Transcription
One of the great mysteries to Christians is how anyone could read the words of Isaiah 53 and not see Jesus. Many Jews today believe a Messiah will come someday to vindicate the nation of Israel.
In Luke, the boy Jesus amazed the priest in the temple with his teachings. Did the Sadducees change their minds about anything based on this encounter? And did they forget all about those teachings when they re-enountered Jesus as an adult?
So my question is kind of twofold. Um, today it's about the glory of God and about him not sharing that with anybody. So, in Daniel 7, when it talks about God giving the son of man, whoever that is, um, glory and a kingdom and dominion and all of that stuff, is that the same Hebrew word that's used in Isaiah? I think it's possibly 52 when he talks about he won't share glory with no one.
Numbers 12, verses 5-10, where it talks about God descending in a pillar of cloud and he stands at the entrance of the tent and he called Aaron and Miriam both out and he starts speaking to them about the uh visions and how he only speaks to Moses face to face. But in verse 8, it says that he, uh, Moses could see and behold the image of God. My question here is that I had a Christian tell me because he could see the image of God, this points to Jesus as a triune God because you have a physical description of God.
A Jewish woman I know received what she believes is the Holy Spirit, accompanied by speaking in tongues. My question is how do we understand these experiences? How should we view, view, view them scripturally, especially across different covenants and theological frameworks?
Uh, Rabbi, uh, could you briefly, uh, describe, uh, what your beliefs are in terms of the scenario for the end of times? I know it's a complicated subject, but can you summarize?
Yeah. And and God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness. Couldn't this be proof of the [Music] trinity?
Welcome to Tok. I'm your host William Hall, broadcasting live out of Kingsland, Texas, USA, with another episode of Rabbi Tovia Singer's Let's Get Biblical Q&A. Coming to you from the Holy Rabbi, the man, the myth, the legend, Tovia Singer. Welcome back, sir.
Pleasure. Great to be here. And I just put my phone on mute and I'd ask all the viewers to do the same. And the host as well. No, we all, everybody, like anybody watching, just the phone, you don't have to power it off, but just throw it on mute. I say that, I say that kind of in a funny way because as soon as you said that, my phone went bleep. So I, I got to make sure that's going on vibrate also. Yeah. Very nice. Thank you, sir. So my phone will only, uh, make a noise for, uh, rocket attacks from our good friends, the Houthis in Yemen.
Who, when did that happen? I think Thursday. Yeah. Rocket sirens went off and I was walking the streets of Jerusalem. Wow. And I just, just stood there watching.
Okay. Well, uh, we will rock on into the show then. Um, so we've got this guy, I don't know his name. U, you want, how did you come across this guy?
Yeah. So, there's this, uh, preacher who does a whole thing on Isaiah 53, but it's not just a thing or a recording on the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. It's like, how are the Jews so blind that they don't recognize that Jesus is spoken of clearly in the 53rd chapter of Isaiah? And it's very striking that in this very brief, short, he actually manages to, um, to bring up every possible error that one could make when examining this extraordinary chapter. Let's take a look.
Okay, here we go. One of the great mysteries to Christians is how anyone could read the words of Isaiah 53 and not see Jesus. Many Jews today believe a Messiah will come someday to vindicate the nation of Israel. They expect a national leader, a political savior. So Jews today do not believe Isaiah or any of the other prophets prophesied of Jesus as the Messiah. Now, this brings us to the question of this discussion. What do Jews say about Isaiah 53? And we're not asking this question because we're merely curious about what they believe. We're also examining this subject because Jewish interpretation has influenced Christian thinking. Could that servant be Israel in all those cases and yet be an individual Messiah, a single person in chapter 53? What? So that's really astonishing. So he just can't understand why Jews don't see Jesus in Isaiah 53. And as it turns out, this is why I care about Christians, because when they're in churches, and as we're speaking right now, uh, tens of millions of Christians are in church throughout the United States, and they're hearing this chapter preached. But what they're not hearing is the chapters that introduce it. And this is why my heart goes out to them. And sometimes Christians are under the impression that I somehow don't like them or I'm like biased or anti-Christian. It's because I like them, because I care about them, that I want to alert them, uh, to that they're engaging in an isog Jesus. That's the greatest crime in biblical studies, where you read a passage or chapter, in this case, completely ripped out of its original context.
So, as it turns out, Isaiah 53 is the fourth of four servant songs. Isaiah presupposed that by the time you came to the 53rd chapter of Isaiah, you have already read the chapters that introduce it. Well, if you look at Isaiah 41:8 and 9, that's the first of the four servant songs, uh, we are told that, um, Israel is God's servant. Now, that doesn't mean all of Israel, okay? It doesn't mean George Soros, okay? It doesn't mean the senator from Vermont. It doesn't mean Ben from Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. It's not talking about these people, okay? It's not talking about many Hollywood moguls. It's talking about those who are loyal to God. Thus, the term servant, that's what Isaiah is speaking about. Isaiah 42:6, we're told that the, the servant is a covenant nation. 43:10. I mean, 43:10 and 11. You would, if you like being a Christian, don't read those two passages. 43:10 begins by saying, of the, you are my witnesses, declares the Lord, my servant whom I have chosen, so they should know, believe, and understand that I am Lord. Before me no god was formed, neither was the one after me. For verse 11, I, even I, am the Lord, and besides me, there's no savior. I mean, those words, I wish should only echo in the halls of the Vatican and at Dallas Theological Seminary. But the servant is not one person, but rather many people. You are my witnesses, declares the Lord, and my servant. Now, this does not mean that every time the word servant appears in Tanakh, it always is referring to Israel. It can obviously refer to anyone who is God's servant. It could be referring to King David, as an example. The key is in this context. That's the key. You always want to do an exoggetical reading, never an isogetical reading. That's the key. It's the context of the passages that introduce Isaiah 53 that matter. Of course, if you go to Jeremiah, of course, if you go to Ezekiel, you'll find that David is called my servant. Do you find my servant is about a lot of people, but here these are the servant songs. These matter. Isaiah 44:4, Isaiah 45:1, Isaiah 45:21, Isaiah 48:20, Isaiah 49:3, all of them are identifying the servant as Israel. In fact, we are told in 49 that the role of the servant is two, there's a a two-fold mandate for this nation, not the entire people, but rather the righteous remnant of the nation. And that is they are to do two things: to restore the rest of the Jewish people, to restore the the tribes of Jacob. There are many, many Jewish people who don't know about the God of Israel, who have assimilated, who are lost. Our job is to bring them back. There are so many Jewish people who don't know they're even Jewish. Our job is to bring them home. How many people over the years watching this show looked into their ancestry and discovered that they were in fact Jewish and came back to the God of Israel and to be an or to be a light to the nations. So that's a two-fold rule. So the servant, the remnant, is to bring back the rest of Israel. Now, why do I emphasize that all? Because a lot of, uh, Christian apologists who attack when you say, "Well, how could Israel bring back Israel?" No, it's the remnant that brings back the rest of Israel. Or in the language of Isaiah 49:5 and 6, it is the, uh, servant that is to bring back the tribes of Jacob, explicitly, explicitly. Moreover, who is speaking in Isaiah 53? Again, this goes to the tragedy that Christians are never taught the chapters that introduce it. They know three chapters in Isaiah: Isaiah 7, 9, and 53. That's what they know. They don't. And I've done this many times on YouTube where you see me, uh, confronted by a missionary on the streets of New York, Jerusalem, and when they quote Isaiah 53, I ask them, "What does it say in 52, 54?" They have no clue. They have no idea. That's why I care about them. They just don't know. They don't know what it says on the side of a package of cigarettes. You tell them it's not good. You got to know the context. Who is speaking in Isaiah 53? Well, it's the kings of nations that are bewildered, that are shocked, that are stunned at the end of days. How do you know? It says that so will he cast out many nations. 52:15. Kings will shut their mouths because of them, because of that which told them, they will see that which they had never heard, they will finally consider. And they open with the question, 53, verse 1, "Me he saying, Hashem al-mela, who would have believed our report and look to whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed?" Okay, by the way, 52 is speaking about Israel in the singular where God, uh, rescues and, uh, delivers the children of Israel through his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations of the world. It's in there. And we're going to see that God's arm is again in 53. All the context of the salvation of Israel from the, in the eyes of all the nations. 54. What is that about? Look, the next time a missionary confronts you, the most, there are some really, there's some really bad faith actors out there and no matter what you say, they don't care. But most of these people, parishioners, filling pews in Baptist and Catholic churches, are sincere people. They just don't know. What is 54 about? 54 is, uh, about Israel, who is the wife who is forlorn, who is despised and rejected, who is childless, a promise to her. These are like the waters of Noah. Just as, uh, the waters of Noah, just as the waters of Noah will never prevail, you know, no weapon that's forged and formed against you will succeed. I mean, that's what the whole, that's what that's all about. So all these chapters is about the salvation of the remnant of Israel in the eyes of all the nations.
