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Jewish
Teachings
About The Tinity
1.
The teaching of the Trinity is Found in Jewish Targums (O.T. in
Armaic) and commentaries such as the Zohar. These Jewish sages
taught that God appears in the form of three persons of the Godhead, three
manifestations or three emanations.45/93-94
2. This fact indicates that the Jews rejection of Christianity up until
the second century was not because of the teaching of the Trinity. They
understood that the Messiah would be the Son of God. That is why so many
Jews did accept him. It was not until the rebellion against Rome in AD 135
that this changed. During the three years of battle for Jewish
independence led by the general Simeon Bar Kochba, many of his followers
(including the famous Rabbi Akiba) declared that Bar Kochba was Israel’s
true messiah.45/93-94 This forced Jewish Christians to withdraw
from the Jewish forces fighting against Rome since they could only follow
and give allegiance to the true Messiah: Jesus. Jewish Christians who took
this stand were considered treasonous and therefore no longer welcome in
the synagogues. This division between Jews and Christians has lasted for
2,000 years.
Why First Century Jews
Accepted
Jesus as God
1. Jewish Targums, read in the synagogues, gave an understanding
of the triune nature of God. God was taught as "Three in One" by
Rabbis Simon ben Jochai and Eliezer.
The
Zohar
1. The Zohar is a book that was written by Rabbi Simon ben
Jochai and his son Rabbi Eliezer in the years following the Roman army’s
destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in A. D. 70.
2. In the Zohar the following statements about God are made:
"How can they (the three) be One? Are they verily One, because we
call them One?" "How Three can be One, can only be known through
the revelation of the Holy Spirit."46/43/verse 22 Rabbi
Simeon ben Jochai instructed his son as follows: "Come and see the
mystery of the word hw:hoyÒ,
Yehovah: there are three steps, each existing by itself; nevertheless they
are One, and so united that one cannot be separated from the other."47/65
He later indicated in another passage that these three steps as revealed
in Elohim !yhiloa>
(God) are three substantive beings or three divine persons united in one.
5. In another book written by Rabbi Simeon, known as The
Propositions of the Zohar, records the mystery of the Shechinah glory
of God in these words.
"... the exalted Shechinah comprehends the Three highest Sephiroth;
of Him (God) it is said, (Ps. 62:11), "God hath spoken once; twice
have I heard this." Once and twice means the Three exalted Sephiroth,
of whom it is said: Once, once, and once; that is, Three united in One.
This is the mystery."471/113
6. Another extraordinary reference to the Trinity is found in the Zohar:
"Here is the secret of two names combined which are completed by a
third and become one again. ‘And God said Let us make Man.’ It is
written, ‘The secret of the Lord is to them that fear him’ (Psalm
25:14). That most reverend Elder opened an exposition of this verse by
saying ‘Simeon Simeon, who is it that said: "Let us make man?"
Who is this Elohim?’ With these words the most reverend Elder vanished
before anyone saw him ... Truly now is the time to expound this mystery,
because certainly there is here a mystery which hitherto it was not
permitted to divulge, but now we perceive that permission is given.’ He
then proceeded: ‘We must picture a king who wanted several buildings to
be erected, and who had an architect in his service who did nothing save
with his consent. The king is the supernal wisdom above, the Central
Column being the king below: Elohim is the architect above ... and Elohim
is also the architect below, being as such the Divine Presence (Shekinah)
of the lower world.’"48/90-91
Other Rabbis
Rabbi Eliezar Hakkalir, AD 70, taught the doctrine of three distinct
beings revealed in the Godhead in his commentary on Genesis 1:1. He wrote:
"When God created the world, He created it through the Three
Sephiroth, namely, through Sepher, Sapher and Vesaphur, by which the Three
twywh (Beings)
are meant . . . The Rabbi, my Lord Teacher of blessed memory, explained
Sepher, Sapher, and Sippur, to be synonymous to Ya, Yehovah, and Elohim
meaning to say, that the world was created by these three names."49/28-29
Rabbi Bechai, in his commentary on Genesis 1:1 (p. 1, col. 2) explained
that the word Elohim !yhiloa>
is compounded of two words, !h
and la, that
is, "These are God." The plural is expressed by the letter yod (
y ).
The Shema:
"Hear, O Israel! Yehovah
our-Elohim,
Yehovah is
one!" Deuteronomy 6:4)
In this passage Moses first uses the singular name of God, hw:hoyÒ
Yehovah, then the plural name, !yhiloa>
God, and then again the singular name, hw:hoyÒ
Yehovah, and concluded with Hebrew dja
meaning: One. This biblical statement declares that there is only
one God which both Jews and Christians agree on. The term included Elohim
indicates the nature of God as three in one. Jewish books written during
the captivity in Babylon in 536 B.C. to the destruction of the Second
Temple in AD 70 taught the mystery of the Trinity based on this very
passage in Deuteronomy 6:4. The Zohar teaches:
"We have said in many places, that this daily form of prayer is
one of those passages concerning the Unity, which is taught in the
Scriptures. In Deut. 6:4, we read first h/:hyÒ
Yehovah, then, !yhiloa>
our God, and again, h/:hyÒ
Yehovah, which together make one Unity. But how can three Names
[three beings] be one? Are they verily one, because we call them one? How
three can be one can only be known through the revelation of the Holy
Spirit, and, in fact, with closed eyes. This is also the mystery of the
voice. The voice is heard only as one sound, yet it consists of three
substances, fire, wind, and water, but all three are one, as indicated
through the mystery of the voice. Thus are (Deut. 6:4) ‘Yehovah
our-Elohim, Yehovah is one!,’ but One Unity, three Substantive Beings
which are One; and this is indicated by the voice which are One; and this
is indicated by the voice which a person uses in reading the words, ‘Hear,
O Israel,’ thereby comprehending with the understanding the most perfect
Unity of Him who is infinite; because all three (Jehovah, Elohim, Jehovah)
are read with one voice, which indicates a Trinity."48/90-91
Another Rabbi Menachem of Recanati wrote in his Commentary on the
Pentateuch about the mystery of the Trinity. He wrote: "These are
secrets which are revealed only to those who are reaping upon the holy
field, as it is written |
‘The
secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him’" (Psalms 25:14). On
Deuteronomy 6:4 he wrote concerning the Trinity:
"‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.’
