|
We have received the following very friendly
letter from the Rev. J. F. Halsey, of Perth Amboy, N. J.; and in order
to bring the subject fairly up for discussion we communicate Mr.
Halsey's ideas in his own words to our readers. In the mean time we
thank him heartily for the kind expressions which he bestows upon our
labours, and for his promptness to encourage the new translation of the
Scriptures which our fellow labourer of the Voice of Jacob has in
contemplation, who we doubt not will profit by the suggestions of our
honoured correspondent. Mr. Halsey is another evidence of the spread of
more kindly feeling between Jews and gentiles; and it shall not be our
fault if it is not farther extended, since we mean, even whilst
discussing the points of difference between us, and whilst calling to
mind what we have suffered for religion's sake, constantly to admonish
our readers to exercise charity and good-will towards all men, of
whatever country and persuasion. We profess a religion of peace; and may all the world be happy, so there be but "peace upon
Israel."—Ed. Oc.
Mr.
Editor:
I
have read with no ordinary interest the numbers of the Occident from the
first. Enclosed is my subscription. I wish to continue it for the
ensuing year. I have admired the frank and manly spirit you have
pursued, and especially that gentlemanly courtesy you have ever
exhibited even towards those correspondents from whom you differ in
religious opinion. Allow me, dear Sir, to express my high pleasure in
the noble avowal, "that we shall receive with gratitude any
suggestions offered in a kindly spirit." At a time when the
religious press is all but absolutely muzzled, and free inquiry
proscribed, your readers of other denominations must have admired the
comity and independence of the Occident. I am free to avow my love and
regard for your nation, my deep sympathy in all your trials and
persecutions. My purse, my pen, and my prayers will ever be ready to
aid, as far as I am able, the seed of Abraham, God's friend, and
"to whom were committed the oracles of God." Accordingly I
wish to subscribe for five copies of the "Book of the Testimony of
God." This work is a desideratum, and I have no doubt will meet a
ready sale in this country. Mr. Editor, permit me through you, to make
one suggestion relative to the forthcoming work, which will add
exceedingly to its value to an English reader, viz., marginal
readings containing the exact meaning or translation of Hebrew names of
persons, places, &c., and a uniform rendering of the titles and
appellatives of God. There is a treasury of divine wisdom and knowledge
locked up in the Hebrew names of the Bible, which none but a Hebrew
student can begin to estimate. Such marginal readings, &c., would
exceedingly enhance its value in this country.
Mr.
Editor, permit me to allude to
the editorial note appended to Dias's
sixth letter. I agree with you that, "that letter is the most
important of the series thus far," so much so, that I view it
as perfectly unanswerable by any man in any of the Christian sects, save
the few individuals who hold to a literal interpretation of the
divine word. You very justly add "the prophets speak of a
Messiah who is to accomplish all that has been predicted of him. Now
precisely such a one and no other can be received as the fulfiller of
scriptural prediction, but if he omit any of these, he is not the one
whom we expect. His mission is the redemption of Israel and the world;
and unless this have been, or be accomplished, the personage
under question cannot be the King of the Jews." In all this I fully
agree with you. Such is the Messiah of the prophets; such is the Messiah
of the gentile and the Jew; such is only the Messiah in whom I believe.
In your preface you forcibly observe, "this much we know, Israel
needs defenders, and among these we wish to be numbered."
Mr. Editor, I would humbly crave to be enrolled as one,
too. I would defend Israel from the falsehood and unmercifulness of
those who no less ignorantly than fearlessly teach, that God has for
ever cast off the natural seed of Abraham, "his friend;" that
he will no more appear to build and beautify Jerusalem, and restore the
twelve tribes as of old, and settle them after their former estates,
&c. I do in my soul believe, and therefore pray with Daniel,
"Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his
supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is
desolate, for the Lord's sake. O my God incline thine ear and hear, open
thine eyes and behold our desolations, and the city whereupon thy name
is called; for we do not cause to fall our supplications before Thee for
our righteousness, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear, O Lord
forgive, O Lord hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God,
for thy city and thy people are called by thy name."
