FINDING JESUS IN TODAY’S SYNAGOGUES
Things in the modern church have changed since I was a boy.
When I grew up in the Church of Christ in Margaret Street, Toowoomba,
Queensland, Australia, in the 1950s and 60s things were a lot more formal.
Only men took part in public speaking during the
services. We all wore white shirts and ties with coats; even in the middle of
our oppressively hot summers; no air conditioners then (the women carried hand
fans and waved them back and forth over their faces). Certainly, all women and
girls wore dresses and stockings. Many of the older women still wore hats and
ribbons.
The church services too were rather predictable. They used
to talk about “the three-hymn sandwich” with communion in between and the hymn
to finish the sermon! The men who were to participate in the public part of the
services would meet in the vestibule for a prayer meeting asking Jesus to honour
his name and bless his people in the service. We would then file down in order
to the front and either take our place on the platform (if we were taking a
speaking role) or sit in the front middle pew (if we were to distribute the
Lord’s supper).
On the stage were two pulpits, with the communion table the
centerpiece. Invariably, there were two Bible readings. The first was from the
right-hand pulpit and was an Old Testament passage. The second reading was from
the left pulpit and was a New Testament passage that was thematically linked to
the first reading; after all “the OT is the NT concealed and the NT is the OT
revealed”!
When it came time the speaker (preacher) would give a
sermon; hopefully based on the two Bible readings. I did not know it at the
time, but this practice for public Scripture reading followed by a sermon has solid
Jewish roots that go back, yes, thousands of years! I am not suggesting of
course, that in the synagogues the New Testament was read. But for way more
than two millennia the Torah and “the Law and the Prophets” have been the focal
point of the synagogue Scripture readings and remain so to this very day.
For centuries traditional Jewish practice has been to read
aloud the entire Torah (the first 5 books by Moses) each year. This Torah
portion is called the parashah. Then, selections from the prophetic and
historical writings (called Neviim) were read aloud. This portion was called
the haftarah, which means “completion”.
After the second reading from the prophets; the haftarah; the
rabbi or visiting speaker would deliver his homily, his message, which was
based on the passages of Scripture just read. It’s this practice that
Christians have emulated, mostly not realizing how very Jewish its method is!
I acknowledge the title What Happened to Jesus’ Haftarah?
is not mine. It originally appeared on August 12, 2005, at http://www.haaretz.com/news/what-happened-to-jesus-haftarah-1.166699.
I also freely acknowledge that the inspiration for this article comes from Lois
Tverberg’s chapter Moses and the Prophets Have Spoken: Finding Promises in the
Synagogue in her book, Reading the Bible with Rabbi Jesus: How a Jewish
Perspective Can Transform Your Understanding, Baker Books, Grand Rapids,
Michigan, 2017.
Some of the standardized lectionary lists that date from
before the Messiah show an earlier triennial tradition, rather than the later
annual cycle for the Torah readings.
UNIFORMITY AROUND THE WORLD
Did you know that, to this day, the very same Old Testament
Scripture readings from the Torah and the prophets are synchronized in every
part of the world? If you went into a synagogue in Israel, in New York, in
Sydney, in Europe, anywhere that Jews congregate, you will hear the same Bible passage(s)
read aloud for that Sabbath?
This rhythmic pattern is so engrained in Jewish life that
even secular Israeli calendars mark off the weeks of the year by the names of
the parashah (Torah) that will be read that week. Can you imagine participating
in a Bible study so universal that you can glance at a free calendar you got at
the bank to see what you’ll be studying this week?
In Orthodox synagogues, the same Scripture texts have been
recited each week of the year for over fifteen centuries. On the day they
finish reading Deuteronomy, they throw a big party that they call Simchat Torah;
“The joy of the Torah.” After parading the scrolls around the synagogue with great
pomp and circumstance, they read the last word of Deuteronomy followed
immediately by the first words of Genesis. Not a moment should be spent outside
of the Scriptures.
JESUS AND HIS APOSTLES FOLLOWED THIS PATTERN
Two quick NT examples prove this standardized practice for
millennia. The first in Luke 4 concerns Jesus’ opening public sermon made in
his hometown of Nazareth. Although it had been Jesus’ lifelong weekly practice
to participate in the public prayers and readings in the local synagogue, on
this special Sabbath day he stood up to read (v.16).
After the Torah portion from Moses had been read, the
scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Jesus for the haftarah: the second
reading; and, when he had opened it (Isaiah 61), he found the place where it
was written … (v. 16-17). Jesus then proceeded to give the ‘sermon’ in which he
dramatically announced the year of God’s favour”, the Year of Jubilee, with
himself being the very one promised in the Scriptures, the long-awaited
messianic king! Jesus read aloud: “The Spirit of the LORD - Yehovah is upon me because He anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to
proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set
at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour
(v.18-19).
A careful study of this Lukan passage shows Jesus was very
Jewish in these actions, even if his exegesis was to the ears of the locals
most controversial, unorthodox, and yes, confronting!
The second example follows the public reading of the Torah
and the Prophets in Antioch. On the Sabbath day, Paul and his companions went
into the synagogue and sat down. After the reading of the Law (Torah) and the
prophets (Neviim), the officials of the synagogue sent them a message, saying: “‘Brothers,
if you have any word of exhortation for the people, give it.” Paul then stood
up, and with a gesture began to give his address (Acts 13: 13ff). Two Bible
readings followed by a sermon!
A DISCOVERY IN THE STOREROOM!
Most of us have heard of the Dead Sea Scrolls discovered by
a Bedouin shepherd boy in 1946. Their significance cannot be overestimated, but
this is not the place to go into that. But are you aware of Op Cit. Reading the
Bible with Rabbi Jesus, pp 194-195, Luke 4:16 informs us this had been Jesus’
regular custom or habit (eiotha) in Nazareth where he had been raised.
The Greek verb anaptusso rightly translated means Jesus
“unrolled it”. It takes some skill to be able to find the place you are looking
for on a scroll many meters long! The fact Jesus carefully selected his verses
on this occasion indicates he was familiar with handling the scrolls and of
course, could read Hebrew!
Another earlier and equally important discovery in 1896 in
Cairo of over 300,000 (!) Jewish documents? These discarded holy texts in a
synagogue storeroom (called a genizah) contained, amongst many other documents,
multiple lectionary lists.
To the astonishment of all, these were not the annual
readings so well known today but were from a more ancient synagogue tradition
dating to well before the Messiah Jesus, and that had persisted in Israel, northern
Africa, and Egypt until at least 1100 A.D.
Upon close examination, the researchers noted that the
modern Torah reading (remember it’s called the parashah portion) was derived
from, and based upon, this much older tradition. Today’s Torah readings take
one year to cycle through. This older liturgy was split into a cycle lasting
three-and-a-half years.
All of this is simply to say that synagogue liturgies were
not synchronized until they became standardized to the annual cycle instituted
in Babylon a couple of hundred years after the Messiah. So, it seems that Jesus
and Paul on their travels would have encountered slightly different public
readings from today’s as they traveled from town to town, village to village.
THE MOST STAGGERING DISCOVERY OF ALL!
Lois Tverberg notes that the most fascinating thing the
researchers found was that while the Torah readings had hardly changed, the
haftarah readings from the Prophets were completely different.
How, in what way, had the liturgical readings changed from
their ancient lectionary to what is practiced in synagogues this day? Well, in
the ancient cycle, the interest was on Israel’s future. The Torah reading was
followed by the haftarah reading from the Prophets that focused on God’s –
Yehovah’s promises of a glorious future messianic kingdom age.
Every week the haftarah readings asked the question: What
will the world look like when God – Yehovah establishes His earthly kingdom?