Now, 53 is very striking because Isaiah 53, which really is 15 verses, because it really begins in 52:13. So you have three verses at the end of 52 and you have the 12 verses of 53. There is a subdivision in this prophecy. In that in 52:13-15, God is speaking. 53:1-8, the gentile kings of nations are speaking. And in 53:9-12, in those four last four verses, God resumes speaking. So 53:1-8, the non-Jews are speaking. When are they saying this? This is a soliloquy in the future, in the messianic age, which may be in a matter of days or hours or weeks away. We're probably very close to the time of the final redemption. Probably are. Right? This is what the nations will say in the messianic age. They'll be shocked and stunned. Why? Who would have believed this? And they will have to make sense out of Jewish suffering. Until that point, the nations assigned Jewish suffering to that we rejected their demigods and prophets and so on. And in fact, I'm not encouraging you to do this because it's not pleasant. But if you watch and observe the YouTube videos produced by virulent anti-Semites, one of the points they raise repeatedly is, why did the Jews suffer so much? What could they have possibly done so wrong? Why did every country expel them? Right? And as it turns out, like when the 1611 King James Bible was published, there were no Jews in England because the England, I know it's hard to believe that England would do such a thing, but they expelled all the Jews, as did France, as did Switzerland. I mean, right. So, so that act that is a a frequently used, uh, attack against the Jews, like, why do the Jews suffer so much? Incidentally, they don't consider the opposite. And now I would never be so obnoxious to do this, but like when they claim that almost all the disciples and followers of Jesus were all killed, all executed, all murdered, or died for their religion, right? Would I ask them, like, why was God so angry at all the first Christians? Like, what did they do wrong? Obviously, they believe in the false religion. I think Christians would find that incredibly offensive. However, they have no qualms about using that against Jews. I'm not, I'm talking about really vicious anti-Semitic, uh, Christians. They're out there and they use this frequently. But as it turns out, this is what was on the lips of all the church fathers and the early reformers. Luther spoke this way. Calvin, Bucer, they all spoke this way. Why are the Jews so, and in fact, Augustine sought to solve, uh, this issue? We're saying that Jews are supposed to suffer and be in a beleaguered state throughout history, uh, as a testimonial to what happens to a nation that not only rejects Jesus but actually kills him. I mean, in his City of God, he, he goes on a rant on this that like, why are the Jews still here? Um, because they're supposed to suffer. Now, so at the end of days, this answer will no longer work and the non-Jews will discover two things in their view. So, this is what they're going to say. Isaiah is not speaking here. He is recording prophetically what the Gentile leaders of nations will say in the messianic age. Okay? After all, the non-Jews are coming to the Jew, 10 grabbing their shirt and saying, "Let us go with you because we have heard that God is with you." Zechariah 8:23. How will the non-Jews, uh, assemble, make sense out of Jewish suffering? And they discover two things. They're saying this. God is not saying this. God is telling us through the prophet Isaiah. This is what they will say. The first thing, and I think is the most powerful thing, it's something that you, William, and I have witnessed together on the show. How many non-Jews have called into this show? How many former Christians called into this show and say, "Because of the suffering of the Jewish people, because of what I discovered, what the Jews endured just in the 20th century, let alone what occurred nearly two years ago, that brought me to the God of Israel." We've, we've had that happen so many times on air. Jewish suffering, perhaps not for all, but for many people, it draws them to the God of Israel and they become noises or convert to the Jewish faith. So by his stripes we were healed. Jewish suffering triggers within the heart of the non-Jew a desire to repent or conversely just go to the other side and weaponize our suffering as a weapon against us. To and we're living in such a time where people today have very strong opinions about Jews, either extremely negative or extremely positive, very little in between. Now, people might not express their views because it might be socially unacceptable, but people have very strong views about Jews. A a group that's one quarter of 1% of the world's population. Like, people don't have very strong views about the Chinese, the, the most successful race on the planet. People don't have strong views about Chinese, Japanese, or Koreans. Six, you know, Korean, Korea is South Korea is a very successful, strong views and they work hard, blah, blah, whatever. Like, I love the Koreans, I hate the Koreans. We're not talking about food now. We're talking about the people themselves. But the Jews, so polarizing. So number one, and most importantly, it is the Jew that triggers the Jewish suffering that triggers within the non-Jew repentance. That's not vicarious atonement. Be very careful. So there is a concept, not a concept, it's all over Tanakh and rabbinic literature, that the suffering of those who are faithful causes others to repent. That's a, that's a concept all over Tanakh. That's not vicarious atonement. Okay? So be, if the reason I raise this is because these are the typical arguments that are employed, that are marshaled by missionaries that are attacking the Jewish faith. The second thing the non-Jews discover in these eight passages is because of the, uh, sins of my people, they were stricken. And you could always depend on the Christian, uh, translators to alter this text. Instead of saying they were stricken, it says he was stricken. Incidentally, there are Christian Bibles that correctly annotate this chapter, like the New Revised Standard Version, the Oxford Annotation, Messer's, uh, very famous Bible in their commentary, and he's a Christian, he was from Princeton, um, says it's talking about the Jews who suffer as a humiliated individual. The New English Bible, Oxford Annotation, this is Christian stuff, and they admit this, they concede all this, but they're real scholars. So they don't, they don't weaponize this. One other point we've heard and that is the idea that the rabbis invented this idea that the servant is, uh, Israel, but before that, it's the Messiah. This is completely not true. Moreover, these guys make up stuff like it was Rashi, who was one of the greatest commentators, medieval commentators on all of the Hebrew Bible and Talmud and so on, invented this. So Rashi was born in 1040. He died in 1104. So right in the medieval period, right in the time of the first crusades. Uh, he invented this. This is just complete lie. It's just completely made up. It's just completely flat earth, complete nonsense. Moreover, the church fathers testified. It means the, we're talking about patristic church fathers. We're talking about ante-Nicene church fathers, as an example. Origen. Origen was almost certainly the most prolific writer of all the church fathers. He's really a very bright guy. Lived in the 3rd century. Okay? Lived in the 300s, in the 200s. He wrote a response to Celsus. Uh, now, Celsus, just so you understand, Celsus was a, um, a philosopher who had a very, uh, dim view of Christianity and wrote a whole book on attacking Christianity. So he's not Jewish or anything like that. He believed in the, whatever the gods of the Greek or Roman world, but he was fiercely anti-Christian and wrote a, a work on the true doctrine. That means it's an attack on Christianity. Now, his book does not survive his work. However, it does survive through Origen, who wrote an apologetic work against it where he quotes essentially almost the whole book, and that book is called Origen contra Celsum, or Celsum. Um, that book, Origen literally, in section, it was translated by Chadwick at Oxford, in section 55, I think it's page 50, where he says Origen says that in his time, speaking to Jews about Isaiah 53, the Jews said that Isaiah 53 is speaking about the nation of Israel, as though a single individual. That's third century. And that's not coming from someone who is a, who's a big supporter of Rabbi Tovia Singer. That's a Christian. That's a Christian church father. That's a Christian doctor. That's a Christian theologian. He admits this, that the Jews in his time, third century, you know what third century means? Third century, that's like a century before Constantine. So he's writing this, um, response to Celsus, who's writing in the second century. So they live, let's say about, about 80 years later. Okay? So he admits this. So what now? And moreover, if you go to the end of 53, remember what I shared with you from 53:9 through 12, God resumes speaking. Now, God is going to just put this all together and say, if the servant will make his soul a restitution. Hashem is referring to the offering that somebody who admits his sin brings in Leviticus chapter 5. So if the servant repents, does teshuvah, navo, if the servant, if that's the first word, it's interesting, it's mistranslated as when. It's, if the servant will make his soul a restitution, will do teshuvah. So God will then in turn bless the servant with many things, such as he will see, uh, children, word there is zera, which means always means physical seed, have a long life, and the, um, and the success of God will prosper in his hands. So this doesn't even make sense if it's talking about Jesus. How could, if Jesus will repent, then God will give Jesus long life, which he didn't have? He's God. What do you mean? It doesn't even make sense. If he's God, the second person of the Trinity, how could God be giving God long life or children? He didn't have physical children. The success of God will, will prosper in the hands of God. It doesn't make any sense. It only makes sense if the servant really has a choice, could mess up or not mess up.