So
far from believing that Israel shall be no more an established nation
and church, I believe with the prophet Ezekiel, that "God will
multiply men upon the mountains of Israel, all the house of Israel,
all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall
be builded. And I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they shall
increase and bring fruit; and I will settle you after your old
estates, and will do better than at your beginnings. Yea, I will
cause men to walk upon you, my people Israel. And they shall possess,
and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou shalt no more henceforth
bereave them of men," &c. (Ezekiel 36. 8-12.) Yes, I solemnly
believe that your nation shall be re-established in their own
land—have a larger and more glorious temple than Solomon's rebuilt,
and the Levitical priesthood and sacrifices re-instituted with some
specified and significant modifications, to show that many of the
magnificent prophecies of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, &c.,
have not yet been fulfilled—are yet future. That in that day when
these predictions shall be literally fulfilled, (as have been all
past prophecies,) I believe the exact requisitions you name in
your
remarks (Vol. I. page 610,) will precisely meet in Messiah, who
shall then come, and "whose feet shall then stand in that day upon
the Mount of Olives, which shall cleave in the midst thereof, toward the
east and toward the west, a very great valley, as Zechariah informs us.
A most convincing proof that his prophecy is future. But He shall
not come alone, "and the Lord my God shall come, all the saints
with Thee. And the Lord shall be King over all the earth, in that day
there shall be one Lord, and his name shall be One. All the land shall
be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon, south of Jerusalem, and it
shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate
until the place of the first gate, and the tower of Hananeel unto the
king's wine-presses; and they shall dwell in it; and there shall be no
more utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited."
(Zech. 14.) But I would affectionately, yet earnestly, beseech you to
notice one circumstance connected with Messiah's coming, when "He
will make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among wood, and
like a torch of fire in a sheaf, and they shall devour all the people
round about, on the right and left, and Jerusalem shall be inhabited, in
her own place, in Jerusalem; when the Lord shall defend the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, he that is abject among them at that day shall be as
David, and the house of David as God, as the angel of the Lord before
them. In that day when it shall come to pass, when I will seek to
destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem, that I will pour
upon the house of David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit
of grace and supplication, and they shall look upon me whom they have
pierced." This is the circumstance. Does not this look like the
"man of sorrows" described by Isaiah 53.? Like the Messiah of
Daniel "who was to be cut off, but not for himself?" Like the
crucified Messiah whom the gentiles worship? He whom some believe is
soon to come the second time, and then "sit on the throne of his
father David ?" Does it not necessarily imply a prior coming, when
HE was pierced? Does not this look as though the prophets taught two
advents of Messiah? one as a Lamb, that He might "make his soul an
offering for sin," and "bear the sin of many:" the other,
as son of David, and King of the Jews? The first, to be
"pierced," "smitten," "stricken,"
"wounded:" the second, "to smite through his
enemies" as predicted in the 110th Psalm? In the first
He comes as the "offspring of David;" in the second, as
"the root of David." In the first, "the son of a
virgin;" in the second, "the wonderful, counsellor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace."
The
last sentence in Dias' Letter needs a remark. "Now, if Christians
will prove that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies, they will then
convert the Jews, for they require nothing else." I reply, that no
Christian can prove the same; for this simple reason, the prophecies
Dias has quoted are still future, and, of course, Jesus
has not yet fulfilled them; but I believe that he will fulfil them, word
for word, at his second advent. Now
just on this point, I do not wonder that Christian writers have utterly
failed in their controversies with the Jews; as they undertook to prove what
could not be proved, and therefore should not have been
attempted. They undertook to convert unfulfilled into fulfilled
prophecy, and thus confounded, instead of discriminating between those
predictions which relate to the first coming of the Messiah to be
"pierced," "wounded," "cut off," and those
which predict his second coming in triumph to reign on earth King
of the Jews, Prince of Peace. Thus they converted numerous substantial
and glorious predictions into figures, i.e., they did violence to
the divine word. And no marvel that they utterly failed to convince and
convert the Jew. And then because confused, weak, and fallacious
arguments failed upon the Jew, his opponents lost their temper, and
aimed to effect by persecution of tongue, and pen, and statute, what
ignorance and unkindness ought not, could not, and cannot effect;
forgetting the proverbs "The sweetness of the lips increaseth
learning, pleasant words are as an honeycomb to the soul, and
health to the bones. He that handleth a matter wisely shall find
good, and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy is he."
