The Internal Collapse of Rabbinic Judaism
“Jesus can’t be the Messiah because he did not bring peace!”.. “Christianity is inconsistent with the Hebrew bible because it teaches there are 3 Gods when the Hebrew Bible teaches there is 1 God.”... “Where is Jesus in the Old Testament?”.. “Rabbinic Judaism has an unbroken authoritative chain of interpretation going back to Moses, therefore it is the one true and faithful religion.”
Have you ever heard challenges like these from the Jewish community? I remember years ago when I was in bible college I came home for winter break and went with my brother to one of his friend’s homes for a night of fellowship. His friend’s name was Scott. Scott was a professing Christian who was in the process of converting from Christianity to Rabbinic Judaism. As we talked to Scott and asked him why he was converting, he explained that it was mostly because when he was confronted with some of the challenges I mentioned above he couldn't answer them. His faith was shaken to say the least! Ironically the one persuading him to come to Rabbinism was named Shawn and he was there that night as well. At this time I was a professing Christian but was not yet born again and though I was in Bible school I did not have a true desire to study and prepare myself for these challenges. Other than the passage in Isaiah 53 I couldn't really argue any of my doctrine from the Old Testament at that point. To say the least, my brother and I did not have much leverage in the conversation that night. However, about 3 years ago after God converted me he began giving me a desire to revisit this topic and a true burden and calling to evangelize the Jewish community. Now, after nearly 1,700 pages of reading and studying on this topic alone here is the (condensed) apologetic argumentation that I have come to. My prayer is that this article will serve to both equip Christians to respond biblically to Rabbinic Jews as well as to evangelistically compel Rabbinic Jews reading this to come to salvation through faith in Jesus the Messiah!
Before I give the 4 reasons why Rabbinism is irrefutably false it seems helpful to briefly offer a few comments concerning the framework of their worldview so that we have somewhat of a backdrop as to what we are responding to…
The rabbinic system presents itself as the ancient religion that has always remained faithful to the Old Testament, yet, it is very boxed in and circular when it is examined internally. What that means is, one (inside the Rabbinic system) is allowed only reason within what the rabbis claim to be true, yet without any grounds that verify that the rabbis themselves are correct.. Their system accepts the Old Testament as the word of God .. but the rabbis alone hold the authority to understand what it means. Therefore whatever the rabbis say concerning (i.e who is and is not the Messiah, what is and is not moral, what a particular verse says to do or not to do, what to believe or what not to believe) is ultimately what a rabbinic Jew has to accept as true. It is helpful to note a parallel that is strikingly similar to that of the system of Roman Catholicism. Namely, Romanism like Rabbinism also teaches that the Bible is to be accepted as the word of God but one’s positions and beliefs about what it teaches must ultimately be subservient to the Church and Papistic tradition. Both Rabbinism and Romanism claim that their interpretive authority reaches back all the way to the ancient origin and foundation of their religion (i.e “Moses received the Oral Law at Sinai”.. And “Peter was the first Pope”). With this in mind, one can see the difficulty in reasoning with those in this religion, but be encouraged “.. for with man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible..” - Jesus and “.. the deliverer will come to Zion to banish ungodliness from Jacob.. In this way all Israel will be saved..”- Paul. Rest in knowing that man is dead in sin and that only the Holy Spirit can give one ears to hear the truth. Anchor yourself in the truth that God has in eternity past already decreed to save some ethnic Jews, it’s a done deal. And freely and boldly proclaim the gospel and destroy arguments that come against it! Again what I am about to present is by no means exhaustive. Jewish apologetics can get very technical but here is just a brief introduction to the field. Here we go..
Rabbinism is false because
It violates the scripture:
a. “You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” Deuteronomy 4:2 but Rabbinic authority violates this warning from God as it clearly adds to the torah when in the Babylonian Talmud Eruvin 21b, Rav Hisda teaches concerning the enormous amount of rabbinic law or halacha (read the Mishnah for yourself to see the countless examples laws) he says “.. these are the new laws added to the old ones stated in the torah..”
b. Rabbinism also violates God’s word by abolishing laws or subtracting from the Torah when, for example, in Mishnah Sotah 9:9, Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai abolished God’s command in Deuteronomy 21:1-9 and in Numbers 5:11-31 teaching that “when murderers increased in number, the rite of breaking the heifer’s neck was abolished (see Deuteronomy 21:1-9)....when adulterers increased in number, the application of the waters of jealousy ceased (see Numbers 5:11-31); he argued that “as it is said, ‘I will not punish your daughters when they commit idolatry nor your daughters in law when they commit adultery (Hosea 4:14)’”.