Now, you might ask the question, well, Isaiah 53 says about the servant that there'll be, um, the servant will commit no iniquity, neither will be any lies in his mouth. Well, it doesn't mean Jews don't lie and don't sin. Well, they repent. The servant, the righteous remnant of Israel, does repent. See Zephaniah 3:12-16. Listen, you don't have to. Just read it for yourself. Read it for yourself because you could say, maybe I'm biased. This is why I always say read it for yourself. I want you to get into primary sources, the original sources. And you know, you might say, well, Rabbi Singer just has an unflattering view of Christians and that's why he's coming up with this. It isn't. It's in the text itself. And I, I want to train you to read it for yourself. And there it tells us the, the servant of God will be humble. Says it openly. The remnant of Israel will be humble and commit no iniquities and there'll be no lies found in his mouth. So read Zephaniah chapter 3, 12-16. It's all there. Okay? And the text in Isaiah 3, of course, says that the servant will vindicate the just for many by his knowledge, by his knowledge. According to Christian theology, the servant vindicates the world by his blood, not knowledge. Anyways, this is a very important point and I'm pleased God we'll see the coming of the true Messiah, quickly, in our time. That's awesome. That was the one thing that threw me off the most about the knowledge. That would have been the one place that would have been great for Christianity to have blood written there instead of knowledge.
Okay, we have Joel. Uh, let me get him online here. Joel, you are live on the air. Go ahead and state your question for Rabbi.
Uh, yes. In Luke, the boy Jesus amazed the priest in the temple with his teachings. Did the Sadducees change their minds about anything based on this encounter? And did they forget all about those teachings when they re-encountered Jesus as an adult?
You're, you're asking the question that in the book of Luke, we are told about, I assume we're told about, uh, Jesus's, uh, young teenage experience in the temple, right? And everyone was marveled at his knowledge and wisdom. Like, how did everybody forget? Uh, can you go and hang up now, Tony, for answer? Thank you for your call. Right, right. So, yeah, this is unique to Luke. We, we get one story of Jesus's childhood where Mary and Joseph bring him to the temple and sort of forget about him and go back and realize, "Oh, we left the kid." Okay, there's a lot of forgetting in the New Testament. The stories don't have to line up. There's going to be a very short answer. I mean, John the Baptist, Luke, we are in only Luke, we're told that John the Baptist was actually cousins of Jesus through Mary, right? John the Baptist, we are told in the Gospels that, or the synoptic Gospels, he's baptizing Jesus and exclaims, "I'm not worthy, you know, of baptizing him. You know, I can't, you know, tie his sandals." But how is it that when you know, John the Baptist seems to forget who Jesus is when he's in prison? It doesn't matter. I'm, I'm sorry to give you such a truncated answer, but it, the stories don't have to agree. They just, each story has to work internally. But the Gospels very frequently, uh, contradict themselves because it's whatever, uh, delivers the, the juice right there. So in that childhood, uh, episode with Jesus, the point is that even as a kid, he's displaying extraordinary, uh, intel, you know, extraordinary intellectual prowess. Now, that's going to be amped up in, in other books that didn't make it into the canon. So, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that in Luke 1:6, it says that Zachariah and Elizabeth were sinless, because that doesn't agree with the rest of the New Testament. Says that everybody sins. He says, "Well, it doesn't matter. The point there is to portray Zachariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptist, as perfect people." So it, it just doesn't matter. It doesn't have to add up. So don't think of it that way. That, that's just the way it is. Thank you for your question. All right. Cool. Okay. Moving on to our next caller here. Miss Russell, you are live on the air. Go ahead with your question.
Hello. Hi. You're live on the air. Go ahead.
Oh, good morning. Um, I'm, I'm concerned about the tale of Philip and the Ethiopian in Acts 8. In, in verse 30, this Philip character asks the Ethiopian if Isaiah is being understood properly. And then in verse 34, the author of Acts has the eunuch asking Philip if the passage in Isaiah was referring to quote someone else, which incidentally, I wasn't going to talk about it, but it's Isaiah 53:7 through 8. But my question really is, in church, or statement in church, we were taught that Isaiah, which we don't know anything about, um, actually like deserved to be snuffed out by his grandson. And my question is, you know, constantly told, oh, like the disciples were Jewish and Philip is a Jewish name. And I just recently learned that this like Ethiopian Candace, it's not even a name. Like it's a title. I'm not a history buff, but I was wondering if is Philip's, is Philip like a common Jewish name or was it just a title? Like there's multiple Titi or, and like, are there tons of Jewish boys in Israel named Philip? Thank you.
Okay. All right. Go ahead and hang now to. Thank you. Bye-bye.
I've never, I've never, uh, so the name Philip, um, has a Greek origin. Um, it, it means, uh, think like something like a lover of horses, something like that. Uh, but I don't think that's germane. What is important here is that Acts is conveying that that he's, he's proselytizing a eunuch from Gaza, of all places, and using Isaiah 53. I, I don't have reason to believe the story occurred or whether it didn't occur. However, this is what I would caution you on. I would not use these sorts of arguments, uh, to prove any points because Christians will find them pedantic and and be offended. Christians, I've come to learn, by and large, are sincere people. That's not what I thought as a kid. When I was a child, I didn't like Christians. I thought they were insane. As a youngster born 15 years after the Holocaust, growing up in that world, I, there was just virtually no Christians that I could admire that I knew personally. Okay? I mean, I can admire, I don't know, George Washington, but, you know, I didn't know him. So, I, I thought Christians were insane. I came to discover that there were really some really, really nice Christians out there who were very sincere and really, really believe in their religion and they are asking meaningful questions. They really want to understand Isaiah 53 and it's vital that you give them meaningful, thoughtful answers. Never mock, never be disparaging, and never be, uh, picky. Never like go for a little detail. Don't do that. It's, um, it's going to not only not inspire the person you want to, uh, persuade, it's going to, they'll find you to be repulsive because you're missing the big picture. Like, Jesus changed my life, you know, he, he spoke to me, whatever. Okay. So, it's important. So, now, would Jews have names, Greek names? Of course. Of course they were. There were Jews who had names like Alexander. There were, there were, there were Tanaim with the name Yeshua. There were Tanaim with the, you know, Titus. There were all kinds of odd names. So, Jews could have those names. That's not germane. What is important is the content. Okay, that's what's critical. Anyways, I hope you got that. Look at the big picture. Address, um, the Christian's question very directly, thoughtfully. I mean, if you're going to engage, do that. I, I wouldn't recommend these kinds of answers. I don't think they, they're useful. All right. Thank you.
