WiseReader

Is Yeshua the Prophesied Messiah of the Hebrew Bible?
Dan Kane
WinePress Publishing, 2009
ISBN: 1-60615-003-0 

Having spent eight years working with New Covenant Forum, Canada’s oldest continuing evangelical outreach to Toronto’s Jewish community, I’ve developed an abiding interest in the Jewish roots of the Christian faith, and in learning how to effectively share my faith with Jewish people.

A few months ago I received a copy of Dan Kane’s book, Is Yeshua the Prophesied Messiah of the Hebrew Bible? The theme is not new, of course. Many Bible scholars, teachers and evangelists have explored this topic, and our book shelves are sagging with works about the messianic credentials of Jesus Christ.

This book is interesting because it is not written by a formally-trained theologian, nor by one who has invested a life-time in Jewish outreach. Kane, with earned degrees in science and engineering, has worked in the nuclear industry, specifically concerned with disposal of radioactive waste.

Raised a Roman Catholic, Kane did not really give religion that much interest until in his mid forties. He came to faith as an adult, and now lives in Nevada where he is an Adult Bible study leader in his local Baptist church.

The author introduces the book by recounting a variety of ways groups view Jesus, particularly Catholics, liberal Protestants, Mormons, Muslims and Jews. Following that, Kane lays out how he approached his research into whether or not Jesus was the Messiah prophesied about by the ancient Hebrew prophets.

He begins with the New Testament record of Jesus, discovering that the Biblical account differs in many ways from the popular views of the churches and groups mentioned above.

Following his New Testament research, Kane examines the Old Testament writings, including a look at the Talmud - Jewish oral tradition. Comparing what he found in the Old Testament and Talmud with what he had discovered from his New Testament research, Kane concludes that Yeshua (the Jewish way to say Jesus) is indeed the promised Messiah of the Hebrew Bible.

Kane has diligently searched the Bible and Jewish literature in presenting his study of the messianic credentials of Jesus. And while much of his material will be familiar to mature believers, he has provided fascinating insight into Jewish history and Jewish thinking about Jesus. Not everyone will agree with all of Kane’s conclusions, but he has given readers much to think about.

Every author writes with a particular audience in view, but at times I found myself questioning who Kane’s intended audience was.

For example, in the Introduction, Kane writes: “Because of the awe and respect many have for the ineffable Name of HaShem, I have chosen to use hyphens with spelling G-d and L-RD” (p.X). Though, to my knowledge, this only concerns observant, orthodox Jews (a minority within their community), it seems that his concern to follow this Jewish custom signifies an intended Jewish readership. However, the vast majority of Jews have no concern at all about this convention. In fact, many Jewish versions of the Bible do not follow this convention at all. So perhaps Kane wants to provide Christians with a Jewish-flavored study of their Lord and Savior.

Further, choosing to refer to Jesus in a variety of ways - Mashiach (Hebrew for Messiah), Yeshua (Hebrew for Jesus), L-RD and G-D - lends credence to thinking the intended audience is Jewish, since these are not terms used by the Christian community at large. The same can be said for his decision to use HaShem (the Name), Elohim and Yah as names for God.

Even with a discernible Jewish flavor, Kane’s frequent challenge of Roman Catholic, and liberal Protestant theology leads me to think that the audience in view is mainly conservative Christians. Whatever the case, evangelical Christians find a good level of information and teaching to encourage them in their Christian lives.

Kane is prone to overstating his case, as I feel he does in the following examples:

“…most denominations teach that one cannot know if he is saved!” (p.66)

“The Catholic, Orthodox, and many Protestant Churches believe he was speaking literally when he discussed eating his flesh and drinking his blood…” (p.73)

“Judas’s remorse was that his plan failed to force Jesus’ hand.” (p.79)

Regarding his study of Jesus, Kane says he discovered that Jesus was different from “the one taught by Catholics and most Protestant Churches and their derivatives.” (p.X)

When commenting upon Jesus refusing the vinegar and gall, Kane asserts that “This lends support to the notion that he and the others drank unfermented wine (grape juice) just a few hours earlier at their last supper together.” (p.87)

Kane’s dispensationalist theology comes through repeatedly, and while I have no objection to that personally, I do find that, like many dispensationalists, Kane tends to place heresy and doctrinal views held by evangelical Christians in the same category, labeling them as false doctrine. For example, the Roman Catholic view of justification, rightly viewed as false, is equated with so-called “replacement theology” (e.g. the church has replaced Israel as the people of God), both being seen as heresies to refute. One may legitimately disagree with the view that the church replaces Israel as the chosen people of God, it hardly warrants equating this with subverting the gospel message.

These criticisms noted, I still recommend Kane’s book for Christians seeking a popular treatment of messianic prophecy and a Jewish history of reaction to Jesus.

The Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides (1135-1204 C.E.), known as the Rambam, is considered to be one of the greatest medieval philosophers, exercising significant influence in both the Jewish and Gentile world of his day - an influence that continues into the present. Maimonides was the first person to write a systematic code of Jewish law.

Maimonides encapsulated Judaism with his thirteen principles of Jewish faith which originally appeared in his commentary on Mishnah Sanhedrin. They are found in one form or another in virtually every prayer book, and form the basis for Yigdal, the well-known synagogue hymn. While there is no universally-accepted, definitive statement of Jewish belief, Maimonides’ thirteen principles are widely accepted as standard Jewish belief.

For those interested in a summarization of Maimonides’ discussion of these principles, I recommend Maimonides’ Principles: The Fundamentals of Jewish Faith by Aryeh Kaplan (2002 reprint) first published by the National Conference of Synagogue Youth of the Orthodox Union. Kaplan has provided a readable treatment of the thirteen principles, thus perpetuating what Maimonides surely desired when he first wrote them: providing access to all Jews, educated or uneducated, access to the basic tenets of Jewish faith and responsibility.

 Among those principles is one concerning the Jewish hope of a Messiah. Principle 12 reads:

I believe with perfect faith in the coming of the Messiah. How long it takes, I will await his coming every day.

Including Jesus of Nazareth, whom Christians (and I am one) believe is the Messiah promised by the Hebrew propehts, there have been, according to Jerry Rabow, at least fifty persons who have claimed messianic credentials. However, the vast majority of Jews today still patiently wait the coming of their Messiah who will defeat Israel’s enemies, restore her to the land of Israel and usher in worldwide peace.

The latest messianic claim originates in the Lubavitch Hasidim movement which sees the late Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994) as the promised Messiah. Rebbe Schneerson is the seventh leader of the Lubavitch Hasidic branch of Judaism. Many of his followers believe that Rebbe Schneerson will one day rise from the dead and complete his messianic mission.

It is this belief that has David Berger on a mission to have messianist Lubavitchers decredentialed, so to speak. In The Rebbe The Messiah and the Scandal of Orthodox Indifference (Littman Library of Jewish Civilization, 2001), Berger issues a no-holds-barred challenge to the Orthodox community to face up to the problem created by Lubavitchers attributing messiahship to Schneerson. He believes that the rise of Lubavitch messianism has given credence to two propositions from which “every mainstream Jew in the last millennium would have instantly recoiled.” Those two options are:

1.  A specific descendant of King David may be identified with certainty as the Messiah even though he died in an unredeemed world. The criteria always deemed necessary for a confident identification of the Messiah - the temporal redemption of the Jewish people, a rebuilt Temple, peace and prosperity, the universal recognition of the God of Israel - are null and void.

2.  The messianic faith of Judaism allows for the following scenario: God will finally send the true Messiah to embark upon his redemptive mission. The long-awaited redeemer will declare that all preparations for the redemption have been completed and announce without qualification that the fulfilment is absolutely imminent. He will begin the process of gathering the dispersed of Israel to the Holy Land. He will proclaim himself a prophet, point clearly to his messianic status, and declare that the only remaining task is to greet him as Messiah. And then he will die and be buried without having redemed the world. To put the matter more succinctly, the true Messiah’s redemptive mission, publicly proclaimed and vigorously pursued, will be interrupted by death and burial and then consummated through a Second Coming.

Berger is aware that the vast majority of Jews would view the above-mentioned options as totally alien to the Judaism they know. Further, as Berger reminds his readers, “the Rabbinical Council of America has declared that there is no place for such a doctrine in Judaism.” However, and this is what greatly irks Berger,

the assertion that contemporary Orthodox Jewry effectively legitimates these beliefs rests on a simple observation: a large segment - almost certainly a substantial majority - of a highly significant Orthodox movement called Lubavitch, or Chabad, hasidism affirms that the Lubavithcer Rebbe, Rabbi Manachem Mendel Schneerson, who was laid to rest in 1994 without leaving a successor, did everything subsumed under proposition 2 and will soon return to complete the redemption in his capacity as the Messiah. 

Berger labels his book “an indictment, a lament, and an appeal.” In fourteen chapters he explores the historical background leading up to Schneerson being seen as the Messiah, a survey of some steps that have been taken to deal with the issue, and some sobering implications as viewed from Judaism’s perspective. Even Christians will be startled to read how some Lubavitchers refer to their rebbe. It is no wonder that Berger is concerned, for as he notes, a failure to decisively respond is nothing short of “the utter smashing of a central, millennium-old argument against the Christian mission, and effects a deformation of the Jewish religion.”

Berger’s book is not likely to find its way onto the “must read” list of most Christian leaders, but those who care to invest the time to understand these issues will be richly repaid with a fresh appreciation for the intricacies of the world of Orthodox Judaism, and as well, find fresh ways of engaging the most religous of Jews in conversation about Jesus, the one to whom believing Jews and Gentiles look for salvation and assurance of a place in God’s presence for all eternity.