2.) It contradicts the scripture:
a. “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd,..” Exodus 23:2 I think my 6 year old can rightly interpret this command “hold to God’s word, don’t follow the majority!” clear enough right?.. but in the Babylonian Talmud Bava Mesia 59b, Rabbi Jeremiah contradicted God’s clear command here by teaching that in the context of determining the truth about (in this case the cleanliness of a particular oven) he argues “after the majority one must incline..” (meaning, even if God’s word plainly contradicts the rabbis, nevertheless, after the Rabbi’s.. one must incline) There is no reconciliation here. Also in more serious legal cases later Rabbis such as Moses Maimonides used this same reasoning that contradicts what God said.
b. “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”- Malachi 2:16-17 here God plainly speaks to his abhorrence towards divorce. Yes it is true that Moses gave commands that pertained to situations where people chose to divorce, but he never ever condoned divorce and certainly never commanded someone to get divorced. But read carefully how the Rabbinic translation of this same verse is conveyed.. “If you hate [her], send [her] away, says the Lord God of Israel.” Malachi 2:16 Stone Edition (see Chabad.org). Go ahead and catch your breath! Yes, without any textual support this is how the traditional Rabbis translate this key verse that speaks to the very first institution established by God namely marriage! So the contradiction here is obvious, God really says he hates divorce but on the contrary the Rabbis say that God actually commands a man to divorce his wife as long as he hates her. Yet it makes sense why they had to translate this verse this way even though it is so unnatural and such an unfaithful way to do so... It is because of how liberal the ancient Rabbinic view of divorce was, for example, Rabbi Hillel permitted divorce on almost any grounds, even “burning dinner” see Mishnah Gittin 9.10.
c. “For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” Leviticus 17:11 this is the central principle in the torah, the means by which God atones for our sins is the shedding of blood! But once the temple was destroyed in 70 a.d. the rabbis had to come up with something to make their man made religion work, this is what they came up with. In Avot D. Rabbi Natan 4 Rabbi Yochonan Ben Zakkai comforts Rabbi Yehoshua who is grieving that their temple has been destroyed and knows that there is no longer any means by which to atone for their sins. Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai comforts him by stating a principle that contradicts the very heart of the Torah and that is “... be not grieved we have another means of atonement… which is the performing of benevolence..” Did you hear that? Now prayer and benevolence replaces blood sacrifice say the Rabbis.. What a contradiction to biblical truth!
3.) It rejects the only possible Messianic candidate
a. “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place. 25 Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. Then for sixty-two weeks it shall be built again with squares and moat, but in a troubled time. 26 And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Daniel 9:24-26a God through the angel Gabriel here tells Daniel who is in the Babylonian exile that 483 years from the decree to rebuild the second temple in Jerusalem there would be a messiah who would die a violent death as he would atone for iniquity, put and end to sin, bring in everlasting righteousness, anoint a most holy place and seal up vision and prophecy. This had to happen before the second temple was destroyed in 70 a.d. There is no way around this! The only one who could possibly have fulfilled this is Jesus of Nazareth. The problem is Rabbinic Judaism rejects that Jesus was the Messiah so they are left with a huge problem! If he isn’t who is?
b. “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,..” Daniel 2:44 in this prophecy God promises Daniel that he would set up an everlasting Messianic kingdom that would spring out of the fourth kingdom as the context explains to us(which would be Rome.) (See also Daniel 7:13 for a more detailed look at this promise.) As anyone that studies history knows the sovereignty of Rome ceased a long time ago, in 476 a.d. So either Christianity is true and the messiah came and fulfilled his priestly mission and took his heavenly throne before the second temple was destroyed in 70 a.d … or Jesus is not the Messiah, but if he is not the Messiah then no one is the messiah and if no one is the messiah then the Hebrew Scriptures are full of lies and utterly collapse in on themselves! I’m confident that the biblical evidence is irrefutable. After all of the Old Testament criteria is examined, the New Testament alone offers the complete fulfillment!
4.) It forces perpetual idolatry
a. “You shall have no other gods before me.”- Exodus 20:3 states. This command is theological, the reality is that during the time when this law was given there was an exclusive revelation of the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob over and against the false and idolatrous theologies of the surrounding “goy’im”, or peoples. This means that conformity to this commandment requires one to believe in God as He is revealed in the torah. In the 13 principles of Judaism articulated by the medieval rabbi Moses Maimonides, principle 2 states “God has absolute and unparalleled unity”. The problem here is that this principle does not conform to all of the theological data in the torah. While on the one hand the torah states “Hear O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.” (hb. “yahweh echad” Deuteronomy 6:4, presenting to us God’s unity we also have other scriptures in the torah presenting God’s plurality or complexity to us such as Genesis 1:26 which states “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..” (no this is not a reference to angels, the entire Tanak is clear that creative power is exclusively God’s) and also Genesis 19:24 which has 2 Yahwehs in 2 different places doing 2 different actions all at the same time, the text says “Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven.” This amounts to a theology of both unity and diversity concerning the God of the torah, in other words this is the torahic data that is the seed form of the doctrine of the Trinity as it would be later articulated by God’s people (not invented by them). The true and living God is absolute, personal, one in a sense and many in another sense. To reject this revelation, to reject this theology in favor of Maimonides’ principle 2 is to perpetually break the first commandment of the 10 words God gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai, it is to be an idolator. I argued this once to a rabbi publicly on his own broadcasting platform and suffice it to say that he struggled to deal with this.
For further study I recommend Dr. Michael Brown’s 5 volumes to Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus, Eitan Bar’s Refuting Rabbinic Judaism, Rachmiel Frydland’s What The Rabbis Know About the Messiah and Jews For Jesus website.
written by Troy Goldsmith: Founder of Aletheia Ministries, Husband to Elisha, Father to Jonah, Israel, Addalynn, and Grace.
