The following references come from:
Tovia Singer, Let’s Get Biblical: Why Doesn’t Judaism Accept the Christian Messiah? 2 vols. (Forest Hills, N.Y.: Outreach Judaism, 2014)
In response to the question “Did the Passover Lamb
Foreshadow the Crucifixion of Jesus”
Christians draw a comparison
between the Paschal lamb and Jesus, insisting that the former foreshadows the
latter. Of the four Gospels, only John makes this assertion. The authors of
Matthew, Mark, and Luke are unaware that Jesus is supposed to represent the
Passover lamb. Jesus is hailed as the “Lamb of God” only in the book of John
(1:29, 36). Is John’s claim valid? What is the meaning of this holiday
sacrifice? Is there a relationship between this Passover offering and an atonement
for sin?
The Bible relates in Exodus
12:3-13 that as the Jewish people were preparing themselves for the momentous
Exodus from Egypt, God commanded them to slaughter a year-old sheep or goat on
the 14th day of the first month (Nissan). They were to place its blood on the
outside doorposts of their homes. Because Christians insist that the blood o
the Paschal lamb foreshadowed the atonement of the blood of Jesus at Calvary,
it behooves us to question the soundness of this claim.
The Passover lamb did not atone
for sin and accordingly, this idea is nowhere to be found in the Jewish
Scriptures. It goes without saying that the notion that the Paschal Lamb is a
representation of a crucified savior or at atonement is alien to the teachings
of the Torah or the first three Gospels.
A mindful study of the Jewish
Scriptures reveals that the Paschal Lamb was alluded to long before the Exodus
from Egypt. Centuries earlier, Abraham’s faith was tested by God when he
commanded him to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac. Genesis 22:7-8 relates that
as the two ascended Mount Moriah together, Isaac asked his father,
“Here is the fire and the wood,
but where is the lamb for the offering?” Abraham then replied, “God will see to
a lamb for an offering, my son.”
The question that comes to mind
is, what happened to that lamb which Abraham promised? A few verses later we
find that the ram was sacrificed rather than a lamb! Where was the lamb to
which Abraham was prophetically referring?
The answer of course is that our
father, Abraham, was prophetically alluding to the Paschal lamb. Just as God
tested Abraham’s faith to demonstrate his worthiness to be the father of the
chosen people, the young Jewish nation also had to have their faith tested to
show their worthiness to participate in the exodus from Egypt, receive the
Torah at Mount Sinai, and emerge as the progenitors of the covenant people who
would forever be known as “a light to the nations.”
During the period of the Exodus
in Ancient Egypt, the lamb was deified and worshiped as a god. By Egyptian law,
it was therefore forbidden to harm a lamb in any way; such an act was
considered a crime punishable by death.
For this reason, Moses refused
Pharoh’s offer that the Jews bring their sacrifice to God while remaining in
Egypt. Moses explained to Pharaoh that it would be impossible for his people to
sacrifice these animals in his land because the Egyptians would execute them
for carrying out this ceremony (Exodus 8:26).
The Almighty, therefore, tested the
faithfulness of the Jewish people by commanding them to kill Egypt’s cherished
god, and place the lamb’s blood on their doorposts. Displayed for all of their
neighbors to see. Only those Israelites who, like Abraha, demonstrated that
they feared nothing but the God of Israel were deemed worthy to have their homes
“passed over” during the tenth and final plague.
The authors of Matthew, Mark, and
Luke do not associate Jesus with the Paschal lamb. Therefore, in their versions
of the Passion story, Jesus was crucified on the first day of Passover, the 15th
day of Nissan. The Book of John, on the other hand, written about 15 years
after the book of Matthew and Luke, draws a clear link between Jesus and the
Passover lamb (1:29-36). Accordingly, we are told by the author of John that
Jesus was crucified a day earlier than the other three Gospels. In John’s
version of the events, Jesus was executed on the eve of Passover, which is the
14th day of Nissan, during the time that the lambs were slaughtered.
Asa a result, the Passover Seder is noticeably missing from John’s account of
the Last Supper. (2:70-71)
Elsewhere, on Lev 17:11, we read that:
Jesus could not die for anyone’s
sins, whether they were committed intentionally or accidentally. To begin with,
the Jewish people were strictly prohibited from offering human sacrifices under
any circumstances. There is not one place throughout the entire corpus of the
Jewish Scriptures where human sacrifices are condoned. In fact, the Bible warns
repeatedly the Jewish people that it is a grave sin to bring a human being as a
sacrifice. In the Book of Leviticus, only distinct species of animals are
permitted for use in blood sacrifices.
