JESUS: THE PASSOVER LAMB; ABRAHAM AND EASTER Hugh Fogelman Christians claim that essentially the whole Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible, in some way points to Jesus. They do not let facts stand in their way! Christians know that Jesus did not fulfill the requirements for sacrifices specifically mentioned in Leviticus Chapter 4. However, in their minds―the Christian clergy―Jesus did fulfill the “concept” of the Passover lamb. Christians do not let facts stand in the way of their illogical thought process; it makes absolutely no difference to them that the Passover lamb was NOT to atone for sins! It also makes no difference that a male lamb is not used for sin offerings. Chapter 4 explains exactly why the blood of bulls and of goats was to no efficacy in itself. The Christian bible, their New Testament (NT), has so totally mixed up, blended and confused Jewish Laws and customs that it is absolutely ridiculous! NO knowledgeable Jew would ever take anything from this set of lies and distortions seriously. Therefore, calling Jesus a lamb means that either he did NOT atone for any sins, or if Christians would want to keep to this notion of taking away sins, then Jesus should have been referred to as a sacrificial goat. A goat somehow resembles the Christian (false) perception of the sa’tan. And regarding a human sacrifice, the Torah absolutely forbids that. The whole Christian idea of Jesus being sacrificed for the sins of others are totally farfetched, fabricated, invented and stands in direct opposition against Jewish Law, the Torah from God. Strange, whenever you ask a Christian to show in the “Hebrew Bible” where it states that sacrifices would be a reminder of a greater sacrifice to come, Christian fundamentalists say they will get back to us, but never do. The death of Jesus in no way resembled the sacrifices as described in the Tanakh. Sacrifices were only acceptable for sins committed unintentionally, so Jesus could not have been a sacrifice for “all” sins. Besides, a sacrifice had to be free from physical defects―Jesus was circumcised, which is something Paul called “mutilation.” Therefore, Jesus was unacceptable as a sacrifice; he was blemished. Jesus was no sacrifice to God for sin, except perhaps for his own sins! Yes, he had sinned (more on that is available in other articles). For some unknown reason, in the Gospel of John, John the Baptist called Jesus “the Lamb of God” which has since been appropriated by Christian theology as “the Passover Lamb” who died for the sins of the world (John 1:29). John, if he was Jewish, would have known that was impossible. This scripture slip exposes that John the Baptist was not Jewish. In fact, he endorsed a form of pagan cannibalism, and the response he got from his Jewish followers showed that they rightly thought Jesus was an ignoramus! Then [Jesus] said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. Upon hearing all this, many of his Jewish follows left and returned to Judaism. (John 6:53-58) Jesus’ own disciples, fools though they were, knew that eating the flesh of a man was wrong. Jesus could not have been the Paschal Lamb sacrifice, because he was claimed to be a sacrifice for sins, and the Paschal Lamb sacrifice had nothing to do with sin. Besides, none of Jesus’ blood was smeared on any door-post or lintel. None of his flesh was actually eaten (though he offered it to his foolish disciples, knowing that would have been cannibalism.) The Paschal lamb was to be eaten, and none of it saved. Jesus was no Paschal Sacrifice (Passover Lamb)―PERIOD! God showed the Jews, through the Torah, God’s SOURCE DOCUMENT, that animals are for killing and eating, not for worshipping. The Sacrifices were not required by God to remove sin from man, but to remove the ram, cow, and lamb, which were all animals venerated by pagans of the day, from veneration. Thoroughly exposed for the false projection of Jesus as any sacrifice, Christians then point out that in Genesis 22, God asks Abraham to offer his son Isaac on Mount Moriah as a human sacrifice. Then at the very last moment God stops him before he actually kills Isaac. Christians conveniently ignore that God stopped Abraham, thus showing that human sacrifices are not required, desired, or permitted! Christians will shoot back that Isaac was old enough to know what's going on, and asks his father where the sacrifice is, and Abraham answered that “God will provide for himself the lamb.” Therefore, prophesying Jesus the Lamb of God. WRONG again, because God did provide the sacrifice for Abraham – right then and there, not in the future of some Jesus character. Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he saw, and lo! there was a ram, [and] after [that] it was caught in a tree by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son (Genesis 22:13) Why then should anyone believe the above could ever refer to the dead demigod, the dead-man god Jesus? The mount where Abraham was asked to sacrifice his son was the Temple Mount, inside the walls of Jerusalem. God was there again when the Holy Ark was housed in the Temple, filling the Sanctuary with the Shekinnah (his Holy presence). Wasn’t Jesus put to death outside the city? YES! Copyright © 2004, Hugh Fogelman. All rights reserved.