How will Israel’s story ultimately play out? Let’s give an example or two.
THE NEW CREATION
If the Torah portion was on the creation story from Genesis
1 the haftarah reading would be about the new creation of the heavens and the
earth from Isaiah 65: “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and
the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind … the wolf and the
lamb shall graze together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox … they shall
not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain”, says the LORD - Yehovah (vs.17,25).
ONE LANGUAGE TO REFLECT UNIVERSAL WORSHIP
And on the week, they read about the confounding of the
languages at Babel from Genesis 11, the haftarah would cite the promise from
Zephaniah 3: 9: For at that time, I will change the speech of the peoples to a
pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD - Yehovah and
serve Him with one accord. 6 Op. Cit. p 196 (My underlining).
A NEW COVENANT
Or, when they read about Moses descending Mount Sinai with
the tables of the covenant in Exodus 34:27-35, they would read the haftarah
portion from Jeremiah 31: 32-39: This is the covenant that I will make with the
house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD - Yehovah: I will put my
law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God -
Elohim, and they shall be my people (v.33).
A SON TO TAKE THE REIGNS OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT
One last example. When they read Leviticus 12-13 about
purification after childbirth, they’d read Isaiah 9:6, which looks forward to
the birth of Israel’s messianic king, who would sit on David’s throne and
receive an everlasting kingdom: For unto us a child is born, unto a son is
given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty Hero, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Well, you get the idea from these few examples. The
standard practice in the earlier synagogue liturgy was that the theme
connecting the Torah reading (what’s it called? You remember! That’s right! The
parashah portion) was oriented towards God’s promised future redemption for Israel,
and by extension the salvation of the nations of the world through the Messiah.
As Christians this should excite and enthrall us to the
point of jumping out of our skin with joy. To learn the earliest synagogue
lectionaries; the ones Jesus and the apostles were accustomed to; were
invariably oriented towards the future kingdom helps us understand why there
was such power and controversy in their ministries, for they announced God’s
promised future had arrived in the person of Jesus of Nazareth right in front
of their very eyes.
Lois Tverberg says it is especially noteworthy that, over
half of the prophetic readings came from Isaiah, especially chapters 40-66,
which focus on promises of redemption and renewal. Jesus often quoted Isaiah
40-66. When he read in the synagogue in Luke 4, he was quoting from Isaiah 61,
and the Beatitudes in Matthew 5 are filled with references from Isaiah 55-57
and Isaiah 66. Paul’s favorite book to quote was Isaiah.
Now a big question: Do we know which lectionary was used in
the days of the New Testament?
Scholars are sure the Torah portion (you got it this time!
the parashah) was predetermined, but the second reading, the prophetic portion,
the haftarah, was left up to the reader to choose so he could fit it to
hopefully, a good and inspiring message showing how the prophets predict the
Torah fulfillment.
This practice took a reasonable amount of knowledge and
familiarity with the Scriptures because the whole had to be thematically woven
together as well as end with the promise of future blessing and redemption.
Even back then, congregants wanted happy endings to their sermons!
JOINING THE DOTS
Understanding this practice helps us better understand some of the connecting arguments we find in the NT. For instance, when we understand the earlier lectionary reading pairs from Genesis 16 and Isaiah 54:1-10, the apostle Paul’s argument in Galatians 4 is not such a stretch. Op Cit. p199
Genesis 16 is the story of Sarah’s barrenness and her
hatching a plan to bear Abraham a child through the mistress Hagar. The
haftarah reading from Isaiah 54 offers a future hope to end Sarah’s sorrow: “Sing,
O barren one, who did not bear; break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who
have not been in labour! For the children of the desolate one will be more than
the children of her who is married”, says the LORD - Yehovah (v.1).
