Notes

Note #1:The following are references in the Gospel’s and the book of Acts that quote passages from the Hebrew Scriptures and then directly claim that Jesus Christ fulfilled these Hebrew Scriptural passages.Matthew’s Gospel.Matthew 1:23 – Isaiah 7:14; Isaiah 9:6 – Messiah the Son of God, born of a maiden, virgin.Matthew 2:6 – Micah 5:2 – Messiah to be born in Bethlehem.Matthew 2:18 – Jeremiah 31:15 – Messiah’s birth accompanied by death and sadness.Matthew 2:14,15 – Hosea 11:1 – Messiah called out of Egypt.Matthew 2:23 – Isaiah 11:1 – Messiah, the rod of Jesse.Matthew 3:1-3 – Isaiah 40:3-5 – Messiah to have a forerunner.Matthew 4:13-16 – Isaiah 42: 6,7; Isaiah 9:1,2 – Messiah to be a light to the Gentiles.Matthew 8:14-17 – Isaiah 53:4,5 – Messiah our healer, bears our sicknesses.Matthew 11:7-10 – Malachi 3:1-3 – Ministry of John the Baptist.Matthew 12:14-21 – Isaiah 42:1-4 – Messiah our healer and deliverer.Matthew 12:38-41 – Jonah 1:17 – Messiah’s resurrection fulfilled the sign of Jonah.Matthew 13:10-17 – Isaiah 6:9,10 – Messiah will not be believed in by many people.Matthew 13:34,35 – Psalm 78:2 – Messiah to speak in parables.Matthew 15:7-9 – Isaiah 29:13 – Israel’s hypocrisy.Matthew 21:1-5 – Zechariah 9:9 –Messiah to be humble, rides into Jerusalem on a donkey.Matthew 22:41-46 – Psalm 110:1 – Messiah to be Lord.Matthew 26:8-10 – Zechariah 13:7 – Messiah to be abandoned by his followers.Matthew 27:8-10 – Zechariah 11:12,13 – Messiah to be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.Matthew 27:33-35 – Psalm 22:18 – Messiah’s clothing gambled for.Mark’s Gospel.Mark 1:1-3 – Malachi 3:1-3 – Ministry of John the Baptist.Mark 7:6-8 – Isaiah 29:13 – Messiah will not be believed by many people.Mark 12:10,11 – Psalm 118:22,23 – Messiah is rejected, but He is the cornerstone.Mark 12:36 – Psalm 110:1 – Messiah is the Lord.Mark 14:26,27 – Zechariah 13:7 – Messiah’s followers flee out of fear.Luke’s Gospel.Luke 3:3-6 – Isaiah 40:3-5 – Ministry of John the Baptist.Luke 4:16-21 – Isaiah 61:1,2 – Messiah’s ministry fulfilled Scripture.Luke 7:27,28 – Malachi 3:1-3 – Ministry of John the Baptist.Luke 13:35 – Psalm 118:26 – Messiah will one day in the future be fully received.Luke 20:42,43 – Psalm 110:1 – Messiah is the Lord.Luke 22:37 – Isaiah 53:12 – Messiah numbered with transgressors.John’s Gospel.John 12:13 – Psalm 118:25 – Hosanna – the King of Israel.John 12:15 – Zechariah 9:9, Isaiah 40:9 – Messiah humble, riding into Jerusalem on a donkey.John 12:38 – Isaiah 53:1 – Messiah not to be believed in.John 12:40 – Isaiah 6:10 – Messiah not believed in.John 13:18 – Psalm 41:9 – Messiah betrayed by a friend.John 19:24 – Psalm 22:18 – Messiah’s garments gambled for.John 19:36 – Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12 – Messiah’s bones are not to be broken.John 19:37 – Zechariah 12:10 – Messiah pierced.Book of Acts.Acts 2:17-21 – Joel 2:28-32 – Coming of the Holy Spirit.Acts 2:25-28 – Psalm 16:8-11 – Messiah’s resurrection.Acts 2:34-36 – Psalm 110:1 – Messiah’s exaltation.Acts 3:22,23 – Deuteronomy 18:15,19 – Messiah a prophet like Moses.Acts 3:25 – Genesis 12:2,3 – Messiah to be the blessing of Abraham to all of the world.Acts 4:25-27 – Psalm 2:1,2 – Messiah has kings set against him.Acts 8:30-35 – Isaiah 53:7,8 – Messiah the suffering Redeemer.Acts 8:32,33 – Isaiah 53:7,8 – Messiah silent before his accusers.Acts 13:32 – Psalm 2:7 – Messiah, the Son of God.Acts 13:34-37 – Messiah’s resurrection.Acts 13:46-48 – Isaiah 49:6 – Messiah, the light to the world.Acts 15:15-18 – Hosea 3:5 ; Amos 9:11,12 – Messiah’s Gospel will be preached to all men. Temple to be rebuilt in the days of the Messiah.Acts 28:25-27 – Isaiah 6:9,10 – Messiah not believed in by his Jewish people.In addition to these 52 quoted passages that the New Testament writers claimed to have been fulfilled by Jesus, the New Testament directly quotes other portions of the Hebrew Scriptures at least 112 times. This results in 164 quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures. There are also numerous allusions to Messiah and teachings found in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) that are expounded on in the New Testament. The point is that the New Testament message is firmly rooted in the Hebrew Scriptures.

