“‘Curse Meroz!’
said the angel of Adonai,
‘Curse the people living there
with a bitter punishment
for not coming to help Adonai,
to help Adonai against the mighty warriors.’”
-Judges 5:23
It’s no secret there’s a huge theological divide between how Judaism and Christianity views certain events and phenomenon in Scripture.
And the so-called MALACH ADONAI or “Angel of the Lord” is a perfect case in point.
If I was to explain the difference in a nutshell, it is this:
Judaism tends to interpret every instance of the Angel of the Lord in Scripture and say it was nothing but a normal flesh-and-blood human messenger or prophet.
In other words, they’re essentially calling the MALACH ADONAI a prophet.
Because that’s what a prophet does, he delivers a message.
So following that line of reasoning, many Rabbis will say it was either Deborah or Barak saying…“Curse Meroz! Curse the people living there with a bitter punishment for not coming to help Adonai, to help Adonai against the mighty warriors”.
For me, that’s too much of a stretch to say this Angel of the Lord was Barak or Devorah and they were somehow suddenly anointed as a prophet or prophetess.
On the other hand, Christianity tends to take every instance of the Angel of the Lord and say it was some divine manifestation of Yeshua which to me is bizarro land.
However, Judaism also does tend to elevate some Biblical characters and place them high up on a pedestal like they do with King David saying he never really committed a sin when he slept with Bathsheba.
For instance, the Talmud says “Whoever says David sinned is only in error” (Reference: Shabbat 56a).
Come on man.
Not only did he cause Bathsheba to commit adultery but he instigated her husband’s murder to boot.
This reminds me of how the Catholic Church venerates some of their own as saints and places them on a higher spiritual plane above common man.
While Judaism has this tendency to take the spiritual and humanize it, Christianity goes freakin’ hog wild in the opposite direction and will take plain vanilla verses from Scripture and spiritualize the heck outta them.
Like how they interpret Isaiah 9:6:
“For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father,
Prince of Peace.”
Of course, they don’t understand the word “God” here (EL GIBBOR in the Hebrew) does NOT necessarily mean the Almighty Creator.
Even humans were sometimes called “gods” like they are in following verses:
“Elohim [God] stands in the divine assembly;
there with the elohim [judges], he judges:
“How long will you go on judging unfairly,
favoring the wicked? (Selah)
Give justice to the weak and fatherless!
Uphold the rights of the wretched and poor!
Rescue the destitute and needy;
deliver them from the power of the wicked!”
They don’t know, they don’t understand,
they wander about in darkness;
meanwhile, all the foundations of the earth
are being undermined.
“My decree is: ‘You are elohim [gods, judges],
sons of the Most High all of you.
Nevertheless, you will die like mortals;
like any prince, you will fall.’”
-Psalms 82:1-7
Notice how the author of the Complete Jewish Bible properly inserted true meaning of ELOHIM in parentheses.
In Scripture, ELOHIM or “God” can also sometimes mean a “powerful person” or “one with great authority”.
EL GIBBOR can also be translated to mean “mighty-with-God”.
Both Wycliffe and Luther understood this and simply translated EL GIBBOR to mean “hero”.
Also, the word “father” in the above verse from the Psalms doesn’t mean Yeshua is equal with the Father in some hypostatic union sense…which again is bizarro land.
“Father” is often used in the Tanakh to mean just a “leader”.
Heck, even Paul in his letter to the Corinthians says…
“For I became your father in
Messiah Yeshua through the gospel”.
-1 Corinthians 4:15
So yes, it is true Messiah Yeshua is the father of the age to come.
That’s exactly how the Greek version of the Tanakh translates Isaiah 9:6.
Just understand that a person or being perfectly representing God or even standing in place of God (like how Moses was an Elohim to Pharaoh) can also be called by the names and titles of God.
It doesn’t mean they are literally God Himself.
When you go down that path, you have traveled from the world of pure monotheistic Hebrew thought into gentile pagan land man.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Yeshua stepped into a boat,
crossed over and came to his own town.
Some men brought to him a paralytic,
lying on a mat.
When Yeshua saw their faith,
he said to the paralytic,
“Take heart, son;
your sins are forgiven.”
At this, some of the teachers of the Law
said to themselves,
“This fellow is blaspheming!”
Knowing their thoughts, Yeshua said,
“Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts?
Which is easier: to say,
‘Your sins are forgiven,’
or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
But so that you might know that the Son of Man
has authority on earth to forgive sin . . . .”
Then he said to the paralytic,
“Get up, take your mat and go home.””
-Matthew 9:1-8
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