I am, dear Sir,
Yours truly,
J. F. Halsey.
Perth
Amboy, N. J., March 11, 1844.
NOTE
by the Editor.—We need not tell the intelligent reader, that Mr.
Halsey appears to be one of those who believe in the literal fulfilment
of Scripture, to be accomplished at the second advent of the Messiah,
whoever he may be. It may be observed, that with the increase of
knowledge of the Word of God, free from the authoritative comments which
received interpretation formerly gave to it, men of all
persuasions have come to the conclusion, that the history of the gospels
is no fulfilment of the predictions of Israel's seers; but that if the
founder of Christianity be indeed the Christ,* it is absolutely
necessary for him to appear again on earth, in order to bring to pass
that which has as yet not seen its fulfilment. The Messiah therefore
according to this view has a duplex character, his first, a divine
incarnation, if such a state can be, the second, a divinity without the
adjunct of a human frame. In either sense, whether Christians believe in
a spiritual, that is to say, one coming of Christ, or in a literal, that
is to say, a second coming, superadded to the first, they demand an
acknowledgment of him as a part of the Deity, who came to reconcile by
his death an offended God with the seed of man; since all Christians profess to believe that without this
mediatorial intervention, every Adamite, through the sin of Adam, would
be doomed to condemnation, because there could be no atonement which any
Adamite could offer, of sufficient potency and holiness, to remove the
weight of original iniquity. With Adam all had sinned, as we understand
their doctrines, and it required a second Adam, who, uniting the most
perfect human form with the divinity, which he was himself, should
become a sacrifice for his brothers in the flesh, unto the offended God,
whose essence dwelt in him, and of whom he was a part. We think that we
have stated the idea fairly and clearly, and if not, we are willing to
be corrected by any of the learned Christian divines who honour us with
their support.
But
as Jews we deny the premises, that is, the necessity for a mediator; we
do not believe that it ever was in the contemplation of the Most High to
cast off man from favour, although he should sin, and that an atonement
was provided from the beginning in his mercy through obedience before
transgression and through repentance after the soul be
defiled with sin. At another time, we may enter into the discussion more
fully; at present however we must take it for granted that the evident
words of Scripture, constantly calling upon us to "reform the
heart," must imply that man has salvation placed within his own
reach. We know moreover of no traces in history, not even the Bible,
whence it could be proved that the Israelites or Jews (we use the terms
indiscriminately, although Christians love to understand them as of
different significations) ever believed or were taught to believe that
they were to look upon the law as insufficient for salvation, or that
they ever had the least idea of a mediatorial atonement. We know well
enough that Christians have understood several passages in various parts
of the Bible, as conveying the idea of a mediator; but surely there is
not a single passage which can bear this construction solely, nor one
which lays it down in so many words. We contend therefore that mediation
is no biblical doctrine, not one without which salvation is impossible,
as our gentile neighbours teach. It is therefore merely under the
presumption that there is a mediator, that the idea of a suffering
saviour can be at all entertained, or that we are to look for a second
advent of him, whom God will send as the redeemer (not saviour in the
sense it is used by Christians) of mankind. According to our ideas, the
redeemer, the endowed, the prophet, the anointed, the Messiah or Christ,
the Son of David, otherwise called the prince, the king, or even
"my servant David," is to establish his mission, not by
sufferings, but by triumphing over all the elements of opposition, which
now are opposed to the reign of God, "as the Lord one,"
on earth. The present is a state of warfare against the truth;
for let us believe as we may, whether we be Jews, Christians,
Mahomedans, heathens or unbelievers, we cannot say otherwise, than that
which each of us calls truth, is not acquiesced in by the
majority of mankind; but the future is to be a state of peace, of
acquiescence, when the truth will be reigning triumphant, conquering all
prejudice, subduing all hearts; and this triumph, even if natural wars,
assaults, and sufferings will bring it about, we believe to be the work
proper for Messiah to accomplish; not because he is very god, not
because he and the father are one, not because all things are given unto
him in heaven and earth, not because he is the judge of the world, the
lord of David, the salvation of Abraham—he is to be nothing of all
this;—but because his and our father in heaven, the sole God, the Holy
One, the pure Essence has decreed salvation, and will send his messenger
to effect in his name the glad tidings which He has announced from the
beginning, that "He will be magnified and sanctified before the
eyes of many nations, that they shall know that He is the Lord."