Okay. Interesting. Joseph, you are live on air. Go ahead with your question, sir.
So, my question is kind of twofold. Um, today it's about the glory of God and about him not sharing that with anybody. So, in Daniel 7, when it talks about God giving the son of man, whoever that is, um, glory and a kingdom and dominion and all of that stuff, is that the same Hebrew word that's used in Isaiah? I think it's possibly 52 when he talks about he won't share glory with no one. And then when it talks about in another spot in Isaiah, it talks about God is exalted, right? And then another spot talks about the servant being exalted. Is that the same Hebrew word? And and what is the, what is kind of the context of that? Doesn't really, it wouldn't make sense that God's going to exalt the servants to his level, but a lot of people try to make it sound like that. So, I'm trying to get Hebrew context for that, you know.
Okay, it's a good question. Okay, go ahead and hang up now, Anthony. Thank you.
So, at first glance, this is tricky. And it's tricky because Daniel 7:13-4 are not written in Hebrew. They're written in Aramaic. As it turns out, um, Daniel 2:4 to the very end of Daniel 7, which means it includes the passages that you're quoting, it's all Aramaic. It's not Hebrew. They are related languages. They're, I've said this many times that Aramaic and Hebrew are sister languages, but they're, they're definitely not the same language. Um, but they're the relationship is really strong. So therefore, the, those words, so there are words that like the word schlita. So first of all, Daniel 7:13-4 is speaking about the Messiah. It's speaking about the fifth and final kingdom. It's speaking about the kingdom that's of God, rather the kingdom of men. It's contrasting the kingdom of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Edom with the coming of Messiah. Okay? And it's when it says that one like a son of a man comes with the clouds of heaven, not on clouds like Christians say, doesn't say that, with clouds of heaven to the Ancient of Days, that's God. Okay? So it doesn't have the kind of glory that you find in Isaiah 45, but it's, it's very high. That means he will have, uh, dominion, uh, uh, glory, his kingship. He will affect the whole world. I mean, in Isaiah 2, verse 3 and 4, maybe the most famous messianic passages in all of Tanakh, we are told that the Messiah himself is given to the nations, which means rebuke, and they're going to listen to him. He's going to be their rabbi. No, there's no miracle stuff going on there. He's going to judge among the nations, not after the sight of his eye, but the spirit that God places upon him. See Isaiah 11, verse 1, and more importantly, two and three. Okay? And all the nations will serve him, means to serve. Okay? So he will have dominion. And so that's what's key. And it's a kingdom that, that this is the end of it, that unlike all the previous kingdoms, will not be destroyed. The messianic age will never come to an end. There will never be another. Why is that important here? So, it's not like, like every knee will bow and all that. That's a little bit different. So, that's not, I know what you're thinking in the back of your head, and that is you're thinking of the Carmen Christi of Philippians 2:6-11. It's not that. But it's the malchus that will have complete over the world, and the whole world will know that God's one and his name is one. Zechariah 14. So everyone gets it at the end of the days. There's no wars in the world because everyone, all the nations will be of one accord. They will stream to Jerusalem. For out of Zion will go forth the law and the word of God. For out of Zion will go forth the Torah and the word of God. That's where I am right now. That's it. It's really it. But there will be no other religions in the world. There'll be no Ukraine, Russia, uh, conflict. There's no civil war in so many African countries as of speaking right now. I'm 62 miles away from the Gaza Strip. I'm 62 miles, uh, northeast of the Gaza Strip. That's where I am right now. There's a war going on. Okay, that's done. No wars in the world. Everyone will be of one accord. The wolf will lie with the lamb. Okay, so that's all that's going on here. So, and what Daniel is doing here, and it's actually Daniel's receiving this prophecy. What comes into view here in Daniel is that unlike in the past where one nation, one kingdom is moves over to the next, mean the Babylonian Empire, then, uh, emerges from it the Persian Empire, and from it, uh, emerges the Greek Empire, and from it emerges this Edom, this horrible empire, 10 horns and the little horn. So they're always one is going to the next. Here it stops. And how long does it go? Forevermore. That's what comes into view. Anyways, great question. But the language is, is Aramaic. It's not Hebrew. Thank you.
Uh, Jacob, you are live in here. Go ahead with your question.
Hello, Rabbi. It's always an honor to speak to you. My question today is about Numbers 12, verses 5-10, where it talks about God descending in a pillar of cloud and he stands at the entrance of the tent and he called Aaron and Miriam both out and he starts speaking to them about the, uh, visions and how he only speaks to Moses face to face. But in verse 8, it says that he, uh, Moses could see and behold the image of God. My question here is that I had a Christian tell me because he could see the image of God, this points to Jesus as a triune God because you have a physical description of God. So that's my question here.
Rabbi Clear, I don't even get the question. Our context is that, uh, Miriam and Aaron had spoken inappropriately about Mosher Rabbeinu. That's our context in Numbers chapter 12.
Okay, Rabbi, can I go and hang up with Jose or Jacob?
Yeah, please do.
Okay, Jacob, hang down. Thank you, brother.
Okay. Okay, Rabbi. Go ahead.
It's really very beautiful. So, okay. So first the context, remember, never an isog Jesus, always an exegesis. So what's the context? The context is that Miriam and Aaron, those are Moses' siblings, spoke about Moses in a way that was not appropriate. So it says that in fact, uh, that in fact, it really says that he is completely trustworthy in my house, which means that Mosher Rabbeinu is the chief of all prophets. Okay? In fact, of the, one of the 13 core principles, foundational principles of the Jewish faith, if one rejects this, one's a heretic, is that we believe that Moses, of blessed memory, was the greatest of all prophets and his level of revelation is unmatched, unparalleled. And that's the next verse. Elabra, I spoke to him, um, mouth to mouth. That's what it actually says. And the key is that Moses was completely awake and completely conscious when God spoke to him. He did not have to go into a sleep or he came to him in some sort of riddle. Now, the word riddle, what it means is that whatever it means, it means that the person is not just hearing, like for instance, a prophet, of blessed memory, he's sleeping and God is speaking to him. Remember Samuel comes out and goes to Eli and says, "What's going on? Who's calling me?" And he says, "Go back to sleep." So prophets would, um, receive revelation from God when they were asleep or they saw something, but they're not actually hearing God's voice in a fully conscious state. As it turns out, one of the reasons, really the primary reason, why angels were created, I'm just for one minute going, I think this is too important to ignore. Why would God create angels? Like, why would he need them? Like, you and I need assistance and messengers, but why would God need a secretary? Why would God need an angel? Because the angel means, well, the primary purpose of an angel is actually to communicate with people who can speak to God. But when an angel speaks, it's like it's God speaking. Now, the angel, technically speaking, see Judges chapter 2, verse 1 and 2. And that's so what Hashem is saying about Moses, that he, that to him, there was, I didn't come to him in some sort of demian, and some sort of, in some sort of. And then at the end of the verse, he says, you know, he asks them, are you not afraid to say anything that's unflattering about Mosher Rabbeinu? Right? Okay. So, so Mosher Rabbeinu is the chief of all prophets. But be very, very careful. When the Torah says that God spoke to Moses face to face, there's a modifier, as a man speaks to his friend. Meaning that Mosher Rabbeinu, he heard God's voice and could record everything that the Almighty told him, letter for letter. That's why the Torah is unique in revelation, that every letter is, there was, uh, written by the dictation of Hashem. Moses had no, uh, influence on what was written in the Torah. The last eight passages of Deuteronomy were written by Joshua, his disciple. Moses had passed away. So therefore, now, although Isaiah is the word of God, but God, um, appeared to, um, Isaiah in a vision. In fact, that's how Isaiah begins. What exactly means was metaphysical? I can't pretend to know. But Isaiah could not be in a fully conscious state when God was, uh, conveying this to him, and he was writing it in his, according to the, these are the greatest people that ever lived, but no one, no one could approach Mosher Rabbeinu. And although Isaiah is the word of God, but it is going through the filter of Isaiah, one of the greatest prophets who ever lived. The Torah is, and that's why I just say this, I have to get this off my chest. I really don't like it when people who are, uh, academics, means secular academics, and I heard this many times, and it's really, it's really a, a bad faith argument to make, and I, I have seen this because, you know, I'm interviewed in this world where people who really ought to know, really, really ought to know, they just should know better, but they straw man. And so when the Torah says that Moses was the most humble of, you know, most humble person, which he was, right? So they mock it. Now, these are people, many of them, these are professors at Ivy League schools, and many of them have a Jewish background. So they, they're straw-manning it. That means they're making a claim that Moses wrote it from our view, that we don't believe that. And then Moses wrote about himself that he's more humble. Moses had no input on that. You've got to steelman this. You can't straw man it. If you're making an argument, especially, especially, you know, if you have a bias, I don't, I have a bias, everybody has an opinion. But if you want to persuade someone, you have to take something. You, you can't straw man it. It's wrong. It is, it's immoral to say that the Torah is, is could be mocked because the Torah testifies that Moses was the most humble person. But we don't hold that Moses, um, wrote that of his own accord. He wrote exactly what God told him to write. Do you understand? And I, I say it to the academics. It's not fair. That means there, you're raising many questions that are valid questions that really deserve an answer. That's not one of them. It's just wrong. You should know better. And I encourage you that when you're speaking to audiences who are ignorant of this, means audiences that are not familiar with what Jewish people believe about the Torah, and then you straw man and you know, set up a straw man and topple it. Well, that's not what we believe. Okay. What's the weakest form of argumentation? Thank you for your question.
