Hi DNB,
I greatly appreciate your clear and plain speech on this. I treasure the honesty. I hope you don't mind that I pulled this quote out of the other thread so that it could be discussed.
Deut 30:8 asserts:
NWT: "You will then return and listen to the voice of Jehovah and observe all his commandments that I am commanding you today."
Deut 30:11-14 asserts:
NWT: "Now this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it beyond your reach. It is not in the heavens, so that you have to say, ‘Who will ascend to the heavens and get it for us, so that we may hear it and observe it? Nor is it on the other side of the sea, so that you have to say, ‘Who will cross over to the other side of the sea and get it for us, so that we may hear it and observe it? For the word is very near you, in your own mouth and in your own heart, so that you may do it."
Deut 32:3-4 asserts:
NWT: "For I will declare the name of Jehovah. Tell about the greatness of our God! For all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness who is never unjust; Righteous and upright is he."
Setting up the Jewish people for failure would be the opposite of justice, the opposite of faithfulness. God tells the Jewish people the commandments are not too difficult; God's word is very near, and they can do it. Intentionally exacerbating sin makes God a liar, unjust, and unfaithful. How can this be?
Thank you,
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Christians and fellow RF'ians: What do you think of this idea that God of the bible who claims to be just and faithful setup the Jewish people to fail for many generations for the sole purpose of bringing a redeemer?
Hi dybmh. Good afternoon. I hope you are well. Just a point of interest, why do use the term 'Jehovah' when referring to the Name of the Almighty and not Yahweh? You do realize that such is an philological impossibility, don't you? His Name is Yahweh. But let's consider what you have written. You said "Setting up the Jewish people for failure would be the opposite of justice, the opposite of faithfulness. God tells the Jewish people the commandments are not too difficult; God's word is very near, and they can do it. Intentionally exacerbating sin makes God a liar, unjust, and unfaithful. How can this be?"
How has Yahweh set up the Jewish people for failure? The Jewish people themselves failed to live up to their agreement of the Covenant. When Yahweh sent His only begotten Son, the Messiah, to the Jewish people, they should've accepted him. But Yahshua was rejected because he was using the Name Yahweh, and his own name means Yahweh (Yah) is salvation (Shua). He said he came in His Father's Name in John 5:43 saying "I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him." To this day, the form Yeshua is used when referring to the Messiah, which was not his name. 'Ye' was used as a substitute for 'Yah' to purposely prevent the Name of Yahweh being pronounced.
How would you feel if your name was purposely removed and changed to something else. And yet, this is what Jews have done and still to this day use words such as HaShem and Adonai. Therefore, they were not easily going to accept Yahshua who bore the Father's Name.
Let's consider the song of the vineyard. Isaiah 5 is where you will find it.
"I will sing for the one I love
a song about his vineyard:
My loved one had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it up and cleared it of stones
and planted it with the choicest vines.
He built a watchtower in it
and cut out a winepress as well.
Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
but it yielded only bad fruit.
3 Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and people of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could have been done for my vineyard
than I have done for it?
When I looked for good grapes,
why did it yield only bad?
5 Now I will tell you
what I am going to do to my vineyard:
I will take away its hedge,
and it will be destroyed;
I will break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6 I will make it a wasteland,
neither pruned nor cultivated,
and briers and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.
7 The vineyard of the Yahweh Almighty
is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
for righteousness, but heard cries of distress."
Yahweh gave many opportunities for the Jewish people to grow and produce good fruit, He sent prophet after prophet, to bring them back to Yahweh and even sent His only begotten Son to them. But they rejected Him, despite the many miraculous works he did in the land of Israel. Let's read Mark 12:
"12 Yahshua then began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the winepress and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. 2 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants to collect from them some of the fruit of the vineyard. 3 But they seized him, beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 4 Then he sent another servant to them; they struck this man on the head and treated him shamefully. 5 He sent still another, and that one they killed. He sent many others; some of them they beat, others they killed. 6 “He had one left to send, a son, whom he loved. He sent him last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 “But the tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 8 So they took him and killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard. 9 “What then will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven’t you read this passage of Scripture:
The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
11 Yahweh has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
12 Then the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders looked for a way to arrest him because they knew he had spoken the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd; so they left him and went away."
If Yahshua was accepted at that time, then the Kingdom could have been established then and there. But Yahshua was rejected by the very same people he came to save. Yahweh has been more than faithful, and still the Jews are welcome to repent and accept Yahshua and come in to His true Assembly, Yahweh has not withdrawn the door of opportunity for them. Haven't you considered the story of Joseph, when he was thrown in the pit by his brothers and in effect, killed. Yet, Joseph's children were grafted in and adopted by Jacob (or Israel). Isn't this an indication of Yahshua and His followers? The Joseph tribe received far more blessings than any other tribe.
The Jewish people were not keeping the Laws properly. They had forgotten to show love to their neighbor, which is why Yahshua said in John 13:34 "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another." Why? Because they had forgotten this commandment. They weren't upholding it. The Jews had elevated the oral law to the same level and in some instances higher than the Word of Yahweh. Now I have respect for the Jews. I stand against anti-Semitism at every chance I get, however, to say that Yahweh simply set up the Jewish people to fail, is wrong. The Jewish people failed Yahweh, so read the song of the vineyard again and consider, whose fault was it really. You've no doubt read the Book of Judges. You get the thought that the Jewish people time and time again fell in to abject sin and idolatry and they had to be punished, and later saved. But Yahweh is certainly not to blame, and even as can be seen down millennia, Yahweh has always substituted the righteous for the unrighteous such as Seth for Cain, such as Isaac for Ishmael and such as Jacob for Esau.