What Passover tells us about ourselves: Holiday Reflection Our utter need for God As we contemplate Passover, it becomes obvious that we are a people unable to separate ourselves from the bondage that entraps us. Were it not for the hand of God, we might still be in Egypt bemoaning our fate. While we entertain idealistic dreams about being able to change our life situations, very few have the strength to make more than small adjustments without the strength of God. We might move from one part of "Goshen" to another, but real Exodus events take the power of God. Only he can initiate the change, bring us to the place where he wants us to be and sustain us there. We long for significant changes in the quality of being. We long to be free, but we are unable to overcome the inertia of human nature. If God does not lift us out of our life situations, and all that oppresses us, we shall never transcend the sin and selfishness that shackles us and pulls us down. Yet how is God going to do this today? How shall we ever find rescue from the daily trivialities that bind us and the sins that beset us? Mysteriously, the means of redemption then and now have a sameness. It begins with a happening. First, God fastens our attention on an event--the killing of a lamb. This lamb becomes an enabling sacrifice--the agency of rescue, the means of redemption. The Passover lamb was meticulously chosen. The regulations concerning the lamb are extensive. And it was that one-year-old baby sheep that had to be sacrificed so that the Hebrew family could be spared the final plague, the slaying of the firstborn. If the family were not inside the house celebrating the Passover, or if they did not place the blood on the doorposts of their house, they would not be spared from the ravages of that plague. Redemption was incomplete without the slaughtered lamb and the appropriately applied blood. This might seem a bit gruesome to our twentieth-century minds, but it was very ordinary in Bible times. Without the shedding of blood there would have been no redemption. Isn't this consistent with all of God's covenant promises? Even the brit milah, the covenant of circumcision, is accompanied by blood. It seems fitting then that as God was about to usher in a covenant with Moses at Mt. Sinai, he would precipitate the event with the shedding of blood through the Passover sacrifice. A prophet of the Jewish people named Yochanon (John) used the image of bloodshed as an act of a covenant. He pointed to Jesus of Nazareth and proclaimed: "Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." By using that metaphor, he linked the redemption of the Passover event to a passage in Isaiah 53 which indicated the promised Messiah would die for our sins. In light of this, it is not surprising that Y'shua (Jesus), the one who would in fact be identified as "the lamb of God" by his followers, should die an innocent, sacrificial death. In fact, Y'shua shed his blood even as the Passover lamb had to. His death accomplished another, more lasting redemption than redemption from slavery in Egypt. Y'shua as the lamb of God secured for us the forgiveness of sins which separate us from God. In our enslavement to sin and inability to change, we are worthy of the slaying, that is the separation of our souls from God for eternity. But through Y'shua's sacrificial death, the Angel of Death is made to pass over. - http://www.jewsforjesus.org/library/issues/07-06/passover.htm
stop depend on those southern baptists calling themselves jews for jesus: PASSOVER, THE INSIDE STORY Hugh Fogelman Hollywood and Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 production of the “Ten Commandments,” showed that all the Jews painted the blood of a lamb on their doorposts and were saved from death of the Tenth plague ― the last plague, the Death of the Firstborn. As usual, the movies don’t give an accurate account of the events; you should read the book (Torah). According to the Midrash, 1 during the previous plague, the Plague of Darkness, four-fifths of the Israelites in Egypt died. These were the Hebrews who were so assimilated that they did not want to leave Egypt. The Sages say God, being omniscient saw to it that there was a supernatural birth rate; women were having births of six babies constantly for 210 years. This is recorded in oral Jewish history and explains Exodus 12:37 which states that 600,000 adult Hebrew males left Egypt with Moses. Counting all the children, women and the “mixed multitude,” there