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Are not familiar with what Jewish people believe about the Torah and then you straw man and you know, set up a straw man and topple it. Well, that's not what we believe. Okay, that's the weakest form of argumentation. Thank you for your question.
Okay, very nice. Okay, our next caller, Rabbi, is, uh, a friend of yours or at least an acquaintance of yours, lives right down the street from you in Jerusalem. Uh, caller Schlomo, welcome to the show. Go ahead and tell Rabbi your question. Introduce yourself if you want.
Greetings, Rabbi. My name is Schlomo. I was raised Methodist with Trinitarian beliefs, Father, Son, Holy Ghost. But I always felt confused like I was leaving one out. Only one had a name. Later in Pentecostalism, which I, I shifted, dropped one and only had Father and Son. Then 10 years ago, after living in a Jewish community here in Jerusalem for maybe four or five years, I, I formally converted to Orthodox Judaism. Even though I felt my mom was Jew, but long story short, I, I, to make sure I converted. My question is about tongues. I experienced speaking in tongues, but always had questions back years ago. It felt strange, though I, I was taught it was holy. Recently, a very devout Messianic Jewish woman I know received what she believes is the Holy Spirit and accompanied by speaking in tongues. My question is how do we understand these experiences? How should we view, view them scripturally, especially across different covenants and theological frameworks?
Excellent question. I've spoken in tongues too. Isn't that weird? That's crazy stuff, man. Okay. Well, thank you for your call. I appreciate you calling in. Thank you. Hawaii. Schlomo is a very, very, very, very holy, special, dear friend, very holy person. So, glossolalia, it's, um, uh, it's a phenomenon we find in so many different religions where people can spontaneously speak in putative languages that are unknown to them. The Native American Indians would do this in their chants routinely. Charismatic Christians. Now, for many people when I'm viewing me now, when I say charismatic Christians, you think I'm, I'm saying that Christians who have this outgoing, great stage presence, or no, it's that means the Pentecostal movement, which really was, uh, invented in a little more than a century ago in California, where now it's not the first time that kind of thing came up. But the idea that, you know, Christians still had the gifts of the Holy Spirit, okay? Most Christians believe this is all nonsense. Okay? John MacArthur, who we spoke about a few weeks ago, is a fierce opponent of this kind of, uh, silly idea. But the key point is that glossolalia, or speaking in tongues, is found in so many different religious traditions. It's found in the Far East. It's found, as I said, amongst Native American Indians. And what they have in common is they're saying nothing. I mean, so the way we find in the Christian Bible, and particularly they call Pentecostal because this comes up right in the beginning of Acts, which is the transition between, uh, the putative life of Jesus and the church that follows. So we find in the early Acts, the disciples are in Jerusalem. They don't, not going up to the Galilee, and there they're in a room and they're all suddenly are able to speak in foreign languages, and there are many people who are present from foreign lands, from Arabia, from Ethiopia, from all over the place, and they are, they marvel at the disciples of Jesus and how
They're able to speak their language. How then, like I, I would imagine, right? If you know, if if if I met someone on the streets of Jerusalem who is Chinese, and I just began to speak fluent Mandarin, the person would go, "Oh, how do you speak Chinese?" Well, I could have studied in school or something, but they would be, I, I, you know, if I started speaking Cantonese, I'm sure that people would go, "Whoa, how did that happen?"
But that's the story we're presented with in the Christian Bible. And we're told in the book of Acts that this was used as a sign to demonstrate that these people really were filled with the Holy Spirit, and there were tongues of flames there. That's just read it for yourself. The first two chapters of of Acts, okay? And that's why it's called the Pentecost experience.
Now, what the charismatic and Pentecostal movement is claiming, that's the same thing. Like Assemblies of God, that's the most well-known Pentecostal denomination in the world. Although there are other non-Protestant groups, like there are some Catholics that claim to do this as well. But what none of them can do is replicate what happens in Acts, because when people are speaking in tongues, they're invariably speaking gibberish. They're speaking nonsense. So they're advertising that the Holy Spirit isn't in them. I, I, I, it's really, sometimes you just marvel at this.
So the context in Acts, in the first two chapters of Acts, is that people, specifically disciples, are filled with the Holy Spirit, and therefore they're given powers to speak languages that other people recognize, which would be a sign. If I could, like, I don't speak a word of Chinese, right? I wasn't going to make a joke about ordering, you know, beef and broccoli. Not a word. If I could right now just speak in Chinese, that would be very impressive. Although I'm sure you would be convinced that if I spoke Chinese, I'm using some sort of AI program or something.
But that's the whole point. The whole point is people are able to do things that are absolutely miraculous. Like, you, Tabitha, could be resurrected. You could do, look, if you're writing fiction, you could write anything you want. You can make up anything you want, because you're writing fiction. You're writing stuff, and you either believe it or don't believe it. But let's just, let's just say that all week and just ask the question, okay, you're claiming to replicate what was done at Pentecost, as we were told in the book of Acts. And then you start talking, speaking in tongues. Have you ever listened to this? They're saying nothing. It's all nonsense. I mean, none of them are speaking a real language.
Not only that, this is scientists have studied this, and when someone is speaking in tongues, because of the accent, they could tell very quickly what the original, what the language is, what the native language of the tongue speaker is. So it's not the Holy Spirit is speaking through them. And when Chinese Christians, who are non-English speakers, are speaking in tongues, so they're, um, when, so Chinese don't pronounce, um, the the letter R. So guess what? The Holy Spirit for in China doesn't pronounce the R sound. Well, how did that happen? Like, the Holy Spirit in China can't pronounce the R sound, right? But the Holy Spirit, you know, can pronounce the R only where else they can, or the W in, like, Hungarian, right, in Eastern Europe. So you have, I, it's, you know, my grandmother, blessed memory, she would, you know, vivant no W. So the Holy Spirit in Hungary doesn't pronounce the letter W. This is clearly people just exclaiming sounds, you know, just screaming sounds, and it becomes like a, like a worship mantra, and it's very powerful. But don't, but make sure you say that I'm just screaming sound.
