From the Bereshit Rabba (56:3):
“And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, and put it on his son Isaac” (Gen. 22:6) – like one bearing his own cross.”
The Bereshit Rabba is described in the Jewish Encyclopedia as:
Expository Midrash to the first book of the Pentateuch, assigned by tradition to the amora Hoshaiah, commonly Osha’yah, who flourished in the third century in Palestine. The Midrash forms a haggadic commentary on the whole of Genesis, in keeping with the character of the Midrashic exegesis demanded by that age.
The amora Hoshaiah is considered the father of the Mishnah, and composed baraitot on the tosefta and mishnah. From the Jewish Encyclopedia we read:
Hoshaiah’s yeshibah, also, was for many years located at Sepphoris, where pupils crowded to hear his lectures. Johanan, one of his greatest disciples, declared that Hoshaiah in his generation was like R. Meïr in his: even his colleagues could not always grasp the profundity of his arguments (‘Er. 53a). And the esteem in which Hoshaiah was held by his pupils may be gaged by the statement that, even after Johanan had himself become a great scholar and a famous teacher and no longer needed Hoshaiah’s instruction, he continued visiting the master, who in the meantime had grown old and had removed his school to Cæsarea (Yer. Sanh. xi. 30b).
So according to Jewish tradition, c.200 years after Yeshua’s resurrection, the father of the Mishnah compared the akedah to one carrying his own cross.
Yeshua told his disciples (Luke 14:27):
And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.
Yeshua himself carried his cross when he went to Calvary to be a sacrifice for the sins of the world.
As the Amora Hoshaiah recognised, Isaac figuratively bore his cross when he took the wood of the altar he would be sacrificed upon. We too can be like Isaac if we take up our cross daily and decide to follow Adon Yeshua as Moshiach.
And here is the good news: if we do so we are like Isaac the sons of the promise.
As Paul writes in Galatians 4:28:
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
Jews and Gentiles alike can be children of promise together in the kingdom of Yeshua, who died on a wooden cross as an atonement for our sins, and was raised to eternal life.
From http://www.aish.com/tp/i/moha/48954476.html
“Christological sources have long seen the Akeida as a prototype for their claims of a different so-called execution and resurrection. What is particularly interesting is that some midrashim describe Yitzchak’s carrying the wood as if he was bearing a cross. See Bereshit Rabbah 56:3 (and parallel sources) where the word “Zlovo” is used – the word may have the connotation of crucifix. This should come as no surprise being that the New Testament often tried to parallel biblical scenes, making extensive use of extant midrashic material.”
Thanks Gene – I guess if people believe everything Aish tells them about Yeshua, then not only was the resurrection faked, but Yeshua also got himself crucified just to mimic Isaac!
Well Joe, they HAVE to spin it this way – to entertain a possibility that Yitzchak’s carrying his burden foretold that of Yeshua would be unthinkable for them.
It would be like us admitting that Joseph Smith (of Mormon fame) also died a sacrificial death (when he was murdered by an angry mob) that somehow mirrored death of some Biblical character (like Stephen, or something).
they HAVE to spin it this way – to entertain a possibility that Yitzchak’s carrying his burden foretold that of Yeshua would be unthinkable for them.
That’s true. But no-one has to do anything. It’s also the essential truth of the Akedah – God does the unthinkable to bring us to the point of utter reliance in Him.
>>> not only was the resurrection faked, but Yeshua also got himself crucified just to mimic Isaac! <<<
Wasn't this the premise of THE PASSOVER PLOT? The book alledges disciples bribed a Roman soldier to give Jesus a knockout drug mimicking death. The intent was to fake both His death and His resurrection in order to arouse the Jewish masses to revolt.
And Islam teaches the same thing about His death saying it never happened on the cross. Hence no resurrection and no salvation by atonement.
Ken, I just checked out the Passover Plot on wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passover_Plot
Here I read:
Based on scholarly research into the social and religious culture in which Jesus was born, lived and died, into the source documents of the Gospels, and into other literature, Schonfield reached the following conclusions:
*That Jesus was a deeply religious Jewish man, probably well-versed in the teachings of the local northern sects such as the Nazarenes and Essenes.
*That growing up in Biblical Galilee he had a skeptical and somewhat rebellious relationship to the hierarchy and teachings mandated by the authorities (the Pharisees) of the Temple in Jerusalem.
*That Jewish Messianic expectation was extremely high in those times, matched to the despair caused by the Roman occupation of the land, and by their subjugation of the Jews.