were over 2 million people in the Exodus. The Shabbat that precedes the Holy Days of Passover (Pesah) is called Shabbat Hagadol –The Great Shabbat. Our Sages teach that it was on this day ― Shabbat the 10th of Nisan in 2448 BCE ― that the Jewish people fulfilled the command of God and dragged the idol of the Egyptians – a sheep – and tied it alive to their bedposts. When asked by the angry Egyptians, "What are you doing with that lamb?” the Jews replied "I am going to slaughter it and eat it." The Egyptians, although infuriated, could do nothing. See Exodus (Shemot) 8:21-22 (Judaica Press Complete Tanakh) in which Moses warned Pharaoh that the Jews were going to be "offering" the Egyptian god in the desert Thereupon, Pharaoh … said, "Go, sacrifice to your God in the land."But Moses said, "It is improper to do that, for we will sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to our God. Will we sacrifice the deity of the Egyptians before their eyes, and they will not stone us? (See Exodus 8:24-26 in Christian bibles) As a result of Pharaohonce again refusing the Jews safe passage out of Egypt, God commanded the Jews to slaughter the lamb, the Egyptian god of April 2 on the eve of the last plague (death of the first born), and to paint the blood of this Egyptian god on their door posts. Isn’t it strange that the movies never told of the Egyptian god of April, “the lamb?” What did the directors not want to show ― that God and the Angel did not need the blood on the door-posts of any homes to see who were Jewish or not? THEY ALREADY KNEW. To imply that God did not know who was Jewish and who was not is an insult to God. What needs to be done is to look farther into the event. The blood was for the Jews to show God and the Angel that they trusted Him enough to be worthy to follow Moses – plain and simple. For hundreds of years, the Hebrews were conditioned not to disrespect Egyptian authority. However, they now had to have the courage to kill the Egyptian god of April ― a lamb. The smearing the Egyptian god’s blood on the doorposts of the Jewish houses showed DEFIANCE. This act demonstrated to the Angel of Death, and God Himself, these Jews were worthy to follow Moses. Those who did not died. It was a Jewish rebellion which told the Egyptians that their God was stronger than all of the gods of Egypt, even the lamb-god of April. Every year, Jews celebrate their Birthday (the birth of the Jewish nation) by eating the lamb ― the god of Egypt ― once again showing the world their defiance to false gods. THERE WAS NO SYMBOL OF ANY SIN INVOLVED, as Christianity falsely claims. Christianity, not knowing the true story of Passover, and not understanding Hebrew Scriptures, ignorantly relates the Passover lamb to Jesus and sin. In the New Testament (NT) Paul wrote: “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.” (1 Corinthians 5:7 New International Version (NIV)) Still blatantly wrong, The NIV explains; “Christ fulfilled the true meaning of the Jewish sacrifice of the Passover lamb. Christ, the Lamb of God, was crucified on Passover day.” So what have you now learned? Based on the NIV comments you know that the “Lamb of God” was (drum roll please) the Egyptian god of April. Very well! You are doing better than your Christian apologists and clergy. So, with your new knowledge of what really transpired in Egypt, let us look at what John supposed said: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29) WHAT?? Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world???? John wanted to use an animal to symbolize Jesus’ taking away sin from all mankind; he should have used the Yom Kipper goat or a bull, not the Passover Lamb (the Egyptian god of April). There is no sin involved during Passover as Christians, in ignorance, try to show in the bible, the NT. The Paschal lamb simply represents the defiance the Hebrews showed against the Egyptians. Each year they eat the unblemished lamb to reaffirm their defiance to false gods. Rabbi Tovia Singer said: “The Torah never states or even implies that the Passover sheep or goat atones for sin. Christians will often claim that Abraham was referring to the Paschal lamb (Genesis 22:7-8). What lamb? What happened to the lamb mentioned that Abraham promised? It was a “ram” that was offered up to God – where was the lamb to which Abraham was prophetically referring? Christians will say, “big deal, lamb or ram, they mean the same thing. But that is not true – Since Torah was written in Hebrew, there