That's why when people who are Pentecostal, when they learn about the God of Israel and repent of Christianity, they don't go, "Well, how did I speak?" They know very well that they weren't saying anything. They were just these sudden bursts of emotions that come out, as you'd find, as I said, among among Native American Indians. And it is worthwhile asking a Christian, if you're saying that you are speaking in a foreign language, as we find in the book of Acts, that's why it's called the Pentecostal movement, then why is, why, what are you, why is what you are saying unintelligible? Like, why aren't you speaking Arabic suddenly? Like, why, why aren't you, you know, speaking Mandarin suddenly, or Japanese suddenly? You're just completely foreign. Like, why aren't you, right? And they're, they're not going, "Sayonara." I mean, they're going, "I can do tongues in a second." So they have, see, try it. I mean, just try it. Ask them.
So invariably, they come up with two responses to this. One is that the language is real, but just extinct. This is so silly, because the whole point of speaking in tongues at Pentecost in the book of Acts is to demonstrate to others that this person is filled, genuinely filled with the Holy Spirit. Just go back to the original. Just read the first couple of chapters of Acts. It's right there. So the whole point there is to demonstrate that you could actually speak in a known foreign language. So when you respond that this is a language that's gone extinct, you then enter the world of unfalsifiability. That's the hallmark. That's the red flag of false religion.
Or the other response you're going to get is it's an angelic language. Again, fails that test of unfalsifiability. Just like you're going to go to hell if you don't believe in Jesus. Brilliant. But you, you have no, you have no way of verifying that, right?
And the Torah says the Jewish people are an eternal nation. You're going to go into exile 70 years, then return, then go into exile again, and then return. The nation will come to attack Israel over Jerusalem. Persia, Ezekiel 38, will be the chief enemy of Israel. Persia, that doesn't make sense 2500 years ago. Persia, 2500 years ago, was a benign empire to the Jewish people. They weren't our enemies. I mean, relatively speaking, the Persian Empire was, we had our incidences, but it was not the Babylonian Empire. It was definitely not Rome. It's counterintuitive. And Persia makes no sense. Persia makes no sense because they don't even share a border with the land of Israel. Like, what do you have to? It's a different people, different nation. They're not Arabs. Like, what is your thing?
But so look at the claims made in Tanakh. I mean, this is why I'll tell you, it's an interesting thing. This is why people who really are believers, genuine believers, we all hate anti-Semitism. Of course, of course we do. But to plus the mindless anti-Semitism, it only strengthens our faith because it doesn't make sense. There are so many books written, so many people tried to explain why do people hate the Jews so much? Why? Like, what do we do? We invented a vaccine for polio, and then we didn't sell it, but the person said, "Take it and use it." I mean, you know, gave it away. Didn't try to protect it and make become multi-billionaire on it. Like, why? Because the theories of general and theory of relativity, I mean, just what Einstein did in 1905, that, I mean, what did we do to you? You got beat up by an accountant? Like, what do you have problems with?
So anti-Semitism at this level that we want to destroy the Jews, that Israel is an enemy of America. Israel, who handed to the United States a MIG, a MIG 21. Here it is. Study it. Reverse engineer it so that the United States could use the MIG 21 and understand how it worked and defeat it in Vietnam, as an example. Or T-7210. I mean, what, what do you, what is it with the Jews?
So anti-Semitism is clearly supernatural. So that is inspiring. It's not, it's not that we're looking for it. But when people just hate us for just no reason, it just doesn't make sense to that level, really. So, but the Tanakh says you'll be hated among the nations. They'll curse you. We say it in every generation. The nations will rise up to destroy you. Hashem will save you. So they, when the world wants to destroy us, it doesn't, it, it is disconcerting for sure. This has to be supernatural. And I am sure there are Christians. This Rabbi Singer, I agree with you on the mindless hatred of the Jew to the point it's not that you are a bigot against, you think that the Jews are like inferior. No, they're super clever. They control the world. It, we, we don't have a monopoly on hatred. Many peoples are disliked, you know, for many reasons. They're stupid. They're idiots. Whatever reason that they don't say about the Jews, the Jews are a cancer. We're subhuman. We infiltrate society. We control countries through our influence, like APAC. You know, we control American politics. I, what country is not trying to lobby in the United States? I'm not saying should or shouldn't, but you know, I mean, isn't, you know, the NRA a lobby group? You know, aren't the organizations that AARP, that's bigger than APAC? The NRA is bigger than APAC. Well, that tells us that why are they so successful? Because people love their grandparents and they love with their guns and they, and love Israel. That's all it means.
So, just getting back to our topic here. So, that's that is highly falsifiable. These claims, highly falsified. So the speaking in tongues, again, the context, what we are told in the Christian Bible is that's a sign, a supernatural sign to others, not to God, to others, to know that we have the Holy Spirit. So if I grant that Christians are speaking in tongues, which of course they are, that proves that it's false. That demonstrates that it's nonsense, because they're speaking gibberish. In fact, we could, as I said, we could, you could just do a recording of speaking in tongues in different countries. We could know what the native, what the native tongue is. So the speaking in tongues not only doesn't support the truthfulness of Christianity, it demonstrates that it's silly because they're not speaking in a language. And then the only answer they can give is unfalsifiable. It's in a language that has, you know, doesn't exist anymore. It's extinct. Great. Look at the book of Acts. In the book of Acts, it's people from far-off lands, from the east, that are going, "Wow, how do you not speak?" So they're speaking in a language that other people recognize. Now, that never happened. I don't believe in it. Of course, I don't believe, I don't believe any more than you believe in the Book of Mormon. But the case that Luke is making is they are doing something that's highly falsifiable. Now, because the author is writing this at the end of the first century, he can write anything he wants to. He's just writing. Doesn't mean it's true, but you could see the claim is made that these are real languages that could be authenticated by observers. That's the context. Or an angelic language. I rest my case.
Thank you, Bruce. You are live on the air. Go right ahead with your question. Thank you, Rabbi. Can you hear me? Yes. Hi, Rabbi. First of all, thank you for providing a very valuable service for true seekers. Yes. Uh, Rabbi, uh, could you briefly, uh, describe, uh, what your beliefs are in terms of the scenario for the end of times? I know it's a complicated subject, but can you summarize the contrast is Christianity is of course? Yes. Okay. Very good. You can hand down to me your answer. Thank you. Sure.
A key feature of the end of days, it's an order of events that must unfold. This is critical. It's not that suddenly there are trumpets in Zion and the Messiah is here. That would be a nightmare. And many people when we were kids thought that's how it would happen. But that would be the worst thing, because no one would have a chance to repent. Okay? So what would do is it would lock everybody out unless you already are a religious Jew. It would just lock everybody out. So what's critical is that there's a whole series of events that are, every, what is happening there? Like when Moses, imagine he was at Mount Sinai with the Torah would be given later on in his life, right? And he sees a bush and it's burning but it's not consumed. And he's just watching the spectacle. So observing, now that the bush that will not be burnt is a picture of Israel and his mandate, which is going to be to be, um, God's messenger to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt. The, the bush wouldn't be consumed, although Israel is surrounded by flames. It too cannot be destroyed. So the key is, is an order of events. That's why your question is pregnant with meaning. It's highly valuable. Okay? It must be in order so people could see and go, "Wait, look at that. Look at that. Look at that." See, these are, there are Tanakh tells us that the children of Israel are an eternal people. While no individual Jew has their guarantee, the nation cannot be destroyed. Look at the sun that illuminates the day, the moon, the stars that illuminate the night. If the very foundations of the earth can be measured, so too will I cast off the seed of Israel from being a nation before me. Israel is an eternal nation, covenant nation, the nation, national corporate Israel. Someone turns their back on the God of Israel, they'll be lost. But the covenant nation, because it's bearing an eternal message, can never be destroyed.