Note #2: The argument is stated by numerous Jewish polemicists that Christians do not interpret the Hebrew Scriptures correctly. The assertion is that Christians loosely apply the Old Testament Scriptural passages as being Messianic in nature, while Traditional Jewish interpreters offer a more literal and tightly confined contextual interpretation.Michael L. Brown, an excellent Jewish/Christian scholar, has written extensively on this subject and I offer this quoted passage for your consideration.“Alfred Edersheim, the learned nineteenth-century Jewish Christian scholar, summarized the Rabbinic data as follows: ‘The passages in the Old Testament applied to the Messiah or to Messianic times in the most ancient Jewish writings… amount in all to 456, thus distributed: 75 from the Pentateuch, 243 from the Prophets, and 138 from the Hagiographa, and supported by more than 558 separate quotations from Rabbinic writings… the Rabbinic references might have been considerably increased, but it seemed useless to quote the same application of a passage in many different books’.”( Alfred Edersheim, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah – 2:980-1010.)What is the nature of some of these quotes? I will cite some representative examples, but as you read them, I would ask you to consider this one question: If the authors of the New Testament or contemporary Messianic Jews [believers in Jesus, Yeshua] were applying these verses to Jesus as Messiah, would traditional Jews say that the verses were being twisted, misused, or taken out of context? The answer is self-evident. Here then, are some of the many examples listed by Edersheim.1. In the creation account, Genesis 1:2, it is stated’ that the Spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters”. This is explained to mean “the Spirit of the king Messiah,” with reference to Isaiah 11:2 (See Genesis Rabbah 2:4, among other places).2. Through an extremely convoluted line of reasoning, the word for “generations in Genesis 2:4 – “These are the generations (Hebrew, toledot) of the heavens and earth” – is found to contain a hint of the six things the Messiah will restore to the earth (see Exodus Rabbah 30:3).3. Eve’s words in Genesis 4:25 at the birth of her son Seth,”God has granted me another seed”, are taken to refer to the Messiah, as if the text spoke of “a seed coming from another place” (Genesis Rabbah 23:5).4. Numbers 11:26 relates that Eldad and Medad, two Israelite elders, prophesied outside the camp. According to the Jerusalem Targum to this passage, their prophecy “is supposed to have been with regard to the war of the later days against Jerusalem and to the defeat of Gog and Magog by the Messiah.”5. Ruth 2:14a reads, “ And Boaz said unto her [Ruth]. At mealtime come thou hither and eat of the bread” (KJV). Midrash Rabbah Ruth to this passage contains what Edersheim rightly calls “a very remarkable interpretation.” He points out, “Besides the application of the word ‘eat’, as beyond this present time, to the days of Messiah, and to the world to come, which is to follow these days, the Midrash applies the whole of it mystically to the Messiah, viz. ‘Come hither’, that is, draw near to the kingdom, ‘and eat of the bread’, ‘that is the bread of royalty’ and dip thy morsel in vinegar’ – these are the sufferings, as it is written in Is. 53:5, ‘He was wounded for our transgressions’. ‘And she sat by the reapers’ – because His Kingdom would in the future be put aside from Him for a short time, according to Zech. 14:2;‘and he reached her parched corn’ – because He will restore it to Him, according to Is. 11:4. R. Berachiah, in the name of R. Levi, adds that the second Redeemer should be like the first. As the first Redeemer(Moses) appeared, and disappeared, and reappeared after three months, so the second Redeemer would also appear, and disappear and again become manifest, Dan. 12:11,12 being brought into connection with it. Comp. Midr. On Cant. 2:9; Pesik.49 a,b. Again, the words ‘she ate and was sufficed, and left’ are thus interpreted in Shabb. 