The Messiah in the New Testament in the Light of Rabbinical Writings

This volume follows our presentation of The Messiah in the Old Testament. It shows the roots of Christian faith in the light of the oldest and least-censored normative Jewish sources. If the first book was a kind of "Nahshon's leap", the first one to jump into the Red Sea at Moses' command, here we already enter the Promised Land. We dive again into the Bible's own native soil, finding the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecies described in the first volume. From the point of view of their content and mode of presentation the Gospels dovetail with the same reasoning typical of the "Midrash" or synagogue preaching literature. We do see e.g. that the Lord's Prayer contains phrases and requests from pre-Christian times which have been preserved in the Jewish prayer literature, and the Holy Communion is to he understood as a Messianic meal which hints at an eternal perspective.

The originals of these studies written in modern Hebrew have seen in Israel already several editions. According to the estimation of a prominent Aramaic scholar "no such material concerning the identity of our Lord has hitherto been condensed into such a succinct presentation as this.

Please check with us for availability of this book in Hebrew or Russian.

Preface from the Publisher:

TO THE ENGLISH READER,

We are thankful to God for being able to introduce to you this second volume in the series on the Messiah in the light of Rabbinical writings. May this book see as wide a distribution among those seeking a better understanding of the Jewish roots of the New Testament, as the Hebrew edition of "The Messiah in the Old Testament" has seen among the Israeli public.

It is important that the Church among the Gentiles will rediscover the strong links between the New Testament and the different Rabbinical writings from the Second Temple period, which are an authority for the Jewish people until this time.

In Israel and among world Jewry today "Messiah" has ceased to be a mere idea or abstract ideal but a person whose arrival is being expected and longed for. The Messiah announced in the Old Testament and revealed in the New Testament in the person of Jesus of Nazareth is the hope of Israel. Although rejected today, He will be recognized in due time, and all Israel will be saved.

Jerusalem, Nisan 5753, March 1993
The Publisher
Victor Smadja

Printed in Israel by Keren Ahvah Meshihit (Christian Brotherhood Fund), a publication run Jewish believers, dedicated to the reprinting of timeless Messianic classics.

264 Pages.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:


To the English reader

INTRODUCTION 


THE RELIABILITY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
Christianity through the eyes of the earliest historians
Mentions of John the Baptist.
Josephus' disputed mention of Jesus
Comparison of the New Testament with the other literature of ancient times
Jesus in the light of Jewish sources
When and how did the gospels come about?
Did Jesus really speak about the destruction of Jerusalem?
What was the status of the Hebrew language   in the second Temple period?
New light on the date of the New Testament
The Jerusalem school's understanding of the gospel origins

JOHN THE BAPTIST, HERALD OF THE MESSIAH'S COMING THE BIRTH OF JESUS IN THE LIGHT OF THE GOSPELS
Jesus, the beginning of creation, as set forth by John
The birth of Jesus as described by Matthew
Is Jesus the Son of David?
The star which appeared at the time   of Jesus' birth.
The giving of gifts to the Messiah.
The Murder of the Innocents in Bethlehem.
The events surrounding the birth of Jesus, through the eyes of the Virgin Mary.
What do we know of Luke himself?
Luke's testimony to the virgin birth;
Luke, the collector of psalmody;
the historicity of his narrative,
Jesus' early childhood.

JESUS' PUBLIC MINISTRY AND PREACHING
An overview in map form of Jesus' preaching itineraries
The dating of Jesus' ministry
STUDIES IN THE LIFE OF JESUS
Nicodemus hears of the New Birth
Jesus meets a sinful woman:
the Samaritan woman.
The scandal in the sanctuary.
 Jesus the healer:
the man blind from birth receives his sight,
Jesus and the leper,
Jesus, the vanquisher of death

JESUS IN THE LIGHT OF HIS TEACHING
The sermon on the Mount: Jesus' "manifesto".
The background of the Beatitudes.
The general character of Jesus' teaching.
Jesus, the explainer of the commandments
The teaching regarding love for one's neighbour.
Fasting and prayer.
The Jewish background of the Lord's prayer.
A message of encouragement and exhortation.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
The parables in chronological order
The teaching discourses in chronological order

THE PASSION OF CHRIST
The king arrives in his capital city
The Passover in Jesus' day
The Lord's Holy Communion - a Messianic banquet
A possible reconstruction of Jesus' trial
The arrest in Gethsemane
The various stages of the trial
Jesus before the representatives of the Roman state
Facts relating to Jesus' death
Proofs of the resurrection

JESUS IN THE LIGHT OF HIS ESCHATOLOGICAL PREACHING
The Bible speaks of two End Times
What do the Jewish sources say about the Last Days?
The renewal of Israel which will take place   in the Last Days

WHAT, THEN, SHALL WE SAY TO THIS?

LITERATURE CONSULTED