So if you want to, um, learn about the pre- and post- you see the canon, you go to a library and read about it because you're not going to meet them. You know that they're not running the 7-Eleven. The, all those nations have disappeared. The children of Israel here, and a series of events, the great destruction of European Jewry, where European Jewry was destroyed, very few people survived that. Jacob's trouble, Jeremiah 30:7, "but from it you will be delivered." That will be a spark, a critical spark. Jeremiah is writing this at the end of the first temple, and he is seeing a, of his own, a destruction of his own when the first, and he's going in the future, there's going to be this unbelievable thing, and he says, "The day, these days, there's nothing like it. There's no parallel to it." No parallel. And more people were killed during World War II than in all wars that preceded for three centuries. There's no parallel. All of European Jewry, one-third of the, of the Jewish people, roughly 18 million Jews in the world before World War II, roughly 12 million in 1945. So that's the, and then from it, the Jewish people returned to the land of Israel. And then you, so it's a series of events. The Jews are here in the land of Israel. That's very critical. And this, the Christians are right, are not all Christians. Some of them just are blind to this because they're so married to the church fathers, who all said the Jews were done. The reason why you see, uh, Roman Catholics, some Roman Catholics, and really it's prevalent among Orthodox Christians, uppercase O. The Orthodox Church is the second largest Christian denomination in the world. Why you see so much hatred, anti-Semitism in the Orthodox Church is the Orthodox, the church fathers, Chrysostom, oh man, these guys are such anti-Semites. Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, these guys hated Jews, hated Jews, and they all said, Ignatius, Tertullian, they all said with one voice that the Jews were expelled from the land. You know what the Temple Mount looked like during the Patristic period? The, that means the first 500 years of Christianity, centrally. What did the Temple Mount look like? It was just destroyed. It was rubble. The Muslims would come in the seventh century and build the two edifices, the shrine, the Dome of the Rock and Al-Aqsa. Okay, they would do that in the seventh century. What happened before Islam? What happened before the seventh century? It was a, it was just utter destruction. And the church fathers gleefully spoke of this destruction as a sign of this is what happens to a people that not only rejects the Lord Jesus Christ but kills him as well. They took, they did not want the Temple Mount to be built. They, they wanted the destruction of the Jewish people, the low state of the Jewish people, to be emblematic of what happens to a nation that rejects the Lord Jesus Christ. But this does not mean that all Orthodox Christians, again, uppercase O, are anti-Semitic or anti-Israel. But it's very prevalent there, very prevalent there. I mean, these, they, Orthodox Christianity, now there are, there are Orthodox Christians who are very pro-Israel, pro-. But it is those anti-Semitism, anti-Israel, and Orthodox Christianity, that's a very good shock. I mean, you, in Roman, so the Roman Catholic Church is tricky. The church itself is, is what? Because all the church fathers hated, all violent anti-Semites. But the Roman Catholic Church had Pope John the 23rd, who would, um, assemble the Second Vatican Council. He becomes Pope in 1958. He was a philo-Semite. He really had a, a deep affection for Jews, saved Jews during the Holocaust. He was the anti-Pius the 12th, and he was put there for a reason. He doesn't make it to 1964 when the Second Vatican Council is completed. Uh, but the, the document *Nostra Aetate*, which is, um, positive towards the Jews, does have an effect on, on Roman Catholics. A big effect on Roman Catholics. Now, there are some Catholics who just was so, was so angry about Vatican II that they dismissed Pope John the 23rd as an anti-pope or an antichrist, or they hated him for it. And these are people called Sedevacantists. There are many of them today. These very vicious, they're invariably very anti-Semitic. When you see guys, I'm not going to mention who they are, but when you see them on, on YouTube videos, that these are these ultra-conservative Catholics. Now, not all ultra-conservative Catholics are anti-Jewish or anti-Israel. Not at all, okay? Not, not at all, okay? But the Sedevacantists, that's two Latin words which means the seat is vacant, *sede vacante*. So the seat, that means they believe that Pius the 12th was the last legitimate Pope, and all the Popes after, including this guy, Louis, Leo XIV, and his predecessors, they're not legitimate. There's no legitimate Pope today who can *ex cathedra* make statements that are infallible. And the last *ex cathedra* statement of a Pope, pronouncement of a Pope, that means *ex cathedra* means from the chair of Peter, in brackets, would be the 1950 proclamation of Pius the 12th on the Assumption of Mary. So that, in the Catholic view, is that's infallible. Forget all that. We're going. But so the Catholic Church is a mixed bag. So you have, uh, former, uh, Speaker Newt Gingrich, who's a Roman Catholic, very pro-Jewish, very. Okay. So, but the Orthodox Churches would ordinarily be anti-, very anti-Semitic, and definitely very anti-Israel. And it should be stated, I must state this, that there are Orthodox Christians who are very pro-Jewish. There are, they're kind of outliers. They're outliers. Not kind of. They're outliers. And it bothers them, and they struggle with this. They struggle with the anti-Semitism in the Orthodox Church. Like the Russian Orthodox Church, literally, you know, Nicholas II was a saint. I mean, that's insane. John Chrysostom, he was a filthy, this golden-mouthed church father was a filthy, dirty, violent anti-Semite. You would go to prison in Canada and Austria and Germany for saying the kind of stuff he said about Jews. He was just horrible. I mean, Luther was in there too. Luther was just horrible. I forgot the question. What were we talking about? Um, the key is this. Oh, sorry. So, the key is that so the, the Jews returned back to the land and they were never expelled again. See the last chapter of the book of Amos, okay? Chapter nine. Just read it. Read it for yourself. Please. You just read the chapter. Just read it. Okay? They returned to the land of Israel. Jerusalem is in the hands. But something occurs. That is that after, in the hand of the Jews, see Zechariah chapter 12. Just see it. There's an attack. People are killed in this attack. It's, this is called the Messiah ben Yosef moment. The people are killed, and it causes a, an *aus* among the Jewish people where they turn to God. I believe, can't prove, I believe that that was October 7th. And that was a transformative moment which we'll never forget. And that trauma causes a deep mourning among the Jewish people, and that triggers the next stage, which is a war. Now, because Zechariah 12, there are wars going on, and Israel is strengthened. "Even the weakest of them will be like David, even like the angels of the Lord of hosts." See Zechariah 12:7 and 8. I mean, just please read it. Incidentally, if you tell me, "I don't understand Zechariah," it's hard. I get it. But you, that excuse will not work for chapter 12. Chapter 12 is using just standard prose, a standard narrative. Anyone can understand it. Elijah the prophet then comes, and he announces to the world to repent, restores the families together, and he's, that's how the book of Malachi ends. At this point, the world will be divided: those who are blessing Israel and the God of Israel, and those who are opposing it. And then the Messiah comes. He's from the house of David. Once he comes, war comes to an end. Once he comes, there will be a universal knowledge of God, the restoration of the children of Israel to their land. Now, today we're living in a time where more than half of the Jewish people have returned back to their ancestral homeland. That wasn't the case since the times of Hezekiah. That was not the case with the majority of the Jews lived near Israel for 2,700 years. And the language of Israel is in Hebrew. The Second Temple people spoke Aramaic. That was, they knew Hebrew because they were praying Hebrew. The sensational language in the Second Temple period was Aramaic. So, so these are all, why, why? Because people go, "Oh, look what's happening. Look at this. It's working. Promises are being fulfilled. We are living." So the restoration of the lost will be restored. See Isaiah 43:5 and 6. That's all you have to do. That's all you have to do. You don't have to just, right now, you say, "Look, Hashem, I'm ready to accept you in my life. I'm ready to repent." Right? Oh, Isaiah 43, 4:3. Chapter 43. Just read 4:5, 6. Just do that. And and read it and begin from the beginning. Read from the beginning. It's very clear what's happening there. "The sons and daughters, I'll find them, and I will bring them back. From the furthest most, I will bring you home." Isaiah then engages in a, a mockery of the other nations of the world. "Tell us about the former things." They can't, because they're all just speaking in tongues to