The Barbarian Bible
Page 10
And what happens when the Rabbis themselves in their different schools of thought (Hillel vs. Shammai) can’t agree? That’s no problem, because “The words of both are the words of the Living God.” 8 Sounds like their God may be a bit bi-polar. Or maybe the Rabbis are. Or both. Or maybe, just maybe, if there are competing schools of thought in God’s head, maybe it’s because it’s actually ‘the gods’ that are talking here?
But none of this really matters for the purposes of this book, because Talmudic (Pharisee) Judaism is not the same as Torah (Mosaic) Judaism. And Torah Judaism is the only Judaism that can claim the Old Testament as its founding document and which absolutely overrules all other documents when judging a particular situation. And since there is no Temple (in Jerusalem), and no provable Levitical priesthood, and no sacrifice of the red Heifer each day (nor the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement) THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS MOSAIC (TORAH) JUDAISM TODAY. Nor for the last 1943 years.
Want more? The last book of the Jewish Torah was written by Malachi (the last of the 12 Minor Prophets) around the year 500 BC, or a mere 2500 years ago. Has anyone heard of any Jewish miracles since then? Any partings of the Red Sea? Any crossings of the Jordan? Any appearances of the Ark of The Covenant? Where is the Glory Cloud? Any new prophesies? Any mannah from Heaven? Any appearances of The Messiah? No, grandson, the Six-Day War of 1967 doesn’t count. Moshe Dayan cheated.
And what was it that Malachi the Prophet wrote (ch. 1, v11)? Now remember, this was written about 500 years before Jesus, and it wasn’t fashionable in Judaism to think about mixing with (let alone saving) the Gentile nations. And it was also a time when there was still only one place, Jerusalem, where the Acceptable Sacrifice could be made, and only if it was made by the Jewish High Priest. Malachi, prophetically speaking for God, wrote “For from the rising of the sun even to the going down, My name is great among the Gentiles, and in every place there is a sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation (victim)”.9
This was not what the Pharisees wanted to hear. The Gentiles weren’t worth saving, and they certainly couldn’t offer a sacrifice, let alone outside Jerusalem. So what was this supposed to mean? Well, it was the end of the Jewish prophecies, and it was a message about what was to come, when Jerusalem would be destroyed because they wouldn’t recognize the Suffering Servant messiah when he came the first time. So, if they don’t want to recognize him, maybe he’ll just go to the Gentiles and see if they’d like a little salvation, eh?
So, the bottom line here is that Torah (Mosaic) Judaism has ended, visibly, with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. But in fact, it ended definitively 40 years earlier in 30 AD, the year they killed Jesus (with a little help from the Romans). The Talmud itself records this when it talks about what happened at the Temple beginning with the night of the execution of Jesus. Check this story out, from the Babylonian Talmud (Soncino version, Yonan 39b). (Note: when it refers to ‘the lot’, it is referring to the ‘roll of the dice’ made to choose between the two sacrificial goats chosen for the Day of Atonement.)
“Our rabbis taught: During the last forty years before the destruction of the Temple the lot [‘For the Lord’] did not come up in the right hand; nor did the crimson-colored strap become white; nor did the western most light shine; and the doors of the Hekel [Temple] would open by themselves.”10
OK, let’s do the math, as usual. The Temple was destroyed in 70 AD, and if you subtract 40 years from that, you get 30AD, the year of the execution of Jesus. Not that the Rabbis seem to have made this connection, but there it is, as plain as can be, in their own writings! And these writings in the Talmud record the surest proof that what began to happen in 30 AD (and which continued unbroken for 40 years, till the Fall of Jerusalem) was directly related to the question of ‘Who is the Messiah’. Let’s look closer at these Talmudic reports of these strange events, these ‘anti-miracles’.