This verse is the root of our faith, therefore Moses records it after the
ten commandments. The reason (that there is said hw:hoyÒ,
Lord, !yhiloa>,
our God, and hw:hoyÒ,
Lord) is, because the word [mv
does not here signify ‘Hear;’ but ‘to gather together, to unite,’
as in 1 Samuel 15:4, ‘Saul gathered together the people.’ The meaning
implied is The Inherent-Ones are so united together, one in the other
without end, they being the exalted God. He mentions the three names
mystically to indicate the three exalted original Ones."50/267
Let Us Make Man in Our Image
In Genesis 1:26 God said, "Let Us make man in Our image."
Then in Genesis 1:27 Moses records "And Elohim
created man in His image, in the image of Elohim
He created him; male
and female
He created them," thus making it plain that the Us in verse 26
is clearly referring to God, not to angels as some people speculate. God
makes plain in verse 26 that He is the Three in One.
Moses wrote in Genesis 11:5, "And Yehovah came down to see the
city," using the singular noun. Yet in verse 7 is used the plural
noun which is Yehovah again indicating the plurality of His nature when He
said, "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their
language, that they may not understand one another’s speech."
Another passage in the Zohar indicates clearly that the Jewish
sages understood the Trinity nature of God:
"The fourth precept is to acknowledge that the Lord is God, as we
read: ‘Know this day, and lay it to thy heart that Yehovah [ h/;hy]],
he is Elohim’ [!yhiloa>]
(Deuteronomy 4:39); namely, to combine the name Elohim "God"
with the name Jehovah "Lord" in the consciousness that they form
an indivisible unity."48/51
"All those supernal lights exist in their image below some of them
in their image below upon the earth; but in themselves they are all
suspended in the ‘firmament of the heaven.’ Here is the secret of two
names combined which are completed by a third and become one again. ‘And
God said, Let us make Man ....’"48/90-91
Psalm 2:7:
"You are My Son,
today I have begotten You"
Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai commenting on the Zohar:
"There is a perfect Man, who is an Angel. This Angel is Metatron,
the Keeper of Israel; He is a man in the image of the Holy One, blessed be
He, who is an Emanation from Him; yea, He is Jehovah; of Him cannot be
said, He is created, formed or made; but He is the Emanation from God.
This agrees exactly with what is written, Jeremiah 23:5-6, Of jmx
dwd, David's Branch, that though He shall be a
perfect man, yet He is ‘The Lord our Righteousness.’"51
The ancient Jewish sages understood the divine nature of the Son of God
without question.
The Trinity Was Also Taught in
the
Ancient Jewish Targums
A targum is a translation of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic.
After being in captivity to Babylon for 70 years the Jews, with the
exception of the priests, forgot the Hebrew language and were now fluent
in Aramaic. As a result a paraphrase and commentary on the Torah
was written in Aramaic so the people could be instructed. The two major Targums
were the Targum of Jonathan and the Targum of Onkelos both
written by Jonathan ben Uziel.
Genesis 19:24 states, "Then Yehovah rained on Sodom and Gomorrah
brimstone and fire from Yehovah out of heaven," The Targum describes
Yehovah ( hw:hoyÒ)
in this passage as "the Word of the Lord," which we have already
indicated is referring to the Son of God.
Exodus 3:14 states, "And Elohim said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM;’
and He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, "Yehovah
has sent me to you."’" The Targum on Exodus 3:14 uses
the same title: "the Word of the Lord" to describe God. The Jerusalem
Targum on Exodus 3:14 reads as follows: "And the Word of the Lord
said unto Moses: I am He who said unto the world, Be! and it was: and who
in the future shall say to it, Be! and it shall be. And He said Thus thou
shalt say to the Children of Israel: ‘I Am hath sent me unto you.’"52
The Angel of Yehovah
And the Angel of the Covenant
Genesis 22:11 "But the Angel-of-Yehovah. hw:hy]
&a'l]m'] appeared to him in a blazing fire from
the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with
fire, yet the bush was not consumed. So Moses said, I must turn aside now,
and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up. When
Yehovah3068 saw that he turned aside to look, Elohim called to him from
the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses! And he said, ‘Here I am.’"
Moses in this passage clearly indicates that the Angel of Yehovah is
Yehovah. Rabbi Moses ben Nachman pointed out this fact:
"It is said: ‘An Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame
of fire,’ and (Elohim) !yhiloa>,
‘God called unto him.’ This is all one, namely, whether he saith The Angel,
or (Elohim) !yhiloa>,
‘God spake to him out of the midst of the bush’. . . Therefore be not
astonished that Moses hid his face before this Angel; because this Angel
mentioned here is the Angel, the Redeemer, concerning whom it is
written; ‘I am the God of Bethel;’ and here, ‘I am the God of your
father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ It
is the same of whom it is said, ‘My name is in Him.’53 |
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