Jesus in the Tanakh

The issue between the Gospel of Matthew and Judaism is a convoluted one. The picture that emerges when talking about whether Jesus’s teaching is anti-Semitic or not becomes ambivalent and it is not easy to interpret, as Coogan has pointed out, “Matthew functions as a bridge between the two Testaments . . .”(Coogan, 1746). In the context of Jewish-Christian dialogue, the fundamental question is how much of Judaism’s principles and practices ascribed to Jesus are preserved from traditional Judaism? As much as Matthew’s Gospel has been considered to be an extremely anti-Semitic, especially in the Christian realm, there remains substantial evidence indicating how Jesus, as presented by Matthew, had preserved the quintessence of Judaism.

Christians affirm belief in both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. This is important because the New Testament presents Jesus as the incarnate Son of God which died and was resurrected for the sins of the world. Christians who examine the Jewish views of Scripture must [also] question the equal authority assigned to God’s written law and the interpretations and commentaries later added by rabbis. This has resulted in a constantly shifting body of teachings that are based on human traditions. 2 Peter 1:20-21 debunks this Jewish reasoning when it declares: “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

Jonathan Sacks, the author of a book ‘The Home We Build Together,’ emphasizes that covenant is a core of the biblical politics, especially in such a way to make the Tabernacle, for us to make a society which respects each others in a diversity. Sacks said that the Tabernacle was made by all Israelites with their voluntariness, devotion, and equality as a common project through covenant regardless of any ethnicity, religion, and culture, which made them have the identity that they build it together and belong to it (Sacks, 138). Therefore, being left as a story to be commemorated to them and give them a gradual changes with personal and social creative constructions, covenant is not just a religious concept, but rather it is zeitgeist to lead

The ancient tabernacle of Moses was a sacred and holy place for the people of Israel. It served as a tool for the people to remember God and to look forward to their promised Messiah. The tabernacle was so integral to the lives of the Israelites that they even built the tabernacle in the center of their encampments during their journeys (Yom Kippur). The tabernacle also served many purposes for the Israelites in their rituals, ceremonies, and beliefs of their religion. Many practices that the ancient Israelites performed in and for the tabernacle anciently, may seem peculiar to the modern thought process or many beliefs today. The main focus of the tabernacle was the day of Yom Kippur, or Day of Atonement. On this day, the Israelites would gather and watch as a high priest performed the rituals in the tabernacle that would rid the sins of the people of Israel. This day and ceremony was a very important aspect to Israelites’ beliefs and the tabernacle was the main tool for their ceremonies. The tabernacle and the day of Yom Kippur served many purposes in helping the Israelites to remember their God, learn from symbols, and to help them strive to obey their God’s commandments.

Judaism and Christianity each have their own beliefs and traditions, with Judaism being a religion that shaped Christianity as it is today. Both religions were shaped by the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament, which is considered by many to be the biblical law of God (Molloy, 2009). Christians however, consider that in the New Testament with the arrival of God in human form, that our sins were forgiven. In its earliest stages, Christianity was considered a sect of Judaism. Jesus and his apostles even considered themselves Jewish in the early years of Christianity. While followers of Judaism do believe in one God, they do not believe that Jesus was the Messiah or that God is the Holy Trinity.

For example, Christians think that Jesus was given to Mary by God while she was a virgin, therefore he was a kind of miracle child. This, however, was rendered false by Jews studying the original hebrew text. Rabbi Michael Skobac states: “Isaiah 7:14 is describing an "alma" as giving birth. The word ‘alma’ has always meant a young woman, but Christian theologians came centuries later and translated it as ‘virgin’” (Jews for Judaism, 2004, par. 18). Also, the crucifiction of Jesus, according to Judaism, is mistranslated, along with the “suffering servant”. Lastly, the importance of Jesus in Judaism and Christianity are very different. In Judaism, it is regarded that “the reality is that Judaism doesn't regard Jesus as particularly important. He's not a big subject” (Jared Klinghoffer, 2005, par.3). The fact that Jews don’t view Jesus as the Messiah, plays an important role in the identity of Judaism. In Christianity, though, people believe that Jesus is very important, and the need to obey his wishes and fulfill his needs are great. In Fact, Christians believe in Jesus for about six main reasons: “Christ Came into the world (to reconcile humans), Christ brings Hope, Christ will Return again to the Earth,Christ founded an Institution (The Church), Christ understands human Suffering, Christ enables men and women to Triumph over sin” (2014, p.6). Christians love Jesus because he