These Anti-Miracles (as I call them) noted above are the surest signs that Torah Judaism was DOA as of Passover, April 5th, 30AD, the day after Jesus was crucified. Here’s the description of these four Anti-Miracles, as explained in the Jewish website entitled ‘Solomon’s Temple’ (and which can be found at this website address www.3dbibleproject.com/en/temple/details/evidence.htm ).11 I call them Anti-Miracles because miracles are generally thought to be things that brought rescue and/or salvation, either temporal or spiritual (or both) to those who witnessed them. An anti-miracle brings death or destruction (again, either temporal or spiritual, or both) to those to whom it happens.
For example, when Moses turned the waters of the Nile into blood, it was a miracle to the Jews, but an anti-miracle to the Egyptians. The priests and prophets and judges of Israel had always been the recipients of miracles from their God prior to this time. Now they were the recipients of anti-miracles, as explained below (although you should note the point of view of the writer who calls them ‘miracles’, as his point of view is that of a Jew who has converted to Christianity);
The first of these miracles concerns a random choosing of the “lot” (NB: as in, ‘it was his lot in life’, somewhat akin to the notion of destiny) which was cast on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). The ‘lot’ determined which of two goats would be “for the Lord” and which goat would be the “Azazel” or “scapegoat.” During the two hundred years before 30 BC, when the High Priest (blindly) picked one of two stones, this selection was governed by chance, and each year the priest would select a black stone as often (emphasis mine) as a white stone. But for forty years in a row, beginning in 30 CE, the High Priest always picked the black stone!
The odds against this happening are astronomical (2 to the 40th power). In other words, the chances of this occurring are 1 in approximately 5,479,548,800 or about 5.5 billion to one. By comparison, your chances of winning your local state or municipal cash Lottery would be much more favorable!The lot for Azazel, the black stone, contrary to all the laws of chance, came up 40 times in a row from 30 to 70 AD. This was considered a dire event and signified something had fundamentally changed in this Yom Kippur ritual. This casting of lots is also accompanied by yet another miracle, which is described next.
The second miracle concerns the crimson strip of cloth tied to the Azazel goat. A portion of this red cloth was also removed from the goat and tied to the Temple door. Each year the red cloth on the Temple door miraculously turned white as if to signify the atonement of another Yom Kippur was acceptable to the Lord. This annual event happened until 30 CE when the cloth then remained crimson each year to the time of the Temple’s destruction. This undoubtedly caused much stir and consternation among the Jews. This traditional practice is linked to Israel confessing its sins and ceremonially placing this nation’s sin upon the Azazel goat. The sin was then removed by this goat’s death. Sin was represented by the red color of the cloth (the color of blood). But the cloth remained crimson that is, Israel’s sins were not being pardoned and “made white.”
As God told Israel through Isaiah the prophet:’’Come, let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet [crimson], they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as [white] wool’’ (Isaiah 1:18).
The clear indication is that the whole community had lost the Lord’s favor in relation to something that occurred in 30 CE. The yearly atonement achieved through the typical Yom Kippur observance was not being realized as expected. Atonement apparently was to be gained in some other way. Who or what would provide the atonement for another year?
The next miracle, which the Jewish authorities acknowledged, was that the Temple doors swung open every night of their own accord. (NB: these doors were huge and took 20 men to move) This too occurred for forty years, beginning in 30 CE. The leading Jewish authority of that time, Yohanan ben Zakkai, declared that this was a sign of impending doom, that the Temple itself would be destroyed.
The Jerusalem Talmud states: “Said Rabban Yohanan Ben Zakkai to the Temple, ‘O Temple, why d
o you frighten us? We know that you will end up destroyed. For it has been said, ‘Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars’ “ (Zechariah 11:1)’ (Sota 6:3).
Yohanan Ben Zakkai was the leader of the Jewish community during the time following the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, when the Jewish government was transferred to Jamnia, some thirty miles west of Jerusalem.
