Chizuk Emunah Under The Microscope: Chapter 1

In Chapter 1, Troki argues that Jesus of Nazareth could not have been Messiah and gives four reasons for it:

1. His pedigree disqualifies him
2. Messiah would come to bring peace; Jesus came to bring a sword
3. He came at the wrong time
4. He did not fulfill the required prophecies.

My issue with Troki is partially with his understanding of the facts but also with his criteria for what someone needs in order to be Messiah. Let's take a look at Troki's arguments and see what he has to say.

1. His pedigree disqualifies him.

Troki argues that in order to be Messiah, a candidate must descend through his father's line directly from King David. Matthew states that Joseph was not the biological father of Jesus, and that the lineage of Mary was unknown to the gospel writers. Troki also argues that the genealogies in Matthew and Luke are contradictory and therefore cannot be trusted in any case.

A. Lukyn Williams notes that Troki finds three difficulties with the genealogies of Jesus:

A. According to Matthew, Joseph's father is Jacob and his line comes down through Solomon; according to Luke, Joseph's father is Eli and his line comes down through Nathan the son of David.
B. According to Matthew there were forty-two generations from Abraham to Jesus; according to Luke fifty-six.
C. Matthew makes an evident error in saying that Joram begat Uzziah, for he thus omits Ahaziah, Joash, and Amaziah (cf. 1 Chr. 3:11, 12).

Objections B and C are not exactly fitting objections for a rabbi to make, and one who does make these objections is either ignorant or dishonest. This is because the Tanakh contains the same issues regarding genealogy.

Ezra 7:1-5 states the generations of the priests as follows:

Meraioth
Azariah
Amariah
Ahitub
Zadok
Shallum
Hilkiah
Azariah
Seraiah

1 Chronicles 6:7-14 gives an expanded genealogy:

Meraioth
Amariah
Ahitub
Zadok
Ahimaaz
Azariah
Johanan
Azariah
Amariah
Ahitub
Zadok
Shallum
Hilkiah
Azariah
Seraiah

Either Ezra got confused, some scribe got confused with the repetitive family names, or Ezra abbreviates the genealogy, which was considered acceptable practice in Ancient Near Eastern literature. If it was fine for Ezra to do this, then on what basis is it wrong for Matthew to do this? Instead, Matthew was using a simple application of Gematria, adding the numerical value of Hebrew letters. the Gematria of David is 14, and Matthew clumps his genealogy into sets of 14.

The more important objection is regarding the royal bloodline. Possibly, Luke is referring to Mary's ancestry. The early portion of the book of Luke focuses on Mary, and it would be in context for Mary to be the true subject of the ancestral line.

There is also independent reason to believe that Mary descended from David as well. In Luke 1:32, the angel announces that  Jesus would take the throne of his father David. Paul as well proclaims in Romans 1:2 that Jesus was born of the seed of David according to his flesh.

It would be very weird to say that Jesus cannot be the Messiah because his paternal line comes from Yahweh himself, as though having a divine nature would somehow make him inferior and unworthy of the title. God can do as he pleases, just as he had Jonah proclaim that Nineveh would be destroyed, and then said that he would not destroy it.

Also, Joseph would bring a legal legitimacy to the claim of Jesus to the Davidic line. Luke likely gave the biological line, while Matthew gave the line of legal heirs. Williams concludes his notes with this:

A case such as that of Jesus was, of course, not anticipated by the law; but if no other human fatherhood was alleged, then the child must have been regarded as bestowed by God upon the house of Joseph, for a betrothed woman, according to Israelitish law, already occupied the same status as a wife. The divine will, in the case of this birth, conferred upon the child its own right of succession, which, once Joseph recognized it, would not have been disputed even by a Jewish judge.

2. Messiah would come to bring peace; Jesus came to bring a sword.

Here, Troki quotes Jesus in Matthew 10:34. "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." Jesus also said of himself in Matthew 20:28 "The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." However, Troki argues that the Tanakh paints a picture of Messiah completely opposite of this self-description of Jesus.

Zechariah 9:10 states: "I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations; his rule shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth."

Isaiah 2:4 states: "He shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."

Psalm 72:11 states: "May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!"

Daniel 7:27 states: "And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; their kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey them."

These four Tanakh passages speak of a coming day where there will be a ruler who will come riding on a donkey. He will judge between the nations, who will serve him. He will rule over a kingdom that will be everlasting, and he will rule over the whole earth. Troki believed that Jesus did not do this. I would beg to differ.