113b: she ate – in this world; and was sufficed – in the days of the Messiah; and left – for the world to come.” 3196. Ecclesiates 1:9 simply states, “ What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun’. Edersheim notes that in the midrash to this verse, it is shown at great length that the Messiah would reenact all the miracles of th past.7. Many verses in the Song of Solomon are taken by that book’s highly expansive Aramaic Targum to refer to the Messiah.8. Special attention should be given to b. Sanhedrin 96b-99a, the lengthiest and most focused Messianic discussion anywhere in the Talmud, cited at length by Edersheim for that very reason. 320. There is an extraordinary level of speculation among the sages quoted in this passage in terms of the times of the coming of the Messiah and the nature of the Messianic age, with many of the interpretations tied to specific verses. Thus, for example, in one section in which various proposals are being offered for the name of the Messiah, it is suggested that his name could be Chaninah, based on Jeremiah 16:13 )”So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor Hebrew, chininah]”, while another suggestion is offered that the Messiah’s name is Menachem son of Hezekiah, based on Lamentations 1:16 (“No one is near to comfort [Hebrew, menachem] me, no one to restore my spirit.”). Similar examples – in the Talmud, Targum, and Midrash – could easily be multiplied.In light of all this, I ask you once more: Whose interpretation of the Messianic texts is the more sober and systematic, the Jewish authors of the New Testament, or the Jewish authors of the Rabbinic texts? Clearly, it is the former.” Quoted from Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, Volume 3 – pages 155-157. Michael L. Brown

Note #3:Jewish polemicists apply the term “servant of the Lord” in Isaiah 52:13-53:12 to the nation of Israel. Michael Brown provides excellent information regarding this:“Isaiah 52:13-53:12 is one of the most important Messianic prophecies in the entire Hebrew Bible, and I would not be exaggerating to say that more Jews have put their faith in Jesus as Messiah after reading this passage of Scripture than after reading any other passage in the Tanakh. To the unbiased reader, it clearly speaks about the death and resurrection of the righteous servant of the Lord on behalf of his sinful people. It speaks of Yeshua! Not surprisingly, anti-missionaries have raised numerous arguments to this interpretation, frequently claiming that the passage speaks of the people of Israel as opposed to the Messiah (that is to say, they argue for a national interpretation rather than an individual interpretation). Interestingly, the national interpretation is not found once in the Talmuds, the Targums, or the midrashim (in other words, not once in all the classical, foundational, authoritative Jewish writings). In fact, it is not found in any traditional Jewish source until the time of Rashi, who lived in the eleventh century C.E. 105 That is saying something! For almost one thousand years after the birth of Yeshua, not one rabbi, not one Talmudic teacher, not one Jewish sage, left us an interpretation showing that Isaiah 53 should be interpreted with reference to the nation of Israel (as opposed to a righteous individual, or righteous individuals, within Israel), despite the fact that these verses from Isaiah are quoted in the New Testament and were often used in Jewish- Christian debate.”Quoted from Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, Volume 3 – page 41. Michael L. Brown