The ancient pagan religions
promoted the same idea (e.g. Molech) about the atonement as Christendom
continues to preach today. They would joyfully offer a child into the fires of
their sacrificial offering in order to expiate their sins and appease the
gods. Why would a child sacrifice be used in this pagan ritual rather than an
adult? The reason is that a child is a moving portrait of one who is innocent f
sin. A child, they reasoned, could not have committed iniquity and thus
mirrored the animal sacrifice which also had to be unblemished. The Torah
therefore condemned human sacrifices, and forewarned Jewish people of terrible
consequences if this commandment were violated.
The message was conveyed at Mt.
Moriah, where Abraham prepared to offer up his beloved son Isaac as a sacrifice.
At that epic moment in history, as Abraham was ready to sacrifice Isaac, the
Almighty admonished him that He did not desire human sacrifice, and directed
Abraham to sacrifice the ram caught in the thicket instead.
The Almighty’s directive—He only
wanted animal sacrifices rather than human sacrifices—was immediately
understood. This teaching has never departed from the mind and soul of the
children of Israel.
Furthermore, the prophet Ezekiel
warned the Jewish nation that a righteous man could not atone for the sins
of the wicked. Wouldn’t we consider a father cruel if he punished an
obedient child for the misdeeds of another? Only an unjust society would pardon
its criminals while imprisoning the innocent. The prophet therefore warns that
no innocent person can die for the sins of the wicked:
The soul that sins it shall die”
The son shall not bear for the sin of the father, nor the father bear for the
sin of the son. The righteousness of the righteous person shall be upon him,
and the wickedness of the wicked person shall be upon him. 21 As for
the wicked man, if he should turn away from all his sins which he did, and
safeguard all My decrees, and do justice and righteousness; he shall surely
live. He will not die. 22 All his transgressions which he committed
will not be remembered against him. For the righteousness which he did, he
shall live. 23 Do I desire at all the death of the wicked man—the words
of my Lord, God—is it not rather his return from his ways, he that might live?
(Ezekiel
18:20-23)
Moreover, if missionaries want to
use Leviticus 17:11 to bolster their claims that blood sacrifices are indispensable
for procuring an atonement, they must use all of the verse, not just a part of
it. Leviticus 17:11 specifically says that the blood of the sacrifice must be
placed “upon the altar to make atonement for your souls.” That is to say,
Leviticus 17:11 explicitly declares that blood can only effect atonement if it
is placed on the altar. Jesus’ blood, however, was never placed on the altar.
If the Church is going to take the “blood” part of the verse literally, they
must also take the “altar” part literally as well. Jesus’ blood was never sprinkled
on the altar, and therefore his death could not provide atonement for anyone .
. .Finally, the prophets loudly declared to the Jewish people that the contrite
prayer of the penitent sinner replaces the sacrificial system. . . . King
Solomon echoes this sentiment as well. In I Kings 8:46-50, King Solomon
delivers a startling prophetic message as he inaugurates the newly constructed
first Temple. In his inauguration sermon, King Solomon forewarns that one day
the Jewish people would be driven out of the land of Israel and banished to the
land of their enemies, near and far. During their exile, many would fervently
desire to repent of their sins. King Solomon then declares that they are to
face Jerusalem from their diaspora, confess their sins, “and God will hear
their prayers in heaven, and forgive them for all their transgressions.”
If they sin against You, for
there is no man who does not sin, and You will be angry with them, and deliver
them to the enemy, and their captors will carry them captive to the land of the
enemy, far or near. And they shall bethink themselves 47 in the land
where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in
the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned, and have done perversely,
we have committed wickedness.’ 48 And they shall return to You with
all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies who led
them away captive, and pray to You toward their land, which You gave to their
fathers the city You have chosen, and the hose which I have built for Your name.
49 And You shall hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven,
in Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause. 50 And forgive
Your people for what they have sinned against You, and all their transgressions
that they have transgressed against You…
(I
Kings 8:46-50)
There was no mention of a cross
or a dead messiah in King Solomon’s prophetic message. Only the contrite and
repentant prayer of the remorseful sinner can bring about a complete atonement.
Although King Solomon’s timeless
message stands out as a theological impossibility in Christian terms, it
remains the warm centerpiece of God’s system of atonement throughout the nation’s
long and bitter exile. (2:75-76, 77-78)
