Are
the Jews Christ Killers?
Are
the Jews Christ Killers?
For two thousand years the Jewish people have been persecuted, murdered and exterminated in the name of Jesus Christ. Yeshua, was a Jewish Rabbi. He was born of the Jews, he died at the hands of the Romans by the Roman means of execution crucifixion. Why did this come about and why has the death of this one individual been the formost pivitol event in human history?
The "Trials" of Yeshua
and the Responsibility for His Execution
Both the Jewish and Roman trials of Yeshua are the subject of considerable debate, with implications for anti-Semitism throughout history. As historical sources, the Gospels themselves present problems implicating the Jewish People. Only Mark (14:53-65; followed by Matt. 26:59-68) records a formal, Jewish, "night" trial with accusations, witnesses, and a sentence. Luke records a morning hearing before the Sanhedrin (Luke 22:66-71) without formal sentencing, and John has separate appearances before Annas (at night) and Caiaphas (in the morning) who conducts an interrogation (18:12-24). All the Gospels agree that the Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate (a.d. 26-36), ordered the execution (also attested by the Roman historian Tacitus, Annals 15.44). Clarity about the legal situation is lacking. Jewish laws on capital trials are found in texts almost two centuries after the death of Yeshua (M. Sanh. 4-11), so it is not known whether they reflect first-century practice. By these norms the trial in Mark is not legal, since according to the Mishnah capital trials could not be held at night or on the eve of a Sabbath or feast day (M. Sanh. 4:1). The sentence of death could not be pronounced on the same day as the trial (M. Sanh. 4:1); prior examination of witnesses, as well as independent agreement of their testimony, was required (M. Sanh. 4:5; cf. Deut. 19:15-18); the charge of blasphemy required the explicit pronouncing of the divine name (M. Sanh. 7:5); and trials were to be held in the official chamber, not in the house of the high priest (M. Sanh. 11:2; cf. Mark 14:54). Also uncertain is whether the Sanhedrin had the power to execute for capital offenses during Roman occupation (see John 18:31). If so, Yeshua should have been stoned, which was the Jewish penalty for blasphemy. God in His timely planning allowed Rome to remove Jewish rights to execution by stoning for this brief period of time. Recall that they were allow to stone the woman caught in adultry before the death of Yeshua, and did stone Stephen as recorded in the book of Acts. This was to fulfill prophecy such as Psalm 22 indicating the Messiah would die by crufixion . Though reconstruction of the events would involve study of all the Gospels, Mark offers some clues to the historical situation. The public reason given in the placard on the cross (Mark 15:26), recorded in all four Gospels, was that Yeshua claimed to be a king, which for the Romans was tantamount to sedition. Those crucified with Yeshua are called "revolutionary bandits". Yeshua's teaching on the kingdom, his association with marginal groups in his society, and his attacks on abuses associated with the Temple made him suspect to both Romans and the Jerusalem aristocracy. Though some interrogation may have taken place before Jewish authorities, the Romans bear the responsibility for any formal trial. None of the Gospels mentions extensive participation by the Pharisees in the death of Yeshua, so not all Jewish leaders, and certainly not the entire mass of Jewish people at the time of Yeshua, rejected Yeshua or were responsible for his death. Ultimately Yeshua of Nazareth claims all responsibility and is the willing Servant, the willing Suffering Servant. His entire purpose was to come to die. For God so loved the world he gave in unique and one of a kind offspring and whoever believes in Him he shall never perish, but have eternal life. All mankind have some responsiblility in the death of the Messiah and the scriptures indicate it pleased the Lord to smite him.
Yeshua clearly stated:
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and Ihave power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. --John 10:17-18
The Torah gives great detail on the
Temple services
Leviticus 17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life.
For over a thousand years the sacrificial system was in place. Today the Jewish people have substituted prayer for as a means of atonement. If prayer is a substitue than why was the temple service instituted at all. More than one half of the 613 mitzvot deal with blood atonement. This makes the blood atonement and death of the Messiah Yeshua extremely benificial for the kipparoth "covering" and entering into the presance of the Eternal One.
The Death of the Messiah is Clearly
Foretold in the Tenach.
Zechariah 13:7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
Daniel 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
Isaiah 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?
Far from my deliverance
are the words of my groaning.
O my God, I cry by day, but Thou dost not
answer;
And by night, but I have no rest.3 Yet Thou art holy,
O Thou
who art enthroned upon the praises of Israel.
In Thee our fathers trusted;
They trusted, and Thou didst deliver them.
To Thee they cried out, and
were delivered; In Thee they trusted, and were not disappointed.
But
I am a worm, and not a man, A reproach of men, and despised by the people.
All who see me sneer at me; They separate with the lip, they wag the
head, saying,
"Commit yourself to the Lord; let Him deliver him;
Let
Him rescue him, because He delights in him."
Yet Thou art He who didst
bring me forth from the womb;
Thou didst make me trust when upon my
mother's breasts.
Upon Thee I was cast from birth; Thou hast been my
God from my mother's womb.
Be not far from me, for trouble is near; For
there is none to help.
Many bulls have surrounded me; Strong bulls of
Bashan have encircled me.
They open wide their mouth at me, As a ravening
and a roaring lion.
I am poured out like water, And all my bones are
out of joint;
My heart is like wax;It is melted within me.
My strength
is dried up like a potsherd, And my tongue cleaves to my jaws;
And Thou
dost lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs have surrounded me; A band
of evildoers has encompassed me;
They pierced my hands and my feet. I
can count all my bones.
They look, they stare at me; They divide my garments
among them,
And for my clothing they cast lots. But Thou, O Lord, be not
far off;
O Thou my help, hasten to my assistance. Deliver my soul from
the sword,
My only life from the power of the dog. Save me from the
lion's mouth;
And from the horns of the wild oxen Thou dost answer me.
I will tell of Thy name to my brethren; In the midst of the assembly
I will praise Thee.
You who fear the Lord, praise Him; All you descendants
of Jacob, glorify Him,
And stand in awe of Him, all you descendants of
Israel.
For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the
afflicted;
Neither has He hidden His face from him;But when he cried to
Him for help, He heard.
Implications of the Death of
the Messiah
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Yeshua
the Jewish way to say Jesus!!!