All
this being admitted clearly proves, that the passages cited by
Christians, to foreshadow a suffering saviour, cannot be so construed,
if the Bible is to be consistent with itself. We therefore say, that
neither the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah nor the twelfth of Zechariah,
mean what Christians say they do. As for the fifty-third of Isaiah, it
is almost universally admitted, we think even by late Christian writers,
to speak of the restoration of Israel, who will then be spoken of by the
gentiles as "the servant of God," who suffered so many fearful
persecutions because of the uniform adherence to the covenant which had
been given from Horeb.*—The twelfth of Zechariah, on the other hand,
speaks of things to happen, none of which can as yet have occurred; the
Lord is himself introduced (v. 7, 8,) as raising the house of David, the
city of Jerusalem and the land of Judah, from their fallen state; and
the house of David, mind the house, not one alone, consequently
the Messiah and his family, of whom also Ezekiel speaks, shall be as the
angel of the Lord before the people. The context therefore forbids the
idea that the tenth verse should introduce a pierced deity as one
for whom the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem are to
mourn; especially as the Messiah is represented as distinct, which,
according to our belief, he actually is, from the Lord, through whose
assistance all these things are to be accomplished. But to the Jewish
exposition of the text, the difficulty vanishes. From the chapter in
question, it appears, as also from chapter 38 and 39 of Ezekiel, and
other passages, that the time of the advent will also be a time of
tribulation and warfare, and that especially the few remnants of Israel
in Palestine will be the objects of a fierce attack from many nations.
It is well known that the Lord works through natural means; consequently
in the wars, which will thus be displayed as a means of effecting of
great things, some men of Israel will also fall slain, or pierced by the
sword; and in this manner, it is the opinion of certain Rabbis, that the
Jewish war-leader, whom they designate as Messiah, son of Joseph, the
precursor for the son of David, will be slain. Any how, there will be
warfare and victims of the sword; and therefore says the prophet (v. 9,
10): "And it will come to pass on that day, that I will seek to
destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. And I will pour out
over the house of David and over the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit
of grace and supplication, and they shall look up to me, when they (the
enemies) have pierced but one, and they shall mourn over him as one
mourneth for an only son, and be in bitterness for him as one is in
bitterness for a first-born." That is to say, that before the final
redemption which is predicted in the fourteenth chapter can be
accomplished, all the tribulations contained in the twelfth and
thirteenth, must have been experienced; which trials however are only to
purify and not to destroy the sacred seed of the righteousness to whom
the land will be given. We have only to add, that were the piercing to
refer to the speaker, the construction ought to be thus: "They
shall look upon me, whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for me,"
(not him) &c., inasmuch as the word him must refer to a person
different from the speaker, who, in consequence, cannot be the one who
was pierced. We acknowledge that there is some difficulty in the passage
under question; but all Jewish commentators have understood as we have
given it, and the latest German translation translation which we have
seen, that of Mr. Arnheim, is: "Und sie schauen zu mir auf (bei
Jeglichem) den sie durchbohrt haben," which is precisely as we have
rendered it above. At all events, this construction is in perfect
accordance with the context, and is therefore more consonant with a
sound criticism than the ordinary Christian acceptation of this passage.
But we must stop; our note is already larger than its text, and we must
leave the farther consideration of the subject to a future number. We
constantly feel that it is much easier to start objections than reply to
them; we therefore trust that both Mr. Halsey and our other readers will
pardon us if this reply is not all they could have wished it to be.
|
