This week’s Parasha

Jan 13 - Names

Ex 1:1-6:1

Is 27:6-28:13 29:22-23

Luke 1:26-45

1Cor 14:13-25

This week I will address an issue that comes up frequently in Israel when speaking with people about the inaccuracy of scripture and whether the Christian scriptures can be trusted.

 

The first thing I want to point out in this Torah reading is the number of descendants of Jacob reported in verse 5.  Most Bibles are based upon the Masoretic text and lists 70 persons.  Why is this important?  Because the New Testament portions of Bibles state in Luke there were 75 persons.  This is a starting point for many of those who try to prove the Christian scriptures as false.

 

Some people here in Israel have been trained that this is proof that the Christian scriptures are wrong and use this inconsistency to discredit them. This inconsistency is not a problem when you look at what was happening historically at the time.

 

 The Masoretic text was gathered together by the Edomites and edited and distributed by a group of Jews known as the Masoretes between the 7th and 10th centuries in an attempt to discredit the Christian scriptures.  The beginning of this action occurred in the 2nd and 3rd Century prior to the Hebrew Scriptures being given to Jerome and his writing of the Vulgate.  Rabbi Akiba was one of the first to push against the Septuagint as he was a supporter of Bar Kocha being the messiah coming to fulfill scripture, and there were too many things in the Septuagint that proved Bar Kocha was not the sought after Messiah.  One of these references was to Isaiah 7:14 which states “Behold a virgin will conceive in the womb…”.  The Masoretic text changes this to young girl.  

 

In the 3rd Century copies of the Hebrew texts were gathered and the accepted Masoretic text was initiated to prove that the Christians were wrong.  All this happened after the death of Jesus of Nazareth.  The Septuagint was written long before the birth of Jesus. It was not written with an intent to prove anything about Jesus of Nazareth, as he was yet to be born. Not only does it prophesy of the virgin giving birth; the listing of the number of Jacob’s descendants is listed in the Septuagint at 75.  This is the same number as given in Luke.

 

 Many people go to great lengths to try to make the number of descendants match between the 70 and 75 by trying to count people who were already in Egypt and claim that there is no problem.  Those trained to doubt the Christian scriptures laugh at the attempts.  BUT,  when it is pointed out that the Septuagint, which was approved by over 72 of the greatest rabbis of the time as an accurate translation into Greek of the Scriptures states the number as 75, the laughter stops.  There is a problem.  Either the leading rabbis of the time period before Jesus were wrong in approving the translation used by most of the populous of the time of Jesus, or the Masoretic text written after the time of Jesus, in an attempt to disprove Christianity, is wrong.  Hmm.

 

The Septuagint was the common collection of scripture during Jesus’ lifetime.  The Septuagint also included the Apocrypha.  That’s right, the book Maccabees was read regularly.  That is why scripture in John 10:23 references Jesus as being in Solomon’s Portico at the temple during the Feast of Dedication (Chanukkah).

 

You find similar changes in the expositories on the scriptures that change the verses on there being “one law for you and the stranger who dwells among you” to only apply to proselytes.  But the word in scripture is not proselyte; the word is Ger in most occasions.  Thus the name of Moses’ son in this Torah study this week.   Gershom.  Ger = stranger Sham = there.  Moses is referencing that he was a stranger in a foreign land, Ex 2:22.  To turn the word Ger to proselyte can only be done in an attempt to force a wall of separation between Jew and non-Jew.  There is not an ancient reference to proselytes to be found in the older manuscripts because Scripture taught that the Temple was to be “...a house of prayer for all nations”. 

 

While Jews have not used the Septuagint in worship or religious study since the 2nd Century CE, recent scholarship has brought renewed interest in it through Judaic Studies. Some of the Dead Sea scrolls attest to Hebrew texts other than those on which the Masoretic Text was based; in many cases, these newly found texts accord with the Septuagint version.

 

 Adding the Septuagint to your library as a resource is a good idea.  Read the Scriptures used as the common scriptures during the time of Jesus, and you will find there are not discrepancies between the Septuagint and the quotes of scripture stated in the New Testament of modern Bibles.

 

As we study the scripture we must be careful to be true Bereans and seek out the truth. 

 

Selah.

Standing Strong

A Messianic Jewish Congregation with an outreach to Believers in Israel