Paul makes the connection in Galatians 4. He starts with
the Hagar/Sarah story and then connects it to Isaiah 54 to support his argument
about Gentile believers in Messiah now being sons of Abraham. Commentators have
often struggled with how Paul likens Jews to the Egyptian slave Hagar. Some go so
far as to suggest Paul has a strong anti-Semitic streak suddenly! Amazing.
However, now we understand how the lectionary readings had
already connected the two passages, and we see how Paul is being very Jewish indeed
when he links Genesis 16 with Isaiah 54. The Jews themselves had been
connecting the two passages in their synagogue readings! But now in the full
light of Messiah’s arrival, they were failing to see the implications.
THE BIG PICTURE
So, what is the big picture so far? By examining the
standardized synagogue readings, we learn that Jews were reading their Bibles
in the synagogues earnestly looking forward to the fulfillment of God’s – Yehovah’s
ancient promises about His future Messianic Kingdom.
A classic example in the lectionary reading is the story of Joseph at Genesis 39:1-6: Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. The LORD - Yehovah was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master … Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. The assigned haftarah passage from the Prophets was in Isaiah 52:3 - 53:5, which recalls Israel’s oppression in Egypt and then God’s – Yehovah’s promise to intervene, For thus says the LORD - Yehovah: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” For thus says the LORD - Yehovah God - Elohim: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there.”
Notice how the readings tie Joseph’s fate of going down
into Egypt with Israel’s. Both were slaves. But all is not hopeless because God
will arise and deliver from Egypt. But He is going to do something far greater
than even the Exodus when He sends a “Servant” figure: See, My servant will act
wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were
many who were appalled at him --- his appearance was so disfigured beyond that
of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness --- .
As Tverberg comments, for centuries, Jewish congregations
were reading Joseph’s story in light of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah. The
short Genesis reading stops with the words that Joseph was “handsome in
appearance”, deliberately contrasting with Isaiah 52:14: “his appearance was so
marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of
mankind.”
The Isaiah reading goes on to the greatly loved words: Surely, he has borne our griefs, and carried
our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God - Yehovah, and
afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our
iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought our peace, and with his
wounds we are healed (53:4-5). Op Cit. p. 204
Repeat: In synagogues at the time of the Messiah, as people
read about the Suffering Servant they were thinking about Joseph. And you
remember the end of his story. It doesn’t finish with him being sold into slavery,
falsely accused of crimes he didn’t commit, rejected by his brothers, and wasting
away in the dungeon all those years. Not at all. Joseph ends up being promoted
to second in command over all of Egypt and if it were not for him, not only would
his own family have perished in the famine, but also many nations.
It is a fact that Jewish tradition has struggled with the
question of whether there would be two messiahs or just one. The prophets
describe visions of both a royal, victorious King who would sit on David’s
throne; son of David; and they describe visions of a Suffering Servant who
would atone for Israel’s sins; son of Joseph. So, would both callings be found
in one individual or two Messiahs? One who would die and one who would reign?
Massive debate!
Go back to their lectionary readings for a moment. A few
weeks after reading about Joseph’s imprisonment in Egypt, they read about
Pharaoh setting him up as commander-in-chief over Egypt in Genesis 41. That
passage ends with Pharaoh asking, “Can we find anyone like this man, one in
whom is the Spirit of God” (v.38)?
The haftarah reading for this text is Isaiah 11:2-16, The
Spirit of the LORD will rest on him; the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the
LORD – Yehovah; and he will delight in the fear of the LORD - Yehovah.
Here is the vision of Israel’s glorious Messianic King
(note too, it comes from Isaiah’s famous shoot from the stump of Jesse, a prophecy
about a future son of David who will rule over a glorious, renewed world).
Jewish synagogues were reading about Joseph’s suffering considering
Isaiah 52 - 53 and then a few weeks later reading about his reign over Egypt considering
Isaiah 11. Wowah! Could it be that a messiah who is the son of Joseph could
someday reign? Hmmm.
CRUNCH TIME!
We have now arrived at the time for impact. If you have
followed all the way to now, you will have a pressing question. Why don’t the
People of the Book, the People who have treasured, poured over, loved, revered,
publicly and thematically read the Torah & Neviim in their synagogues for
millennia, and yes, why don’t the people who have died for their holy Scriptures
rather than deny them, why of all people
don’t they; didn’t they; accept that Jesus is their Messianic King so hoped for?
Perhaps it might help to ask another question first: What
happened to Jesus’ haftarah? What about the messianic prophecies that all point
to Jesus? Prophecies like Micah 5:2 about a ruler to be born in Bethlehem? Like
Zechariah 9:9 about Jerusalem’s future King riding into the city on a donkey?
Like Isaiah 7:14 about being born of a virgin? Like Isaiah 61 which Jesus read
as being fulfilled in himself: “The LORD - Yehovah has anointed me”? Like the
dozens and dozens of prophecies all evidently fulfilled in Jesus the Messiah
all the way down to his rejection and crucifixion, and resurrection; all
foretold to the minutest detail?
Where do we find these haftaroth in the synagogue
lectionaries today? I’ll let Tverberg answer: Brace yourselves, but they are
nowhere to be found in the annual lectionary that is used now. Bear in mind
that the Torah is read aloud in its entirety during synagogue services, but only
a subset of the Neviim is read, selected because it complements the Torah
reading.
In 2004, an Israeli newspaper published an article called
“What Happened to Jesus’ Haftarah?” where Jewish scholar Hananel Mack examined
the lectionary readings. He concluded that the pattern was clear enough to show
that it was intentional. Any passage that was quoted in the New Testament as
being about Jesus as the Messiah was intentionally avoided in synagogue
readings.
Could it be just a coincidence that the fourth century AD, when
Jewish liturgy began adopting a lectionary that downplayed prophetic promises,
was also the era that Christian persecution of the Jews reached a peak during
the reign of Constantine? While Christians were chopping themselves free of their
Jewish roots, the synagogue was silencing the prophecies of a coming Messiah.
Horror! Historically then, as Christianity was cutting its
ties from its historical and theological moorings to Israel, the Jews were
separating themselves from their own Messiah too. Both have been the losers!
Christianity adopted its pagan tri-theism with its two-natured Jesus. Judaism
lost her Saviour King.
Let us pray for that Day Jesus himself predicted, the Day
when the nation of Israel will say: “Blessed is he who comes in the Name of the
LORD - Yehovah!” For on that Day Jewish acceptance will be life from the dead (Romans
11:15). On that Day the Torah of Moses and the prophets who spoke of the coming
Kingdom of everlasting glory will have arrived. On that Day Israel’s Messianic King
will be coronated. On that Day the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the one with the
lamb’s Suffering Servant heart, will at last receive his promised inheritance
with the faithful, blessed ones.
Even so. Come, Lord Jesus Messiah! Your haftarah will not,
cannot be denied, for your God and our God, your Father and our Father Yehovah,
is faithful!
Written by Greg Deuble and edited by Bruce Lyon
Greg Deuble’s website: www.thebiblejesus.com
Notice how Zechariah's 12th chapter lets us know when Israel will recognize the lord Jesus – Yehoshua as their Messiah:
1 The Lord - Yehovah, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares: 2 “I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3 On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. 4 On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the Lord. “I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. 5 Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the Lord Almighty is their God.’
6 “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume all the surrounding peoples right and left, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place.
7 “The Lord - Yehovah will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem’s inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord going before them. 9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.
Mourning for the One They Pierced
10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication. They will look to me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11 On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be as great as the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, 13 the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, 14 and all the rest of the clans and their wives.
This will take place when Yehovah sends the lord Messiah Jesus down to take his place on the throne of David at Zion. When he enters Jerusalem, they will recognize him as the Messiah they have rejected for 2,000 years. May that day soon come!
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