Troki argues that Jesus cannot be Messiah if Jesus came to serve. This seems a rather odd objection. Is it not the role of a king to serve his people? Furthermore, the usage by Troki completely ignores the context of the passages. Jesus was teaching his disciples that unlike the gentiles, where power is imposed from the top down, the kingdom of Jesus would come from service. The disciples had to learn that through self-sacrifice, the world can be transformed.

That very mentality helped the church rise in the first few centuries despite extreme persecution. This is also what has brought the good news of Jesus to the third world. Force was never sufficient to win over the minds and hearts of the unevangelized to Jesus. And the attempt to do so by the Roman Catholic Church ultimately backfired and brought about a very nominal Christendom, rather than a genuine Christianity.

John 14:27 and 16:33 quote Jesus as having come in peace and that they may have peace. I am hoping that Troki and those who follow him do not read the verse as Jesus literally claiming that the purpose of his coming was to make people fight. That would be as ignorant as critics of the Talmud who think that tractate Ketubot endorses pedophilia.

The sword is the gospel, and Jesus knew that truth is often fiercely resisted. This is the case when someone enters a company or a government determined to flush out corruption. The whole practice is met with very fierce resistance, especially by the corrupt ones in power who do not want to relinquish their undeserved privileges.

As more and more people gave their lives to Jesus, it would create strife between them and their communities. This is exactly what happens when someone from an Orthodox Jewish background comes to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. The family will hold a funeral and disown the member as an outcast. Frum communities unintentionally fulfill this prophecy every time this happens.

Eventually,  there will be this peace, but it will take a long time. Jesus said that the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. It starts small, but slowly will grow into a peaceful kingdom that will cover the whole earth.

3. Jesus came at the wrong time.

Troki argues that there would be certain conditions taking place before Messiah would come. He quotes

Isaiah 2:2-4

    It shall come to pass in the latter days
        that the mountain of the house of the LORD
    shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
        and shall be lifted up above the hills;
    and all the nations shall flow to it,
        and many peoples shall come, and say:
    “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
        to the house of the God of Jacob,
    that he may teach us his ways
        and that we may walk in his paths.”
    For out of Zion shall go the law,
        and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
    He shall judge between the nations,
        and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
    and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
        and their spears into pruning hooks;
    nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
        neither shall they learn war anymore.

When Jesus came, he did not appear to judge between nations. No one beat their swords into plowshares. Instead, the temple was destroyed and the nation of Israel cast into dispersion.

Hosea 3:5 "Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness in the latter days."

Daniel 2:44 "And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,"

Israel, however, was destroyed. What followed the life of Jesus was not a political golden age for Israel, but perhaps her darkest hour. Troki argues that therefore, Jesus cannot be Messiah.

None of these passages have the word Messiah in them. Therefore, this whole idea that these are about Messiah is pure speculation. Troki believes that the term "last days" means that there will no time to come after this, but such is not the meaning of Scripture. Genesis 49:1 states: "Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in the last days." (בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים). These "last days" have been long over, yet they are last days. They are the latter part of a specific time.

These prophecies do not indicate that Messiah will come at the end of history, but at the end of some era. Indeed, Jesus did come at the end of the Second Temple era, and ushered in the age when the word of Yahweh would spread rapidly to the whole world. 

4. Jesus did not fulfill the required prophecies.

This fourth section is the longest section in this chapter. Troki argues that the future state of the world when Messiah comes will be one government for the entire world. There will be one religion and one creed. All idols will be destroyed. Idolatry will end. There will be no sins in the world, and Jerusalem will be a place of extra righteousness. War will cease. All troubles and anxieties will end. The Shechinah glory of God that filled the tabernacle will return to Jerusalem.

Troki argues that this was not fulfilled in Jesus. This description does not apply to the world at this time. Hence, Messiah could not have already come. The whole problem with this section is exactly the same problem that haunts the other sections. Troki assumes that Messiah will come, and then peace and prosperity would occur as an immediate result. The problem is not that Jesus didn't bring it about, but that Jesus did not bring it about as quickly as Troki demanded. What good would a peace do us if the human heart is wicked and corrupt? It would not be a true peace, but a peace forced upon the people, they way it is in a George Orwell novel.

Instead, the greatest peace is one where the human soul is healed and regenerated, then a lasting peace can come. Jesus is acknowledged, even by non-Christian sources, as the most influential person who ever lived. Half the world's population swears loyalty to him, and the other half is coming under his control.

A king also does not need to be seen for his rule to be felt. Much of the great British Empire 150 years ago had never seen its king. This is not evidence that there is no king. It also does not follow that because we do not see the king that we will never see him. Eventually, Jesus will descend in the same way he ascended, and he will put the finishing touches on fulfilling the prophecy, but only after the world hears of him.

Jewish evangelism is a part of this, although certainly not the only part. Jesus said: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"