Might the doors have opened to also signify that all may now enter the Temple, even to its innermost holy sections. The evidence supported by the miracles described above suggests the Lord’s presence had departed from the Temple. This was no longer just a place for High Priests alone, but the doors swung open for all to enter the Lord’s house of worship. (NB: other sages report that a voice was heard saying ‘let us depart’. Interpret that as you like)
The fourth miracle was that the most important lamp of the seven candlestick Menorah in the Temple went out, and would not shine. Every night for 40 years the main lamp of the Temple lampstand (menorah) went out of its own accord no matter what attempts and precautions the priests took to safeguard against this event! Earnest Martin states:
“In fact, we are told in the Talmud that at dusk the lamps that were unlit in the daytime (the middle four lamps remained unlit, while the two eastern lamps normally stayed lit during the day) were to be re-lit from the flames of the western lamp (which was a lamp that was supposed to stay lit all the time it was like the ‘eternal’ flame that we see today in some national monuments).
“This ‘western lamp’ was to be kept lit at all times. For that reason, the priests kept extra reservoirs of olive oil and other implements in ready supply to make sure that the ‘western lamp’ (under all circumstances) would stay lit. But what happened in the forty years from the very year Messiah said the physical Temple would be destroyed? Every night for forty years the western lamp went out, and this in spite of the priests each evening preparing in a special way the western lamp so that it would remain constantly burning all night!” (The Significance of the Year CE 30, Ernest Martin, Research Update, April 1994, p.4).
Again, the odds against the lamp continually going out are astronomical. Something out of the ordinary was going on. The “light” of the Menorah representing contact with God, His Spirit, and His Presence was now removed. This special demonstration occurred starting with the crucifixion of the Messiah!
It should be clear to any reasonable mind that there is no natural way to explain all these four signs connected with the year 30 CE. The only possible explanation has to be supernatural. (end of citation).
Well, what more can a guy say? These are the words of the Talmud itself, and expounded upon by fellow Jews. The meaning is pretty clear, unless you’re a Pharisee. The meaning was that by the time Jesus arrived on the scene, Torah Judaism had been choked off at the roots by the Talmudic Scribes and Pharisees who then organized the lynch mob to kill off the one who said he was the messiah. Why did they kill him? Because he had spent three years condemning the Pharisees and High Priests, while saying nothing bad against the Romans. Bad move!
And after the Pharisees succeeded in removing this Jesus fellow, they also recorded the next 40 year’s consequences in their own Talmud, yet they seem totally oblivious to their only possible meaning! Could it be any clearer? The Torah died when Jesus died, and the killers of both recorded their own deeds and yet they seem totally befuddled by the meaning of the consequences when Jerusalem was destroyed 40 years (1 generation) later, just as this Jesus fellow had predicted. Smart guys!
Torah Judaism was a hard and fast system of belief that required absolute adherence to a specific set of written rules that could not be changed. And it simply vanished when the Jews were dispersed throughout the world in the Diaspora brought on by the Roman victory in Jerusalem. The only thing that was left was the Rabbis and Talmud, an ersatz substitute for all those who refused to become either Roman pagans, or Christians. Two thousand years of Torah certitude was replaced by Rabbinic disputes, all 67 volumes of it. But before we close this chapter, let’s take one last look at that Talmudic version of Judaism, and see what it says.
Let’s assume the Talmudic version of history has some tenuous connection to the story of creation as found in the Torah. What does the Talmud promise us if we believe in it? If you’re a Gentile, not much. You’ll be a servant to the Chosen Race, in an earthly kingdom, ruled by Rabbis from Jerusalem. And you’ll be pondering really heavy questions, like ‘can I eat an egg laid by a chicken on the Sabbath?’ (Erubhin, 38b). Seriously. I don’t think I want to serve a God that thinks this is a matter of eternal damnation, or even purgatory. I want a God with a sense of humor, as well as compassion for all men. I don’t want a God that says (through the Rabbis) that no Rabbi will go to hell (Hagigah 27a). Or that there are innate differences or levels of true humanity, as evidenced by the required prayer every Talmudic Jewish male must say every day; “Thank you God for not making me a gentile, a woman or a slave.”12
But then again, if I’m a Jew, I can probably find a Talmudic ruling either way, on any subject, including the ‘chicken and egg’ question, so maybe this explains why Talmudic Judaism works for some people. Like Woody Allen and Roman Polanski. Anything goes! But it’s not for me. And again, it’s not for everybody. Gentiles don’t get the benefit of the doubt in the Talmud, so the majority of mankind is in the toilet here. And in spite of what Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Irving Kristol and all the rest of the neo-conservatives think, I don’t think we’re going to see this earthly Jewish World Empire succeed. But that doesn’t mean they’re not going to try, though. And a lot of blood will be spilled in their attempt. Just ask Saddam Hussein. And Muammar Khaddafi. And Bashar Al-Assad. And Hosni Mubarak.