While numerous scholars say that John is the Gospel to the world (and Matthew to the Jews, Mark to the Romans, and Luke to the Greeks), a Jewish scholar such as Israel Abrahams might very well believe that the Gospel of John is the most Jewish Gospel of the four by the way it reflects Jewish traditions and symbolisms. According to David Wenham[i], there is more attention given to Jesus as the Messiah in the Gospel of John than in any of other Gospels. In John, from chapter one onwards people are directly talking about Jesus as Messiah, and then there is intense public debate about whether Jesus is Messiah or not in John 7:25-31, 41-44[ii], which indicates that John is quite mindful of Jewish issues.

God’s redemption plan in the Old Testament foreshadows His redemption plan in the New Testament. The physical redemption of the Hebrews is that of the spiritual redemption Christians experience through Jesus Christ. Everything in the Old Testament Tabernacle points the Israelites to Jesus Christ, which follows the Order of Melchizedek. These components of revelation inform understanding of God’s progressive revelation of redemption and have an important impact on individual faith.

The gospel of Mark is a short recollection of Jesus life, it has many details but is missing pieces or additions to his life. The Gospel of mark was said to have lost pieces, and also the first account of Jesus life. Although it is not as detailed in some areas as it is in others, it tells many accounts of Jesus life on earth and what kind of a person he was, the life he lived, his struggles and his ending.

Jesus was contradicting many of the Jewish teachings and proclaiming himself to be the son of God. They wanted to stop the spread of his message and a potential uprising of the Jews. Jesus’s talents of miracles, parables, and speaking to crowds made him a powerful influence on the people and a great threat to the

Hostilities (7:10–13). “However, after his brothers had left for the Feast, he went also, not publicly,

The significance of the Tabernacle is God told Israel to build a tent like structure known as the Tabernacle (Varughese, 2006, p.84). The Tabernacle had three parts: the court, the holy place, and the holy of holies. The court section was meant for the altar where sacrifices were given. The holy place was a section that not everyone could have access to only people of the priesthood. The holy of holies section of the Tabernacle had the ark of covenant inside. Which contained the tablets that the commandments were written on.

Introduction Dr. Christopher J. H. Wright (Ph. D., Cambridge) is an Old Testament scholar, an ordained Anglican ministry, and is the director of international ministries with the Langham Partnership International. In Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, Wright seeks to display the continuity between the Hebrew Scriptures and Jesus’ self-understanding. Wright maintains that Jesus’ self-understanding rooted in the history of salvation that God planned and worked for Israel. This review will show that Wright’s book provides the reader with a rich understanding of Jesus’ unique identity as the Hebrew

important and who are wondering how Jesus fits into history of the Jewish people. This problems means that Matthew’s community was largely Jewish Christian and needed to be reassured that being a Christian did not separate then from the Jewish heritage.

Overall, there seems to be a very high Christology in the New Testament. However, due to the various authors of the books that comprise the anthology, there is an inherent variation of the level of Christology found between the different books. In order to examine the Christology of a religious text, one must first understand the notion of Christology. Christology refers to the level of divinity that Jesus is portrayed to have, and can be understood as a spectrum with an extremely high Christology at one end and an extremely low Christology at the other. The highest possible Christology refers to texts in which Jesus is described at being equal to God, while the lowest possible Christology refers to texts in which Jesus is described as being completely human. These extremes are typically never fully realized in the New Testament; a position on the spectrum between them is usually taken. When analyzing the Christology of the Gospel of Mark, the Book of Revelation, and the Pauline Epistles, it becomes apparent that there is in fact a difference in the Christology of the three. Mark seems to have a lower Christology than the Pauline Epistles, which have a lower Christology than the book of Revelation, which has a very high Christology.