Testimony offered against the interests of the testifier is
as highly regarded as deathbed confessions. In contrast, Bill Clinton’s
autobiography had been panned by the critics because his testimony was deemed
as self-serving. He only confessed what everyone already knew – his affair with
Monica Lewinsky.
Likewise, it is expected that Orthodox Jews will justify
their rejection of Jesus. However, when they admit the existence of evidence
contrary to their position, this evidence carries more weight than if this
disclosure had supported their position. Let’s look at several interesting
instances of this.
In “Why the Jews Rejected Jesus,” Orthodox Jewish scholar, David Klinghoffer, admitted:
- "The Talmud states
that from forty years before the Temple's destruction and onward, there
were supernatural omens of the disaster to come--that is, starting from
the inception of the Christian religion following the death of Jesus. The
eternal fire of the Temple altar would not stay lit. The monumental bronze
Temple gates opened by themselves. Josephus confirms the Talmud's account
of the inner Sanctuary's east gate and its mysterious openings. He adds
other portents from these years: a bright light shinning around the altar
and the Sanctuary at three in the morning, a cow brought for sacrifice
giving birth to a lamb, apparitions of chariots and armies flying through
the sky above the whole land of Israel." (pg. 117)
Amazingly, after the Crucifixion (cir. 30 AD) and for the
next 40 years until the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, Israel had been
encircled by a series of miraculous omens pointing ominously to their future
destruction.
Why would someone trying to debunk Christianity make such an
incredible admission? Klinghoffer tried to interpret the miraculous events as
omens directed against the Jewish believers in Christ: "Was God not
warning the people of the disastrous course some [the Jewish Christians] had
set out upon?"
However, the Christians had fled to safety across the Jordan to Pella! According to Klinghoffer, it was the Christians who should have been penalized for their heresy. However, it was the Jews who didn’t believe in Christ, who were left to pay the price.
What is even more unbelievable about Klinghoffer’s explanation is the timing of the omens. They began, according to Klinghoffer, at approximately the time of the Crucifixion (30 AD) and lasted for forty years until the destruction of the Temple. They therefore served as a warning to repent to those who had crucified Jesus not those who had followed Jesus.
However, the Christians had fled to safety across the Jordan to Pella! According to Klinghoffer, it was the Christians who should have been penalized for their heresy. However, it was the Jews who didn’t believe in Christ, who were left to pay the price.
What is even more unbelievable about Klinghoffer’s explanation is the timing of the omens. They began, according to Klinghoffer, at approximately the time of the Crucifixion (30 AD) and lasted for forty years until the destruction of the Temple. They therefore served as a warning to repent to those who had crucified Jesus not those who had followed Jesus.
And when did the omens end. After repentance for the Jews
who had rejected Jesus was no longer possible – at their death and destruction
of their Temple. This had nothing to do with the Jewish believers in Christ.
Had the omens been sent for their sake, they would have continued, but they
didn’t.
Klinghoffer asserts that the warnings were directed towards
the Jewish Christians who had gone astray. However, if this had been the case,
calamity should have fallen on them. Instead, it fell upon the nation of
Israel. Why? Israel had refused to repent of their sins and seek God’s mercy,
as Jesus had warned:
- "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate.” (Matthew 23:37-38)
ANOTHER INTERESTING EXAMPLE COMES FROM THE TALMUD. In his
responce to the question, “Why didn’t the red ribbon on the head of the
Scapegoat [on Yom Kippur] turn white in 30 CE [AD]?” Jewish anti-Christian
apologist, Rabbi Tovia Singer reluctantly admits:
·
“In Tractate Yoma 39b, the Talmud… discusses
numerous remarkable phenomena that occurred in the Temple during the Yom Kippur
service… There was a strip of scarlet-dyed wool tied to the head of the
scapegoat which would turn white in the presence of the large crowd gathered at
the Temple on the Day of Atonement. The Jewish people perceived this miraculous
transformation as a heavenly sign that their sins were forgiven. The Talmud
relates, however, that 40 years before the destruction of the second Temple
[approximately 30 AD at the time of the Crucifixion] the scarlet colored strip
of wool did not turn white.”
This is a damning admission. Following the Crucifixion, the
scarlet wool would no longer miraculously become white! It seems that God had
put Israel on notice that He would no longer accept animal sacrifices now that
the ultimate offering of Jesus had been accomplished.
