Jesus of Bethlehem
Micah 5:2 is a very popular Messianic Jewish proof of Jesus. It reads (according to the King James Version, this quote and all following quotes):
"5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. "
So the leader will come from Bethlehem, Jesus is from Bethlehem, so he must be the Messiah! There are numerous problems with this understanding of the verse, but you do not have to go far to make this a moot point. If you read a few lines down, the following events are supposed to also occur at that time:
" 5:5 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
5:6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders."
Well, according to the following passages, Israel will defeat the Assyrian empire at the aforementioned time. Let's look closer at history to see if this occurred during the time of Jesus. During Jesus' life, the area of Assyria was occupied by the Roman empire. Did Jesus protect the Jews from the Romans empire in Assyria? Was anyone successful in Jesus' time to completely defeat the Romans? In Jesus' time, did the Jews even win a single war against any nation, Roman, Assyrian or otherwise? NO! Approximately 40 years following Jesus' death, the Jewish kingdom was destroyed by the Romans, the exact opposite of the prophecies from Micah. The Jewish kingdom during Jesus' lifetime was a puppet of the Roman empire, and could not defeat any nation of size in battle. More importantly, one cannot take Micah 5:2 as a prophecy of Jesus, and ignore the prophecies from just a few lines down that are part of the Micah 5:2 prophecy. This is an example of taking a verse out of context, and completely changing the understanding of the verse.
More Micah Prophecy
There are other difficulties when we look at the whole of Micah. When reading more of Micah, Jesus clearly failed to fulfill many Micah prophecies. After all, did Jesus fulfill the prophecy in Micah 4:1 of the rebuilding of the Holy Temple?
" 4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it."
Or how about the prophecy of Micah 4:2 when non-Jews will come to the Holy Temple to worship and follow the word of G-d?
"And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. "
Or what about the prophecy of Micah 4:3 of world peace?
"And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. "
Obviously, Jesus did not fulfill any of these. The Holy Temple is still destroyed, nations of the world are not coming to the Holy Temple to learn G-d's laws, and there is no world peace. This is an exemplar of the many problems of Messianic Jewish prophecy regarding Jesus. A line is taken out of context, and given as a Jesus prophecy, while ignoring all of the surrounding verses and the historical facts that prove that Jesus could not have been the Messiah. Each, biblical verse exists as part of a bigger story, no verses can be understood without knowledge of the surrounding verses and the history of the time. This is the ultimate difference between "Biblical prophecy" and "Biblical fallacy".
Why Jews Don't Believe in Jesus
There are many reasons why Jews do not accept Jesus, and the links below are some of the better explanations on this topic. Of course, if you have questions that are not covered on the links, you can always e-mail me with your questions.
An Answer from Rabbi Stuart Federow Click Here
An Answer from Rabbi Shraga Simmons Click Here
Ask the Rabbi from Ohr Somayach Click Here
An Answer from Rabbi Tovia Singer Click Here
Countermissionary Counseling
There are a number of groups that provide Countermissionary Counseling. Here are links to a few of them:
Alternatively, you can call them at 1-800-4PROOF1 with general questions about missionary claims.
Great Sites, Priceless Information
Here are a number of great sites that counter missionaries and explain the differences in belief between Judaism and Christianity, including addressing the Biblical verses that missionaries try to use against the Jews and explaining why the missionaries are incorrect. For the most in-depth analysis of verse by verse questions, go to Messiah Truth (sections on Counter-Missionary: Multi-media training [this can be read without being "multi-media"], Knowing Your Orchard and Judaism's Answer), Jews for Judaism (in their Reference Section (please note that the Isaiah topics tend to be under "Suffering Servant" part of the "Proof Text" section) and the Q & A section of Outreach Judaism.
Escape From Counterfeit Judaism
Talking to Kids About Missionaries
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