How Much Did the Jews Know?
The question arose in Bible study last night about how much
the ancient Jews knew about a messiah who would suffer for their sins. By “ancient,”
I mean during the time of Jesus, just less than two thousand years ago. When John
the Baptist came preaching to the Jews, he pointed to Jesus and said “Behold!
The Lamb of God!” (John 1:29-31). Even beginning Bible students recognize
this is a reference to a bloody sacrifice, for lambs were sacrificed as an atonement
for sin. Therefore, was John’s proclamation gibberish to them, or did they
understand what he was saying?
Before I get to Old Testament scripture that talks about the
“suffering servant,” let me point out in our own society how we treat scripture.
This will help us understand how the ancient Jews treated scripture. It’s
easy to say, “The Jews knew this,” talking about an entire society as if they
were one person or had a collective knowledge. But the fact is, not everybody
in a society has the same level of knowledge. For example, how many Baptist
Americans understand or can fluently discuss Presbyterian doctrines? How many
Baptists understand or can fluently discuss Baptist doctrine? And then,
how many Americans can understand or fluently discuss any religious doctrine at
all? When we know that all levels of understanding exist in a society, then it
makes sense to us that in a Jewish society, only a few people (relatively
speaking) would expect a messiah who would suffer for sins.
Let me use yet another illustration. Our society knows how
to make cars. I’m a member of our society, yet I don’t know how to make cars.
Only a few people in our society can actually make cars, yet we all know that “we”
make cars, although I don’t.
Which is the Greatest Law?
If you remember, in the Old Testament (Tanach), God gave
Israel the Ten Commandments. I suppose it was likely that most Jewish children
could recite the Ten Commandments, just as our children today can recite the
Pledge of Allegiance and the alphabet. But what about something more esoteric
than that?
Luke 10:25-28 says
25
On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,”
he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in
the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27
He answered: ”‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all
your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your
neighbor as yourself.’”
28“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and
you will live.”
A Jewish lawyer, one trained in the Torah, which is the
Jewish Law, asked Jesus a question. Jesus turned it back on him and said, “What
do you think?” Immediately, the lawyer gave the correct answer. You see, the
lawyer wasn’t asking Jesus a question to find out the answer; instead he was
testing Jesus to see if Jesus knew as much as he did.
Every Jewish school child probably could recite the Ten
Commandments, but how many knew what Jesus and the lawyer knew? How many knew
there was actually another law that was greater than the Ten Commands, and upon
which the Ten Commandments were based? That law, by the way, is found in
Deuteronomy 6:5.
The point I want to make in the story about Jesus and the
lawyer is that Jewish society knew the greatest law in the Bible, although it
was obscure and not part of the Ten Commandments.
Does God Hold Us Accountable?
Does God hold us accountable for what is in the Bible?
Suppose a typical American stands before God and says, “How was I supposed to
know that was in the Bible and that you wanted me to obey the Bible?” Is that
a legitimate question?
Already in our society we have a proverb, “Ignorance of the
law is no excuse.” Even our own society holds us accountable to obey the laws
whether we know them or not. It’s our responsibility as a person to know what
the laws are. But does God operate in the same way?
Leviticus 4:27-28
27 If a member of the
community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD’s
commands, he is guilty. 28 When he is made aware of the sin he
committed, he must bring [an] offering for the sin he committed...
This law is very explicit and repeated in several ways. In
the example I gave, it says, “If a member of the community sins…” Using the
same formula, throughout Leviticus 4 it says the same thing for the anointed
priests, for the whole Israelite community, and for the leaders. That means it applies to
the preachers, to government officials, to the nation as a whole and to each
individual person. If anyone sins in ignorance, God holds him responsible for
it; and when that person finds out he has sinned, he must make atonement for
it.
God gave us the Bible to study, to use and to learn. It is
our guide in life. God told Israel,
Deuteronomy 6:6-9
6 These commandments that I
give you today are to be upon your hearts. 7 Impress them on your
children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the
road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols
on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the
doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
Our responsibility is to learn God’s laws and obey them, in
the same way that it is our responsibility to learn our own nation’s laws and
obey them.
How Difficult Is It to Understand Prophecy?
Many ancient Jewish scholars diligently studied the scriptures
and knew what to expect, although sometimes these studies may be difficult. In
studying prophesy, the Jews of then and the scholars of now face similar challenges.
Combined Prophesy
Sometimes one sentence or statement refers to two prophetic
events, such as Isaiah 9:6,
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
In this case, Jesus was born, but the government was not on
his shoulders and it will not be on his shoulders until he returns to earth as
King. This one sentences talks about two events that are thousands of years
apart as if it were one and the same.
Symbolic Prophesy
Sometimes prophesy has so much symbolism we need to be told
what the key is before we can understand what it means, such as in Daniel 7.
Daniel 7:2-3, 16-17
2
Daniel said: “In my vision at night I looked, and… 3 Four
great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea.
“So he told me and gave me the
interpretation of these things: 17 ‘The four great beasts are four
kingdoms that will rise from the earth.
In this prophesy, found in Daniel 7, we see that “great
beasts” is symbolic for “kingdoms,” and “the sea” is symbolic for “the earth.”
Obscure Prophesy
Sometimes prophecy may be given that does not appear
prophetic in nature, such as in
Hosea 11:1
“When Israel was a
child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.
Matthew 2:14-15
14 So [Joseph] got up, took
the child (Jesus) and his mother (Mary) during the night and left for Egypt, 15
where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the
Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Implied Prophesy
Daniel 9:27 says,
And on a wing of the temple he will set
up an abomination that causes desolation
This “abomination of desolation” is also talked about in other
places: Daniel 11:31 and Daniel 12:11.