The bottom line is this, grandson; the Torah is dead, and the Talmud is the mutant, Bizzaro version that lives on in its place. Obviously, this won’t work as an effective Operating System. At least not for Gentiles! But aren’t there any Torah-believing Jews left today? Well, from a belief standpoint, yes. They are called Karaites. But they can’t deliver an effective Operating System either. Why? Well, here is what Wikipedia says about them (Note; the word ‘Tanakh’ is Hebrew for the Hebrew Bible) ;
Karaite Judaism or Karaism; meaning “Readers of the Hebrew Scriptures” or “Tanakh-based Judaism”[1] is a Jewish movement characterized by the recognition of the Tanakh alone as its supreme legal authority in Halakha, as well as in theology. It is distinct from Rabbinic Judaism, which considers the Oral law, the legal decisions of the Sanhedrin as codified in the Talmud, and subsequent works to be authoritative interpretations of the Torah.
Karaites maintain that all of the divine commandments handed down to Moses by God were recorded in the written Torah, without additional Oral Law or explanation. As a result, Karaite Jews do not accept as binding the written collections of the Oral tradition in the Mishnah or Talmud. When interpreting the Tanakh, Karaites strive to adhere to the plain or most obvious meaning...13 (end of citation).
Well, guess what? Rabbis hate the Karaites (and vice versa). And since there’s only about 50,000 Karaites left, it’s kind of a moot point. Especially because if you’re a Karaite, it doesn’t matter what you believe, you can’t act upon your beliefs. And if you believe that the Old Testament of Moses is true, but there’s no more Temple, no more High Priest, and no more sacrifice, then that should be a message to you, don’t you think? It’s not like this all happened last week. So again, this won’t give us the Operating System we need to interpret the past.
And since there’s about 13 million Rabbinic Jews, it’s pretty clear that Judaism today (and for 2,000 years) has been Talmudic, Rabbinic Judaism. By the way, of those 13 million, five million are in Israel, and eight million are outside Israel. Almost half of those 8 million are in America. That means there’s almost as many in the Western Empire as in Israel.
Now that brings up the next question, grandson; why are most Jews today living outside of Israel? Good question. And we’ll get into
that in Part II of this book in greater detail. But for now, let me give you a short answer. It’s not because of the Holocaust, or because Israel was forcibly exiled by the Romans at the Fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD, or Mohammedans expelled them in the 7th century AD. As numerous Jewish authors and scholars (Shlomo Sand, Paul Wexler, Arthur Koestler, etc.) have shown, there’s a much bigger reason. And this reason will come into play in a big way as I recount the history of the primary nations that will be involved in the Big Ending. These dispersed rabbinic Jews will play a decisive role in the shaping of those gentile nations as we roll forward to the Final Act of the play. But they won’t be on the winning team. Why? Because there is no winning team, from a political perspective. Why? Because politics will be destroyed, and replaced by an all-consuming economic system that makes politics moot. So, let’s wrap things up for this contestant in our quest to find the right Operating System that will let us accurately understand the competing stories of the past.
Does Judaism in its original form have a believable historical document? Yes, it is very believable, if you can believe in the act of creating something out of nothing. I can, because there has to be an actual beginning, right?
Does Mosaic Judaism contain prophecies and evidence of believable miracles? Yes. The only other explanation for these reported prophesies and miracles is that everyone in the ancient world was a gullible idiot. I’m not buying that. Why? Because these same types of people built the Pyramids, and the other wonders of the ancient world. They definitely were not idiots.
Does Mosaic Judaism promise a desirable reward? Yes, it promises everlasting life of a personal nature, as family members (and not just as servants). Pretty dang good so far.