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When researching Messianic Jewish beliefs regarding Jesus, you will undoubtedly come across many lists of the prophecies that Jesus fulfilled. Each time, the lists have Biblical verses to support them, seeming to add to the validity of the claims. Central to Messianic Jewish prophetic belief is the idea that Jesus fulfills the claims regarding Messianic lineage. Jewish theologians are clear; the claims made by Messianic Jews involve incorrect and decontextualized readings of Biblical scripture. Fatherhood Reading Messianic Jewish prophecies regarding Jesus, there is a large problem regarding his lineage, namely, Jesus had to have four separate birth fathers to have fulfilled all of the prophecies. This highlights the mistakes made by Messianic Jews in understanding scripture. This essay will not go into specifics as to issues such as errors in translation. Rather, it will examine the issue of Jesus' lineage, demonstrating the clear deficit in Messianic Jewish understanding of the workings of the Jewish Bible. As stated above, for Messianic Jewish prophecy to be accurate, Jesus would need to have three birth fathers. How is this derived? This is derived from the following claims regarding Jesus: 1. He is the son of G-d 2. He is the son from the line of David (Messiah son of David)
3. He is from the line of Joseph (Messiah son of Joseph) 4. He is a priest (Kohen) 5. He is king of the Jews Lineage First, let's review what it means to have a family lineage. In Judaism, family lineage is transfered through the father. In fact, it is reflected in their name. A person's name consists of their name followed by son/daughter of the father's name. For instance, if a person's name is Harry and his father's name is Sam, his Hebrew name is "Harry ben (son of) Sam." However, it is not merely being a father that is key, after all, you can be a birth father, step-father or an adoptive father. In Judaism, the lineage is traced only through the birth father. Hence, each person has only one family lineage. So, what is at issue with the idea of Jesus' lineage? To be the Messiah, one must be of the lineage of King David. In short, your birth father has to be descended from King David. Since Messianic Jews claim that G-d is Jesus' birth father, he cannot be from the line of King David. Often, individuals will look toward Mary or Joseph's lineage. Though Joseph is claimed to be of Davidic descent, since he is Jesus' adoptive/step-father, his lineage cannot be counted. Moreover, since family lineage is never derived from the mother (however, religious lineage, namely whether you are Jewish or not, follows a matrilineal lineage), her lineage is irrelevant. So we have a sticking point; either Jesus is the son of G-d, and not of Davidic lineage, or he is of Davidic lineage and is not the son of G-d. That brings us to the third lineage, that he is from the line of Joseph, specifically, the Messiah son of Joseph. This part involves a good deal of misunderstanding by the Messianic Jewish movement. There is an idea in Judaism of a second Messiah, the Messiah son of Joseph. Messianic Jews think that this refers to Jesus' father, Joseph (who, according to the Messianic Jewish belief, was his adoptive/step-father, so his lineage does not count). In reality, the term Messiah son of Joseph was invented by Rabbis to describe a Messiah who will be from one of the tribes decended from Jacob's son, Joseph. Specifically, he will be from the Tribe of Ephraim. Since Ephraim was a Northern tribe, this individual is also referred to as the "Northern Messiah." His job will be to help "the main Messiah", the Messiah son of David, and he will die in battle. As was stated earlier, one's lineage is traced through the father, so this person will have a father decended from the Tribe of Ephraim. It is impossible for someone to be the Messiah son of David and the Messiah son of Joseph since one has a birth father from the tribe of Judah and the other from the tribe of Ephraim. Add on top of this the idea of Jesus having a third lineage, a divine lineage. Since you can only have one birth father, we now have the Messianic Jews giving Jesus 3 different birth fathers. If you are interested in more information on the Messiah son of Joseph, here is a link for you to explore: Click Here
So where does the fourth lineage come from? Well, Messianic Jews claim that Jesus is a Kohen, a priest. The Kohanim (plural form of Kohen) are the descendents of Aaron, Moses' brother. Aaron and Moses were from the tribe of Levi. King David was of the tribe of Judah. Again, since you have only one birth father, you can only be descendant from one tribe. It is impossible to be both a Kohen and the Messiah, because one cannot be from both the tribe of Levi and the tribe of Judah (and Ephraim). Add into this the idea of being the son of G-d, and thereby having a birth father who is of none of the tribes, and Jesus would have to had four birth fathers to live up to the Messianic Jewish prophecies that have been reviewed so far. So, where does the fifth father come from? Simply put, the king of the Jews at the time of Jesus' birth was King Herod. Soon thereafter, King Herod died, and his kingdom was split between his three sons (though, in truth, the Romans were ultimately the kings of the Jews, as they had ultimate control over the entire land). Now, King Herod did not become king because he was a descendant of King David. Actually, he was placed there by the Roman empire. King Herod's family were recent converts to Judaism, hence not being in the lineage of any of the aforementioned groups, providing the need for a fifth father. Thus, Messianic Jewish prophecy is found to be lacking and is proven false. 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
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.
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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