How does Singer explain this cessation at the very time of
the Cross? He claims that various miracles were gradually disappearing because
Israel’s “dedication to the golden rule slacked off.” However, the timing of
this cessation couldn’t have been worse for the Jews who had rejected their
Hope.
Singer also insists that God had been angry with Jesus for
deceiving Israel. However, if so, we’d have expected Him to grant signs of His
approval of the Crucifixion instead of a sign of disapproval — that He no
longer honored the scapegoat to take away Israel’s sins. God’s timing couldn’t
have been worse for Singer!
ONE FINAL EXAMPLE:
Did Jesus perform many miracles? If so, the miracles would
validate His claims, and His detractors would have to offer alternative
explanations or deny them altogether. However, they did not deny His miracles
but instead ascribed them to black magic and Satan. This is exactly what we
find in many of the Talmudic writings:
- Shabbath 104b, p.504 "Jesus was a MAGICIAN and a fool. Mary was an adulteress".
- Sanhedrin 107B of the Babylonian Talmud: "Jesus... stood up a brick to symbolize an idol and bowed down to it. Jesus performed MAGIC and incited the people of Israel and led them astray."
- Sanhedrin 43A: "On Passover Eve they hanged Jesus of Nazareth. He practiced SORCERY, incited and led Israel astray...Was Jesus of Nazareth deserving of a search for an argument in his favor? He was an enticer and the Torah says, 'You shall not spare, nor shall you conceal him!"
- “The Avodat Zerah, however, says that Jesus did MIRACLES as no other rabbi, that his disciples not only healed the sick but even raised the dead in His name, that after He was crucified He rose from the dead, and that He ascended into heaven from the Mount of Olives. All of that is actually in the Talmud – even His enemies acknowledged the truth of what He did. This was written by rabbis who were trying to prevent other Jews from believing in Him; but they had to deal with the historicity of His miracles, of His disciples doing miracles, and not only of His crucifixion but also of His resurrection and ascension into heaven – the Talmud admits He did it!” http://www.moriel.org/articles/sermons/jesus_in_the_talmud.htm
OTHER JEWISH SOURCES:
Josephus, (Antiquities, XVIII 3.2):
- About this time arose Jesus, a wise man, who did good deeds and whose virtues were recognized. And many Jews and people of other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. However, those who became his disciples preached his doctrine. They related that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion and that he was alive. Perhaps he was the Messiah in connection with whom the prophets foretold WONDERS.
According to The
Jewish Encyclopedia, Jesus was often accused by the Talmudists of
performing magic:
- “It is the tendency of all these sources to belittle the person of Jesus by ascribing to him illegitimate birth, MAGIC, and a shameful death …
- “Magic may have been ascribed him over against the miracles recorded in the Gospels.”
According to Celsus, perhaps a non-Jew (in Origen, “Contra
Celsum,” i. 28):
- “Jesus learned MAGIC in Egypt and performed his MIRACLES by means of it; the latter work, in addition, states that he cut the magic formulas into his skin. It does not mention, however, the nature of his magic performances (Tosef., Shab. xi. 4; Yer. Shab. 18d); but as it states that the disciples of Jesus healed the sick “in the name of Jesus Pandera” (Yer. Shab. 14d; Ab. Zarah 27b; Eccl. R. i. 8) it may be assumed that its author held the miracles of Jesus also to have been miraculous cures. Different in nature is the witchcraft attributed to Jesus in the “Toledot.” When Jesus was expelled from the circle of scholars, he is said to have returned secretly from Galilee to Jerusalem, where he inserted a parchment containing the “declared name of God” (“Shem ha-Meforash”), which was guarded in the Temple, into his skin, carried it away, and then, taking it out of his skin, he performed his MIRACLES by its means. This magic formula then had to be recovered from him, and Judah the Gardener (a personage of the “Toledot” corresponding to Judas Iscariot) offered to do it; he and Jesus then engaged in an aerial battle (borrowed from the legend of SIMON MAGUS), in which Judah remained victor and Jesus fled.”
While these sources (except for Josephus) demean Jesus, they
still acknowledge that He had performed miracles. This is remarkable, because
it would have been easier to deny that the miracles had ever taken place.
Evidently, they were not able to do this without being derided by the many who
knew that He was a miracle worker.
But could He have been evil and used black magic, as the
Jewish sources allege? Evidently, if they could have proved this allegation,
their trial of Jewish would have been easy. However, they were unable to find
witnesses.
His miracles not only stand as facts, but they also testify
in favor of His teachings and the New Testament claims.
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