaven. Thus his second coming is really his third coming. How do you decide what is to be accomplished with whatever coming you are enumerating???
Wrt Daniel 7 although Rashi states this is the mashiach many other commentators think this refers to Israel. The term son of man is often used in the Tanakh and is merely referring to humans. The passages are referring to the glorification of those righteous ones in the messianic age. The verse in Aramaic does not say bar enash- son of man, but rather kvar enash-LIKE a son of man. The verse is explained by the angel in v 27 to mean the righteous of the nation of Israel.
27. And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under all the heavens will be given to the people of the high holy ones; its kingdom is a perpetual kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey [it]."