Jesus said in Matthew 24:15,
“So when you
see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken
of through the prophet Daniel...
We see then, that in Daniel 9 an event called “an
abomination that causes desolation” will happen in a wing of the temple. In
Matthew 24, we learn that the prophesied “abomination of desolation” had not
yet occurred. However, in AD 70, the temple was destroyed. So, how can the
abomination of desolation ever happen?
The implied prophesy is this: the temple will be rebuilt
again. And that is the hope of Israel today.
Conclusion of Prophesy
Study of prophesies is a daunting task. It is huge; it is
complex; it requires diligence and clear thinking. That is one of the reasons
I try to steer clear of discussing prophesy during our Bible studies. The
topic is so fascinating and engulfing that we could easily be beguiled into
abandoning the current topic of Bible study to investigate something titillating.
Did the Jews Know About a Messiah Who Would Die for Our Sins?
So now we come to the reason of this essay. Did the Jews
understand what John the Baptist meant when he proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of
God who takes away the sins of the world”? Did the Jews know the Messiah would
suffer and die?
On one hand, it’s possible that that’s what John had been
preaching all along. John came preaching and baptizing. In his preaching he
may have taught the people that the messiah is going to suffer and die for
their sins. It’s possible, although it’s not necessary because the Jews
already had that information in their scriptures.
Understanding of the messiah was kind of fuzzy. How could
it happen? In one case, the messiah would be a born a child, as in Isaiah
9:6. But the messiah would also come in a chariot in the clouds, as in Isaiah
9:1 and Jeremiah 4:13. It’s easy to see how a born baby could die, but how can
a great God coming in the clouds ever die? Besides, which way is he coming, as
a baby or as a god? And how can both be true? We find out later, by
hindsight, that both are true because they refer to different events. In one
case Jesus came as a baby. In another case, Jesus will come as a great god and
king.
Did the Jews really expect their king to come as a
human child? What does the Bible say?
Matthew 2:1-6
After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in
Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2
and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?
4 When [King
Herod] had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the
law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem
in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:
6 ”‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.’”
So, the Jews were expecting their King, their messiah, to be
born as a human child in Bethlehem. But the king didn’t know that; he had to
ask the scholars.
Now a person knows a human child is prone to die. It may
not be possible for a god riding in the clouds to die, but it is certainly
possible for a human child to die.
Therefore the question is, did the Jews know their Messiah
was going to suffer and die? The answer is Yes, because of the following
scriptures.
Isaiah 52:14-15
Scripture |
My Commentary |
14 Just as there were many who were appalled at him—
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his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness –
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Thus the messiah was to be tortured
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15 so will he
sprinkle many nations,
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Like a sacrificial lamb, his blood was to atone for all
the sins of the world
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and kings will shut their mouths because of him.
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The kings of the world will (one day) all acknowledge
the Jewish messiah as their king
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Isaiah 53:
Scripture |
My Commentary |
2 He grew up before
him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty
or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should
desire him.
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Thus the messiah would look like an ordinary man, not
like a great king-god coming in the clouds.
Yes, a king-god would come in the clouds, but the son
of God would be a human, suffer and die.
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3 He was despised
and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one
from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
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When we humans, both Jews and gentiles, saw Jesus, we saw a man who was
despised, rejected, sorrowful and had seen suffering. And we didn’t care (we
didn’t esteem him)
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4 Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows,
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Jesus endured this in order to bear our weaknesses and
sorrows, like a scapegoat does.
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yet we considered him stricken
by God, smitten by him, and afflicted.
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But in our pride, we thought God hated him as much as
we ourselves did. We thought it was God who had smitten and afflicted him.
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5 But he was
pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the
punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are
healed.
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But it was for us, the humans of the world, that the
Sacrifice of God would be given for our sins. Therefore by this sacrifice we
would be healed of our sins and forgiven.
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6 We all, like
sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD
has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
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Every one of us needs this sacrifice; no one is
innocent. And God has put onto Jesus, the sacrificial lamb, all of our sins
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7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
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Just like a lamb going to slaughter, Jesus did not
resist.
“BEHOLD! THE LAMB OF GOD, WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF
THE WORLD”
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8 By oppression and
judgment he was taken away. And who can speak of his descendants? For he was
cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he
was stricken.
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Jesus as a human was cut off on our behalf. It is he
who did without wife, children and heirs, instead of us who deserved it.
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9 He was assigned a
grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death,
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Jesus was crucified, just as criminal. Left to
himself, he was assigned to have the burial of a criminal, but a rich man
stepped in (Joseph of Arimathea) and gave Jesus his own grave.
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though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
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10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
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This is God’s doing. It is God’s plan. It is God’s
justice. God figured it out and God brought it about for his own reason,
which we may or may not understand some day.
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and though the LORD makes his life
a guilt offering, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the
will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
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And although Jesus did die without descendents or
honor, nevertheless God will not allow that to be the final chapter. Jesus
will yet be given worldly honor, and we believers are all his family.
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11 After the
suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his
knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their
iniquities. 12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the
great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out
his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.
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For he bore the sin of many, and
made intercession for the transgressors.
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Jesus died as a sacrificial lamb for our sins, and
today he lives, making intercession for us
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The conclusion then is that the Jews indeed did know and
understand what John the Baptist meant when John proclaimed about Jesus,
BEHOLD! THE LAMB OF GOD WHO TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE
WORLD!