Peace be upon those who follow the guidance,
Greetings Gene,
I’m sorry for my absence of late but I was terribly ill. I’m feeling a little better so I wanted to address some of your “concerns.”
First of all, I was glad to see this:
Originally posted by
Grace Seeker, I really had this experience once with some Jr. High kids in my confirmation class at church. They were trying so desperately to give the the answers they "thought" I wanted to hear, that they quit thinking altogether. Pretty soon they were giving me Jesus as the answer to every question, no matter how poorly such an answer fit. Finally, I asked them what was brownish red, climbed trees, had a long bushy tail, and stored nuts for the winter. They looked at me, and with perplexed by serious faces said that it sounded like a squirrel, but since it was confirnation class, knew the answer had to be Jesus.
A VERY SIMILAR thing happens when Christians look at the Torah and Tanakh! Everything, and I mean
EVERYTHING is taken as referring to Jesus, ad naseum and others will kick and scream and hold their breath insisting that there is absolutely nothing in either which prophesies Islam. It’s hard to believe, I know, but still they are like that, especially if you bring up Melchizedek!
My intent is to address this:
Originally posted by
Grace Seeker You never addressed my finally comment: Look again at the verse you quoted: "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him." Who is referred to by the term "them"?
This is a valid question, can we use the Torah, as it is today to attempt to discover the identity of
“them?” I’m pretty sure that we can, so lets’ take a look at the event which brings us to Mt.’s Sinai & Horeb. It’s called
EXODUS! So, let’s look there to see if we can find any clues.
Now, I’m sure that we can all agree that the descendants of Jacob are at times referred to as the “children of Israel”, AND we know that Ishmael is Jacob’s Uncle, so in that manor, they ARE brethren. But let’s take a look at Exodus to see what we can learn there. What we find is a term from Genesis itself used to differentiate the “children of Israel” from the Egyptians, and that is the term Hebrews. The term itself is from an ancestor of Abraham, a descendant of Shem, Eber. Now, the descendants of Shem are referred to as Semites and those of Eber as Hebrews. In the 11th Chapter of Genesis we read in part” …and
Shem begot Arpachshad…and
Arpachshad begot Shelah…and
Shelah begot Eber. So we see here that Eber is Shem’s great grandson. Reading further we read: and
Eber begot Peleg…and
Peleg begot Reu…and
Reu begot Serug...and
Serug begot Nahor…and
Nahor begot Terah…and
Terah begot Abram.
That makes Eber Abraham’s great-great-great-great grandfather! (And Shem his great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather! Phew!)
In chapter 9 verse 26 of Genesis we read in part: Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem; and let Canaan be his servant. One wonders why the Lord is called the God of Shem. We find an “undercover” clue in Genesis chapter 14, to wit:
17 After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).
18 Then
Melchizedek king of Salem [d] brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High, 19 and he blessed Abram, saying,
"Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator [e] of heaven and earth.
20 And blessed be [f] God Most High,
who delivered your enemies into your hand."
Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
So who is this mysterious Melchizedek, priest of God Most High? First of every Christian and his brother will of course say “its Jesus, Jesus!” Why, because that’s what Christians do with the Tanakh, they try to turn everything into Jesus!
But what do the Jewish say about our mysterious high priest? Lets look at the notes for verse 18 in the
Artscroll Tanach Series Bereishsis/ Genesis A New Translation with a Commentary Anthologized From Talmudic, Midrashic and Rabbinic Sources Translation and commentary by Rabbi Meir Zlotowitz with Overviews by Rabbi Nosson Scherman and a Foreword by HaGoan HaRav Mordechai Gifter, published by Mesorah Publication Ltd:
…
The sages unanimously identify Malchizedek, King of Salem as Shem, son of Noah (Rashi). He was so called because he was king [melech] over a place known for its righteousness [zedek] (Ibn Ezra); a place which would not tolerate any form of injustice or abomination for an extended time period (Radak); or, according to Ramban, because he ruled over the future site of the Temple, home of the zedek, the righteous Shechinah, which was known even then to be sacred. Thus, Malchizedek might designate him as “king of the place of zedek, righteousness.”
Just below wee see a reference to Shem on 10:21, among others, which reads in part: Why should the Torah associate him (Shem) with Eber more than any other of his offspring? …
Shem was the primogenitor of all the descendants of Eber from who came forth the Hebrews (Radak, Ibn Ezra)…Although Shem had may descendants, Eber’s children were the most favored of his offspring because they were righteous like him (Arbarbanel).
Sforno comments that those who believed in god were called I(b)rim, after Eber their teacher. Shem, because he was also their teacher, is called the “father” of Eber’s “children” meaning his “students”, because students are called the children of their teacher. [As a side note, it is also Jewish a belief that Jacob spent 14 years engaged at the Academy of Eber in Jerusalem]
Back to the notes on 14:18: Ramban explains that Shem was the most honored among the generation of Canaanites, and he therefore became the priest of God the most high in Jerusalem…
Back to the topic at hand, is the term Hebrew used in the Exodus story? Why yes it is, in fact is used at least 9 times:
Chapter 1:15 The king of Egypt said to the
Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 "When you help the
Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live." 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?"
19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, "
Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive."
2:6 She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. "This is one of the
Hebrew babies," she said.
7 Then his sister asked Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and get one of the
Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?"
11 One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a
Hebrew, one of his own people. 12 Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two
Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, "Why are you hitting your fellow
Hebrew?"
21:2 "If you buy a
Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything.
Now, even more phenomenally, the
God of the Patriarchs transforms into none other than the
God of the Hebrews! We see this at least 6 times:
Exodus 3:18
"The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him,
'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God.
Exodus 5:3
Then they said, "
The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword."
Exodus 7:16
Then say to him,
'The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened
Exodus 9:1
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what
the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, so that they may worship me."
Exodus 9:13
Then the LORD said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning, confront Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what
the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: Let my people go, so that they may worship me
Exodus 10:3
So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "This is what
the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me.
So the “God of the Exodus” in fact becomes the God of the righteous descendants of Shem through his “son” Eber! Now if we apply this to Deuteronomy18: 18, we get:
17 The LORD said to me: "What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you
from among “the righteous descendants of Shem through his “son” Eber”; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.
We now have a translation that is correct as well as accurate that CAN apply to a descendant of Eber in the form of ANY descendant of Ishmael!
Its fascinating isn't it? Now I can already hear the Christians questioning whether or not Ishmael and his descendants have any claim to the title righteous! Well, that’s part 2, Insha’ Allah!
:w: