6 X 9 More Than A Rabbi Ebook

More Than
A
RABBI
The Word Who Became Flesh
By
Dr. Al Garza
Published by Sefer Press Publishing House 2020
Copyright©2020 All Rights Reserved
1
ISBN: 978-1-79484-767-5
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2
Bible Abbreviations
NASB-New American Standard Bible
EMTV-English Majority Text Version
ESV-English Standard Version
HRB-Hebrew Roots Bible
TSB-The Scriptures Bible 1998
YLT-Young’s Literal Translation 1898
ISV-International Standard Version
*If no Bible abbreviation is shown, then the translation is that of the

author.
NA28-Greek Text
Codex L.MT-Hebrew Text
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Greek Myth.................................................................5

The Language of Jesus..........................................9
The Hebrew Bible.................................................13
Fallen..................................................................................15
Messiah..............................................................................22
The Promise..........................................................26
Messiah The Son..................................................29
“The” Messiah.....................................................37
The Word.........................................................................43
John 1:1.................................................................44
Hebrew.................................................................47
Greek....................................................................53
The Virgin Birth..............................................................59
Hebrew Letter “Mem”.......................................62
God’s Grace.....................................................................65
Hebrew Grace.....................................................66
New Testament...................................................69
God: One or Three?........................................................77
Torah....................................................................82
Moses..................................................................112
Prophets.............................................................129
Writings.............................................................135
Appendix A: Jesus Is God...........................................149

John 20:28...........................................................150
Philippians 2:6-8................................................152
Hebrews 1:8........................................................153
2Peters 1:1...........................................................154
Bibliography..................................................................155
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THE GREEK MYTH
For the last 2000 years there has been a debate about the
identity and person named Yeshua-Jesus. This person lived in the
1st century in Jerusalem and died at the hands of the Jews and
Gentiles. The Jews rejected his claims that he was the Jewish
Messiah foretold by the prophets in their Hebrew Bible. After the
destruction of the Jewish Temple and the exile of the Jews from
their land at 70 A.D., the nations took hold of Yeshua-Jesus as their
Christ, which in Greek means “anointed one.” The early Greek and
Latin church fathers abandoned the Jewish roots and foundation
laid by the apostles in the 1st century. The belief that the Jews were
solely responsible for the death of Yeshua-Jesus, the Christ, forced
them down a road of trying to establish doctrinal views and creeds,
which ultimately led to many divisions within the early churches.
The man who was born a Jew in the town of Bethlehem and
who became known to many as the long-awaited Jewish Messiah,
Son of God, has been lost. To the Greeks, he has become a type of
Hellenistic Jew called Christ. To the Latin church and leaders, he
has become the foundation of Rome for all to come and worship led
by the holy father called the Pope. To the modern Jews and rabbis,
he has become a curse who they call “Yeshu, may his name be a
curse!” How have 2000 years changed the identity of one person?
Can we ever get back to the person who lived 2000 years ago in the
1st century and who had the name Yeshua? This is the challenge I
face in writing this book.
5
The questions we must answer go beyond the identity of the
rabbi called Yeshua, who claimed to be the Jewish Messiah. We
must answer the claims of the New Testament writers who said he
was born of a virgin by the power of God as spoken by the prophet
Isaiah. Did Yeshua-Jesus claim to be God, heal the sick, and raise
the dead? Did he fulfill any of the Messianic prophecies spoken in
the Hebrew Bible? Did Yeshua-Jesus die and resurrect from the
dead while atoning for all our sins? We must not only look to the
New Testament writings but we must also look at Rabbinic and
Jewish texts that support these teachings about the Messiah. Today,
Jews still wait for their Messiah and their Sages have been writing
about him after Yeshua-Jesus. Yeshua-Jesus was born and raised as
a Jew from the tribe of Judah. He said in the gospel John, “...for
salvation is from the Jews.”1 As we will see, there was a clear
distinction between the Greek-speaking Jews and the Hebrew-
speaking Jews in Jerusalem. Today, too many Western scholars
believe the disciples of Yeshua-Jesus wrote what he taught and said
in Greek. Even though those same scholars admit that Yeshua-Jesus’
mother tongue was probably Hebrew or Aramaic, yet his followers
decided to write his words in Greek. There is little support for this
conclusion, as you will read in this book.
In my early 20’s, I was convinced that the New Testament
had originally been written in Greek. I used to quote Jesus from the
New Testament Greek texts as if he said it in Greek. I never once
1 John 4:22 NASB
6
thought if that was right or wrong. Western scholars had trained me
that the New Testament was written in Greek by the apostles
themselves. Even though some early Greek and Latin fathers make
mention of Hebrew gospels and letters which were seen by Papias,
Jerome, and Ireneus, there has been no discussion about the
possibility of a Hebrew original written by these same apostles. Just
as the Roman Catholic church holds to a Latin language Bible
supremacy, so also the Western Greek scholars hold to a Greek New
Testament Bible supremacy.
Once I realized Yeshua-Jesus spoke and taught in Hebrew to
his disciples, I began to look at the New Testament through another
set of lenses; the Hebrew Scriptures and Jewish literature regarding
the Jewish Messiah. This was a game-changer for me and my future
studies of the Bible as a whole. According to R. Steven Notley Ph.D.
from Hebrew University,
“We have not a single example of a Jewish teacher of the first century in
the land of Israel teaching from any other version of the scriptures than
Hebrew... Outside of the Gospels, story-parables of the type associated with
Jesus are to be found only in rabbinic literature, and without exception,
they are all in Hebrew. We have not a single parable in Aramaic, so it
seems that according to Jewish custom, one did not tell parables in
Aramaic. To suggest that Jesus told his parables in Aramaic is to ignore
overwhelming evidence to the contrary.”2
2 http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/bibi-was-right-jesus-spoke-hebrew/
7
This is a huge statement by Dr. Notley. The majority of Western
scholars teach that Yeshua-Jesus and his apostles quote and teach
from the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew
Old Testament Bible. There is no evidence that any Rabbi in the
land of Israel in the 1st century used or quoted from the Greek
Septuagint. There have been no Greek New Testament manuscripts
or fragments discovered or found in Israel, Jerusalem, or within the
Judean Desert. The majority of Greek NT texts were discovered in
Egypt and or Alexandria. This is also concluded by the leading
Hebrew Biblical scholar Emanuel Tov.3 The 1st century Rabbinic
Jews only used the Hebrew Scriptures known today as the Hebrew
Old Testament. Even the majority of Greek NT scholars agree that
parts of the NT were written in either Hebrew or Aramaic, such as
the gospel of Matthew. This means the Greek NT is still just a
translation from a Hebrew source. So why is this information
important in understanding the identity of the Jewish Messiah and
the person of Yeshua-Jesus?
For us to fully understand who Yeshua-Jesus was in the 1st
century, we must understand his Jewish culture as a Rabbinic Jew.
We know that the leading Pharisees recognized him as a Rabbi and
teacher. Nicodemus came to Yeshua-Jesus at night and said, “’Rabbi,
we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these
signs that You do unless God is with him.’”4 We do not know what
3 http://thetorah.com/proto-masoretic-text/. And Textual Criticism of the Hebrew

Bible. Third Edition, 2012 Emanuel Tov.
4 John 3:2 NASB
8
kind of training Yeshua-Jesus had to become known as a Rabbi but
we do know he grew in wisdom and stature while going to the
Temple, which he referred to as his father’s house.5 This is
important and shows us that Yeshua-Jesus followed the path of
being a Rabbi and teacher. He chose his disciples personally, as all
Rabbis did in the 1st century. Yeshua-Jesus was in no way associated
with being a Hellenistic Rabbinic Jew who read and taught from the
Septuagint at the local synagogue as a majority of western scholars
suggest. Yeshua-Jesus was a Hebrew-speaking Jewish Rabbi who
taught his disciples in the tradition of Rabbinic parables but with
greater authority than the leading Pharisees. His authority came
directly from his father in heaven and not by the tradition of men.
Yeshua-Jesus was the living Torah as King Messiah, who existed in
the Hebrew Scriptures as the Word of YHVH. The same Word, who
was with God and by nature, was God. The very Word who became
flesh and tabernacled among his people as the Son of the living
God.
THE LANGUAGE OF JESUS

According to the 1958 1st edition of The Oxford Dictionary of
the Christian Church6, Hebrew “ceased to be a spoken language around
the fourth century BC," and now says in 1997 in its third edition,
Hebrew "continued to be used as a spoken and written language in the
5 Luke 2:49-52 NASB
6"Hebrew" in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, edit. F.L. Cross, first
edition (Oxford, 1958), 3rd edition (Oxford 1997).
9
New Testament period." The change by the Oxford Dictionary is
important for several reasons. It helps demonstrate that by the early
half of the 20th century, modern scholars reached a nearly
unanimous opinion that Aramaic became a spoken language in the
land of Israel by the start of Israel's Hellenistic Period in the 4th
century BCE, and thus Hebrew ceased to function as a spoken
language around the same time. The opinion by scholars remained
the same until around the latter half of the 20th century with the
discovering of the Dead Sea Scrolls7. The scrolls showed how
Hebrew flourished as a living spoken language until near the end of
the Roman period when it continued as a literary language in the 4th
century. Hebrew functioned as the local mother tongue while
Aramaic functioned possibly as another language in the eastern
areas of the Roman Empire. An Introductory Grammar of Rabbinic
Hebrew says,
"It is generally believed that the Dead Sea Scrolls, specifically the Copper
Scroll and also the Bar Kokhba letters, have furnished clear evidence of the
popular character of MH [Mishnaic Hebrew]."8
7 “The inscriptional and literary evidence reflects a reality not unlike what we find
with the Dead Sea Scrolls. Of the 700 non-biblical texts from the Qumran library,
120 are in Aramaic and 28 in Greek, while 550 scrolls were written in Hebrew.” R.
Steven Notley, Ph.D. (Hebrew University) is Distinguished Professor of New
Testament and Christian Origins, and Director of Graduate Programs in Ancient
Judaism and Christian Origins on the New York City Campus of Nyack College.
(https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/bibi-was-right-jesus-spoke-hebrew/)
8Miguel Perez Fernandez, An Introductory Grammar of Rabbinic Hebrew (Leiden,

Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill 1997).
10
Hebrew scholars point out that Jesus was knowledgeable of
both written and spoken Hebrew. There is no question that he also
knew Aramaic and possibly Greek. But his mother tongue and his
spoken language were Hebrew. One clear example is the fact that
Jesus is described as speaking in parables. Story-parables of the type
associated with Jesus are to be found only in rabbinic literature, and
without exception, they are all in Hebrew9. Another example of
Jesus speaking Hebrew is found in the New Testament itself.
After Paul became a believer in Jesus while on the road to
Damascus, he was captured and beaten numerous times while
proclaiming the gospel message. At one point, he appeared before
King Agrippa in Acts 26. When Paul began to describe what he saw
when Jesus spoke to him, he said,
“...at midday, O King, I saw on the way a light from heaven, brighter than
the sun, shining all around me and those who were journeying with
me. And when we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me
in the Hebrew dialect, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard
for you to kick against the goads.'”10
The Greek word being used and translated for Hebrew is Ἑβραΐ ́ς and
9“In addition, Jesus is often described speaking in parables. These were delivered
orally in popular, non-scholarly settings. They were also in Hebrew.” R. Steven
Notley, Ph.D. (Hebrew University) is Distinguished Professor of New Testament
and Christian Origins, and Director of Graduate Programs in Ancient Judaism and
Christian Origins on the New York City Campus of Nyack College.
10 Acts 26:1-14 NASB
11
only refers to the Hebrew language. The Greek word is never used
to describe Aramaic or any other form of it. So Jesus is speaking
Hebrew to Paul when he appeared to him on the road to Damascus.
Jesus was not speaking Greek or Aramaic, although Paul knew both
Greek11 and Aramaic12 as a citizen of Rome and a trained Pharisee.
There should be little doubt that Jesus’s mother tongue was
Hebrew, and when he was teaching and speaking to his disciples, it
was in the Hebrew language.
It is not debated there were Greek-speaking Jews at the time
of Jesus. The return of the Jews from the Babylonian exile and the
Greek influence of Alexander the Great is well known. But at the
time of Jesus, both the Hebrew Jews and the Greek Jews were not
the same. Hebrew-speaking Jews did not get along with Greek-
speaking Jews who were known as Hellenistic Jews who had
adopted the Greek ways, including the language. We see this in the
New Testament, starting in Acts 6:1.
“Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a

complaint arose on the part of the Hellenistic Jews against the native
Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily serving
of food.” (NASB)
11 Acts 21:27. Here the Roman was supprised to hear a Jew speaking Greek.
Greek was not a common language for the Hebrew Jews. See also Josephus,
Ant.20.11.2. “...for our nation does not encourage those that learn the languages
for many nations.” Here he is also speaking of the Greek language.
12 Paul knew Aramaic as a trained Rabbinic Pharisee. In his second letter to

Timothy 3:8-9 he names Jannes and Jambres who opposed Moses in Exodus
7:11. Those names are only found in the Aramaic translation.
12
The New American Standard Bible translated the Greek Hellēnistēs
as Hellenistic Jews and Hebraios as native Hebrews. The New
Testament identifies Greek-speaking Jews as Hellenistic and
Hebrew-speaking Jews as native Hebrews while non-Jews were
identified as Gentiles or those from among the nations.
THE HEBREW BIBLE

During the time of Jesus, it is debated which Old Testament
he read or quoted. The majority of western and German scholars
believe Jesus and his disciples read and quoted from the Greek
translation called the Septuagint. While other scholars in Israel say
that Jesus and his disciples only used the Hebrew Scriptures
referred to as the Proto-MT or pre-Masoretic text. As R. Steven
Notley, Ph.D. from Hebrew University stated earlier, how there is
not a single example of a Jewish teacher of the first century in the
land of Israel teaching from any other version of the scriptures than
Hebrew. So why do western and German scholars believe that Jesus
and his disciples used and quoted from the Greek translation? As I
stated earlier, they are relying on outdated sources before the 20th
century. We now know from the discovering of the Dead Sea Scrolls
the Hebrew Old Testament was the only Bible used by first-century
Hebrew Jews, including Jesus and his disciples.
Emanuel Tov from Hebrew University is considered the
leading authority on the Septuagint and the Hebrew Scriptures. He
is also the editor and chief of the Dead Sea Scrolls Publication
Project. In an article, he wrote,
13
“The text of the LXX was not quoted in rabbinic literature as support for
their halachic or aggadic deliberations, since no sources other than the
Hebrew text was considered ‘scripture.’”13
Emanuel Tov also points out during the first century; the Proto-MT
text was the accepted text as an authoritative form of the Hebrew
Scripture by the proto-rabbinic movement14. This would also
include the Apostle Paul, who was a rabbinic Pharisee and who
came from the house of Hillel.
Jesus was a Hebrew speaking rabbinic Jew who read from
the Hebrew Bible at the Temple and local synagogues in the land of
Israel. Jesus was not a Hellenistic Jew, nor did he read the Greek
Septuagint or quote from it. This would include his disciples too. As
R. Steven Notley concludes,
“Old ideas die hard, and it appears this also to be the case concerning the
languages of Jesus. Why scholars and others continue to believe Hebrew
was not Jesus’ mother tongue is another question, but it is not for lack of
evidence.”15
13 Emanuel Tov, https://www.thetorah.com/article/other-biblical-text-traditions.
14 Emanuel Tov, https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-bible-and-the-masoretic-text.
15R.Steven Notley Ph.D., www.blogs.timesofisrael.com/bibi-was-right-jesus-spoke-

hebrew/
14
FALLEN
To get a good understanding of the fall of man and the need

for a savior, we must look to the beginning of creation itself. Moses
wrote the first five books of the Bible called the Torah in Hebrew.
They are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
We must first understand that Moses is writing exactly what God
told him to write from Genesis to Deuteronomy. The stories in
Genesis are spoken to Moses by God himself. We do not know how
much Moses already knew from oral tradition that might have been
handed down by the Hebrew people while in Egypt or even before
being enslaved. So even though Moses is writing down the events,
it is God himself, who is the source of the stories from the
beginning.
16“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
These are the opening words to the book of Genesis. Let me first
point out this is not the best translation for the word created. The
word created should be translated as formed or shaped the heavens
and the earth. Some scholars believe that God created the heavens
and the earth out of nothing. God spoke everything into existence. It
should be understood that God also created man from the dust of the
ground. The same Hebrew word is used in both Genesis 1:1 and
16 Gen 1:1 ‫בראׁשית ברא אלהים את הׁשמים ואת הארץ‬
15
Genesis 1:27, bara. So, did God create man out of nothing, or did he
shape and form man from the dust of the ground as described in
Genesis 2:7? The answer is simple; God-shaped and formed man the
same way he shaped and formed the heavens and the earth. But
why? The very next verse of Genesis answers that very question.
17“Now the earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the
surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God (Messiah) was moving over the
surface of the waters.”
The earth was formless and empty, so God-shaped and formed the
earth and filled it with living creatures and humanity. This is how
Genesis reads in the first 27 verses. Everything that exists in the
heavens and the earth was formed by God, including the spirit
hosts of heaven. This is what you read in Psalms 33:6, “By the Word
of YHVH the heavens, were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their
host.” This is the same Word that became flesh in John 1:1 and who
Paul, the Pharisee trained under Gamaliel, declared concerning the
Messiah Jesus in Colossians 1:16, “For by him all things were created,
in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.”
The Word of YHVH and who is also the Messiah Jesus created the
heavens and the earth and everything in them.
17Gen 1:2 The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem call it the spirit of mercies; and
by it is meant the Spirit of the Messiah, as many Jewish writers call him. Zohar in
Gen. fol. 107. 3. and fol. 128. 3. Bereshit Rabba, fol. 2. 4. and 6. 3. Vajikra Rabba,
sect. 14. fol. 156. 4.
16
So we have established that everything that exists in heaven
and on earth was created, formed, and shaped by God and the
Messiah, which would include the spirit armies in heaven. After the
man was formed from the ground, the Bible says that God planted a
garden in a place called Eden in the east. In other places in the
Bible, the Garden of Eden is described as the Mountain of God and
the Garden of God. Before the fall, everything was good after God
finished his creation. In this garden and mountain of God, there
were two trees placed in its midst. There was the tree of life and the
tree of knowledge of good and evil. As we will learn later, the tree
of life was created to keep both the man and the woman alive
forever. As long as they ate from that tree, they would never die. So
what was the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Why did God
create a tree that would cause both of them to disobey him and
disrupt all of the creation? The answer is simple, the freedom to
choose. Without the tree of knowledge, man and woman would
only be able to be in a relationship with God because God made
them. With the tree of knowledge, they both can choose for
themselves life or death. This choice is what we continue to find
after the fall when God tells his people,
"I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before
you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life so that you
may live, you and your descendants…”.18
18 Deut.30:19
17
God gave his people a choice of life and death as he did back in the
garden. The blessing and curses are still in effect after the fall, with
humanity having to choose either one. As we will see later, the
blessings of life come only through Jesus when we choose life in
him for eternity.
There have been many attempts to try and explain what the
serpent was and how he ended up on the tree of knowledge to
cause the fall of man. I will make the same attempt but only relying
on what the Bible says and from the Hebrew understanding. The
first time the serpent appears in the Bible is in Genesis 3:1, where
we read,
“And the serpent was cunning above every beast of the field which YHVH
God had made. And he said to the woman, ‘Is it so that God has said, You
shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’”
The first thing we notice is that the serpent is compared to every

other beast in the field that God made. This leads us to believe that
it was a reptile of some kind that was made by God directly. Some
scholars believe that the serpent was not a beast or snake-like
creature but some kind of supernatural being like Satan. There is
nothing in the context of Genesis 3 to suggest such a view. Every
time the word serpent is used in the Bible, it is used to identify a
reptile who bites and hisses. This is based on the Hebrew word for
serpent, which is nachash. The serpent is no different than the other
beasts, except it was more crafty than any beast of the field.
18
That Hebrew word for 19crafty can also be translated sensible
and prudent. The Bible does not explain how this serpent was able to
talk to the woman. It seems that before the fall, this was possible.
The serpent later in history will become the object of worship in
many 20cultures including Taautus, or the Egyptian Thoth, who was
the first that attributed deity to the nature of the dragon, and of
serpents; and after him, the Egyptians and Phoenicians: the
Egyptian god Cneph was a serpent with a hawk's head, and a
serpent with the Phoenicians was a good demon or false god.
Again, since God created everything good, we have to
assume the serpent was created good but with the role of being a
deceiver for the sake of choosing life or death. Without the serpent
and the tree of knowledge, man and woman would be
preprogrammed for only one thing, to serve and love God without a
choice. In essence, love is not loving at all to be created without a
choice but points to being slaves to God.
After the man and the woman ate from the tree, both of
them knew they were naked because now they could discern what
was good for them and what was harmful toward them. They
became afraid and ashamed of how God created them and covered
themselves with fig leaves. When God speaks to them, the man tells
God that it was the woman who gave him the fruit from the tree,
19 BDB Definition: 1) subtle, shrewd, crafty, sly, sensible ‫ערּום‬
20 "Storytelling, the Meaning of Life, and The Epic of Gilgamesh".

eawc.evansville.edu. Archived from the original on 2011-11-30. Retrieved 2017-11-
27.
19
and the woman tells God that it was the serpent who deceived her
into eating the fruit. At that moment God tells the serpent the
following,
“God said to the serpent, ‘Because you have done this, Cursed are you
more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly,
you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life;,’”
In Jewish tradition21, it was believed that the serpent might have

had legs or was more upright until God cursed it on its belly. So
why did God curse the serpent if he created him to be crafty? I
believe the serpent was punished for not telling the woman exactly
what God told the man and let her assume the tree was good to eat.
The serpent knew the truth and even told the woman that she
would become like divine beings if she ate of it. All that was true,
but the serpent did not tell the woman that if she ate, she would
eventually die physically in time. The serpent withheld information
from the woman.
The serpent asked the woman a question that was partially
true in its form. "Did God say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the
garden'?" No, God said they can eat from any tree in the garden
except for one tree that was in the midst of the garden. The woman
knew the answer but did not know why she could not eat of that
one tree. The any was one tree that was in the Garden of Eden. The
21 John Gill’s Commentary on Gen.3:14; Midrash Rabbah Genesis vol.1 pg.162
20
serpent was cursed for withholding what God said regarding the
tree and its true consequences for eating it.
After the curse of the serpent, the man and the woman were
removed from the garden and placed outside of it. The man had to
work the ground for food in pain for the rest of his life until he
returned to the ground in physical death — the same ground where
God created man. The tree of life was no longer available to eat.
God knew that if they ate from the tree of life, they would live
forever as gods22 with his knowledge of good and evil. Physical
death was always present in their bodies, but it was dormant
because of the tree of life. Sin is the result of disobedience, which in
turn is the consequence, namely death. As Paul, the apostle, said,
“The sting of death is sin...”23
But as we will soon learn, victory over sin and death will
come to all those who have put their trust in the Messiah Jesus. The
result is eternal life at his return and the resurrection of the dead.
“’ DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. ‘O DEATH, WHERE IS

YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?’ but thanks
be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus the Messiah.”24
22 Gen 3:22 “Then the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of
Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also
from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.’”
23 1Cor.15:56
24 1Cor.15:54-55;57 NASB “Messiah” substituted for “Christ.”
21
MESSIAH
People long for perfection in an imperfect world and

vindication of the righteous in a world of righteousness. This is a
basic ingredient of the human heart, mind, and spirit. The whole
TaNaKh25 is full of this conviction. The prophets of Israel were
vehement in denouncing perversion and injustice. While looking
forward to the time when a:
“King shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule injustice. And a
man shall be as a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest,
as rivers of water in a dry place, like the shadow of a great rock in a weary
land.”26
How is this longing for perfection to be fulfilled? The biblical view

taught by the prophets was that the Messiah would accomplish it.
The prophets foretold a time when the Messiah would make final
atonement for the sins of both Jew and Gentile27. The Hebrew word
Mashiach (Messiah) means "Anointed One" and relates to the One
whom God chose to redeem his people. The TaNaKh teaches that
this "go' el (redeemer) shall come to Zion, and unto those who turn
25The TaNaKh is a short hand reference for the Holy Scriptures, consisting of the
books of Moses, the Prophets and the Writings.
26 Isaiah 32:1-2
27 E.g., Isaiah 52:15- 53:12; Daniel 9:24-26
22
from transgressions in Jacob."28 The prophecies, inspired by the
Holy Spirit, reveal that Israel and humanity will be redeemed by
trust in the Messiah.
Orthodox Rabbis of past centuries considered the Messiah to
be the center of the whole creation. The Messiah is discussed in the
context of the "light" in the Genesis creation account."29 According
to the Rabbis, this special light was created before the sun, moon,
and stars. The Yalkut, a medieval rabbinic anthology, says
“And God saw the light that it was good. This is the light of Messiah to
teach you that God saw the generation of Messiah and His works before He
created the universe, and He hid the Messiah under His throne of glory.
Satan asked God, Master of the Universe: 'For who is this Light under
Your Throne of Glory?' God answered him, 'It is for the Messiah who is to
turn you backward and who will put you to scorn with shamefacedness.’”30
In another rabbinic reference, we are told all the prophets who

prophesied have only made predictions regarding the Messiah. As
regards to eternity, it is said in Isaiah 64:4,
“Neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for
28 Isaiah 59:20
29 Genesis 1:4
30Yalkut on Isaiah 60; see Alfred Edersheim. The life and Times of Jesus the
Messiah (Wm. B. Eerdmans 1977) p. 728. Cf. John 8:12 “I am the light of the
world;” Jesus.
23
him who waiteth for Him.”31
The Rabbis also was aware the TaNaKh predicted that

Messiah would be both humiliated and exalted. They tried to
resolve this apparent contradiction in three different ways. The first
possibility developed in the Talmud was that Messiah existed from
before the creation of the world and came to earth when the Second
Temple was destroyed. Rabbi Shemuel bar Nehmani said:
“On the day when the Temple was destroyed, Israel suffered much for their
sins...And from whence do we know that on that day [when the Temple
was destroyed] Messiah was born? For it is written, 'Before she travailed,
she brought forth' [the Messiah].”32
Various reports are offered as to his whereabouts after his birth.

The Babylonian Talmud33 says that He sits "at the gates of the city of
Rome" and suffers affliction with his people. There he awaits God’s
call to step out as exalted Savior and bring about Israel's salvation.
He will do it as soon as Israel hears God’s voice and repents. This
view eventually was abandoned, perhaps because it too closely
resembled the view of Jewish believers in Jesus, who believed that
the Messiah had first come as a suffering Savior and would return
in glory as King and redeemer.
31 Sanhedrin 99a; Berachot 34b; Shabbat 63a Cf.1Cor.2:9
32 Bereshit Rabbati 133 (Isaiah 66:7)
33 Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 98a
24
A second explanation of the seemingly contradictory
portrayals of the Messiah as one both humiliated and exalted
appears elsewhere in the Talmud. R. Alexandri said that R. Joshua
bar Levi combined the two paradoxical passages, the one that says.
'Behold, one like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven' (Dan.
7:13) [showing Messiah's glory] and the other verse that says, 'poor
and riding upon a donkey' (Zech. 9:9) [showing Messiah's humility].
He explained it in this manner: “If they are worthy, He will come 'with
the clouds of heaven;' if they are unworthy, He will come 'poor and riding
upon a donkey.”34
A third and final solution is found in the Babylonian
Talmud.35 Here, the two different roles of the Messiah are fulfilled
in two different Messiahs. The first one is Messiah-Ben Joseph, who
fights, suffers extreme humiliation, and is pierced, fulfilling
Zechariah's prophecy, "They shall look unto Me whom they have
pierced."36 The second one is Messiah Ben David, who comes later
and to whom God says,
“I will declare the decree, YHVH hath said unto me. Thou art my Son, this
day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the nations for
thane inheritance.”37
34 Ibid.
35 Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 52b
36 Zechariah 12:10
37 Psalm 2:7
25
The Rabbis failed to recognize one other possibility which
the Messiah was to atone for the sins of the people first and then
return as the exalted one to establish his Kingdom. This view, of
course, inevitably leads to Jesus as the Messiah, a truth that escaped
the Rabbis of past and present supported by the TaNaKh. This view
resolves the dilemma faced by most Talmudic Rabbis. The Rabbis
strove to resolve the two distinct threads of prophecies in the
TaNaKh. As a man standing afar off looking at two mountain
peaks in a direct line, they were unable to discern the "time gulf"
that existed between those peaks. With the hindsight of a
quarterback and the additional revelation of the New Covenant, the
theory which best resolves the paradox is that one Messiah was to
come in two different eras for two distinct purposes. He was to
come first as the suffering Savior to atone for the sins of the people
and to bring peace to those who repented and received the
atonement in faith. He is to come next as the exalted King to rein
judgment upon the unjust and to establish His Messianic Kingdom
forever.
THE PROMISE
The first ray of promise to redeem humanity is found in the
first few chapters of Genesis.38 This redemption prophecy was given
after the great disaster that overtook our first ancestors. The "ancient
Serpent,” was more subtle than any other creature and proved
38 Genesis 3:15
26
irresistible to the woman Eve, and then to the man Adam. God gave
Adam and Eve virtual free reign in the Garden of Eden. He told
them they could eat from every tree but one, warning them that
disobedience would produce very harmful consequences. They
chose to eat from that tree of knowledge of good and evil anyway,
in clear disobedience to God. Instead of trusting their creator, they
yielded to the temptation. After all, the serpent had promised them,
"Ye shall be as gods."39
Adam and Eve's misguided challenge to God’s uniqueness
and authority had to be punished. But along with punishment came
a blessing and a promise to humanity. The woman, the first to obey
the serpent instead of God, is told that out of her seed would come
the one who will "bruise the head" of this serpent, which was used to
mislead humanity. According to the prophecy, God said,
“I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and
her seed; He shall bruise thy head: and thou shall bruise his heel.”40
The "seed of the woman" would deal a fatal blow to the head of the
serpent. And, the "seed of the woman" would, in turn, sustain a
bruise to the heel, a non-fatal blow. The Aramaic paraphrase of the
Hebrew Scriptures, Targum Jonathan, relates this Prophecy to the
Messiah explaining: “But they will be healed [shuf] in the footsteps
39 Genesis 3:5
40 Genesis 3:15
27
[heels] in the days of King Messiah.”41 Here, the word shuf is not
translated as "bruise" but rather in the sense of "rubbing with a
medicine," and thus as "healing." One of the greatest Jewish
commentators, 12th-13th century Rabbi David Kimchi, gave support
to this Scripture as a prophecy about the Messiah's redemption of
humanity. He recognized that salvation is by the hand of the
conquering Messiah "who would wound Satan, the head, the king and
prince of the house of the wicked.”
How did Eve understand this word from God? Evidence
suggests she understood it to mean that she would bear a child who
would "bruise the head of the serpent." Note that when Eve bore her
first son, Cain, she said, "I have gotten a man from the Lord."42 The
Targum of Palestine elaborates on this verse as follows:
“And Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and brought forth Cain, and
she said; ‘I have obtained the man, the Messenger of the Lord.'”43
These texts indicate that Eve expected more than an earthly child,
and by her exclamation, one who would fulfill the promise.
Presumably, when Cain killed Abel, her expectations of the
"promised seed" were dashed. When she bore Seth, she exclaimed,
41 See J.W. Etheridge, The Targum of Onkelos and Jonathan Ben Uzziel on the
Pentateuch with the Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum from the Chaldee
[hereafter referred to as Etheridge] (Katav 1968) p. 166 vote 8. This targum is
commonly referred to as the Targum of Jonathan Ben Uzziel.
42 Genesis 4:1
43 See Etheridge at pp. 169-170.
28
"For God has appointed another seed ...” 44
The Rabbis comment on this as follows: [She (Eve) hinted at] “that
seed which would arise from another source the king Messiah.”45
Some rabbinic sources did recognize the Messianic seed

would emanate from Eve. When Cain killed Abel, however, Eve
realized that Cain - whom Eve had thought was "the Man"- was not.
Since Abel was dead, he could not qualify either. Thus, the
"Appointed One" arose from Eve's son, Seth. The genealogical line
was now pinpointed and established.
MESSIAH THE SON

The Messiah was to descend from the seed of Eve, of Seth, of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Judah and Jesse. The Messianic
"baton" now passes to Jesse's son David. This is confirmed by the
following word spoken by Nathan, the prophet, and directed
toward David:
“And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I
will set up thy seed after thee, which shall all proceed out of thy bowels,
and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name....” 46
44 Genesis 4:25
45 Midrash Rabbah Genesis 23:5
46 II Samuel 7:12-13
29
The immediate cause for this prophecy was David's desire to build
a "house for the YHVH." He communicated this desire to Nathan,
who was inclined to agree that David should build the temple.
Nevertheless, contrary to David and Nathan's desire, God spoke
through Nathan and said, "No." God’s reasoning for not selecting
David to build the Temple was that David was a warrior and had
"shed blood abundantly." 47 Instead, it was David's son, Solomon, “the
man of Shalom “(peace), who was destined to build the house of
YHVH. Nathan's prophecy, however, extends much farther than the
building of an earthly home to house the Ark of God. Nathan
continued:
“I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and
he shall be my son. ... And thine house and thy kingdom shall be
established forever before thee.” 48
This prophecy did not find fulfillment even in David's son,

Solomon. Solomon did not reign as king forever. Solomon is well
known as the king who committed many sins by marrying pagan
wives and succumbing to their idolatrous influence.49 The eternal
throne would be held by the Messiah himself, who would establish
eternal peace. The prophets, who spoke centuries after David's
47 I Chronicles 22:8
48 II Samuel 7:13-14,16
49 I Kings 11:3-6
30
death, when speaking of the latter days, often invoked the name of
David as a reference to this Messiah. For example, the prophet
Hosea said,
"Afterward shall the children of Israel return [to their land], and seek
YHVH their God, and David, their king in the latter days."50
Since David was no longer alive, it is obvious that the prophet is

speaking of the "greater David" the Messiah. Similarly, YHVH spoke
through Ezekiel saying,
"And I will set up one shepherd over them even my servant David a prince
among them." 51
The prophet Amos recognized the need to"raise up the

tabernacle of David." 52 And, of the latter days, the prophet Jeremiah
assigned the ineffable name to this Branch of David when he
prophesied,
"I will raise unto David a righteous Branch...this is the name whereby He
shall be called, YHVH our Righteousness." 53
50 Hosea 3:5
51 Ezekiel 34:23-24
52 Amos 9:12
53 Jeremiah 23:5-6
31
Anyone who reads the preceding verse in this text will know that
the “the righteous Branch” that will be raised up for David is the
Messiah. Every scholar, both Jewish and non-Jewish, will agree that
this is a Messianic text. In a book entitled, “The Messiah Texts: the
author records the following Jewish source,
“What is the name of King Messiah? R. Abba bar Kahana said: “YHVH is
his name, for it is written, I will raise unto David a righteous shoot….In
his days, Judah shall be saved…And this is the name whereby he shall be
called: The Lord is our righteousness.”54
In Chapter 2 of his book, he states the following Jewish source

concerning the preexistence and names of the Messiah,
“Others [Jewish Rabbi’s] applied to him [the Messiah] the name of God, a
daring procedure in the Jewish context.”55
Finally, the prophet Micah confirms that Bethlehem, the

birthplace of David, will also be the birthplace of the "greater
David," when he was inspired by the Spirit to speak:
“But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands
of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be the ruler
54“The Messiah Texts: Jewish legends of Three Thousand Years” by Raphael

Patai, page 21.
55 The Messiah Texts: Jewish legends of Three Thousand Years, Raphael Patai.
32
in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”56
This passage of scripture describes the Messiah, who would come

and be the ruler of Israel. His going forth from long ago is a
reflection of the ancient of days in which the Messiah made his
preexistence appearance in history while at the same time, himself
being from eternity. “His goings forth” in Hebrew is plural and
points to a repeated going out and making an appearance. The
Hebrew “Miy-Mei Olam” describes his origin and dwelling within
eternity. He was before all things, and he is the creator of all things,
so he is Eternal and no part of what was created. Whatever has not
been created is God. Also, the prophet here could not have been
speaking of David since this "ruler" is one who was "from
everlasting." Also, the prophet speaks of the future, and David was
dead and buried by the time Micah spoke. The Psalmist, also
recognized that the throne referred to in Nathan's prophecy was not
simply an earthly throne but one which would be
occupied eternally by a “greater David":
I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. ...His seed
also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
...My covenant will I not break...I will not lie unto David. His seed shall
endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established
forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.57
56 Micah 5:2
57 Psalm 89:27,29,34-37
33
The Psalmist here is no doubt, longing for the "greater David.” He
was expecting a Messiah who would endure forever, and who is
God’s firstborn. A Midrashic portion has this comment about the
psalm: Rabbi Nathan said that God spoke to Israel, saying, “As I
made Jacob firstborn for it is written” 'Israel is my son even my firstborn'
(Exodus 4:22), so also will I make Messiah my Firstborn as it is
written; 'I will make him my Firstborn.' (Psalm 89:27)58
Accordingly, the Messiah is both David's descendant and
God’s begotten Son. This is a most amazing revelation, yet not one
that was confined to this psalm. Other scriptures reveal details
about the fact of the sonship of the Messiah. Another psalm tells us
that Messiah, God’s begotten Son, will rule the nations, and they
will worship him; otherwise, they will be punished.
“Why do the nations rage... against the Lord, and against his
anointed...?... Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will
declare the decree: YHVH hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day
have I begotten thee.”...Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and yet perish from
the way when his wrath is kindled but a little.59
58 Midrash Rabbah Shemot 19. Jewish commentators interpret the psalmic

passage as Messianic. They note rightfully that the faithful witnesses in heaven are
the sun and the moon mentioned in the psalm. Hence, they link it to a prophecy in
the book of Jeremiah where God takes the sun, moon and stars to be witnesses
before him that Israel will endure forever (Jeremiah 31:35-36). These
same witnesses testify that Messiah is the first begotten of God and that He will
endure forever.
59Psalm 2:1-2, 6-7. This warning to obey God's anointed (which is fairly translated
Messiah), also here described as Son, is likewise conveyed in the Deuteronomy
prophecy previously discussed in Chapter Seven, where the Messiah is described
as a prophet "like unto Moses," and "whosoever will not hearken unto my words
which he shall speak ... I will require it of him." (Deuteronomy 18:19).
34
Agur Ben Yakeh, one of the writers of a portion of the Book of
Proverbs, further identifies Messiah as the Son of God when he
poses a riddle:
Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended?... Who hath established

all the ends of the earth? What is his name and what is His Son's name, if
thou can tell?60
The prophet Isaiah who lived several centuries after David also
referred to the Son of God who would sit upon the throne of David
forever when he said:
“For a Child shall be born unto us, a Son shall be given unto us, and the
rule is on His shoulder. And His Name is called Wonder, Counselor,
Strong Ěl, Father of Continuity, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his
government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and
upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with justice and with
righteousness from henceforth even forever.” 61
There is not much disagreement among Jewish scholars that this is

speaking of the Messiah. The clear understanding of the passage in
Isaiah is that the Messiah would hold titles that only YHVH himself
could hold. The Aramaic of Isaiah inserts the word Messiah into the
passage to make it more clearly on who is being spoken.
60 Proverbs 30:4
61 Isaiah 9:6-7
35
“For to us a child is born, to us, a son is given…and his name will be
called the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, existing forever, The
Messiah in whose days peace shall increase upon us.”62
Also, in Solomon Buber’s note, we have the following comment:
“The Messiah is called by eight names: Yinnon, Tzemah, Pele [“Miracle”],

Yo’etz [“Counselor”], Mashiah [“Messiah”], El [“God”], Gibbor [“Hero”],
and Avi ‘Ad Shalom [“Eternal Father of Peace”].63
The Jewish understanding of these passages, according to the

Targum and Buber’s, is that the Messiah would be El and would
exist forever. “Everlasting Father” is an errant translation of the
Hebrew (avi ‘ ad). The word “ad” (eternity) is in the construct state;
the normal way Hebrew expresses the possessive-noun possessed is
to put into this state. Thus a better translation is “Father of Eternity.”
Thus Father of Eternity means that this coming Messianic Child is
an eternal being, and He is the one who provides eternal life. This
can be compared with Isaiah 63:16b:
“…you, O YHVH, are our Father; our Redeemer from of old is your
name.” 64
62 Isaiah Targum 9:6
63 (S. Buber’s note, ibid. p. 87)
64 Isaiah 63:16b
36
No mere man, or any created being, could fit this description. In
reality, there is a special idiom in Hebrew called the "Prophetic
Perfect" this is where a prophet speaks of future events in the perfect
form because he has seen them in the future where they have
already happened.
Finally, the prophet Daniel "saw in the night visions" of the
Messianic Son coming "with the clouds of heaven" 65:
“And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all
peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an
everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that
which shall not be destroyed.” 66
Messiah was to be the Son of David. He was also to be the Son of

God. This concept has puzzled the rabbis from the first century
down to this very day. No mere man can be given such divine titles
and be served as YHVH himself.
“THE” MESSIAH
As a believer, I knew that the secrets of Israel's redemption
and the Messianic Days lay hidden in the book of Daniel. I also
knew that some of the great Talmudic and post-Talmudic Rabbis
65 Daniel 7:13
66 Daniel 7:14
37
had plunged into the study of this book and even descended the
hidden secrets of its symbolic signs. The Talmud and Midrash,
discussing Israel's redemption, often refer to the book of Daniel as
the revealer of the secret time of Messiah's coming. However, I was
ominously reminded of a warning, and a curse pronounced against
those who try to figure out the end. The Talmud says:
“May they drop who try to figure out the end; for they say, since the time
of his [Messiah's] coming has already arrived yet he did not come, therefore
he will not come at all.”67
This extreme condemnation can be understood when the error of

Rabbi Akivah designating Bar Kosiba the Messiah is considered:
Rabbi Akivah made the inference from the verse. “Yet once, it is a
little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the
dry land” (Haggai 2:6), that Simon Bar Kosiba was the Messiah,
though he reigned only for two and a half years.68 I was therefore
forewarned that the secrets are in the Scriptures, but that it was
dangerous to make assumptions or to figure them out lest we come
to the wrong conclusion, as did Rabbi Akivah. The Midrash even
states:
“Two men had the end revealed to them; namely Jacob, as stated in Genesis
67 Sanhedrin 97b
68 Ibid.
38
49: 1, '... that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days.' and
Daniel (12:1, 4), 'And at that time thy people shall be delivered...But thou
O Daniel shut up the words...So even these two men were forbidden to
reveal what they knew...”69
The study of our greatest sages brought them to the

conclusion that if the dates in the Scriptures are correct, then the
Messiah should have come in the first century of our era. Or
thereabouts. In a Talmudic portion, it is written concerning the
timing of the Messianic Age: The school of Elijah taught:
“The world is to be for six thousand years; two thousand years empty
without Torah; two thousand years with Torah; and two thousand years
Messianic Times...”70
The many Messiahs, who flourished during that period, claiming

themselves to be redeemers, were all great disappointments.
Finally, Simon Bar Kosiba, whom Rabbi Akivah called “Bar Kochba,"
came. Though he was active in the first part of the second century,
Rabbi Akivah nonetheless adjusted him to the Messianic claim. For
the majority of the Jewish people, Bar Kosibah was a tragedy and a
disappointment. Apart from the loss of tens of thousands of Jews at
his defeat in Betar C.E. 135, his activities resulted in untold
69 Midrash Rabbah Gen. 98:3
70 Ibid.
39
sufferings for the surviving Jews. In an eleventh century Rabbinic
portion, we read:
“Woe, for the salvation of Israel has perished! But a voice came from
heaven saying, Elijah, it is not as you think, but He will be 400 years in the
great Sea, and eighty years with the Sons of Korah where the smoke
ascends, and eighty years at Rome’s gate, and the rest of the years He will
travel about the great Cities until the end.”71
In another rabbinic portion, based in part upon a scripture in

the book of Lamentations, ["she has none to comfort (Menachem) of all
her friends,"]72 the name of the Messiah is identified as Menachem
Ben Ami’el.73 Messiah, then, is clearly "alive and well" for the last
nineteen hundred years, according to these Rabbinic writings. His
name is Menachem (the Comforter) Ben Ami’el (God is with his
People). He started to work around the great Mediterranean Sea
and went to Samaria (Korah), then Rome, and the ends of the world.
We may ask: “Why was He expected during the first century? There
was a certainty that the Messiah had to appear at that period. This
conviction was probably based upon the following passages in the
book of Daniel:
71 B'reshit Rabbati, pp. 130-131; see Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts p.125.
72 Lamentations 1:2
73 Messiah Texts at 26-27, 122-23
40
“Seventy weeks (or heptads - weeks of years) are determined upon the
people and upon the Holy City, to finish the transgression, and to make an
end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in
everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy. And to
anoint the most Holy. Know, therefore. And understand that from the
going forth of the commandment to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem unto
the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two
weeks; the street shall be built again: and the wall, even in troublous times.
And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for
himself and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city
and the sanctuary. And the end of it shall be with a flood, and unto the end
of the war, desolations are determined.”74
This revelation was a result of Daniel's prayers given to him by

Gabriel to explain the time, substance, and circumstance of Israel's
redemption. The time embraced was “seventy sevens.” Within the
sixty-nine weeks of years, that is within 483 years, there will be a
building up of Jerusalem's streets and canals, though in troublous
times. After these 483 years, “Messiah is cut off, the city of Jerusalem
and the Holy Temple will be destroyed by the people of the prince that shall
come." The Messiah was to come before the destruction of the
Temple. This is the picture that Gabriel gave to Daniel.
It was Daniel's prophecy that convinced me to believe the
Messiah-ship of Jesus, the Nazarene. Jewish leaders to whom I
consulted said that the reference to Messiah in Daniel's prophecy
74 Daniel 9:24-26
41
was to King Agrippa, Herod’s descendant, who is called "Messiah"
here and who was before the Temple's destruction. The term
"Messiah” is transferred to a carnal king, like Agrippa, or the
unknown Menachem Ben Ami’el, as recorded in the Midrash. On
the other hand, I learned of Jesus, the Nazarene, who was "cut off”
forty years before the Second Temple was destroyed.
The revelation was given to Daniel also deals with the
substance and the circumstances of the Messiah's activity, "to finish
the transgression, to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for
iniquity and to bring in everlasting righteousness." In other words, the
Messiah's death is distinctly connected with the atoning work that
the Temple sacrifices were to accomplish, except that it would be a
work of completion and fulfillment far greater than any Temple
sacrifices could secure. The Prophet says:
“Hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him
stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our
transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities, the chastisement for our
peace was upon him, and with his stripes, we are healed.”75
Jesus indeed fits perfectly into Daniel’s timetable. No one else

qualifies; neither King Agrippa nor the mystical Menachem fulfills
Daniel’s prophecy, Jesus is the Messiah! He is coming again in
might to establish his Kingdom l’olam va 'ed.76 Amen!
75 Isaiah 53:1-5
76 forever and ever
42
THE WORD
There is a great debate that has been going on for the last
2000 years regarding the nature of Jesus. Is Jesus just a man like any
other man, or is he God himself who entered into his creation to
redeem his people? These are the two questions we must answer in
this chapter. In this chapter, we are going to be looking deeply into
the Hebrew and Greek languages, including the grammar of both.
This deep study is needed to understand the person and nature of
Jesus fully. Is Jesus more than a Rabbi?
As we have already shown in the chapter on Messiah, the
Jews did have an idea and concept of a divine Messiah who could
have preexisted. They debated this idea in their writings, and it
continues to this day. In the Jewish sources, we listed numerous
examples of the Messiah being called YHVH and El from eternity.
We also saw how the Jews believed it was the Spirit of Messiah who
was hovering over the face of the waters. These ideas lead to many
Jews believing that in heaven, there were two powers or, in some
cases, even three. In this chapter, we are going to be looking at
several verses in the Greek New Testament in connection with the
Hebrew Old Testament. I will also be referring to the Hebrew New
Testament77 texts that have been recently put on display. These
Hebrew texts are not from a Greek New Testament text.
77https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.ebr.530.pt.1/0074.This
Hebrew New Testament
page of the gospel of John chapter 1:1-13 was found at the Hebrew University
digital archives. It was photographed at the Vatican library and was found in their
junk box. The Vatican did not identify the text nor they did know they had other
Hebrew pages containing Luke, Revelation and Jude.
43
JOHN 1:1
When looking at whether or not Jesus is God by nature and
not just called God like the judges78 of Israel in the Old Testament,
we need to look at the most common New Testament verse used to
suggest that Jesus is God from eternity. The verse in question is
John 1:1 where we read,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God.”79
Before we get to the grammar of John 1:1, we first need to look at

the Hebrew Old Testament and see if John was referencing an idea
or understanding within Jewish thought regarding the Word as a
person and not just some abstract personification like wisdom. As
we noted in earlier chapters, Jesus and his disciples are Hebrew
speaking Jews. This would include John. So what was John referring
to when he quotes, in part, the opening of Genesis, In the beginning
was the Word?
During the time of Jesus, the leading Rabbis at the local
synagogues and the Temple used and read from the Hebrew
Scriptures. Along with the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jews also used
and read from the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew texts. The
Aramaic texts were considered a type of commentary to the Hebrew
78 Exodus 22:8-9. Here the judges of Israel are called God or Elohim in the Hebrew.
79 ESV translation.
44
Scriptures called the Targums. Today we have many different types
of Targums that we can read. But one stands out concerning John
1:1. The Targum reads,
“From the beginning with wisdom, the Word (Memra) of the YHVH
created and perfected the heavens and the earth.”80
This loose translation in Aramaic is consistent with all the other

Aramaic texts regarding the Memra or Word as YHVH or God. The
phrase in Aramaic, ‫מימרא דיי‬, "The Word of YHVH," so frequently
used by the Jews, is well known in the Targums. John seems to be
referencing an older tradition found in the Aramaic translation. In
the Targums, the Memra or Word is not some personification of an
abstract concept or idea but is frequently associated as being YHVH
or God himself, although some Jews would like to interpret the
Memra as a personification like wisdom. John, on the other hand,
seems to be referencing clear teachings the Jews would have
understood during his time.
In another Targum called Onkelos,81 which is considered
authoritative among the Jews, we read the following in Genesis
28:20-21,
80The Aramaic Bible vol.1A, Targum Neofiti 1: Genesis. Translated, with Apparatus
and Notes. By Martin McNamara, M.S.C. page. 52.
81 The Irwin Jones Onkelos On The Torah, Understanding the Bible Text, Genesis.
The Targum Onkelos is named because of a tradition that attributes the authorship
to a man named Onkelos. This Targum is recognized as the authoritative
translation of the Bible to this day. See B.Talmud Berakhot 8a, b.
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“If the Memra of YHVH will assist me and protect me on this journey that
I am making...then the Memra of YHVH will be my God.”
According to the Targum tradition, Jacob declared the Word of

YHVH as his God. Let us consider other Targums which teach the
same ideas regarding the Memra of YHVH as God. Looking at
Jonathan Ben Uzziel on Leviticus 26:12 we can read the following,
"I will cause the glory of my Shekinah to tabernacle among you, and my
Memra shall ‘be your God,’ the Redeemer.”
Amazingly this Targum refers to the Word of YHVH as God and

redeemer to the people of Israel. The modern translation of
Leviticus 26:11-1282 says that God will make his tabernacle among
them and “I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be
my people.” So God declares to Israel that he will tabernacle and walk
among his people, but in the Targum, it is the Word of YHVH who
will tabernacle with them and be their God and redeemer. This
Targum teaching is not a coincidence when you have John writing,
“...the Word was with God, and the Word was God...and the Word became
flesh and tabernacle among us.” John clearly understood the idea of
the Word as YHVH himself, who would make an appearance in the
flesh and walk among his people to redeem them.
82‘'Moreover, I will make My tabernacle among you, and My soul will not reject
you. 'I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.’”
Leviticus 26:11-12 NASB “tabernacle” added.
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Looking at one more Targum, the Jerusalem Targum, we
will see how the Word is declared King over Israel and is their God
once again. Let us first look at the modern translation based on the
Hebrew text.
"You have today declared YHVH to be your God, and that you would walk
in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His
ordinances, and listen to His voice.”83
And the Jerusalem Targum. “You have made ‘the Word of YHVH’ King
over you this day, that He may be your God.”
This Targum, in comparison to the Hebrew text, declares the Word

as King and God over the people of Israel once again. As Jesus is
declared King of the Jews and redeemer, it is no strange idea that he
would be their God who existed as the Word of YHVH found in the
Aramaic Targums.
For a deeper study on the subject of the Memra in the Jewish
Targums, I would refer you to read The Jewish Targums and John’s
Logos Theology by John Ronning.
HEBREW
As we have just learned regarding the Word of YHVH in the
Aramaic Targums, the Word is God and is regarded as YHVH in
83 Deu.26:17 NASB “YHVH” added into the translation.
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the Old Testament. But what about the Hebrew Scriptures? Do they
help understand the nature of the Word as YHVH? Great
discussions about who the Word is in the Hebrew Bible has been
discussed among Jewish Rabbis for centuries. At the time John
wrote John 1:1, John’s statement did not raise an eyebrow, most
likely because he did not invent anything new. The personification
of the Word is found in places such as “O generation, see the Word of
YHVH!”84 How one can see the “Word of the YHVH” was given
explanations such as that of Rashi, who thought that Jeremiah was
showing the people the jar of manna.85 Others thought that Jeremiah
was showing the book of the Torah to the people86. It is not
surprising to learn that Word is the name of the Messiah in Jewish
thinking. In the Middle-Ages, Jewish interpreters who lived under
the hand of Christianity found it possible, to some extent, to
personify the Word and identify him as the Messiah.
“Radak,” Rabbi David Kimchi's primary contribution was a
commentary on all of the Hebrew Scriptures. For many students of
the Bible, his commentary is perhaps the commentary of choice on
the majority of the Prophets and the Sacred Scriptures. In his
comments to “For Torah will proceed from Me, and I will make My
justice rest as a light of the peoples,” Isaiah 51:4, Radak says, “He said
at the beginning of the book, ‘For out of Zion shall go forth the
84 Jeremiah 2:31
85 Rashi to Exodus 16:32
86 Min HaShamayim, 16
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Torah,’ Isaiah 2:3, because King Messiah will teach the nations to
walk in the Lord’s way.”87 The Torah and the Word are equated in
this verse, and it is Messiah who personifies it as the perfect teacher.
Accordingly, King Messiah appears to be the embodiment of the
Torah. Messiah, as the Word of YHVH, must mean that to obey him
is to obey the Torah. Similarly, the first-century Jewish philosopher
Philo said of the Word of God,
“The Word of the Almighty stepped down from the heavenly throne upon
the doomed earth as a mighty warrior, and in his hand were true decrees
like a sharp sword.”88
Though opinions vary about what Philo meant by this, it is clear

enough that he had no problem personifying the Word of YHVH.
To fully understand the nature of the Word of YHVH, we
must look to the Hebrew Scriptures for the answer. The first time
the Word of YHVH appears in the Hebrew Bible is in Genesis 15.
According to Moses, the Word of YHVH appears to Abraham in a
vision and says,
“After these things the word of YHVH came to Abram in a vision, saying,
‘Do not fear, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very
great.’”89
87 Radak to Isaiah 51:4.
88 Wisdom of Solomon 18:15–16
89 Genesis 15:1 NASB. “YHVH” added.
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Immediately Abraham identifies the Word of YHVH as Adonai-
YHVH in the very next verse.
“Abram said, ‘O Adonai YHVH, what will You give me, since I am
childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’”90
Moses is telling the reader that it is Word-YHVH who is appearing

to Abraham while at the same time having Abraham call the Word of
YHVH by the divine names, Adonai-YHVH. Why did Moses, under
the authority of God, write about the Word of YHVH unless he was
a separate person from YHVH himself. The Hebrew word for the
Word of YHVH is Davar-YHVH, and together, they are in a construct
state in Hebrew. That means both nouns are the same. YHVH is the
Word, and the Word is YHVH, according to Moses and Abraham.
The Word of YHVH continues to appear throughout the Hebrew
Bible after his appearance to Abraham in Genesis 15, where he
makes a covenant to confirm the promise given to Abraham by
YHVH in Genesis 12. After Moses, there is another place in the
Hebrew Bible where the Word of YHVH appears, and there is a
clear distinction between the Word, YHVH, and the Messenger.
In 1Kings 19, we read how Elijah killed the false prophets of
Jezebel and fearing for his life he fled into the wilderness where he
asked God to take his life. After asking God to take his life, he laid
down under a juniper tree where is fell asleep. He was awakened by
90 Genesis 15:2 NASB. “Adonai-YHVH” Added.
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the Messenger of YHVH and was instructed to eat what was
provided, bread cake, and water. After eating, Elijah laid down
again and was awaken for a second time by the Messenger of
YHVH and was told to eat again because,
"Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you."91
After eating what the Messenger provided, Elijah went 40 days and
40 nights to the mountain of God, Mount Horeb. Once Elijah arrived
at the Mountain, he went to a cave and lodged there. Who came to
Elijah next is important.
“And behold, the Word of YHVH came to him, and he said to him, ‘What
are you doing here, Elijah?’”92
It was the Word of YHVH who now came to Elijah after the
Messenger fed him and prepared him for his long journey and
asked Elijah what he was doing at the Mountain of God. These two
separate appearances by the Messenger and the Word demonstrate
that Jesus is not the Angel of the LORD, as some scholars suggest.
Jesus is the very Word of YHVH who John wrote about in his
opening letter and who visited Elijah.
Elijah answers the Word of YHVH by telling him,
911Kings 19:7 “The angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched
him and said, ‘Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.’" NASB
92 1Kings 19:9
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"I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of
Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your
prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take
it away."93
The Word of YHVH now tells Elijah to stand on the mountain

before YHVH, and at that moment, YHVH was passing by. In this
one chapter, you have the Messenger, the Word, and YHVH
appearing before Elijah. Some have argued that God appeared as all
three separately at different times, but here they appear together to
Elijah and are not the same person but are three.
As God was passing by, he asked Elijah, "What are you doing
here, Elijah?" This is the very same question the Word of YHVH
asked Elijah. And Elijah gives the same answer to God,
"I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of
it away."94
This clear experience by Elijah demonstrates that the Word of

YHVH is separate from YHVH God, who passed before Elijah on
the Mountain. They both asked the same question to Elijah and
93 1Kings 19:10 NASB
94 1Kings 19:14 NASB
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received the same answer from him. There is no way to explain this
away from the Hebrew or the simple translation of the English.
Elijah encountered all three persons that Moses wrote about in
Genesis, namely the Messenger, the Word, and YHVH.
There are many more references in the Hebrew Bible
concerning the identity and appearances of the Messenger, the
Word, and YHVH. For a more in-depth study on this subject, please
read my book, “The First Trinity; Discovering The Trinity In The Torah,
Prophets And Writings.”
GREEK
Now that I established the foundation concerning the nature
of the Word from the Aramaic Targums and the Hebrew Bible, let
us now look at the Greek grammar of John 1:1 and see if the
translation agrees with our conclusion from the Aramaic and
Hebrew. We must remember, the Hebrew Old Testament is the
foundation for everything written in the New Testament. The Greek
New Testament is a translation of the words of Jesus and of the
apostles who all spoke Hebrew. So I will do my best to simplify the
Greek grammar for those who are not familiar with it.
John 1:1 is considered to be three parts in Greek, 1a, 1b, and
1c. The first part, 1a, is the opening of John 1:1,
1.a “In the beginning was the Word,” ᾿Εν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ Λόγος
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To most Greek scholars, this opening is considered to be evidence
for the eternal nature of the Word or Logos in Greek. Why? Because
the word was in Greek, which is ἦν or better known as the imperfect
verb eimi95 in Greek, is expressing a continues existence from the
past. The word also reflects a continues action from the past. In
other words, the Word, from the beginning, existed and acted from
eternity. The Word is eternal, according to 1a-John 1:1. I must also
note that the Greek verb eimi is in the third person singular “he”
and should be understood as “In the beginning, ‘He’ was the Word.”
Remember, we read this type of translation in the Aramaic Targum
of Genesis 1:1, “From the beginning with wisdom, the Word of YHVH
created and perfected the heavens and the earth.”96 So John is reflecting
the Hebrew and Aramaic of Genesis 1:1 as evidence of the eternal
existence of the Word from the beginning.
John 1:1b, “and the Word was with God,” καὶ ὁ Λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν
Θεόν
Here, in John 1:1b, we see again the imperfect verb was or

eimi in Greek. But this time the word is followed with the Greek
word πρὸς or with97, the preposition in Greek. The phrase “...was
95Friberg Analytical Greek Lexicon, 8038 εἰμί inf. εἶναι; impf. mid. ἤμην; fut. mid.
ἔσομαι; I. as a predicate be, relating to what exists;
96The Aramaic Bible vol.1A, Targum Neofiti 1: Genesis. Translated, with Apparatus
and Notes. By Martin McNamara, M.S.C. page. 52.
97 Friberg Analytical Greek Lexicon, 3156 πρός preposition; III. predominately with
the accusative; (1) literally, to show motion toward a person or thing to, toward; (3)
figuratively, to show close relationship to a person
54
with God,” can be understood from the Greek as the Word who
eternally existed with or face to face with “the” God. The phrase “the
God” is in the Greek accusative98 case with the article and is the
direct object of the action of the verb. So that means the Word was in
a relationship with God from eternity past. This idea fits perfectly
with what we just discussed earlier from the Hebrew and Aramaic
writings. So again, we can translate and understand John 1:1b as the
Word, “He” was, face to face, in a relationship with God in eternity.
I must make mention of the Hebrew99 gospel of John that
was discovered at Hebrew University digital archives. It contained
the first 13 verses of John chapter 1. In section John 1:1b, the Hebrew
reads that the Word was next to God and not just with God. This
idea is also consistent with the New Testament as the Son of God is
describes as standing next to the father and is at the right hand or
side of God. As we will see next, the Hebrew John will also be in
line with John 1:1c from the Greek.
John 1:1c, “and the Word was God.” καὶ Θεὸς ἦν ὁ Λόγος.
This last clause of John 1:1 has been the debate by those who
98The accusative is used to limit the action of a verb as to extent, direction, or goal.
"The accusative measures an idea as to its content, scope, direction" (Robertson,
468).
99https://digi.vatlib.it/view/MSS_Vat.ebr.530.pt.1/0074.This
Hebrew New Testament
page of the gospel of John chapter 1:1-13 was found at the Hebrew University
digital archives. It was photographed at the Vatican library and was found in their
junk box. The Vatican did not identify the text nor they did know they had other
Hebrew pages containing Luke, Revelation and Jude.
55
reject the idea or teaching that Jesus existed as the Word in the Old
Testament. Despite there many attempts to reinterpret John 1:1 by
violating the basic Greek grammar and context, one thing is clear,
the Greek translation of John 1:1 is consistent with the Jewish
understanding and belief concerning the Word of YHVH. There
should be no doubt after this Greek exegete of John 1:1 that Jesus
was the Word of YHVH spoken of in the Hebrew Old Testament.
In John 1:1c, there are two nominative nouns or two subject
nouns, the Word and God. The Greek for God in John 1:1c is Theos
and is considered a predicate100 nominative because it precedes the
copula ἦν or eimi. According to Colwell’s Rule, “A definite predicate
nominative does not usually take the article when preceding the copula
(linking verb)101 This means that even though John 1:1c does not
have “the” God before was it is already understood to mean and
refer to YHVH directly. The article does appear before the Word or
Logos in Greek to show that the Word is essentially (quality) God.
The Greek shows a clear distinction between God (Theon) in John
1:1b and John 1:1c God (Theos) to show that the Word is not God the
Father but is God by nature, revealed in the Old Testament.
The Hebrew gospel of John mentioned earlier does agree
with the Greek. The Hebrew of John 1:1c provided the article and
translated as “and the God (Elohim) He was the Word.” Another
100The predicate nominative is approximately the same as the subject and is joined
to it by an equative verb, whether stated or implied. The verbs used for this
"equation" are, most frequently, eimi, ginomai, and uparxw.
101Going Deeper With New Testament Greek, An Intermediate Study fo the

Grammar and Syntax of the New Testament, page 161.
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Hebrew New Testament of John discovered in Spain replaces the
Word with Son of Eloah, and “the Son of El was with El.”102
In conclusion, let us now read John 1:2 and the completed
ending in John 1:14.
“He was in the beginning with God...And the Word became flesh, and
tabernacled among us,” οὗτος ἦν ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸς τὸν Θεόν... Καὶ ὁ
Λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο καὶ ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν,”
The Greek word for He that is being used is οὗτος and is a

demonstrative pronoun, nominative masculine singular. In Greek,
this could be he, it, or this. According to Thayer's Greek Lexicon, “b.
it refers to a subject immediately preceding, the one just named.”103 So,
according to the context of John 1:1, the person being named is the
Word who was with God and who was God. This is also the same
Word that John says became flesh and tabernacled among the Jews
in verse 14. Cross-reference104 this verse with the Hebrew and
Aramaic Targum of Leviticus 26 mentioned earlier, and it was God
and the Word of YHVH who would walk and tabernacle among his
people, the Jews. God would reveal Himself to the Jewish people as
Yeshua-Jesus, the Messiah, to redeem them from the curse and fall
of man. He would become the living Torah. As Paul said,
102 Dr. Miles Jones, Sons of Zion versus Sons of Greece vol.1.
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, Bible Works software,3895 οὗτος οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο,
103
demonstrative pronoun.
104 Leviticus 26:11-12
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“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men...For in him dwelleth all the
fulness of the Godhead bodily.”105
The Apostle Paul was from the house of Hillel and a trained
Pharisee who spoke Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic. The majority of
Greek and Hebrew scholars agree that Paul believed that Jesus was
the long-awaited Messiah who, by nature, was the God of the Old
Testament who took the form of a servant and who humbled
himself to the cross. Only to be resurrected from the dead and thus
completing the fulfillment of conquering death and sin for the rest
of humanity.
105Phil.2:6-7, Col.2:9. “There dwells (at home) in Christ not one or more aspects of
the Godhead, the very essence of God, from theos, deitas” A.T. Robertson’s Word
Pictures of the New Testament.
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THE VIRGIN BIRTH
“Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they
shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”106
There have many debates between Christians and Jews

regarding the virgin birth recorded in the New Testament and the
verse in Isaiah 7:14. Jews claim that Isiah 7:14 is not speaking about
Jesus or the Messiah coming by way of a virgin. Christians claim
that Matthew is quoting Isaiah to prove the virgin birth of Jesus. So
which is correct? To answer this question, we must look at Isaiah
7:14 and Isaiah 9:6 from Hebrew and Jewish sources.
We must first understand that the Hebrew Old Testament
never identifies any verse about the coming Messiah. You will never
find the phrase, “This is about the Messiah...” regarding any Old
Testament passage or verse. So how do the Jews understand the
coming of Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament? They rely on a
method of interpretation called PaRDeS.107 This method dates back
to the time of Jesus and the apostles. In this method, they rely on the
second letter R for Remez to identify verses of passages they believe
are talking about the coming Messiah. So when we consider how
the Jews interpreted the coming Messiah with Remez or what is
106 Isa.7:14, Matt.1:23 NASB
107 PaRDeS. The P is for Peshat meaning the literal meaning of a verse. The R is
for Remez or what is hidden or hints in the verse. The D is for D’ rash which means
to search out or inquire. And S is for Sod which means secret or mystery.
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hinted or hidden in Isaiah 7 and 14, we can see how Matthew could
have identified Jesus as the Messiah in Isaiah. It is fair to say that
many Jews disagreed with the prophecy of Isaiah 7 being the
Messiah and instead credited the verse to King Hezekiah. But other
Jews looking at Isaiah 14 with Isaiah 7 concluded that both referred
to the coming Messiah. As one Jewish source said,
“Rabbi Yosi HaGalili says that the name of the Messiah will be Peace, for it
is said, ‘avi-ad sar-shalom, everlasting father, ruler of peace’”...the
condition for Hezekiah was voided, and all those rewards and consolations
remained for King Messiah, who will arise from his descendants.”108
Even the Aramaic Targum reads, “The prophet said to the house of
David, For unto us a child is born, unto us, a son is given, and he has
taken the Torah upon himself to keep it. His name is called from eternity
wonderful, the mighty God who lives to eternity, the Messiah whose peace
shall be great upon us in his days.”109
Both the Jewish source and the Targum are in agreement that the
Messiah is the fulfillment of Isaiah 7 and 9 but also identifies him as
God from eternity who will keep the Torah. This is consistent with
the New Testament teachings about Jesus and his nature as God. It
108Rambam, The Book of Redemption, the Second Gate, Writings of the Rambam,
Shilo Publishing House, page 660. Cf. Maimonides, Letter to Yemen, page 16,
translated by Boaz Cohen.
109 Targum Jonathan to Isaiah 9, Sefaria.org
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is important to note that in Hebrew, there is a literal meaning to the
text called peshat and the prophetic perfect tenses. Hebrew is made
up of perfect (complete) and imperfect (incomplete) tenses. The
prophets sometimes speak in the prophetic perfect tenses, as the
prophet sees the events that are yet happening as though they have
already happened. This is the Remez we discussed earlier and can
be seen by Matthew and in Jewish sources concerning the Messiah.
The one word in the Old Testament that is in question is the
word virgin found in the English and Greek translation of Isaiah
7:14 and Matthew 1:23. Does the Hebrew word almah mean a virgin,
or does it simply mean a young maiden? The answer can be found
in the Old Testament itself. The Hebrew word almah is used only
seven times in the Old Testament. The first time we see almah being
used is in Genesis 24:43, referring to Rebekah. But earlier in the
same chapter, verse 16, she is called a bethulah or a virgin110 in
Hebrew. In those days111, a young maiden was understood to be a
virgin, someone who was untouched by any man. The Hebrew
word almah comes from the Hebrew root ‫עלם‬, alm, which signifies to
"hide" or "cover" as virgins being covered and unknown to men.
This is why the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible uses parthenos
to identify almah as a virgin.
“The girl was very beautiful, a virgin, and no man had had relations with her;”
110
NASB.
111 The Ugaritic word ‘glmt is the cognate for the Hebrew ‘almah and is used
exclusively to describe the perpetual virginity of the Near Eastern goddess Anat. E.
J. Young says, “In Ras Shamra, as we have already seen, without exception it
[‘almah] has reference to an unmarried woman, and is constantly used as a
designation for [the goddess] Anat.” E. J. Young, “The Immanuel Prophecy: Isaiah
7:14-16,” The Westminster Theological Journal 16, no. 1 (November 1953): 31.
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One Jewish commentary by Rashi on The Song of Solomon
1:3 says that "alamoth" the plural of "almah" means "betuloth"-
"virgins."112 In Rashi’s commentary, he identifies young maidens as
virgins. So, for any modern-day Jewish Rabbi to say that almah
never means virgin or that it “can never” mean virgin, he must
disagree with one of the most respected and loved Rabbis in the
world, Rashi.
All throughout the Old Testament, we see young women
like Sarah, Rebekah, etc. having closed wombs until God opens
them to have a child. Is anything to difficult for God? Can God
cause a virgin to have a child without a man or husband involved?
Yes! We see a shadow of the virgin birth when God opens a womb
for a woman who is unable to have a child. What is even more
shocking is found in the Hebrew itself.
HEBREW LETTER “MEM”

Right after Isaiah 9:6 where we read how seven names
would call the Massiah, wonderful, counselor, mighty, El, eternal,
father, prince of peace, we read the following,
“There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the

throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with
justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore.”113
112 maidens: virgins, since the text compares Him to a youth whose beloved holds
him dear, and according to the allegory, the maidens are the nations.
https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16445/showrashi/true
113 Isaiah 9:7, 9:6 in the Hebrew Bible. NASB
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You can’t see in the English translation the oddity displayed in the
Hebrew. The first word in the Hebrew verse of Isaiah 9:6 is ‫לםרבה‬
Or la’marbeh in the English-Hebrew and means increase or
abundance. The oddity has to do with the Hebrew letter mem in the
la’marbeh (bolded). There are two types of mem letters in Hebrew.
One is an open mem, and the other is a closed mem pictured below.
Open Mem Closed Mem
The open mem is used at the beginning of a Hebrew word or in the

middle. The closed mem is only used at the end of a Hebrew word.
But in the Hebrew word la’marbeh, the closed mem is the first letter
after the prefix lamed or la’ in the word la’marbeh. The closed mem
at the beginning of a Hebrew word instead of at the end is a
mystery in Jewish thought. The letter mem has always been
connected with the womb in Jewish thought.
“The numerical value of Mem is forty, alluding to the forty days in which
the embryo is formed in the womb...water represents the concept of change,
and this also the primary concept of birth.” 114
114 R. Aryeh Kaplan’s Commentary to the Bahir, Part Two, 86, page 150.
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The only place where la’marbeh appears with the closed mem is in
Isaiah’s passage about the birth of this very special child, a son who
is given divine titles and who will rule as Messiah Son of David.
There is a Kabalistic tradition that Isaiah put a closed mem in
the middle of the word, to show the reader who was destined to
understand it, that the divine child of whom this prophecy speaks
would be born of the closed womb of a virgin.115 So Matthew and
Luke are following Jewish tradition regarding the birth of the
Messiah by the power and Spirit of God through a young virgin
named Mary before she laid with her husband, Joseph.
115 Christ on the Jewish Road, p.106.
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GOD’S GRACE
The majority of Bible dictionaries defines grace as “A masculine noun

meaning favor, grace, acceptance. Meaning an unmerited favor or regard
in God’s sight.” It is the most common understanding of the word
grace in our pulpits today. Every modern preacher I have seen on
TV and heard on the radio has given that meaning while preaching.
Even in most concordances and lexicons, that meaning is conveyed.
But where does that word come from in the Bible? What is the
origin of the word grace, and what was the true meaning and
understanding of the word? Before the New Testament was written,
how did the Jews understand grace from the Hebrew Bible? Most
Christian believers will be shocked to learn that “grace” did not
have the meaning of “unmerited favor” as understood today.
When God was about to destroy the earth by a flood, he
spoke to Noah and told him to make an ark and put his family
inside of it for safety. God warned Noah and protected him and his
family from the flood. But why?
Gen.6:8 ‫יהוה‬ ‫ונח מצא חן בעיני‬ “But Noah found favor (grace) in the
eyes of YHVH.” (Underline Hebrew letters for the name of Noah and
favor.)
The word “favor” in Genesis 6:8 is the word grace that is used to
teach unmerited favor. Genesis 6:8 is the first time we see the
word grace used in the Hebrew Bible. But there is something in the
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Hebrew that you cannot see in the English translations. First, let me
point out that Noah found or, as the literal Hebrew puts
it, attained/acquired favor or grace. The Hebrew word ‫( מצא‬matsa)116
is best translated as attained or acquired. Noah acquired
favor/grace from God. Does that sound like an unmerited favor?
How did Noah acquire favor or grace?
“These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless
in his generation. Noah walked with God.”117
Noah attained or acquired grace from God because he had a

relationship with God. Noah was a truthful man who walked with
God. Therefore God instructed him to build an ark for his
protection. We also read this in Genesis 7:1,
“Then YHVH said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household,
for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.”
Noah acted righteously before YHVH, and YHVH saw and gave
him protection or grace. But what about the word grace?
HEBREW GRACE
The Hebrew word for grace is ‫( חֵ ן‬CheN) with two Hebrew
116 NASEC a prim. root; to attain to, find: — actually found.
117 Gen.6:9 ESV
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letters, the Chet and the Nun. In ancient Hebrew, the letters
represented a word and a picture. The first letter in the Hebrew
word for grace represents a fence that surrounds and protects.
Therefore, the Hebrew picture for the chet looks like a fence. And
the second Hebrew letter, the nun, means life or to propagate, Psalm
72:17, and the Hebrew word picture resembles a symbol for life.
Both Hebrew letters can be found in the Hebrew Bible as a word by
themselves. Now, if we take that same Hebrew word for grace,
CheN, and write it backward, it will spell the Hebrew name for
Noah. The Nun and the Chet combined make the name Noah in
English. So, Noah, in the eyes of YHVH, like a backward reflection,
makes the word grace or favor in Hebrew. Noah (Nun, Chet)
attained or acquired grace (Chet, Nun) in the eyes of YHVH. This
makes sense in the Hebrew word picture because Noah attained
God’s protection of his life by building the ark. The ark is a picture
of grace, God’s protection. This is the very foundation of the
word grace or favor without the meaning of unmerited since Noah
attained protection from God by having a personal relationship
with him before the flood. The majority of Christians who believe
“unmerited favor” teaching try very hard to explain this away
because it does not fit their theology of grace — especially those in
the Reform movement.
If we continue to follow the Hebrew word for grace in the
Old Testament, we will see a pattern develop. In the entire first five
books of Moses, the Torah, the word grace or favor is always
preceded by the word “found,” which in Hebrew means attained or
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acquired. This is also true in the Writings and the Prophets until we
get to Psalms and Proverbs. The English Bible translators begin to
translate the Hebrew word for grace as graceful, adornment, and
charm. About 95%+ of the entire Hebrew Bible reads, “…found
favor…” or more literally, “…attained, acquired, favor, protection
The Jewish and Hebrew understanding was that an
individual could attain God’s protection and mercy. The phrase was
also understood and used toward kings and men in the Hebrew Old
Testament. It was never defined or interpreted as an unmerited
favor. If one reads merely and follows the Hebrew word throughout
the Old Testament, you cannot help but see the pattern. Here are
some examples.
Gen.18:3 “and said, (Abraham) “O Lord, if I have found favor in your

sight, do not pass by your servant.”
Gen.19:19 (Lot speaking) “Behold, your servant has found

favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my
life. But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtakes me, and I
die.”
Exo.33:12, “Moses said to the LORD, “See, you say to me, ‘Bring up these
people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet
you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my
sight.’”
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Jdg.6:17 “So Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your
sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me.”
These are just a few passages that show part of the 95%+ of texts
that prove my findings. The Old Testament Hebrew Bible supports
that favor or grace is not grounded in the teaching of unmerited
favor. Any person can search out for themselves the passages that
are part of the 95%+ and see the pattern of the phrase “…found favor
in your sight…” So, what about the New Testament? Does it support
the unmerited favor teaching?
The word “grace” in Hebrew is never connected with
receiving eternal life. In other words, “grace” does not equal eternal
life. It is used to convey God’s protection and blessing to his people
who follow his commandments or Torah while alive. If they do not
keep his word, then grace (God’s blessing and protection) is
removed, and they will be put under God’s curse of death. Also, the
Hebrew word “CheN” for grace is translated in the Greek LXX as
“charin,” which is the same as the New Testament Greek word
“charis” or “chariti.”
NEW TESTAMENT
As we come to the New Testament, we must remember that
all we have, for the most part, are Greek copies and fragments. The
Greek is not the same as Hebrew. Greek is an abstract language that
comes from Semitic languages. Hebrew is concrete and is based on
pictures, words, and numbers for each letter, while Greek does not.
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With that note, let us look at one of the foundational verse that is
used to teach unmerited favor-grace in the New Testament. It comes
from Ephesians 2:8-9.
Eph.2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is
not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no
one may boast.”
This verse is part of the foundation for unmerited favor teaching. But
how do we get the word grace translated into these verses? It is a
body of scholars who come together to decide how to translate the
Hebrew and the Greek into English that will be easier to read for the
reader. In Ephesians 2:8, we see the word grace in the passage. But
does that word mean unmerited favor in Greek? How is it translated
in the rest of the New Testament? The Greek word for grace in
Ephesians 2:8 is χάρις (charis). The shock to most Christian
believers will be that charis is not always translated grace with the
understanding of unmerited favor. In the New American Standard
Bible, the Greek word charis is translated gracious work in 2Cor.8:6-7
“So we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he

would also complete in you this gracious work as well. But just as you
abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all
earnestness and in the love, we inspired in you, see that you abound in
this gracious work also.” (NASB)
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Another translation, the ESV, has an “act of grace,” while others
translate with either grace or work. In fact, within the New
Testament, we find the Greek word being translated in numerous
ways. We see the translation of credit, benefit, blessing, thanks,
gratitude, concession, etc.118 The Greek word is never used to mean
just grace. Why? If this word is supposed to mean “unmerited
favor” in connection with eternal life and salvation, then why does
it change in meaning when used in other verses? This answer is
simple. Men have decided to translate the Greek word
into grace into the verses. They believe it has the meaning of the
unmerited favor teaching. Ephesians 2:8 can be translated as
follows,
Eph. 2:8-9 “For by His gracious work, you have been saved through
faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of
works (your works), so that no one may boast.”
This translation can efficiently work because Jesus did all the work
for us by fulfilling the Torah. Jesus died on the cross for the
atonement of sins, resurrecting from the dead and conquered death.
We are blessed with eternal life through and by his works and not
by ours. Remember, the Old Testament is the foundation for the
New Testament, and both need to be consistent and in harmony. If
118 NASEC charis; a prim. word; grace, kindness: — blessing (1), concession (1),
credit (3), favor (11), gift (1), grace (122), gracious (2), gracious work (3), gratitude
(1), thank (3), thankfulness (2), thanks (6).
71
we understand that grace is a blessing and work from God to us for
eternal life, then it fits the consistency of the Old Testament usage as
well. Even in Romans, the word grace can be retranslated and still fit
perfectly with how we receive eternal life.
Rom.3:23-24 “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and
are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus,”(ESV)
Rom.3:23-24 “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and
are justified by his gracious work and blessing as a gift, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” (Retranslated)
Both passages are true if we understand grace to mean, not

unmerited favor, but God’s work and blessing in our lives. We are
justified by the work of Jesus as a gift to us. But for us to receive this
blessing from God by his work through Jesus, we need to trust and
believe in the one who completed the work. Therefore Jesus can be
full of grace or blessings. Below are more examples of how the
Greek word charis is translated in most Bibles and others
retranslated by me.
Luk.6:32 “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you?
For even sinners love those, who love them.” (English Majority Text
Version) See also verse 33-34, “credit.”
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Luk.17:9 “Does he thank the servant because he did what was
commanded?” (ESV)
Act.18:27 “And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers

encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he
arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace [His gracious
work] had believed,” (My translation added)
Rom.1:5 “Through Christ, God gave me the special work of an apostle—

to lead people of all nations to believe and obey him. I do all this to honor
Christ.” (Easy To Read Version)
Rom.3:24 “being justified as a gift by His gracious work through the

redemption which is in Christ Jesus;” ( My translation added)
Gal.2:21 “I do not nullify the grace [The work/blessing] of God, for if

righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”
(ESV-brackets added)
I can continue to post verse after verse showing that if we

consider the Greek word charis to be understood as gracious work,
blessing with God’s protection, it all still fits the context and the
meaning from the Old Testament. In many of the New Testament
salutations, we see “…grace and peace…” or “The grace of our Lord
Jesus…” which is better understood from the Hebrew Old
Testament greetings of “Blessings…” We should be translating those
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New Testament verses “…blessings and peace…” and “The
blessings of our Lord Jesus…” This fits best when we consider the
Jewish understanding of the Hebrew Bible.
The word grace in the New Testament has been overused
dramatically. It has lost its true meaning, which is grounded in
Genesis 6:8 and the rest of the Old Testament. The challenge will be
to abandon the modern tradition of “unmerited favor” or something
for nothing teaching and realize that God grants us eternal life by our
faith and trust in Him through Jesus the Messiah. In doing so, we
receive his blessings and protection in the form of grace and mercy
in this life.
The teaching of eternal life comes from many New
Testament verses with the condition of believing in Jesus as the Son
of Man and as Messiah. The Gospel of John was written for this
very purpose.
Joh.20:31, “but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His
name.” (NASB)
Joh.3:15 “…that whoever believes in him (the son of man) may

have eternal life.” (ESV)
Joh.6:40 “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the
Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up
on the last day.” (ESV)
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Joh.6:47 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.”
(ESV)
In other parts of the New Testament, we see another

connection to eternal life regarding belief and seeking. This does not
suggest that we receive eternal life by works. But there is an action
on our part of coming to God in trust and faith regarding Jesus. To a
Jew, trust and belief in Jesus as Messiah is NOT considered work, as
some may suppose.
Rom.2:7 “…to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and
honor and immortality, he will give eternal life;” (ESV)
In other verses in the New Testament, we see the connection

between eternal life and grace being used. Here are a couple of
examples found in Romans and one in Titus.
Rom.5:21 “…so that, as sin reigned in death, grace [His

work/blessing] also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (ESV)
Rom.6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift [The
work/blessing] of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (English
Majority Test Version)
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Tit.3:7 “so that being justified by His grace [His gracious work] we
would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (ESV)
Paul continues his teaching to Timothy regarding eternal life by

saying,
“Yet for this reason, I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus
Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example for those who
would believe in Him for eternal life.”119
In conclusion, I want to make something very clear. I am not

saying as believers in Jesus the Messiah we are given eternal life or
are justified by the works we do. Eternal life is in Jesus the Son of
God, and by believing and trusting in him and the work he has
done for us. In doing so, we receive the blessing and protection of
God in the form of grace and mercy in this life, which is the true
meaning of grace in the Old Testament and the New Testament.
“And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in
His Son.”120 Amen and amen!
119 1Timothy 1:16, NASB
120 1John 5:11 ESV
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GOD: ONE OR THREE?
While the New Testament definitely mentions the concepts

of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit (Matthew28:19), it makes no
actual mention of the word “Trinity,” and there is still some
contention as to whether the trinity god-head is a biblical theme.
Modern Judaism teaches pure monotheism, while Catholicism
favors the trinity concept. It is believed, it is a concept that was
influenced by pagan religions existing at the time that Christianity
came about. While the majority of the modern Christian world
considers the concept of the Trinity vital to Christianity, many
historians and Bible scholars agree that the Trinity of Christianity
owes more to Greek philosophy and pagan polytheism than to the
monotheism of the Jew and the Jewish Jesus. This book will prove
to show the opposite. It is not Christianity that owes more to Greek
philosophy and pagan polytheism but that they owe more to
ancient Judaism and the belief of the three powers in heaven pre-
Christian era. Did 1st-century followers of Yeshua (Jesus) borrow
from pagan sources regarding a trinity god, or did the ancient
world borrow from the Hebrew and Jewish people? Did the ancient
Hebrew believe and teach in a three-person God that was then
adopted by the rest of the world? These questions and many others
will be examined and answered by this book.
Records of early Mesopotamian and Mediterranean
civilizations show polytheistic religions, though many scholars
assert that the earliest man believed in one god. I will assert the
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belief that the earliest man always maintained a polytheistic belief
while holding to a one God teaching. Egyptologist, Erick Hornung
states the following,
“[Monotheism is] a phenomenon restricted to the wisdom texts, which

were written between 2600 and 2530 BC (50-51); but there is no question
that ancient man believed in ‘one infinite and Almighty Creator, supreme
over all’ and in a multitude of gods at a later point. Nor is there any doubt
that the most common grouping of gods was a triad.” 121
Most of the ancient theology is lost under the sands of time.

However, an archaeological expedition in ancient Mesopotamia has
uncovered the fascinating culture of the Sumerians, which
flourished over 4,000 years ago. Though Sumeria was overthrown
first by Assyria, and then by Babylon, its gods lived on in the
cultures of those who conquered. Historian S. H. Hooke122 tells in
detail of the ancient Sumerian trinity: Anu was the primary god of
heaven, the ‘Father’ and the ‘King of the Gods’; Enlil, the ‘wind-
god’ was the god of the earth and a creator god; and Enki was the
god of waters and the ‘lord of wisdom.’ H. W. F. Saggs, explains
that the Babylonian triad consisted of ‘three gods of roughly equal
rank... whose inter-relationship is of the essence of their natures’.
121Hornung, Erik. Conceptions of God in Ancient Egypt: The One and the Many.
Trans. John Baines. Ithaca: Cornell UP. 1982.
122Hooke, S. H. Babylonian and Assyrian Religion. Norman: U of Oklahoma P.

c1963.
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Egypt’s history is similar to Sumeria’s in antiquity. In his Egyptian
Myths, George Hart123, lecturer for the British Museum and
professor of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics at the University of
London, shows how Egypt also believed in a ‘transcendental,’
above creation, and preexisting’ one, the god Amun. Amun was
three gods in one. Ra was his face, Ptah, his body, and Amun, his
hidden identity. The well-known historian Will Durant concurs that
Ra, Amun, and Ptah were ‘combined as three embodiments or
aspects of one supreme and triune deity’ (Oriental Heritage 201).
Additionally, a hymn to Amun written in the 14th century BC
defines the Egyptian trinity: ‘All Gods are three: Amun, Re, Ptah;
they have no equal. His name is hidden as Amun, he is Ra...before
[men], and his body is Ptah’.
These were not the only trinities early believers were
exposed to during the time of Jesus. The historical lecturer, Jesse
Benedict Carter, tells us of the Etruscans. As they slowly passed
from Babylon through Greece and went on to Rome, they brought
with them their trinity of Tinia, Uni, and Menerva. This trinity was
a ‘new idea to the Romans,’ and yet it became so ‘typical of Rome’
that it quickly spread throughout Italy. Even the names of the
Roman trinity: Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, reflect the ancestry. That
Christianity was not ashamed to borrow from pagan culture is
amply assumed by Durant124: “Christianity did not destroy paganism;
123 Hart, George. Egyptian Myths. Austin: U of Texas. 1990.
124Durant, Will. Our Oriental Heritage. New York: Simon. 1935. Vol. 1 of The Story
of Civilization. 11 vols. 1
79
it adopted it.”
Did Christianity and the Jewish followers of Jesus borrow
from pagan cultures as Durant states? Or did the Jewish and ancient
Hebrew people already have this belief long before the other
cultures, as stated above?
In summary, the common culture of the day was one filled
with triune gods. From ancient Sumeria’s Anu, Enlil and Enki, and
Egypt’s dual trinities of Amun-Re-Ptah and Isis, Osiris and Horus to
Rome’s Jupiter, Juno and Minerva the whole concept of paganism
revolved around the magic number of three. In Greek philosophy,
also, we have seen how the number three was used as an
unspecified trinity of intelligence, mind, and reason. It is no dispute
that the majority of ancient cultures were polytheistic and, in some
cases, had a pantheon of gods they worshiped. According to most
modern Jewish scholars, the idea that Moses and the prophets
believed or worshipped a triune God is a blasphemy. But as we will
see, that is not the case. Professor Alan F. Segal125 demonstrates in
his book that up until the 2nd century of the CE, the Jews from
certain sects taught and believed in two powers in heaven concept.
This concept was widespread in the first century during the time of
Jesus. Though Professor Segal only demonstrates two powers in
heaven teaching, I will demonstrate three powers in heaven directly
from the Hebrew Scriptures.
The challenge I will be taking on will be to demonstrate
Alan F. Segal, professor of Jewish Studies at Barnard College,Two Powers in

125
Heaven.
80
directly from the Hebrew Bible that Moses and the prophets wrote
about a plural concept of God called Elohim without losing the idea
of a singular YHVH. The key will be to show the plural persons
within Elohim under the singular name of YHVH without violating
the Shema (Hear) of Israel,
“Hear O’ Israel, YHVH our Elohim, YHVH is ONE.”
The reader must understand that in the Hebrew Bible,

Elohim is not unique to God. Idols, men, and angels have all been
called Elohim and its singular form El. Even the title “son of God” is
not unique to just Jesus. The judges of Israel were called “Sons of
the Highest” and “Elohim” in Psalm 82. The difference is that they
failed to live up to the authority and position given to them by God
himself. The name Elohim has behind it the understanding of one
with power and authority to judge. It is also a plural of the singular
“Eloa” by adding the suffix “hym” at the end to form the third
person plural “they, God.” It is this third person plural form we will
be looking at in the Hebrew Bible. I will also be showing some
ancient Hebrew concepts using the Hebrew aleph-bet and how it
provides a basic foundation for a triune God belief. Finally, I will
quote from ancient Jewish sources concerning the 2nd power while
proving the 3rd power from the same Jewish sources. The New
Covenant Scriptures will be used only to show the familiarity the
Jewish followers had concerning the three powers in heaven as
taught from the Hebrew Scriptures.
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THE TORAH
When Abraham’s father died, he was in the land of Haran.
Terah, Abraham’s father, was 205 years old when he died,
according to Genesis 11:32. This will be important later as we will
see how YHVH called Abraham. In the opening of Genesis 12,
YHVH calls to Abraham and tells him to go forth from his country
and his relatives and from his father’s house to a land that he would
show him. YHVH promises Abraham that he would make him a
great nation and that all the families of the land will be blessed
through him.
In Genesis 12:7 YHVH appears for the first time to Abraham
directly while he was in the district of Shechem at the oak of Moreh.
YHVH promises him that he will give the land to his seed. Abraham
then builds an altar there to YHVH, who had appeared to him. We
must take note that this is the first altar built by Abraham because it
was YHVH who appeared to him and confirmed the calling and
promise to him.
After Abraham and Lot separated from each other and went
their separate way, YHVH spoke to Abraham again from Canaan,
where he had settled. Abraham then left and moved his tent and
dwelt by the oaks of Mamre in Hebron. Again, Abraham built an
altar to YHVH, Genesis 13:14-18.
THE WORD OF YHVH

In Genesis 15:1, we read for the first time that the Word of
YHVH came to Abraham in a vision.
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“After these things, Word-YHVH came to Abram in a vision…”
Abraham immediately recognized The Word-YHVH as YHVH.

Abraham responded by saying,126
“O Adonai (plural form of YHVH) YHVH, what will you give me, since I
am childless…”
He invoked the very name of YHVH twice in response to Him. He

said, “LORDs, YHVH…” to Word-YHVH. We must clearly
understand that Abraham was speaking to The Word-YHVH, who
was YHVH. He began to tell Abraham that he would have a child as
promised with descendants as numerous as the stars. Abraham
believed YHVH, and it was at this point where his faith was
accounted to him as righteousness. The Word-YHVH then tells
Abraham something,
“And He said to him, I am YHVH, who caused you to come out of Ur of

the Chaldeans to give you this land to inherit it.”127
The Word of YHVH tells Abraham that he is YHVH, and it

was Him who caused Abraham to depart from Ur. This does not
seem like the same YHVH who appeared to him in the district of
Shechem at the oak of Moreh. The fact that the Word of YHVH has
126 Genesis 15:2
127 Genesis 15:7
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to explain himself to Abraham about his actions tells you that he is
revealing himself for the first time to Abraham. This appears to be
the 2nd power known as the Word-YHVH.128
So far, from reading Genesis 12 to 15, we have two YHVHs
who have been revealed to us. We have YHVH, who called
Abraham to leave his country and father's house. We then have the
Word of YHVH, who is also YHVH, that caused Abraham to depart
from Ur and who also promised him the land to possess. It appears
that both are separate and distinct from one another. Remember, It
is Moses who is telling the reader who is appearing to Abraham.
Abraham never says who is speaking to him. But is there a 3rd
power in heaven that is called YHVH?
THE MESSENGER OF YHVH

In Genesis 16, we have Abraham, who took Hagar at his
wife Sarah’s request to have a child by her. She conceived a child,
and Sarah became jealous and began to treat Hagar harshly. Hagar
fled from her to the wilderness, where we read that the Messenger
of YHVH first appears. This is the first recorded appearance of the
Messenger of YHVH in the Hebrew Bible. He appears to Hagar by a
spring of water. The Messenger of YHVH tells her to return to her
mistress and to submit to her authority. In return, the Messenger of
YHVH promises her that her child’s descendants will be greatly
multiplied, too many to count. His name will be Ishmael and will be
128 Cf. Acts 7:2-4
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a wild donkey of a man. In the end, Hagar says something most
revealing about the Messenger of YHVH.
“Then she called the name of YHVH who spoke to her, "You are God who
sees me,"; for she said, "Have I even remained alive here after seeing
Him?"129
Moses and Hagar proclaim the Messenger as YHVH, the El who

sees her, Hagar. This Messenger-YHVH is YHVH himself. There is a
clear distinction between these two individuals, according to Moses,
as we will continue to see.
THE FIRST THREE

“And YHVH appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door
of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and
behold; three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran
from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth…”130
This is the opening of the first two verses of Genesis 18. We

must first take note that it is YHVH who appears to Abraham by the
oaks of Mamre. The Hebrew is clear; this is a literal appearance by
YHVH to Abraham and not some vision. Some Jewish traditions
have tried to explain this appearance as being archangels, namely
129 Genesis 16:13.
130 Genesis 18:1-2
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Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael131. Nothing can be further from the
truth, as we will see in the next few passages in this section.
The next thing we must look at is the fact that Abraham
looked up and saw three men. He then ran to meet and greet the
three men and bowed himself down to them. The text is clear that
Abraham was looking to greet the three and not just one. Some have
suggested that Abraham was bowing down to YHWH and not the
other two. As we will see from the rest of this chapter and the next,
this is not the case.
“…and said, "O Adonai, if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by
your servant.”132
If your English Bible has “My Lord” or “My lords,” it is wrong. The
correct translation based on the Hebrew is the name Adonai in the
plural form. In Hebrew, you will find the word Adonai, but this
Adonai has the vowel points to substitute the name YHVH in the
plural form. Vowel points are the small markings underneath or
above some of the Hebrew characters in a word. According to the
margin notes in the Hebrew Masoretic text, there are 134-136 places
in the Hebrew Bible were the Jewish scribes did not write the name
YHVH together with Adonai. The first place in the Hebrew Bible is
Genesis 18:3.
131 Talmud. Bab. Yoma, fol. 37. 2.
132 Genesis 18:3
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In the ancient Hebrew predating the Massoretic translation,
there was no vowel pointing. The vowel pointing was added 900 to
1000 years after Jesus. No such vowel pointing exists among the
Dead Sea Scrolls of the Hebrew texts. When the Jewish scribes
wrote the name of Adonai, they did not always add YHVH with it.
They then added the vowel point “qamets” under the Hebrew
“Adonai” to identify the name YHVH as being read in its place.
When Abraham asks them to stay and eat with him, they
answered him as one. In verses 5 and 9, we read the phrase, “they
said,” referring to all three speaking as one. We found this kind of
talk earlier in Genesis when God spoke in the “our,” “we,” and “us”
passages. In fact, in verse 9, it is “they” who ask, “where is Sarah…”
to Abraham. Abraham answers them, and then YHVH speaks using
the singular pronoun “I” in verse 10. YHVH speaks to Sarah in
verse 13 again in the singular form. This switching off by Moses,
who is writing this, is very unusual. He has them speaking as one in
unity and then YHVH as singular. The reason will become clear.
“Then the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom, and
Abraham was walking with them to send them off.”133
Then the men rose up? The Hebrew word used here for
“men” is anashim, which is translated literally as “mortals” as in
literal men. Who was Moses referring? As we read in verse 2,
133 Genesis 18:16
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Abraham saw three men as well. This is the same Hebrew word as
in verse 16, anashim, or “mortal men.” Again, Moses is referring to
all three as equals in the status of being mortal looking men. No
distinction is being made between them in these two verses. The
next few verses are important to read. YHVH seems to ask a
question either to himself or the other two with him.
“And YHVH said, Shall I hide from Abraham that which I am

doing? And Abraham shall surely become a great and powerful nation, and
all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him,
so that whatever he may command his sons and his house after him, even
they may keep the way of YHVH, to do righteousness and justice; to the
intent that YHVH may bring on Abraham that which He has spoken of
him. And YHVH said, the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their
sin is exceedingly heavy. I will go down and see if they have at all done
according to the cry coming to Me. And if not, I will know. And the men
faced around from there and went toward Sodom. And Abraham was still
standing before YHVH.”134
The first thing YHVH asked is if he should hide from Abraham

what he is about to do. He knows that through Abraham, all the
nations will be blessed by him. When is the question asked who
answers? In verse 20, it is YHVH who seems to answer his own
question, “And YHVH said.” But it’s the response that reveals
something about his answer. In verse 21, the literal Hebrew reads a
134 Genesis 18:17-22 HRB-YHVH added
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little differently than the majority of English Bibles.
“Please, I will descend, and I will see her cries that have come to Me of
what they have done, and if not, I will know.”
In the Hebrew, it is YHVH who asks to descend and go down to see

their cry and what they have done. He even says, “Please” in
response. Why would YHVH respond this way to his own
question? Did YHVH himself descend and go down as he stated?
The very next verse, verse 22, says the two men went toward Sodom
while Abraham was still standing with YHVH. Why would YHVH
respond and plead to go down to Sodom but not go, or did he go?
We will now look at chapter 19 of Genesis as the two men-
messengers come to Lot.
After Abraham finished talking to YHVH about not
destroying the cities based on ten righteous people, YHVH walks
away and departs from Abraham. The two messengers reach
Sodom in the evening and come to Lot, who is sitting at the gate. As
did Abraham, Lot goes to greet them, and when he gets to them, he
bows his face to the ground. This is the first time we see this type of
worship to messengers. Why would Lot give this type of homage to
mere messengers or men? Lot then says to them in Genesis 19:2,
"My LORDs,(Adonai-w/patach) please turn aside to your servant's house

and spend the night and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and
go on your way."
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Genesis 19:2 is the only place in the entire Hebrew Bible where you
will see a patach (dash) marking under the Hebrew letter nun of
Adonai according to the margin notes in the MT Len.Codex.135 The
patach and qamets have the same sound and meaning when used
for the Hebrew name Adonai.
Lot directly refers to the messengers as his LORDs (YHVH,
plural form) and a servant to them. If these messengers were
created heavenly beings as some have suggested, then how could
Lot bow before them and call them LORDs and refer to himself as
their servant? These messengers accepted Lot’s direct worship to
them and did not correct or rebuke him for such respect. Are we
servants of created angels/messengers?
In the book of Revelation, we find John doing something
similar to a messenger after he showed John the vision.
“I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I
heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed
me these things. But he said to me, ‘Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of
yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of
this book. Worship God.’136
The angel-messenger rejected John’s worship when he fell down at

his feet. But it’s what he told John that we should look at carefully.
135 See Genesis 19:2 MT margin note for the Hebrew letter Lamet for only unique.
136 Revelation 22:8-9 NASB
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The angel told John not to bow down and that he was a fellow
servant of John and the prophets.
Why didn’t the messengers tell Lot this very thing when he
bowed down and called them his servant and LORDs? This seems
very inconsistent if these were created angels like the one who
spoke to John in Revelation. Maybe these men-messengers were not
created beings but were looked at by Lot as much more than mere
messengers or men. As we jump forward in Genesis 19 to verses 15-
19, we come to where Lot is taken out of the city with his family by
the two messengers. The messengers instruct Lot and his family not
to look back and to escape to the mountains, or they would be
swept away.
“And Lot said to them, ‘Please, no, my master!’”137
The textual problem with this passage is that Lot did not call the
two messengers “master” or “lords” as most of the translations have
it. The Hebrew has the very name “Adonai,” the plural form of
YHVH. Lot called the two men by the very name Adonai the plural
form of YHVH. The Aramaic reading has a short form for YHVH,
“And Lot said to them, ‘No YHVH, please!’”138
137 Genesis 19:18 NASB
138The Irwin Jones Onkelos On The Torah, Understanding the Bible Text, Genesis
page 113.Cf. B.Talmud Shavuot 35b where Rashi cites Onkelos text that has
YHVH in the Aramaic short form as three Hebrew yods.
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This passage is among the 134-136 places where Adonai is without
YHVH and was not written together regarding the name of God. So,
what we have is Lot addressing the two as YHVH in the plural
form, Adonai, and not as lords or masters. In the Masoretic
translation of the Hebrew, they put vowel points under the Hebrew
letters to identify the word for correct pronunciation. There is one
way to write “Adonai” for YHVH and “Adoni” for “lords” or
“masters.” For lords and masters, you see,
‫אדֹ ִ֗ני‬
As you can see, there is a small dot (.) or chireq yod underneath the
letter nun, as used in Psalm 110:1. This small dot tells the reader that
this Hebrew word should be understood as “lords” or “masters” for
men or individuals. When the scribes did not add YHVH with
“Adonai” in Genesis 19:18, they could not replace it with the above
translation. They had to put Adonai, as shown below.
‫אֲדנָי‬
As you can see, both Hebrew words are spelled the same except for
one small difference. The second Adonai for YHVH does not have a
dot underneath the nun but has a small “t” shape. This “t” shape is
only used when the scribes want you to know that Adonai should
be read and not YHVH. There is no exception to this understanding.
Every time you see “Adonai” with the “t” shape underneath the
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nun, you should automatically know that YHVH is meant without
saying it. If this same Hebrew word had a dot under the nun, then
you would know to read “lords” or “masters” for just men or
individuals. Now we can read Genesis 19:24 and see the effect it has
on scripture.
“And YHVH (two on earth with Lot) rained fire and brimstone on Sodom
and Gomorrah, from YHVH out of the heavens. (YHVH who left
Abraham)”139
There are not two YHVH’s but three based on Lot calling the
two messengers by the plural name of YHVH, Adonai, and the
Hebrew grammar. The first YHVH left Abraham while the other
two went to see Sodom and Lot. So, we can see that YHVH, the two
men, did go down to Sodom as he said in Genesis 18:21. But do we
have more evidence of this understanding? In Genesis 19:29 we
read the following,
“And it happened when Elohim destroyed the cities of the plain…”140
The credit for destroying the cities is not given to YHVH but Elohim
139Genesis 19:24 HRB-YHVH added. The Hebrew below shows more than one
YHVH is intended based on the Hebrew “ma’et” which points to the next direct
object noun, namely YHVH.
‫ויהוה המטיר על־סדם ועל־עמרה גפרית ואׁש מאת יהוה מן־הׁשמים‬

140 Hebrew Roots Bible.
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(God). This is also confirmed by the prophet Amos in chapter 4:11.
Amos has YHWH speaking when he writes,
“I have overturned among you, as Elohim overthrew Sodom and

Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand plucked out of the burning; yet
you have not returned to Me, declares YHVH.”
We read that YHVH declares Elohim (God) overthrew Sodom, but

back in Genesis 19:24, it was YHVH who rained down on Sodom
fire from YHVH out of heaven. Why would YHVH speak in the
third person about Elohim if it was himself who destroyed the
cities? The only explanation is that within YHVH Elohim, there is a
plural of persons who exist as YHVH Elohim.
After the overthrow of the cities, Abraham goes toward the
land of Negev and settles between Kadesh and Shur. From there, he
went to Gerar and spoke to king Abimelech about Sarah being his
sister so as not to be killed by him. God then rescues Sarah by
telling Abimelech to return her to Abraham. As Abimelech speaks
to Abraham about why he did this to him, Abraham tells him
something very interesting. Beginning in Genesis 20:12-13 we read
the following,
“And yet she really is my sister, daughter of my father, only not the
daughter of my mother. And she became my wife. And it happened when
Elohim made me wander from my father's house, even I said to her,”
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Abraham begins to explain that Sarah is his sister from his father
but not his mother. This would make Sarah his half-sister. Then
Abraham begins to explain when God called him to leave his
father's house back in Genesis 12. Let’s read the literal Hebrew
translation from verse 13.
“…and Elohim, they caused me to stray from my father’s house…”
The verb is in the third person plural, which then makes Elohim
plural as well. This is a basic rule in Hebrew grammar. For those
who read Hebrew, I posted the Hebrew text showing the plural
verb. I should also note that this is the first time Abraham spoke the
name “Elohim,” and he did it with a plural verb and not with a
singular verb.
‫ויהי כאׁשר התעו אתי אלהים‬
There should be no question that Abraham referred to

YHVH Elohim as “they” since it was YHVH himself who called him
to leave his father's house and country back in Genesis 12. This is
also confirmed in Genesis 24:7 as Abraham recalls YHVH Elohim
taking him from his Father’s house. Then in Genesis 15, we read
that it was the Word-YHVH, which also called Abraham and
confirmed the promise made in Genesis 12 as well.
Finally, we read the appearing of the Messenger-YHVH to
Hagar. Hagar recognized the Messenger as YHVH, who spoke to
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her and the El, who saw her. But did the Messenger of YHVH ever
confirm and give the promise to Abraham as well? Moving forward
to Genesis 22 after Isaac is born we read the following,
“And it happened after these things, Elohim, testing Abraham said to him,
‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Behold I am here.’ And He said, ‘Please take your
son, Isaac, your only one whom you love, and go into the land of Moriyah.
And there offer him for a burnt offering on one of the mountains which I
will say to you.’141
Here we read God calling Abraham to take his son Isaac for a burnt
offering on mount Moriyah. As Abraham is about to offer up Isaac,
the Messenger-YHVH appears to him. The Messenger-YHVH calls
down to Abraham from heaven and says,
“Abraham, Abraham… Do not lay your hand on the boy, nor do anything
to him. For now, I know that you fear Elohim, and you have not withheld
your son, your only one, from Me.”142
Here again, we read the Messenger-YHVH is claiming that

Abraham fears God, and he did not withhold his son from Him, the
Messenger. We just read earlier that it was God who told Abraham
to take his son as an offering to him, yet we now read that he is the
141 Genesis 22:1-2
142 Genesis 22:11-12 HRB
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Messenger, speaking in the third person about God, whom
Abraham didn’t withhold his son. This gets even more confusing
when the Messenger calls to Abraham a second time in verses 15-18
of Genesis 22 and says,
“I have sworn by Myself, declares YHVH, that on account of this thing

you have done, and have not withheld your son, your only son, that
blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your seed as the
stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the lip of the sea. And
your Seed shall possess the gate of His enemies. And in your Seed shall all
the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have listened to My voice.”
This Messenger-YHVH now makes a claim to have sworn by him

that he will multiply Abraham’s seed and bless him because he
listened to His voice. Now we have the third confirmation of the
calling and blessing of Abrahams's descendants by the Messenger.
So now we can see from Genesis 12 to 22 that YHVH, Word-YHVH,
and Messenger-YHVH have made the promise to Abraham to bless
him and multiply his seed as numerous as the stars in heaven. All of
which are part of the plural name of God, Elohim. There is no way
around this understanding if one only reads the Hebrew Bible and
not just an English translation.
We must understand that during these times, after Noah
and his three sons, the kings like Abimelech knew about YHVH and
even expressed this to Abraham’s son Isaac in Genesis 26:26-30.
Abimelech knew YHVH was with Isaac, and together, they made an
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oath not to harm each other. Abimelech knew YHVH was with
Isaac. The oral traditions passed down from Adam to Noah, and his
sons are well established concerning the nature of YHVH. The rest
of the known world that descended from Noah’s three sons would
have understood the three powers and persons of YHVH-Elohim.
So, we should see as no surprise when other nations and kings
started to adopt a three-person god in their own culture.
I must make this very clear about the term messenger. In the
vast majority of English translations, you will read angel as in the
“Angel of the LORD” in the Old Testament. This is a very bad
translation since the word angel is a term derived from the Greek
aggelos. The true meaning behind this Greek word is a messenger like
the Hebrew equivalent “Malach,” which also means messenger.
Therefore, the literal understanding of this word should be a
messenger as in the “Messenger of the LORD.” The reason for this
explanation is because most people who read angel automatically
think created being as in a heavenly host of angels created by God.
This is not the case for the word angel or “Malach,” both of which
means messenger and can be applied to God or men. This word, by
no means, in the ancient world, would have a meaning of a created
being by itself. The idea of angels derives from the 1st-century Jewish
traditions and not from the Hebrew Bible itself. It was used to try to
explain away the personal relationship God had with his creation.
After the Messenger-YHVH stopped Abraham from offering
his son on mount Moriyah, we don’t know here about Isaac until
Genesis 24:62. Abraham came down the mountain it appears alone.
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There have been many Jewish traditions on what might have
happened to Isaac, but we have nothing in the Hebrew Bible that
explains what happened to him. Abraham’s wife Sarah dies, and
then he sent his servant away to find a wife for Isaac among his
relatives in his own country. His servant goes and finds Rebekah,
who agrees to come back with him as commanded by YHVH.
In command of YHVH to Abraham, he tells him that His
Messenger will go before his servant to make him successful in
finding a wife for Isaac. Who is this Messenger? Though the texts do
not say directly, I think it is safe to conclude that it was the
Messenger-YHVH.
In Genesis 24:62, we see the return of Isaac from the
southern country, and he took Rebekah as his wife. After
Abraham’s death, we read about Isaac praying to YHVH to open
the womb of Rebekah, who was barren in Genesis 25:21. YHVH
heard his prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins, Jacob
and Esau. After Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for some food,
there was a famine in the land, so Isaac went to Gerar to see
Abimelech, the king of the Philistines. It is at this time that YHWH
appears to Isaac and tells him not to go to Egypt, Genesis 25:1-2.
YHVH also confirms the oath he made with his father,
Abraham, in Genesis 26:3-5.
“…I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your seed, I will give
all these lands. And I will cause to raise My oath which I swore to your
father, Abraham. And I will increase your seed like the stars of the heavens,
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and I will give to your seed all these lands. And all the nations of the earth
shall bless themselves in your Seed because Abraham listened to My voice
and heeded My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My Torah.”
Again, we see YHVH telling Isaac that it was His voice that
Abraham listened to and therefore, the promises will continue as
declared by Him. As Isaac dwelled in Gerar, like Abraham, he lied
about his wife, calling her his sister. Abimelech discovered what
Isaac had done and commanded no one to touch his wife, Rebekah
for fear of YHVH, the Elohim of Abraham. As Isaac grew richer and
mightier there, Abimelech told him to leave because the Philistines
were the envy of him. Isaac went to wadi Gerar and put his tent
there. As Isaac dug wells, they were taken from him by the men of
Gerar until he dug a well they did not take from him. He called the
well Rehoboth, which means “broad places.” When Isaac went to
Beersheba, where Elohim called down from heaven to Hagar for the
second time as God, YHVH appeared to him and said,
"I am the God of your father Abraham; Do not fear, for I am with you. I
will bless you, and multiply your descendants, For the sake of My servant
Abraham."143
YHVH declares to Isaac that he is the God of his father, Abraham.

As we have already read during the life of Abraham, YHVH
143 Genesis 26:24
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revealed himself to him as three plural powers from heaven,
making the same oath as to Isaac. Abimelech again sees the power
of YHVH with Isaac and makes a covenant with him as well.
Not much more is said about the relationship between
YHVH and Isaac. We are left with only a couple of appearances
before we read about his death in Genesis 35:29.
After Jacob stole the blessing from Esau and deceived his
father Isaac, he was sent away to find a wife from among Paddan-
Aram at the house of Bethu’El, Rebekah’s father. As Jacob departed
from Beersheba toward Haran, he found a place called Luz to rest
for the night. It is there, in great distress, where he had a dream of a
ladder, Genesis 28:12-15.
“…a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven, and
behold, the messengers of God were ascending and descending on it. And
behold, YHVH stood above it and said, "I am YHVH, the God of your
father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give
it to you and your descendants.”Your descendants will also be like the dust
of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, and the east and the north
and the south; and in you and your descendants shall all the families of the
earth be blessed. "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go
and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have
done what I have promised you."
This vision of Jacob has been interpreted in so many ways while

ignoring the true meaning and understanding of the dream. The
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New Testament gospel of John gives us a hint into the meaning. In
John 2:51 we read the recorded words of Jesus,
"Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the messengers
of Elohim ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
Jesus himself claims to be the very ladder in which the messengers

of God are ascending and descending on it. There is precedence
within Jewish sources about the Messiah being the ladder in Jacob’s
dream.
“This is the quality of Joseph [Messiah]…that all his deeds which awake
[redemption] from below [earth] are supported from above [heaven]”144
The Hebrew of this passage also supports the human quality of the
ladder. The Hebrew word for “set up” has its roots from the
Hebrew word “natsab” that means to “take a stand” or “stand
upright.” The other words, “with its top” comes from the Hebrew
word “Rosh,” which means head. In other words, the ladder
[Messiah] takes his stand upright with his head touching the
heavens above and messengers [of] God ascending and descending
in him. The ladder is the Messiah to come who will connect the land
to the heavens above. But how will the Messiah make this
connection?
144 Kol HaTor 62, par.97 HaGra
102
“And behold! YHVH stands on Him (ladder)”145
YHVH is seen taking his stand on the Messiah, who is the

ladder. This is how the Hebrew reads and cannot be ignored. The
Hebrew nephal form of the Hebrew word “natsab” can mean
“deputed” as represented with authority. This means that YHVH
himself deputes on the Messiah all the authority of himself in which
the messengers of God ascend and descend in him. This
understanding comes from Paul in the New Testament when he
says,
“All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in bodily form.”146
When Jacob awakes from his dream, he declares that YHVH

is in the place where he was and said,
“And he was afraid and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none
other than the house of Elohim (God), and this is the gateway of heavens.’”
Jacob renames the place to “Beth’El,” which means “house of God.”

This is important because when Jacob returns to this place, he
reveals something fascinating about his dream. But before he
returns to Beth’El, he encounters the messengers of God.
145 Genesis 28:13
146 Colossians 2:9
103
“And Jacob went on his way, and the messengers of Elohim met him. And
when Jacob saw them, he said, ‘This is the camp of Elohim.’ And he called
the name of that place Maḥanayim (two camps)”147
The messengers of God met Jacob, and he immediately recognizes

them as God and declared the place as their camp as in God's camp.
Again, we have to understand that Jacob’s only understanding of
the messengers of God has come down from his father Isaac and his
grandfather Abraham as being the plural “God” who appeared to
them.
The next event in Jacobs’s life before returning to Beth’El is
found in this very same chapter of Genesis 32. After his encounter
with the messengers [of] Elohim and Esau, he took his wives and
children from the camp and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. When he
sent his family across the stream with all he had, he was left alone.
Then, out of nowhere, a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
When the man could not prevail against Jacob, he then touched his
leg and dislocated it. But Jacob would not let him go until the man
blessed him. Who was this man that appears out of nowhere, and
who Jacob wants a blessing? The man asks him, “What is your
name?” and he answered, “Jacob.” The man then tells Jacob,
“And He said, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,
because you have contended with Elohim and with men, and have
147 Genesis 32:1-2.
104
overcome with suffering.”148
This connection with God and men is a bit confusing until we

remember that YHVH appeared to Abraham as three mortal
looking men as well. This should again be of no surprise that YHVH
would appear in the very image and likeness of his creation. We are
formed and shaped in His figure and resemblance, according to
Moses in Genesis 1:26-27.
Jacob then asks the man for his name to which he replies to
Jacob, “Why do you ask my name?” It should be noted that the ancient
Hebrew word for “name” is “shem” and refers to one’s character,
authority, and presence. Jacob was asking the man to reveal his
nature and character to him and not just a name. In ancient times a
name was a reflection of the person it was given to. Isaac means
“laughter” because Abraham laughed when God told him he would
have a son. Jacob means “heel catcher” because he was holding
Esau’s heel at birth.
After the man replied to Jacob, he blessed him there. Jacob
realized who this man was and called the place where he was
blessed, Peni’El, which means; “Face of God” because it was there
that Jacob saw God face to face and lived.
“And Jacob called the name of the place Peni'El (Face of El)
because I saw Elohim face to face, and my life is delivered.”149
148 Genesis 32:28.
149 Genesis 32:30
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The final question we must answer is if Jacob believed that
God revealed themselves to him in a plural form? As we look at
Genesis 35, we see from the very first verse an unusual call to Jacob
from God.
“And Elohim said to Jacob, Rise up, go to Bethel and live there.
And make an altar there to El, who appeared to you when you fled before
your brother Esau.”150
God tells Jacob to go back to Beth’El and make an altar to El who

appeared to him there. As we recall, it was there that Jacob had a
dream of a ladder and YHVH stood at the head of it. Jacob renamed
Luz to Beth’El, which he called the house of God and the gateway to
the heavens. Why would God tell him to go back and build an altar
to another El? Why is he speaking in the third person if it was him?
Who appeared to Jacob?
In verse 6 of Genesis 35, Jacob returns to Beth’El, which is in
the land of Canaan, with all the people who were with him. Then in
verse 7, we read,
“And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel; because there,
the Elohim, they revealed themselves to him when he fled from the face of
his brother.”
150 Gen. 35:1;7 HRB
106
Here we see the truth from both the English translation and from
the Hebrew. The verb “revealed” is in the third person plural in
Hebrew. The Hebrew verb “neglu” literally means “they were
revealed” and modifies the noun “Elohim” to its plural form “they.”
Moses writes they revealed themselves to Jacob at Beth’El in the
dream. This is why God himself tells Jacob to build the altar to El,
who appeared to him with the messengers of God who was going
up and down on the ladder. YHVH is El, who was standing on top
of the ladder, and the messengers were God going up and down.
We see this appearing earlier in Genesis 18 and 19 to Abraham. This
is the only explanation for this plural revealing back at Beth’El. The
only ones who were in the dream were YHVH and the messengers.
Then in verse 9, we see God appearing again to Jacob, but
here Moses uses the third person singular “he is appearing” instead
of saying “they are appearing” to Jacob. The word “reveal” and
“appear” are two different Hebrew words that Moses used. God
then goes on to bless Jacob again and tells him again that his name
will be changed to Israel. He then goes on to confirm the promises
in verses 11-12. We can’t ignore the way Moses writes concerning
the plural nature of YHVH Elohim from the Hebrew itself. Either
the scriptures are true, or they contradict each other and must be
thrown out. All this concerning Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are
before the Shema of Israel. Everything leading up to the Shema is
the foundation for what it means concerning the three persons of
YHVH-Elohim.
107
In Hosea 12, we read something very fascinating coming
from YHVH himself. From Hosea 11:9, El is speaking who declares
as YHVH. In chapter 12:3-4, we see YHVH El continuing to speak
and recall Jacob wrestling with a messenger and prevailed.
“He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his maturity, he
wrestled with God. Yes, he wrestled with the Messenger (Malak) and
overcame; he wept and pleaded to Him.”
We can see who the man was who wrestled with Jacob. It was a
messenger or God himself as a man. YHVH himself in Hosea tells
us that Jacob wrestled with God and who was also the messenger
who blessed him and changed his name to Israel. But it doesn’t
stop, YHVH then goes on to say the following,
“He found him at Bethel, and He spoke with us there…”
He found who at Beth’El? If you recall, it was Elohim who told

Jacob to go back to Beth’El and build an altar to El, who appeared to
him after fleeing from Esau in Genesis 35. But why does YHVH say
Jacob “spoke with us”? The Hebrew word used is “eemanu” and
means “with us.” Jacob spoke with God back at Beth’El,
“Then, God [Elohim] went up from him in the place where He had spoken
with him.”.151
151 Genesis 35:13 NASB
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YHVH-Elohim is the “with us” in Hosea 12:4. We must understand
that Moses wrote the Torah, and in Genesis, through the oral
command of God, he wrote that YHVH-Elohim is a plural “they.”
This is why the very Hebrew name “Elohim” is made from two
words. The El or Eloa is in the singular form with the suffix “hym,”
which means “they.” Together they form the word Elohim or
literally “they, God,” third-person plural. So when you see the
combined form of YHVH (he exists) with Elohim (they, God), you
have “He exists, they are God” as the true nature of YHVH Elohim.
I want to conclude how Jacob understood the plural nature
of YHVH Elohim. In Jacob’s final days before his death, he is going
to bless the sons of Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim in Genesis 48.
The content of the first blessing on Joseph is what we need to
examine.
“And he blessed Joseph and said, the Elohim before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked, the Elohim who has fed me since I was born
until today; The Messenger that redeemed me from every evil, He will bless
the youths;”
The reader will notice something Joseph repeats and then clarifies in
this passage. He repeats “Elohim” twice and then mentions the
Messenger. Elohim who Abraham and Isaac walked with, the
Elohim who fed Jacob and the Messenger who redeemed him from
chaos, are all mentioned together. But Jacob continues and says, “He
will bless the lads” in the third person singular. He speaks of God and
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the Messenger as “He” instead of as “They.” Why would Jacob use
such language? Again, the only true understanding is that YHVH,
Elohim, and the Messenger are, in fact, the one God manifested and
revealed as three.
These titles and names for YHVH are used throughout the
Hebrew Scriptures. Titles and names like El, Elohim, Messenger or
Messengers are clearly understood in the book of Genesis to apply
to YHVH directly from the context and in plural personal pronouns
as we, us, our, and they and so on. To only accept the singular of
YHVH and ignore the plural is to read the Hebrew Bible with only
one eye opened. Moses has spoken, concerning YHVH, in the
singular, and the plural, and both are correct when read from the
Hebrew language it was originally written. Even the very name
“YHVH” has a plural understanding in the singular form. In the
Jewish writings of the Zohar, we read the following,
“Eliezer’s father said to him: Come and see the mystery of the word
Y’H’V’H: There are three steps, each existing by itself; nevertheless, they
are One, and so united that one cannot be separated from the other.”152
The literal reading of the name of YHVH is “he exists,” yet as stated
above, they each exist by themselves and are united as one. Let me
explain what this means by using each letter in the Hebrew name
“YHVH” to reveal the deeper understanding from the Zohar.
152 Zohar volume III page 65 of the Amsterdam Edition
110
In Hebrew, certain individual letters can, all alone, represent
a word without spelling out the whole word. For example, the
Hebrew letter “Chet” can represent the Hebrew word for “life”
without having to spell it out completely. This is because the
Hebrew word for “life” starts with the Hebrew letter “Chet.” This is
common in Hebrew even with the first two Hebrew letters for the
name “YHVH.” The first letter, “Y” can represent the very name
without spelling it out. Likewise, in the second letter, “H” can do
the same. The “V” in Hebrew does not represent the name by itself
but has a meaning in Hebrew. The “V” or “Vav” in Hebrew means
“and” as a prefix and used in Hebrew as such. So now when you
put them all together with each letter representing the name with
“and” in-between you have the following,
Y=YHVH
H=YHVH
V=and
H=YHVH
Such a method of interpretation has precedence in Jewish sources.

Israeli Hebrew scholar Dr.Tsvi Sadan153 documents the Rashbam
using the Hebrew word “even” (stone) and saying the last letter of
the word is a suffix. Thus, making the word become “ab” (father)
and the meaning “household of Israel” instead of “Stone of Israel”
153 Dr.Tsvi Sadan, The Concealed Light page 6.
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as originally interpreted. The Hebrew word for “stone” (even) can
also be interpreted as “Son of the Father” since the first two letters
spell out “father” while the second and last spell out “Son.” The
Stone then becomes the Son of God and brings meaning to the New
Testament in Matthew’s gospel, where Yeshua (Jesus) claims to be
the “rock” or “stone” in Hebrew, which then can be interpreted as
“the stone, Son of God.”
I must state that not everyone will agree with this section of
the book, but it also can not be ignored. The fact remains that, in the
Hebrew Bible, Moses wrote in both the singular and the plural
about YHWH-Elohim. This helps the understanding of one of the
powers of God becoming flesh and walking as King Messiah.
MOSES
This part of the book will be dealing with Moses. We will be
examining the prophet Moses first because he is considered the
greatest prophet of all the prophets. We already, in section one of
this book, saw how Moses viewed creation, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob directly from the Torah of God. We need to see how Moses
experienced God for himself from the book of Exodus and if God
revealed himself in the same way as in the book of Genesis.
We will begin with the calling of Moses after he fled from
Egypt. Moses, who was pasturing the flock of Jethro, his father-in-
law, was on the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb.
Here we read in Genesis 3:2 that Messenger-YHVH from the time of
Abraham called out to him from inside a blazing fire from the midst
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of a bush. Then from inside the same bush, after Moses turned to
look at it, God called to Moses from inside of it. Messenger-YHVH
is identified as God from inside the bush. But what is said to Moses
is more astonishing.
“And He said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God
of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he feared to look
upon God. Then YHVH said, Surely, I have seen the affliction of My
people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry from before their
taskmasters, for I know his sorrows.”154
This Messenger-YHVH is placed in the category as God and YHVH,

according to Moses. From the burning bush, you have three names
used by Moses; Messenger-YHVH, God, and YHVH. We can
already see that Moses is consistent with the manifestations in
Genesis. When Moses asks for a name to tell the Hebrew people
enslaved in Egypt, God tells him what to say.
“And Elohim said to Moses, EHYAH ASHER EHYAH (I AM THAT I

AM), and He said, You shall say this to the sons of Israel, EHYAH (I AM)
has sent me to you.”155
The Hebrew “Ehyah” literally means “I exist,” referring to the
154 Genesis 3:6-7
155 Genesis 3:14 HRB
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eternal nature of God. This is the first time God answered with this
name or character referring to all those in the burning bush.
Remember, in Genesis, Moses wrote of three who appeared and
revealed themselves to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We must be
consistent in understanding what Moses is telling us from his own
experience of YHVH Elohim.
God then goes on to tell Moses exactly what to say to the
children of Israel in Exodus,
“And God said to Moses again; You shall say this to the sons of Israel,
YHVH (He exists), the Elohe of your fathers, the Elohe of Abraham, the
Elohe of Isaac, and the Elohe of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name
forever, and this is how I should be remembered from generation to
generation.”156
God instructs Moses to tell them that YHVH (He exists), third-
person singular, the God of their fathers has sent him. The God of
their fathers was singular and plural at different times. We saw
YHVH appear to Abraham in Genesis 12. We saw the Word-YHVH
appear to Abraham in Genesis 15, who was called YHVH by
Abraham and declared to be YHVH in verse 7 who called him out
of Ur. We then saw Messenger-YHVH speak to Hagar who then
identified him as YHVH, the El who saw her. YHWH then appears
to Abraham again as three mortal looking messengers in Genesis 18
156 Exodus 3:15
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and 19. Then finally, Abraham tells Abimelech that Elohim, they
caused him to stray from his father's house in Genesis 20:13,
speaking the name “Elohim” with a plural verb for the first time.
Now Moses, who wrote all that concerning Genesis and YHVH and
Elohim, describes inside the burning bush as Messenger-YHVH,
Elohim, and YHVH who spoke to him. In Exodus 6:2-3 God tells
Moses the following,
“I am YHVH. And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as El

Shaddai (God nourishes), and by My name, YHVH, did I not make known
to them.”
This confirms YHVH as all three mentioned above appeared

and made known to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, his plural persons
within Elohim. Moses clearly understands this and stays on the
theme within the book of Exodus. As we continue further in the
book of Exodus, we see several clear examples of this. We see in
Exodus 13:21 YHVH going before the children of Israel, after they
leave Egypt, in a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire at
night to light their way. Then when Pharaoh goes after them in
Exodus 14, we read that the Messenger YHVH who had been going
before the camp of Israel moved and went behind them while the
pillar of cloud moved as well from before them and stood behind
them, Exodus 14:19. Both YHVH and the Messenger were with the
children of Israel leading their way. Both are present before them
and working together for Israel.
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Going further into Exodus 19, when Moses arrived at Mount
Sinai with the children of Israel on the morning of the third day,
they heard something. They began to hear voices (plural), see
lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain. Moses then
brought the people out of the camp to meet God from where the
voices (plural) came. Then in Exodus 23, we learn something more
about the Messenger who was with YHVH in the pillar of cloud. In
Exodus, Moses writes the following,
“Behold, I am about to send a messenger before you, to guard you in the

way, and to bring you to the place which I have prepared. Be on guard
before Him, and listen to His voice. Do not be rebellious against Him, for
He will not forgive your transgressions; for My name is in Him. For if you
fully listen to His voice, and do all which I speak, I will be an enemy to
your enemies, and will be a foe to your foes.”157
God tells Moses that the Messenger will protect them and lead them
to the place of promise. They are commanded to listen to his voice
and not disobey him, for he will not forgive their rebellion against
him. But Moses says that His name is in him (The Messenger). If
you remember “name” in Hebrew, shem means character. The very
character and presence of God are in the Messenger that was sent
before them to prepare the way. The Hebrew shem also has with it
“authority” behind the person who holds the name. The Messenger
157 Exodus 23:20-22
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has the qualities of God to lead the people of Israel to the land
promised by YHVH. Again, we see the working together on behalf
of the children of Israel between the plural Elohim (they, God).
Also, it is the Messenger’s voice, but YHVH is speaking according
to verse 22. The issue that is normally raised by anyone seeing God
is that nobody can see God and live. They point to a passage in
Exodus 33 where God says to Moses,
“You cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20)
As we will learn from the context of this passage and from the
Hebrew itself, God was not saying that nobody can see Him and
live. As we have seen from Genesis alone, Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob saw YHVH God on many occasions as YHVH, Word-YHVH,
and Messenger-YHVH. But before we deal with this passage, we
need to see if Moses and Aaron saw the God of Israel.
In Exodus 24, we read that Moses went up the mountain

with Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu and with seventy elders of Israel.
Moses had just built an altar at the foot of the mountain and they
offered sacrifices as peace offerings to YHVH. In Exodus 24:10-11
“And they saw Elohim of Israel. And under His feet was as the work of a
pavement of sapphire, and as the heavens for clearness. And He did not
stretch out His hand to the nobles of the sons of Israel. And they saw
Elohim, and they ate and drank.”
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According to Moses, they all saw the God of Israel and lived. The
Hebrew here for saw in verse 10 is the same Hebrew root word as
before, ra’ah, and means to see visually and not symbolically. The
second “saw” in verse 11 is not the same as the first from verse 10.
The Hebrew in verse 11 is not ra’ah but the Hebrew root word
chazah and means to “behold” and to “look upon.” They saw and
looked upon God when they went up the mountain and then ate and
drank with him. They all personally experienced the living God of
Israel without dying. But how can anyone see God and live when
He says no man can see Him and live? We must first examine the
passages before chapter 33 that has been misunderstood and lost in
translation.
In Exodus 32 we read that after Moses delayed from coming
back down from the mountain, the people went to Aaron and said
to him,
“Come, make for us gods and THEY will go before us;”158
As we continue reading through the Exodus, we see something very

interesting about their understanding of YHVH-Elohim. Aaron took
the gold and fashioned a single molten calf from it and shouted,
“These are your Gods, O Israel; THEY brought you up from the land of
Egypt.”
158 Exodus 32:1 Literal Transliteration
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Aaron then built an altar before the calf and made a proclamation,
“Tomorrow, a feast to YHVH.” When YHVH saw this, he told Moses
to go back down because the people began to worship and offer
sacrifice to it. The golden calf was a singular idol but was
worshiped as the plural gods, Elohim. Even YHVH told Moses what
they had done by saying to him,
“They have made for themselves a molten calf and have worshiped him
(third-person singular) and have sacrificed to him and said, ‘Theses are
your Gods, O Israel, THEY brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”159
The people understood what it meant for a single idol to be plural

in action and to be gods. YHVH is singular in his presence but
plural in his actions and manifestations, as we will see in the
following chapters. In Exodus 33, YHVH begins to tell Moses to
depart with the people whom he brought up from the land of
Egypt. YHVH will send a Messenger before him, and YHVH will
drive out the nations before them, verses 1-2. Moses begins to pitch
the tent outside the camp to meet with YHVH face to face. Moses
begins to complain to YHVH and he says,
“See, You say to me, ‘Bring up these people!’ But You Yourself have not
let me know whom You will send with me.”160
159 Exodus 32:8 Literal Translation
160 Exodus 33:12 NASB
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Moses then asked YHVH that if he has truly found favor with Him
and in His sight to let him know His ways and to consider the
nation of His people. YHVH responds with an amazing statement
about himself.
“My Presence, THEY will go, and I will give you rest.”161
In Isaiah 63:9 we have a similar passage that reads,
“…And the Messenger of His presence/face saved them in His love…”
The very presences and face of YHVH is the third person plural
they! The very Hebrew word used by YHVH, according to Moses for
presence or face, is Pani, singular, and not Panym, plural. The verb
will go is the third person plural; they will go. YHVH told Moses that
his presence or face is singular, but his actions are plural in that they
will go. Moses then responds with the same grammar of singular
and plural words.
“If Your Presence/Face, if THEY do not go, do not lead us up from

here.”162
This is the very nature of YHVH-Elohim, as understood by Moses
161 Exo.33:14 Literal translation from Hebrew.
162 Exo.33:15 Literal translation from Hebrew.
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and the people of Israel as in the earlier chapter with the golden
calf. A single presence of the calf but the plural of Gods in the
actions of bringing the people out of Egypt. YHVH told Moses that
his face and presence is they who will go and His face, THEY will not
be seen, Ex.33:23. But can anyone see YHVH and live?
One of the biggest objections I hear from people is, “How can
anyone see God and live? God said nobody can see him and live.” They
base their question and understanding from Exodus 33:20 where
God said,
“You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!”
So how do we answer this if God says that nobody can see his face
and live? The answer comes from the question Moses asked
previously and what the Hebrew says concerning God's answer. We
must first remember that Moses wrote and spoke the Hebrew
language and while most of the Western world read their Bible from
the English God breathed the Hebrew Scriptures through Moses.
So, we must go to the Hebrew to see if there is a contradiction from
Moses. In Exodus 33:18, Moses asked a very personal question to
YHVH. He said,
“Please, let me see your glory.”
The first thing you should notice is that Moses did not ask to
see his face as in verse stated above. Moses asked YHVH to show
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His glory to him. What was Moses asking when he asked YHVH to
show him his glory? What is God's glory that he wanted to see? We
must investigate the Hebrew for these answers and keep in mind
the context of what is being asked and answered.
In Hebrew, a word can have one meaning with many
applications when translated. We saw earlier that the word Elohim
could be translated as God, gods, judges, mighty, powers, authority,
rulers, godly and even goddess. All of which relate to Elohim and to
the nature of his character and as well as to those who the name is
given too. So, when Moses asked to see YHVH’s glory, what he was
asking was greater than what he could imagine. In Hebrew, the
word for glory is kavod and can mean simply “glory” in a modern
English abstract way. But the word has many applications in other
English translations. The Hebrew kavod can and has been translated
as bosom, soul, body, abundance, honor, splendor, wealth, and
riches. All of which relate to the Hebrew kavod that Moses was
asking to see. Moses wanted to see the very body and bosom of
YHVH, all his being and splendor which nobody has seen in the
past up until Moses. Before Moses, they only saw God in human
form and shape. God never revealed his face, glory or splendor to
anyone. The very bosom and soul of God is reserved for only those
within God to experience. Therefore, in the New Testament, John
said in John 1:18,
“No one has seen/ known Elohim at any time; the only begotten Elohim
who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made him known.”
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The Hebrew and Jewish understanding of John is that he was the
unique Word of God within Elohim, who knew the very soul and
splendor by being in the very bosom of God. They and no one else
only experienced the relationship between them. Moses as a mere
man, could in no way experienced such glory from YHVH and still
be alive as a human. Only the eternal God within God could know
and see such glory and splendor since it is only shared between
them. So now why did God answer Moses with “You cannot see My
face”? Again, we must look at the Hebrew word for “face” and see
how it is used and translated in most English Bibles.
The Hebrew word for face is paniym and has been translated
in other passages as personally and whole. It also has an
understanding of presence as in Exodus 33:14-15. What God was
telling Moses was that nobody could see his presence or him
personally and completely which is reflecting Moses’ question
about seeing his body, glory or bosom. The understanding of glory
and face in Hebrew share a common meaning of someone’s whole
being and personage. God was not speaking of his literal face or
facial features but of his whole personal presence in an intimate
way that Moses asked in glory. This is why no human living back
then or today will ever see the whole nature of his bosom or being
in a personal way that only the other Elohim can see and know.
When God told Moses that he would take him to a rock and
cover his face while his glory passes by, Moses will only see God’s
back, but God said, “My face-presence, They will not be seen.” See the
Hebrew of Genesis 33:23.
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Even after God passed by Moses on the rock, Moses said,
“If now I have found favor in Your sight, O YHVH, I pray, Let Him
(Third-person singular), YHVH, go along in our midst...”163
Moses asked God to let YHVH who passed before him go with him
and in their midst. Moses did not ask God to go, but “Him” who
passed by. Moses understood the plural nature of God and his very
glory, face, and presence.
The other most common objection I hear concerning the
plural nature of YHVH Elohim is about the Shema. How can YHVH
be a plural God if the Shema of Moses says He is one? The
understanding of the Shema will come from both the Hebrew and
Jewish sources. Many non-Jewish believers known as Christians
have attempted to answer this question but have done half the job.
We must complete the other half with the Hebrew Scriptures and
the sages who have spoken on this passage. Here is how the Shema
should be translated in most English Bibles in Deuteronomy 6:4,
“Hear and listen, O Israel! YHVH our Elohim YHVH echad (one).”
Should we now believe that Moses is now writing that God is a

singular person when he wrote earlier in Genesis about the plural
persons who revealed themselves to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as
163 Exodus 34:9 Literal Hebrew Translation.
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YHVH? Is Moses contradicting himself with the Shema? The answer
is, of course, no, he is not.
We have already shown that both YHVH and Elohim can
represent a plural of persons in a singular form, as in the golden
calf. The name YHVH is third-person singular, but when broken up
into individual letters, they can and do represent three names as
one. We then looked at the name Elohim which can be used as a
singular or plural depending on the verb that modifies it. Both types
of verbs have been used to modify Elohim to singular and plural
form. We have also seen that anyone or anything can be called
Elohim or El and does not have to be referring to YHVH directly.
This is why in the Shema above, we see “Our Elohim” and not just
the name Elohim. Moses is identifying YHVH as “Our Elohim” and
not just any God called by that name. But we must take a close look
at the word “one” at the end of the Shema to see if “one” (echad)
represents one solitary or one in unity in this passage of
Deuteronomy 6:4.
The Hebrew word for one is echad and can represent the
numeral one as well as one united. Numerous passages in the
Hebrew Bible use echad as more than just the number one. For
example, we have in Genesis 2:24, the Hebrew phrase “basar echad,”
which means “one flesh.” This passage, of course if referring to both
man and woman becoming one in unity and not one person. Both
man and woman are united together in unity. We see this same
oneness in unity in Genesis 3:22, where God said the man had
become like “one of us,” referring to himself in plural form. The
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man had disobeyed God, and because of that, he attained the
knowledge of good and evil as God thus becoming like them. There
is no way from the Hebrew nor the English that one can assume
“echad” can only mean “one” from a numerical position. These two
passages alone suggest a united form of oneness. Many English
translations have translated “echad” as a unit, united, uniformly
and one accord. The following passages reflect this understanding.
Gen 2:24 “For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother,
and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.” (NASB)
Gen 3:22 “Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like
one of Us, knowing good and evil…” (NASB)
Exo 26:11 “And you shall make fifty hooks of bronze. And you shall put
the hooks in the loops and join the tent together. And it shall become one”
(echad—united). (HRB) (NASB as “a unit)
Ezr 3:9 “Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers stood united with
Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah and the sons of Henadad with their
sons and brothers the Levites…”(NASB)
2Ch 18:12 “And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him,
"Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the
king. Let your word be like the word of one of them and speak favorably.”
(ESV Bible) (NASB as “uniformly)
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All these passages use the same Hebrew word “echad” as in the
Shema. Yet the translators from these few English Bibles did not see
the word as just a solitary one. Moses and others used “echad” as
more than just a numerical one. But the question remains if the
Shema is solitary one or united one? How did the sages and Rabbis
interpret the Shema of Moses?
As we discussed earlier, in the 2nd century, the rabbinic
leaders condemned the teaching of plural powers in heaven as
heresy. The teaching of a god who is plural by nature and power
was now deemed blasphemous. The Shema was then looked at as
the bases to answer such heretical teaching. The Shema became the
bullet to destroy such teaching as a trinity God. Even though
numerous passages in the Hebrew Bible showed echad as more than
just a numerical solitary one, the Jewish teachers adopted the
numerical form over anything else to try and refute Christians and
Jewish believers in Yeshua (Jesus).
In the 13th century, a Jewish writer named Moses de Leon
published what is known today as the Zohar. He ascribed the work
to one Shimon bar Yochai, a Rabbi in the 2nd century during the
Roman persecution. The modern traditional religious Judaism of
today believes that the teachings of the Zohar were revealed by God
to Abraham and Moses and were then transmitted orally until its
redaction by Shimon bar Yochai. Whether this is true or not, the
Zohar is considered part of sacred Jewish literature. The reason to
look into the Zohar is to show that within Judaism itself, the idea
that God is plural is revealed in the Shema as taught in the Zohar.
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“But how can three names be one? Are they one because we call them one?
How three can be one is only to be known through the revelation of the
Holy Spirit and in fact, with closed eyes, we know that the three are
one.”164
The custom of reciting the Shema within Judaism is with their eyes
closed. According to the Zohar, the revelation of how three can be
one is only revealed by the Ruach Hakodesh, the Holy Spirit. The
Zohar continues to say,
“But one unity, three beings which are one, this is indicated by the voice in
reading, ‘Hear O Israel,’ thereby comprehending with the understanding,
the most perfect unity who is infinite because all three –YHVH, Elohim,
YHVH-are read with one voice which indicate three. And this is the daily
faith of the unity which is revealed by the mystery of God. Although there
are many persons united in the unity, yet each person is a true one. What
the one does, that does the other.”
The fact remains that within Orthodox Judaism itself, the

idea of a three in one God is present in the sacred Jewish writings of
the Zohar. So why do Jewish Rabbis act so surprised to hear
Christians teach the same idea that comes right out of their sacred
book? The teaching of plural powers in heaven had been known
and taught within ancient Judaism up until the 2nd century. The
Zohar continues the teaching should be realized.
164 Zohar Amsterdam Edition
128
PROPHETS
One of the next greatest prophets after Moses in ancient
Judaism was Isaiah. He speaks of the coming Messiah, judgment on
Judah and Israel for their falling away by breaking the covenant of
God. As there are 66 chapters in the book of Isaiah, so there are 66
books from Genesis to Revelation. Of course, we know the original
Isaiah did not contain chapters and verses but were added in
translation. Yet, the book of Isaiah contains some of the strongest
passages concerning the oneness of God. We read passages like,
“Who has planned and done it, calling forth the generations from the
beginning? I YHVH am the first and the last (Aleph/Tav); I am He.”165
“You are My witnesses, says YHVH, and My servant whom I have

elected; that you may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He.
Before Me, there was no El formed; nor shall any be after Me. I, I am
YHVH; and there is no Savior without Me. I declared, and I saved, and I
proclaimed, and there is not a foreign Elohim among you. And you are My
witnesses, says YHVH, and I am El. Yea, from this day, I am He, and no
one delivers from My hand. I will work, and who will reverse it?”166
And Isaiah 44:6, “So says YHVH, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer,
YHVH of Hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last, and there is no Elohim
except Me.”
165 Isaiah 41:4
166 Isa.43:10-13
129
As we can see, YHVH is the only God from beginning to end. He is
the first and the last with no other gods formed before him or after
him. He is also the one who, according to Isaiah, made the earth and
formed man on it.
“I have made the earth and created man on it. I stretched out the heavens
with My hands, and I have set all their host in order.”167
There can be no doubt that Isaiah saw YHVH as one God who
existed and created, but did he agree at all with Moses who
proclaimed Elohim as plural in the Torah? In Isaiah 54, we read
something that is commonly overlooked by readers of the English
Bibles. We must remember that Western translations like English do
not translate correctly, for reasons unknown, when it comes to
singular nouns versus plural ones from the Hebrew. Let’s look at
Isaiah 54 as an example of this mistranslation.
“For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the
Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is
called.”168
As you can read, the ESV and most modern translations have
“Maker” and “Husband” as singular. The Hebrew, however, does not
167 Isaiah 45:12
168 Isaiah 54:5 ESV
130
use them as a singular but as a plural.
‫כי בעליך עׂשיך יהוה‬
“For your Makers are your husbands; YHVH of Hosts is Their name, and
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the Elohim of all the
earth.”169
The Hebrew Roots Bible got it right when translating this passage
from the Hebrew. Isaiah correctly understood the plural
manifestation of YHVH written about in the Torah of Moses. You
also have this same type of language of makers and creators from
other writings in the Hebrew Bible outside of the prophets.
“Let Israel rejoice in his Makers; let the sons of Zion be joyful in their
Kings.”170
“Remember now your Creators in the days of your youth, while the evil
days do not come, or the years strike when you shall say, I have no pleasure
in them;”171
169 HRB-YHVH added
170 Psalm 149:2 HRB
171 Ecclesiastes 12:1 HRB
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In Psalm 149:2, the same Hebrew root word is used in the plural as
in Ecclesiastes 12:1 the Hebrew root word is bara from Genesis 1:1
and is also in the plural form. The Hebrew Roots Bible is the only
one that translates those passages correctly from the Hebrew. As
you can read, Isaiah is in complete agreement with Psalm 149 and
with Solomon who wrote Ecclesiastes 12.
There should be no doubt that Isaiah had in mind the
oneness of YHVH while knowing the plural persons of God from
Moses, the prophet. So much more can be shown from the book of
Isaiah but we must move on to the other prophets who made
known the three powers that are in heaven. We will not be able to
cover all the prophets in this book but, I will suggest to the reader to
continue to search out for themselves the plural forms of Elohim
that are throughout the Hebrew Bible. We can not simply rely on
the English Bible to give us such an understanding, as we have
already seen. We must look into the original language of the
Hebrew to find the truth.
The prophet Hosea is considered to be part of the Minor
Prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Hosea addressed the Northern
Kingdom of Israel, often called Ephraim, after the largest tribe. His
ministry began when Jeroboam II was still reigning in Israel. Hosea
is preaching against Israel of coming judgment against them if they
do not repent and turn back to their God. We read in the very first
verse Word-YHVH coming to Hosea. This is the same Word-YHVH
back in Genesis 15 when he appeared to Abraham for the first time.
In Hosea, the Word-YHVH is also speaking through Hosea.
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“The Word of YHVH that came to Hosea…When YHVH first spoke
through Hosea, YHVH said to Hosea” (Hosea 1:1; 2)
The second time Hosea warns them to listen, shema, to Word-

YHVH, because He (YHVH) has a case against the sons of Israel, is
in Hosea 4:1. The expression of Hosea using the Hebrew word
shema reminds us of the call from Moses to the children of Israel in
Deuteronomy 6:4. “Listen (Shema) Israel…” This is another call to
Israel to listen to the Word-YHVH.
In Hosea chapter 11, we read the words of YHVH El, who is
speaking through Hosea against Israel and with mention of Judah
as well. In verse 9, we read that El (God singular) will not execute
His fierce anger to destroy Ephraim again. Throughout this chapter
and in chapter 12, we read the switch from first person YHVH El to
third-person YHVH El. He goes from I (El) first person to YHWH
third person. This is common throughout the Hebrew Bible and
must not go unnoticed. But it is in chapter 12 starting with verse 3
that we start to see the connection of both as one.
“In the womb, he took his brother by the heel, and in his maturity, he
wrestled with God (Elohim).”
This is, of course, is a reference to Jacob in Genesis 32 where it says

he wrestled with a man until daybreak. But in Hosea, El is saying
that Jacob wrestled with Elohim (God). The Hebrew word being
used in Genesis 32:28 for wrestled or contended is the same Hebrew
133
word used here in Hosea 12:3. In Genesis, Jacob wrestled and
contended with Elohim and with men. Both Elohim and men are in
the plural in Hebrew. Remember Jacob said that he had seen Elohim
face to face in Hebrew and his life was preserved. But in Hosea 12:4,
we read the identity within Elohim who wrestled with Jacob.
“Yes, he wrestled with the Messenger and prevailed…”
God is identified as the Messenger who wrestled with Jacob. Again,

this is the same Hebrew word used in verse 3 of Hosea and back in
Genesis 32. The conclusion of verse 4 is what stands out from this
passage.
“…he wept and pleaded to Him. He found Him at Bethel, and He spoke
with us there,”
This can’t be any clearer when reading even from the English
translations. The only person Jacob found at Bethel back in Genesis
35 was God, who revealed themselves to him. Jacob spoke with God
back in Genesis 35:9-13. But according to YHVH-El in Hosea, Jacob
spoke with them or with us in the passage above back at Bethel. This,
of course, cannot be Hosea speaking since he was not alive back in
Genesis, which only leaves YHVH-Elohim the plural persons who
spoke to Jacob at Bethel. The “with us” can only be God as they who
wrestled and spoke to Jacob.
134
We have now identified God from Hosea as YHVH, Word-
YHVH, and Messenger-YHVH, as was back in Genesis. Hosea is in
complete agreement with Moses about the plural nature of YHVH,
as was the prophet Isaiah as well. How one can explain these texts
away is impossible. We must accept the oneness and plural nature
of YHVH Elohim to see the revelation given in the New Testament
by Jesus.
Moses and the prophets have shown that this teaching was
not borrowed from pagan sources but was the foundation for their
belief in a plural God within the nature of YHVH.
WRITINGS
The next books we need to examine are the writings
beginning with Joshua. Joshua was told by YHVH to go into the
land after Moses had died. God instructs Joshua to do all that Moses
had commanded in the Torah. If Joshua and the people kept the
commandments in the Torah, then they would be prosperous and
have success. Within the Torah, as we have shown, is the revealing
of the three powers in heaven. Did Joshua continue this teaching of
a plural God as one YHVH?
As we move into the Writings, we will not be able to go
through every verse in all the books. I have selected from the books
of the Writings passages that demonstrate from the Hebrew the
plural nature and understanding of YHVH-Elohim.
In chapter 22, Joshua blessed the Reubenites, the Gadites
and the half-tribe of Manasseh for keeping the commandments that
135
Moses gave them and for listening to his voice. But when their sons
built an altar in the offense to the sons of Israel, the whole
congregation of Israel gathered themselves at Shiloh to make war
against them. Then the sons of Israel sent Phinehas and ten chiefs,
one chief from each of the father’s household among the tribes of
Israel to speak to them. After warning them about what they had
done the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad and the half-tribe of
Manasseh, answered the head of the family of Israel.
“El Elohim YHVH, El Elohim YHVH! He knows, and Israel shall know, if
it is in rebellion, and if it is in treachery against YHVH, you shall not save
us alive today.”172
To better understand what they were saying in repeating the three

names of God, we can read it as, “El (Mighty One, singular) Elohim
(They are God) YHVH (He exists).” There is no other reason to
proclaim the three names of God unless there was a plural singular
understanding of his nature and being. What Moses had given them
in the Torah concerning God's plural persons was being repeated by
the sons of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. But Joshua
himself affirms this in the 24th chapter when he is reliving Israel’s
history with the tribes of Israel in Shechem.
Joshua is once again warning the tribes of Israel not to serve
and worship other gods as their fathers did beyond the Euphrates
172 Literal Translation, Joshua 22:22
136
River, namely Terah. When the people agreed not to forsake YHVH,
Joshua reveals something to them concerning God.
“You cannot serve YHVH; for Elohim, they are holy; he is a jealous El.”173
The Hebrew plural verb for holy is kodeshim and means “set-apart
ones.” Because the verb is plural, it automatically modifies Elohim to
its plural form, “they, God.” Joshua refers to Elohim as the set-apart
ones who are a jealous mighty one. The singular and plural third-
person pronouns are used together to show the plural persons
within the singular. Many people will have a hard time
understanding how this is done, but whether or not they do, the fact
remains that the Hebrew Bible teaches it. We must remember the
words of Moses in Deuteronomy 29:29,
“The secret things belong to YAHWEH our Elohim, and the things
revealed belong to our sons and to us forever, that we may do all the words
of this Torah.”
The secret things of how God can be both plural and singular
belong to Him, but He has revealed it to us and to those who will
believe so that we can do what is written in the Torah of YHVH. We
must not deny what has been revealed because we can not fully
understand it. Both the Hebrew for secret and reveal can refer to
173 Joshua 24:19 Literal Hebrew translation.
137
someone who conceals himself and who uncovers himself. If we
apply those Hebrew words into Deut. 29:29 we can read it as,
“YHVH our Elohim conceals himself and reveals himself to our sons and
to us forever, that we may do all the words of this Torah.”
In the book of Judges starting in chapter 2, we read about

Messenger-YHVH rebuking Israel. The Messenger tells Israel that
they have not obeyed him by not making covenants with the
inhabitants of the land. The Messenger reminds them that he is the
one who brought them out of Egypt and led them into the land that
he has sworn to their fathers. The Messenger of YHVH appears to
be taking credit for bringing the sons of Israel out of Egypt which
YHVH promised them in Exodus. These two great powers seem to
have the same authority and power. The claim to bring the sons of
Israel out from Egypt is also made in the New Covenant writings.
“This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the
Messenger who spoke to him in Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who
received the living Words to give to us…”174
According to Stephen, the Messenger was the one speaking to

Moses and their fathers. As we have seen, YHVH, Word-YHVH,
and Messenger-YHVH all spoke to their fathers including to Moses.
174 Acts 7:38 HRB
138
In Jude 5 we read,
“Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus,
who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who
did not believe.”175
According to Jude, it was Jesus or Yeshua that saved them out of

Egypt. How could this be if Jesus was just a mere man or prophet?
Some translations will read “LORD” instead of “Jesus,” but the
oldest manuscripts read “Jesus” as the one who led them out of
Egypt. As we will continue to see, it was the plural persons of
YHVH-God who performed the miracles witnessed by the sons of
Israel.
In Judges 6:11-13, the Messenger-YHVH came and sat under
the oak that was in Ophrah. As Gideon was beating out wheat in
the winepress, the Messenger appeared to him. The Messenger told
Gideon that YHVH was with him, but it appears that Gideon did
not know who the Messenger was. Gideon responds,
“And Gideon said to Him, Oh my master, if YHVH is with us, then why
has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonders which our
fathers recounted to us, saying, did not YHVH bring us up out of Egypt?
And now YHVH has abandoned us, and has given us into the hands of
Midian.”176
175 Jude 5 ESV
176 Judges 6:13 HRB-YHVH added
139
Immediately YHVH turned his face and approached Gideon and
told him that he would be the one to deliver Israel from the hand of
Midian. Gideon now knows that YHVH is there. Gideon asks
YHVH for a sign to prove that it is he who was speaking to him.
Gideon goes and prepares a goat and unleavened bread and brings
them under the oak where the Messenger first came and sat. The
Messenger tells Gideon to lay everything he has brought on the
rock.
“And the Messenger of YHVH put forth the end of the staff in His hand
and touched the flesh and the unleavened bread. And the fire rose up out of
the rock and burned up the flesh and the unleavened bread. And the
Messenger of YHVH walked and disappeared out of his sight. And Gideon
saw that He was the Messenger of YHVH. And Gideon said, Alas, Adonai
YHVH! Because I have seen the Messenger of YHVH face to face! And
YHVH said to him, Peace to you, fear not. You shall not die.”177
This can be very confusing to read and understand. First, the

Messenger appears to Gideon and tells him that YHVH is with him.
Does Gideon seem to complain about how if YHVH is with him
then where all his miracles the fathers spoke about? Gideon believes
that YHVH has abandoned them and has given them over to the
hand of Midian. But then YHVH, who seems to be there, turns his
177 Judges 6:21-22 HRB
140
face toward Gideon and approaches him. Was it the Messenger who
turned and approached Gideon? The text doesn’t explain who
turned and spoke to Gideon but he believed it possibly was YHVH
by his response of “O YHVH.” Gideon then asks YHVH for a sign
that it is him who is speaking. But it is the Messenger who shows
the sign and vanishes in front of Gideon. Gideon now realizes that
he has seen Messenger-YHVH face to face, but YHVH tells him that
he will not die. Were there two or just one? Again, the text does not
fully explain and leaves us to believe that we should already know
from the Torah. Remember that Moses wrote about YHVH and
Messenger-YHVH as two persons called Elohim.
A few more verses down in Judges 6, we also read how
YHVH continues to speak to Gideon and tells him to build an altar
to “YHVH your Elohim.” YHVH is speaking in the first person to
Gideon, Judges 6:25-26. This is how the God of the Hebrew Bible
reveals himself. Confusing as this must be, we should already
expect this kind of talk from YHVH, if and only if, he is a plural
God from the Torah. We must also remember that Genesis 18 and 19
are the foundational chapters for three men like messengers who
appeared to Abraham and who were all called YHVH directly.
In Judges 13, we see again Messenger-YHVH appears after
Israel committed evil in the sight of YHVH. This time they were
handed over to the Philistines for forty years. The wife of Manoah
was barren and had no children. The Messenger appears to her and
tells her she will have a son who will be a Nazirite to God from the
womb. The wife describes “the God-man” to her husband, Manoah,
141
“And the woman came and spoke to her husband, saying, A Man of
Elohim has come to me, and His appearance was like the appearance of the
Messenger of Elohim, very terrifying. And I did not ask Him where He
was from, and He did not tell me His name.”178
The Hebrew phrase for “A Man of Elohim” is literally “eesh

HaElohim” with the Hebrew article for The. This should read “The
God-man” and not “A man of God” since the article is present in the
Hebrew. Manoah’s wife was very afraid by the Messenger’s
appearance. When Manoah finally meets the Messenger, he asks to
keep him while they prepare food for him. The Messenger refuses
to eat the food but tells them to prepare a burnt offering to YHVH.
Manoah did not know that he was Messenger-YHVH, whom he
was speaking too. When Manoah put the goat and grain offering on
the rock, Messenger-YHVH performed acts of wonders while they
both watched. Then when the flame ascended to the sky, the
Messenger ascended into the flame of the altar toward heaven.
When the Messenger did not appear again to them, Manoah knew
he was the Messenger-YHVH and said to his wife,
“…surely, we shall die, because we have seen Elohim.”179
Manoah believed they had seen God and would die, but his wife
178 Judges 13:6 HRB
179 Judges 13:22
142
knew they would not die because YHVH had accepted their
offering and showed them all the things they had seen. Manoah
knew that to see Messenger-YHVH is to see God.
In the book of Judges, we also see for the first time the
phrase “Spirit of YHVH.” This phrase for YHVH was not used in the
Torah or Joshua. This is the breath or wind of YHVH.
What we have learned in the book of Judges is that
Messenger YHVH was the one who leads the sons of Israel out of
Egypt and yet in Judges 2:12 it was YHVH Elohim who brought
them out of the land of Egypt, but they forsook YHVH Elohim and
followed other gods (Elohim). The Hebrew says that they are going
after Elohim, other ones (plural). This phrase of other ones shows that
Elohim was not one God but was understood as they are God from a
more English translation. To go after other gods (Elohim) as
opposed to knowing only YHVH Elohim (they, God) was to commit
idolatry against them, Elohim.
Also, Messenger-YHVH is part of the plural manifestation of
God as they. To see Messenger-YHVH is to see God as the God-man.
This is how Moses described God as three men who looked like
messengers who were called YHVH, Word-YHVH, and Messenger-
YHVH under the name God. See again Genesis 18:1-3 and 19:18; 24;
29.
In the book of Samuel starting in chapter 4, we read how the
Philistines were defeating Israel, so they decided to bring the Ark of
God with them in hopes of defeating the Philistines with it. As
Israel brought the Ark into the camp, they began shouting, and the
143
Philistines saw the Ark and became very afraid. The Philistines
knew about the God of Israel and the Ark. In verses 7-8, we read
what the Philistines believed about God and their power in Egypt.
“And the Philistines were afraid, for they said; Elohim, he has come to the
camp. And they said, Woe to us! For never has it been like this before. Woe
to us! Who will deliver us out of the hand of these great ones, Elohim?
These are they, Elohim, the ones who struck Egypt with every plague in the
wilderness.”
The Philistines believed that Elohim, as gods, plagued Egypt. As we

have already shown, Moses wrote of YHVH-Elohim as a plural God
and is consistent with the belief of the Philistines. Some will argue
that the Philistines were a pagan people who falsely believed
Elohim was gods instead of one God who redeemed his people
from the hand of Egypt. Could this be true? Could their pagan
belief in gods cause them to believe that Elohim were gods too?
Let’s see what King David had to say regarding YHVH-Elohim and
Egypt.
“For this reason, O YHVH Elohim, You are great, for there is none like
You, and there is no Elohim except You, according to all that we have
heard with our ears.”180
180 2Samuel 7:22 HRB-YHVH added
144
David first proclaims YHVH-God as great and that there is none
like him as YHVH-Elohim according to what they have heard with
their ears. But did King David hear that God is a singular God or a
plural one?
“And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God,
they went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for
Himself, and to do a great thing for You all and awesome things for Your
land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from
Egypt, from nations and their gods?”181
Most of the translations have David’s prayer to YHVH-Elohim in

verse 23 as “God went to redeem for himself…” without the third
person plural of “they went” (‫)הלכו‬. The Hebrew is clear that David
believed that Elohim was they who went to redeem out of Egypt a
people for himself. King David did not use the singular third
person, “he” but the plural “they,” and the second person plural,
“You all.”There can be no doubt that the Philistines and King David
had it right. Elohim is they who redeemed Israel out of the hand of
Egypt.
In the book of Kings, we will be jumping ahead to Elijah on
Mount Carmel, where a showdown is taking place between YHVH
and Baal. After YHVH brings fire down on the altar upon the ox,
the people call out to YHVH as the true God. Elijah then takes the
181 2Sam.7:23
145
450 false prophets and kills them by the sword. In chapter 19 of
1Kings, Ahab returns to Jezebel and tells her all that Elijah had
done. Jezebel then sends a messenger to Elijah and says,
“Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, "Elohim, they will do to

me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this
time tomorrow.”182
This is the literal Hebrew of what Jezebel told Elijah, and when he
heard this, he ran for his life to Beersheba. Some might argue that
Jezebel was calling upon false gods against Elijah, but one must ask
why Elijah would run for his life from false gods when he just
proved YHVH as the true God against Baal. I believe Jezebel
invoked the true God against herself if she didn’t kill Elijah.
Remember, she just heard what had happened on Mount Carmel
and is now saying that the same God will do to her if she doesn’t do
to Elijah what he had done to the false prophets. This is the context
and meaning of this passage.
The Messenger-YHVH then visits Elijah in verses 5 and 7 to
feed him for his long journey to the mountain of God. When Elijah
gets to the mountain, the Word-YHVH comes to him and asks,
"What are you doing here, Elijah?"183
182 1Kings 19:2
183 1kings 19:9
146
Elijah tells the Word-YHVH that he has come to seek YHVH, the
God of hosts. The Word-YHVH tells him to go and stand on the
mountain before YHVH. At that moment on the mountain, YHVH
passes by with strong winds, an earthquake, and fire.
“When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and
stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said,
‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’”184
Elijah answered YHVH with the same answer he gave to the Word-
YHVH,
“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the sons of
it away."185
Can anyone say that the Messenger-YHVH, the Word-YHVH, and

YHVH, who just appeared to Elijah, are the same person? This
chapter in 1Kings proves without a doubt that all three are separate
and distinct from one another. All three appeared before Elijah, just
as they did to Abraham back in Genesis 12; 15; 18; 22. We already
know that they were all called YHVH back in those passages in
184 1Kings 19:13
185 1Kings 19:14
147
Genesis, and they now all appear again to Elijah. Therefore, Jezebel
invoked the plural form of “Elohim” against herself if she didn’t kill
Elijah.
Messenger-YHVH, Word-YHVH, and YHVH are all here in
these passages before Elijah. This is the true YHVH-Elohim of
Abraham Isaac and Jacob. From Moses to Elijah, we have seen this
pattern of appearances by them, God. The idea of a one-person God
is not part of the ancient Hebrews or the prophets. That idea came
forth in the 2nd century A.D. by religious Jews who wanted to get
away from Jewish believers of Jesus, and the powers in heaven
teaching concerning the three revealed in the Hebrew Bible. A
person would have to be blind spiritually to not see the Poly-
Monotheism in the Old Testament.
“And YHVH shall be King over all the earth. On that day, YHVH shall be
united (echad), and His name united (echad).186
186 Zech.14:9 HRB-YHVH added
148
APPENDIX A
JESUS IS GOD
When we start to read the New Testament, we must

approach it with the understanding of the Hebrew Bible. The
Hebrew Bible is the foundation of the New Testament and must be
viewed as such. The New Testament teaching about God has not
changed from the Hebrew Bible. The Hebrew prophets and the
Jewish New Testament writers are still talking about the same
YHVH-God. We do lose some of the teachings because of the Greek
translation of the New Testament. But if we go back to the Hebrew
Bible and carry over the Hebrew words and meanings to the New
Testament, then we can see the clear message and teaching of the
same God found in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament Greek, we don’t have the same names
for YHWH and Elohim as we do in the Hebrew Old Testament. The
Greek word for God is theos, and the Greek word for YHVH is
kurios. Both of those Greek words do not reflect the Hebrew names
of God. While Elohim is plural, as in they are God, theos is only used
for a singular God in the New Testament. With the Hebrew YHVH,
the Greek kurios means lord or master and does not reflect the true
name or meaning of YHVH. As we have seen, YHVH means he
exists, and the Hebrew letters can show three YHVH’s in one. We
must not only rely on the Greek to show us the nature of Jesus but
must rely on the teaching from the Old Testament.
149
In this appendix, we will look at some of the clear verses in
the New Testament regarding Jesus being God. There are numerous
verses that indirectly and directly refer to Jesus as being God in the
flesh. It will be the direct verses that call Jesus God that I will be
focusing on rather than the indirect New Testament passages
people already argue against. Some of the most famous indirect
passages in the New Testament regarding Jesus be God are not new.
The gospels proclaim Jesus is greater than the Temple or Lord of the
Sabbath. He forgives sin directly while healing them as evidence for
their forgiveness. Jesus says he and the father are one while praying
to the father about the glory they shared before the world was
created. All of these verses can be found in the gospels and many
more like them in the rest of the New Testament. I will be focusing
on the more direct passages that call Jesus God.
JOHN 20:28
ἀπεκρίθη Θωμᾶς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ὁ Κύριός μου καὶ ὁ Θεός μου.
“Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord187 and my God!’”
After Jesus resurrected from the dead and made several

appearances, he appeared in an upper room to the disciples.
Thomas was already doubting the resurrection of Jesus and wanted
to see him and touch.
187 The divine Word is called by Philo the Jew, κυριος μου, "My Lord", Lib. Allegor.
l. 2. p. 101.
150
“Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into
the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never
believe.”188
Thomas would not believe unless he saw Jesus for himself. At that
moment, Jesus appeared to him and said,
“Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put
out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’”189
Thomas answered Jesus with “My Lord and my God!” In the Greek,
this was not an exclamation, but address, the vocative case though
the form of the nominative, a very common thing in the Koiné
Greek.190 According to Greek scholar Daniel Wallace,
“This is not to say that in a given context, Jesus could not be identified
with ὁ θεός. In John 20:28, for example, where the crescendo of the Gospel
comes in Thomas’ confession, Jesus is called ὁ θεός. But there is nothing in
that context that would identify him with the Father.”191
By using Theos/God for Jesus is not calling Jesus, the father.
188 John 20:25 ESV
189 John 20:27 ESV
190 A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament.
191 Daniel Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics. BibleWorks.
151
As we have already seen from John 1:1, Jesus was identified
as the Word who was with God and who was God, Theos. Thomas
now sees and believes after touching Jesus.
PHILIPPIANS 2:6-8
ὃς ἐν μορφῇ Θεοῦ υπαρχων
“Who existing in the form of God...”
In Philippians 2:6-7, Paul identifies the very nature of Jesus,

who existed in the form of God. Again, this is consistent with John
1:1 from earlier. In the Greek, huparchōn, or existing, is the present
active participle of huparchō. This verse is concessive and not causal
because of context and verse 7,
“but he emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being

made in the likeness of men.”
So the translation from the Greek concessive should be read as,
“...who, although He existed in God’s form, did not consider equality with
God as a thing to be grasped but he emptied Himself, taking the form of a
bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”192
192 Phil.2:6 Daniel Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, BibleWorks.”The
translation of this participle as concessive is not entirely clear upon a casual
reading of the text. The two options are either causal or concessive...Only the
concessive idea for the participle and a ‘thing to be grasped’ translation for
ἁρπαγμόν fit well with v 7.”
152
This existence in God’s form is eternal as the Word of YHVH. What
God is the Word was, eternal by nature until he took the form of a
servant, the likeness of a man. This is the message by Paul to the
readers of Philippians. To exist in the form of God is to be God.
HEBREWS 1:8
πρὸς δὲ τὸν υἱόν· ὁ θρόνος σου, ὁ Θεός
“But about the Son, Your throne, O God...”
According to Daniel Wallace, a New Testament Greek scholar,
“There are three syntactical possibilities for θεός here: as a subject (“God is
your throne”), predicate nom. (“your throne is God”), and nom. for voc.
(as in the translation above).”193
Although Dr. Wallace lists three possibilities, I will consult with the
Aramaic Targum and Jewish sources for the answer. In the Aramaic
translations of the Hebrew we read,
“The throne of your glory, O LORD God, lasts forever and ever; the
scepter of your kingdom is an upright scepter. You are King Messiah,”194
This Aramaic translation is also in agreement with some Jewish
193 Daniel Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics, BibleWorks.
194 The Targum of Psalms vol.16, Liturgical Press. Cf. BibleWorks Targums.
153
writers.195 The Messiah in Psalm 45:7-8 is called YHVH and God. If
you apply this translation to Hebrews 1:8 and the agreement of
some Jewish writers concerning King Messiah as the subject of
being called God by the Psalmist, then the other two first possible
Greek interpretations fail.196
2PETER 1:1
τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ σωτῆρος ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ·
“...our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”
There is a rule called Granville Sharp’s Rule of Greek Exegesis and is

used to show that 2Peter 1:1 is referring to Jesus as our God and
Savior. The rule states that when you have two nouns, not proper
nouns or names, connected by the Greek kai (and) and the first noun
has the article the before it while the second noun does not have the
article, then both nouns are describing the same person in the text.
In the Greek of 2Peter 1:1, we see “the God of us and Savior
Jesus Christ.” We also see this same word order in Greek at 2Peter
1:11, “the Lord of us and Savior Jesus Christ.” The only difference is the
change from Theos (God) to Kurios (Lord). Grammatically they are
both identical, and both refer to Jesus as Lord and God. In Granville
Sharp’s Rule, both passages are TSKS.197
195 Kimchi & R. Sol. Ben Melech & R. Abraham Seba, Tzeror Hammor, fol. 49. 2.
196as a subject 1.(“God is your throne”), predicate nom. 2.(“your throne is God”),
and nom. for voc. 3.(“Your throne O’ God”).
197 T=Difinite article (the), S=Substantive, K=Kai (and), S=Substantive.
154
BIBLIOGRAPHY
(Those not listed in the chapters)
Greek Grammar
Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics (1997), Wallace, Daniel B.
The Morphology of Biblical Greek (1994), Mounce, William D.
Basics of New Testament Syntax, The (2000), Wallace, Daniel B.
Greek Grammar of the New Testament and Other Early Christian

Literature (1961), Blass, Friedrich A.; Debrunner, Albert.
Intermediate New Testament Greek: A Linguistic and Exegetical

Approach (1994), Young, Richard
Hebrew Language
William Chomsky, Hebrew: The Eternal Language. Philadelphia:
Jewish Publication Society, 1957.
Edward Y. Kutscher, A History of the Hebrew language, edited by

Raphael Kutscher. Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew University,
1982. 306 pages. ISBN: 9652233978.
Henry Craik, The Hebrew Language: Its History and Characteristics,

Including Improved Renderings of Select Passages in our Authorized
155
Translation of the Old Testament. London: Bagster, 1860. 187 pages.
Texts
Jacob ben Hayyin, ed., Biblia Rabbinica: A Reprint of the 1525 Venice
Edition. 4 volumes. Jerusalem: Makor Publishing, 1972. A reprint of
the Rabbinic Bible originally published by Daniel Bomberg in
Venice.
Aharon Dotan, ed. Biblia Hebraica Leningradensia, Prepared

according to the Vocalization, Accents, and Masora of Aaron ben
Moses ben Asher in the Leningrad Codex. Peabody, Mass:
Hendrickson Publishers, 2001.
Norman H. Snaith, Sefer Torah, Nevi'im u-Khetuvim [title

transliterated from Hebrew script]. London: British and Foreign
Bible Society, 1958. Reprinted under the title The Hebrew
Scriptures. ISBN: 0564000299.
Meïr Letteris, ed., The Holy Scriptures of the Old Testament, Hebrew
and English. London: British and Foreign Bible Society, 1866. Often
reprinted.
The JPS Hebrew-English Tanakh. Philadelphia: JPS, 1999. ISBN:

0827606567.
156
Hebrew-English Interlinear Editions
John R. Kohlenberger III, ed., The NIV Interlinear Hebrew-English Old
Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1979-85.
Concordances
John R. Kohlenberger III and James A. Swanson, The Hebrew English
Concordance to the Old Testament with the New International Version.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998. 2192 pages.
Abraham Even-Shoshan, A New Concordance of the Old Testament.

Grand Rapids: Baker, 1989.
Lexicons
Francis Brown, Samuel R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, eds., A
Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1906. Corrected edition, 1952. Known by the abbreviation
BDB. Still the standard lexicon in English.
William L. Holladay, ed., A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the

Old Testament, based on the Lexical Work of Ludwig Koehler and
Walter Baumgartner. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1971. 425 pages.
Wilhelm Gesenius, Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old

Testament Scriptures. Translated with additions from the author's
Thesaurus and works, by S. P. Tregelles. London: Samuel Bagster &
Sons, 1846.
157
David J. A. Clines, ed., The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew. 8 vols.
scheduled (Sheffield Academic Press, 1993-present). The first
volume 1993, vol.2 in 1995, vol. 3 in 1996, vol. 4 in 1998, vol. 5 in
2001, vol. 6 in 2003.
Hebrew and Jewish Culture

William Smith, Smith's Bible Dictionary (Grand Rapids, Mi.:
Zondarvan, 1948)
J.I. Packer, Merril C. Tenney, William White, Jr., Nelson's Illustrated

Encyclopedia of Bible Facts (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1995)
Madelene S. Miller and J. Lane Miller, Harper's Bible Dictionary,

(New York, Harper, 1973)
Henry H. Halley, Halley's Bible Handbook(Grand Rapids, Mi:

Zondervan, 24th)
The New Westminster Dictionary of the Bible (Philidelphia,

Westminster, 1976)
NIV Compact Dictionary of the Bible, (Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1989
The Lion Encyclopedia of the Bible, (Tring, Lion, 1986)
158
Fred H. Wight, Manners and Customs of Bible Lands (Chicago: Moody,
1983)
Madeleine S. Miller and J. Lane Miller, Encyclopedia of Bible Life

(New York: Harper & Brothers, 1944)
Segal, Alan F. Two Powers In Heaven: The Baylor University Press,

Waco Texas 2012 reprint.
Hebrew Word Studies

James Strong, New Strong's Concise Dictionary of the Words in the
Hebrew Bible, (Nashville, Nelson, 1995)
W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, William White, Vine's Expository

Dictionary of Biblical Words, (Nashville, Nelson, 1985)
Benjamin Davidson, The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon,

(London, Samuel Bagster)
Isaac Mozeson The Word: the Dictionary that reveals the Hebrew origin
of English (New York. S.P.I. Books, Inc.)
Ehud Ben-Yehuda, David Weinstein, English-Hebrew Hebrew-English

Dictionary, (N.Y., Washington Square Press, Inc., 1961)
159
Rev. Walter W. Skeat, A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English
Language, (N.Y., Capricorn Books, 1963)
Tsvi Sadan, The Concealed Light; Names of Messiah in Jewish Sources,

(Vine of David, First Fruits of Zion, Inc. 2012)
Ancient Languages and their Origin

John Philip Cohane The Key, (N.Y., Crown Publishers, 1969)
Charlton Laird The Miracle of Language (Greenwich Conn., Fawcett,

1953)
Giorgio Fano, The Origins and Nature of Language, (Bloomington In.,

Indiana University Press, 1992)
Isaac.E Mozeson, The Origin of Speeches 2nd edition, Lightcatcher

Books, Springdale, AR ISBN 0-9792618-0-5
160

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NASB-New American Standard Bible

EMTV-English Majority Text Version

ESV-English Standard Version

HRB-Hebrew Roots Bible

TSB-The Scriptures Bible 1998

YLT-Young’s Literal Translation 1898

ISV-International Standard Version

*If no Bible abbreviation is shown, then the translation is that of the

Codex L.MT-Hebrew Text

The Greek Myth.................................................................5

Appendix A: Jesus Is God...........................................149

1 John 4:22 NASB

3 http://thetorah.com/proto-masoretic-text/. And Textual Criticism of the Hebrew

4 John 3:2 NASB

THE LANGUAGE OF JESUS

5 Luke 2:49-52 NASB

8Miguel Perez Fernandez, An Introductory Grammar of Rabbinic Hebrew (Leiden,

10 Acts 26:1-14 NASB

“Now at this time while the disciples were increasing in number, a

12 Paul knew Aramaic as a trained Rabbinic Pharisee. In his second letter to

THE HEBREW BIBLE

13 Emanuel Tov, https://www.thetorah.com/article/other-biblical-text-traditions.

14 Emanuel Tov, https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-bible-and-the-masoretic-text.

15R.Steven Notley Ph.D., www.blogs.timesofisrael.com/bibi-was-right-jesus-spoke-

To get a good understanding of the fall of man and the need

16 Gen 1:1 ‫בראׁשית ברא אלהים את הׁשמים ואת הארץ‬

The first thing we notice is that the serpent is compared to every

19 BDB Definition: 1) subtle, shrewd, crafty, sly, sensible ‫ערּום‬

20 "Storytelling, the Meaning of Life, and The Epic of Gilgamesh".

In Jewish tradition21, it was believed that the serpent might have

21 John Gill’s Commentary on Gen.3:14; Midrash Rabbah Genesis vol.1 pg.162

“’ DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. ‘O DEATH, WHERE IS

24 1Cor.15:54-55;57 NASB “Messiah” substituted for “Christ.”

People long for perfection in an imperfect world and

How is this longing for perfection to be fulfilled? The biblical view

27 E.g., Isaiah 52:15- 53:12; Daniel 9:24-26

In another rabbinic reference, we are told all the prophets who

The Rabbis also was aware the TaNaKh predicted that

Various reports are offered as to his whereabouts after his birth.

31 Sanhedrin 99a; Berachot 34b; Shabbat 63a Cf.1Cor.2:9

32 Bereshit Rabbati 133 (Isaiah 66:7)

33 Babylonian Talmud Sanhedrin 98a

35 Babylonian Talmud, Sukkah 52b

43 See Etheridge at pp. 169-170.

Some rabbinic sources did recognize the Messianic seed

MESSIAH THE SON

45 Midrash Rabbah Genesis 23:5

This prophecy did not find fulfillment even in David's son,

Since David was no longer alive, it is obvious that the prophet is

The prophet Amos recognized the need to"raise up the

In Chapter 2 of his book, he states the following Jewish source

Finally, the prophet Micah confirms that Bethlehem, the

54“The Messiah Texts: Jewish legends of Three Thousand Years” by Raphael

This passage of scripture describes the Messiah, who would come