you. "Speaking to Israel, my witnesses," declares the Lord, "my servant whom I have chosen, so that you should know and believe me and understand that I am Lord. Before me no God was formed, nor will there be any after me. Besides me, there is no savior." That, that's it. And then we have the building of the Temple, the *Beit HaMikdash* on the Temple Mount. Where does it say it? The last four verses of Ezekiel 37. That means verse, uh, 28, 27, 26, 24, and 25. So the last five verses, because 24 and 25 is the Messiah King, Prince, and the Temple, the sanctuary will be in your midst, and then the nations will know that I am Lord. That's very critical. So when the *Beit HaMikdash* will be built in, so then the nations will know that I am Lord. It's very, very, very critical. In the view of the prophets, wars occur because of a conflict of ideology, but there won't be that conflict any longer. So there'll be a worldwide peace in the world. That's what will occur. So this, again, reason why there's a seder of events, an order of events. And I, I chose that word "order" for a reason, and I think most of you could see through the reason. It's pretty transparent. That's the name of the Passover meal, every 15th day of the first month. It's a Passover seder. Why the order? Now you know why there's an order of events. So people go, "Oh, look at that. Look at that. This can't be a coincidence. You can roll the dice a couple times and Jews got lucky, lucky." But that just keep rolling it and rolling. Well, eventually you go, "Okay." In a casino, they go, "Okay, the dice are loaded, you know." And but now we know that the God's hand is behind all these events. And then finally, you have the blow the trumpets in Zion, the enemies of God. We hope that all of them, the enemies of Christ, because we want everybody wants to be liked. Every nation, if you're an American, if you're from Mexico, if you're everybody, people like their own. Everybody wants to be liked. But in this case, it's very important for the nations of the world to bless Israel. Very, very for them. Everyone has it backwards. It's for them. It's for their good. They should only do true. Anyways, the nations will speak of one accord. Zephaniah 3:9. And then we have the restoration of the Davidic dynasty, as God promises his prophet Nathan to David in 2 Samuel 7:12-16. We're very close now. We're really, I can't tell you if you know, we're days away, weeks away, months away. It could be, I don't know. But we're there. It means it's happening right now. We are right now in the midst of a series of predicted cycles that must occur before the final redemption. So the world will do *teshuvah*. And you know, people are repenting today, in the millions are turning to the God of Israel as Noahides or converting to Judaism, which they both are converting to Judaism. So that's what you can anticipate in the Messianic Age. Let us pray that we merit to see this event and find the resurrection of the dead, Isaiah 26:19, Daniel 12:2, quickly in our time. Thank you so much.
All right. Looks like we have time for one more question. Caller, you're live on the air. Go ahead and state your question for Rabbi. This is Samuel in Detroit. Hello, Rabbi. I'm here asking, uh, from the book of Genesis, verse 26, where, um, where it says, "God said, 'Yes.'" What chapter? Uh, chapter one. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And and God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Couldn't this be proof of the Trinity? Good question. Go and hang them down to your pants. Thank you. Yeah.
Okay. So, um, Christians marshal this passage, as you can well imagine, not to prove there's the Trinity in the Hebrew Bible, because Christians who are serious will concede that the Trinity is nowhere to be found in Tanakh. When I, uh, debated William Lane Craig, who I think is the probably the, the best Christian apologist in the English-speaking world today, he conceded that the Trinity. So there's no Trinity here. But you do have the words, "Let us make man in our image and likeness." Okay? So this is, this is in the plural. So who is God speaking to? And what is unique about man? After all, man is the final, uh, creation, and he's the culmination of creation. And as much as you love other animals, the world was created for the purpose of mankind, because man is alone, is different, is unique. Now, there are many living creatures in the animal kingdom that are sentient. But man alone is created in the image of God. The full view of this comes in the next chapter, chapter two, where it's sort of zooming in on, we're going through the creation of Adam very specifically, and we see that man is created out of two things. There are two things that are in the creation of man. God gathers the clay of the dust of the earth. It's, I, I'm not sure how people understood that in the ancient world. Like, we're made out of dust of the earth. We now know that the dust of the earth is really stardust. It's, isn't that interesting? It's the material of the world. And then God blows into the nostrils of man his spirit. Spirit of God is in man. So man is, um, is made up of both the material world and the spiritual. This is very striking. So therefore, man is made up of both the physical world. That means we're, you and your dog, uh, share like 98% of your DNA, right? However, you're created in the image of God, and your dog isn't. So therefore, we have a divine spark. So God is essentially summoning the spirit that he infuses in us. Some understand it to mean that God is summoning the angels, or what? What does it mean, "in our likeness"? That means that it is both the physical and the spiritual. And to, uh, to address the Christian argument, of course, when God is creating everything else, he doesn't say, "Let us make light," or "Let us make the celestial bodies." It's specifically when man is created, because man is made up of both the physical and the spiritual. And us. And we can look at two other passages right here in this formidable moment of creation, namely, Genesis 3:22. After the sin, God summons the angels and specifically instructs them to guard the Garden of Eden so that man cannot go there and eat from the Tree of Life. The Tree of Life was a non-issue back in Genesis chapter 2, because before the sin, man was immortal. Wasn't going to die. So it was not relevant. We're told it's there in the garden, in the center of the garden, but we're, it's, there's no mention of it after the sin. Now, in the moment that man ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. So now man could live forever if he eats from the Tree of Life. So, and God says to the angels, he says, "If man would eat from it, he'll be like one of us." So we have that "us" again. So you could see there that the angels, whatever angels are made of, they're metaphysical. Like, I'm not going to pretend that I know what that is, but whatever it is, it's the spiritual, metaphysical domain. Um, and then again, we have another attempt by man in, in Genesis 11, when man is trying to build a tower, right, to reach heaven, again, attempt to achieve the divine realm. So we can triangulate this, and God says, "Let us go down and confound their languages." Again, Genesis 11:7. So what's happening there is that, uh, man is, uh, made up of both the material world and the metaphysical world, made up of both of them. And he's in some, there are a number of opinions of exactly who God's speaking to, whether he's addressing the angels, whatever it is, it's that man is made up of the two, is made up of both the physical and the spiritual. And while all life has a *nephesh*, which means a spark of life, but the *neshamah*, which means the part of the divine realm, only is given to man. That's unique to man. And that's why it's, "Let us." Okay. Thank you for your thoughtful question. Very good. It's been a good show. Uh, so thank you all for tuning in. Be sure to hit that like button, subscribe to the YouTube channel, turn on all notifications. And if you don't have Rabbi Singer's books yet, go to outreachjudaism.org and get you an extra set, or another extra set. Have three or four sets on hand. I have given away numerous copies at perfectly opportune times. I know you'll have those opportunities as well. Yes. With your permission, I, I just want to remind the viewers that I'll be in the United States on, in mid-July, on July 13th. I'll be engaging a debate in San Antonio and look forward to joining us. And if you want to have me speaking in your community, there's not much time left because I'm going to lock up the tickets very soon. But if you want me to speak in your community in North America, you definitely want to contact me at my email address, just my name, ToviaSinger1.com. You can go to my website, outreachjudaism.org, and certainly, um, just put "tickets" or "debate" in the memo or in the, what do you call it, the message box at the top. So that way, you know, if you want, you could throw in the link. Um, there is a link to sign up for it, which I don't have on hand, but maybe somebody could put it up in the chat room. Very good. Okay. Well, Rabbi, thank you for your time. It's always a pleasure, and we'll look forward to seeing you guys same time, same place next week. Peace. Shalom, everybody.
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