*That he was in many ways both typical of his times, and yet extraordinary in his religious convictions and beliefs, in his scholarship of the Biblical literature, and in the fervency in which he lived his religion out in his daily life.
*That he was convinced of his role as the expected Messiah based on the authority of his having been descendant from King David (the royal bloodline of David), and that he consciously and methodically, to the point of being calculating, attempted to fulfill that role, being eminently well-versed in the details of what that role entailed.
*That he was convinced of the importance of his fulfilling the role perfectly (after all prophesy and expectation), and that he could not allow himself to fail, as that would undoubtedly lead to his being declared a false Messiah.
That he was perfectly aware of the consequences of his actions all along the way, and that he directed his closest supporters, the original twelve Apostles, unknowingly to aid him in his plans.
*That he involved the least possible number of supporters in his plans (“need to know” basis), therefore very few knew of the details of his final plan, and even then only the least amount of information necessary.
*The culmination of his plan was to be his death (the crucifixion), his resurrection and his reign as the true Kingly and Priestly Messiah, not in heaven but on earth— the realized King of the Jews.
And I thought to myself: sounds a bit like NT Wright!
So I googled around, and sure enough, here’s NT Wright on the Passover Plot:
http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_JIG.htm
Book after book, at both a scholarly and popular level, on both sides of the Atlantic, has returned to the same point and made it the starting-point for a different exploration of what Jesus really said and thought. The first serious book I read on Jesus, if you can call it serious, was Hugh Schonfield’s The Passover Plot. As you know, two or three such books are splashed around the publishing world every year.
N.T. Wright clearly disagrees with Schonfield’s conclusions about Jesus’ death/resurrection, and even says the book is hardly serious, but Schonfield’s influence on Wright’s theology is palpable.
Blimey, Joe & Gene agreeing with each other. Miracles do happen!
Shabbat shalom
Good post Joseph. Was Hoshaiah the father of the Mishnah or the father of the Midrash?
thanks dan. Father of the mishnah apparently:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoshaiah_Rabbah#.22Father_of_the_Mishnah.22
Thanks Joseph. At least I saw Yehuda Hanasi’s name in the graph….
Abraham is a well aged loving father who is willing to sacrifice his only son whom he dearly loves. Isaac ascends a hill carrying the wood he would be sacrificed upon, trusting and obeying his father.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” – Yeshua John 3:16-18 NIV
http://tinyurl.com/29oy84g
Hillsong United – Age to Age (His Glory Appears) http://tinyurl.com/mml5uf
That is a very interesting parallel…
The point of the Akidah, how I learned it, was to illustrate that our God does not want child sacrifices. To the ancient Israelites this would have been understood this way. You see, back then in the days of ancient Israel, child sacrifice to idols was an EXTRMELY common thing (along with boiling young goats in their mother’s milk as part of pagan fertility rites) happening in neighboring nations, and throughout the area. The Akidah is a beautiful story illustrating that our God, the God of Israel would NEVER ask such a thing and that He is clearly distinct from other “gods”.
Here I read a text on which this article is based. It implies it ‘quotes’ Bereshit Rabbah 56:3:
“And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering, and put it on his son Isaac” (Gen. 22:6) – like one bearing his own cross.”
It’s taken out of context and it implies that Yitzchak was the one ‘bearing his own cross after his father Avraham put it on him. This is a twisted sentence! Bereshit Rabbah does not tell it in this order!
In Hebrew I read something else. There it says:
“And Avraham took the wood of the burnt offering –like one who carries his stake on his shoulder– and he took in his hand the fire and the knife”
Bereshit/Genesis 22:6 in Tanach indeed says that he put the wood on his son Yitzchak. The Midrash Rabbah, on the other hand, states that Avraham took the wood like one carrying his own stake. It does not mention the second part of the Tanach passage with Yitzchak and does not point to Yitzchak as being ‘the son carrying his own stake’.
It’s not the first time that I see people twist ancient Jewish texts to fit into their own ‘wishful thinking’ views. Sometimes text are being abused to show Yeshua. It does not work that way. I know there are definitely texts pointing to Mashiach (that fit Yeshua) and Yeshua in particular in Jewish tradition. Like in the Rosh Hashanah Machzor (piyyutim in between the shofar) and the one for Jom Kippur. These texts speak for themselves. However, NEVER twist texts and change their order to ‘prove’ a point when it’s just not there. This brings EVERYONE farther away from Truth! Messianics and others alike. Truth proves itself and does not needs twisting! May Hashem guard all of us against false assumptions, abusing of sacred texts and things like that!
Arik, well said!
Excellent, Arik. You don’t have to eat tripe to go the whole hog.
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