are two different Hebrew words for ram and for lamb, and if that’s not enough, in Hebrew one must read the content of the sentence, before and after.” “Just as God tested Abraham’s faith to show his worthiness to be the father of the chosen people, the young Jewish nation also had to have their faith tested to show their worthiness to participate in the exodus form Egypt, to receive God’s Torah at Mount Sinai.” Now, if Christians want a sin sacrifice, they only have to turn to Yom Kippur, the most holy day of the Jewish year. This is the day Jews pray to God for forgiveness for their “cheit” (errors – sins). But if they do, Christians would have to follow God’s rules. Jews sacrificed an unblemished female goat as a “korban,” in this case a sin offering, for atonement. But wait; think for yourselves now that you have learned things that even your clergy never told you. Even if Jesus was supposed to be a sacrifice for atonement (you now know that had to be an unblemished female goat), he could not have been ― because he was indeed blemished! So even Jesus would not qualify; for according to the Christian bible, he was circumcised, whipped, penetrated with a spear, and nails were driven through his body parts. A “korban” for atonement could NEVER be blemished; according to God as recorded in His SOURCE Document, Torah. Remember, Christians read the Hebrew Scriptures in bad English translations, taken from the Greek Septuagint. This in no way can be said to be the Hebrew Bible. To even begin to understand God’s Torah, one must read it in the language God used to give it to the Children of Israel; that is Hebrew. Hebrew is referred to as Leshon HaKodesh, meaning THE HOLY TONGUE ― the language that God chose to compose the Torah. There is an important message for the Christian clergy and your missionary-type friends; as a friend once said “Not knowing Hebrew does not make you stupid. The stupid people are the ones who do not know Hebrew, but think they know the Hebrew Scriptures better than people who do…” After all is said and done, in essence, the Egyptian god of April was transposed to the Christian god. Jesus. Christians worship an Egyptian god and not the God of Creation and of Torah. There are a couple of churches in Mexico that have an actual Golden Lamb sitting there. Christianity is simply repackaged pagan and Egyptian idolatry; pure and simple! THINK! Footnote: 1. Midrash: one of the classical collections of the Sages' homiletical teachings on the Torah. 2. The lamb was the Egyptian god of April. The survivors of the Exodus were told by God to remember all of what He did. Copyright © 2004, Hugh Fogelman. All rights reserved. http://jdstone.org/cr/files/passovertheinsidestory.html
This "April" theory, while interesting, has no basis in Scripture! By the way, I'm sure that Saul of Tarsus was a more rigorous Pharisee than Mr. Fogelman.
So you're saying the Book of Acts is a fabrication? You might want to do some research on Sir William Ramsay. He was a British scholar who set out to discredit the historicity of Acts, but he instead became a Christian as a result of his studies. Here's a sampling of his work: http://credimus.com/nt/ramsay/sp00toc.cfm Also, think about the fact that Acts ends abruptly with Paul on trial in Rome, which strongly indicates that it was written while he was still alive. If Paul's story were a hoax, it would've been easily debunked by others at the time.
yes it is full of fiction and contradictions to the original hebrew bibleincluding the the rest of the so-called "new" testament which was written long after the temple in jeruslalem destroyed by the romans
A) I think you need a little bit of evidence for this Egyptian Lamb God thing. Im pretty sure if Jewish prophets at the time went around calling Jesus the lamb, then people at that time thought of the Lamb as a sin sacrifice, which may be different from what you believe today. I dont see anything in Exodus other than "The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood. I will pass over you." Maybe God was just making the Jews show their true colors, indicate a rebellion, that sort of thing, who knows. But exodus 12:12 just says exactly what protestant usually say about the exodus. Also, if this wasn't an attonment holiday, then why is fasting required? B) The Torah, like Acts is not a good source for this kind of argument. Christians in general think Jewish law was entirely wrong-headed, and the torah has just as much scolarly/historical criticism as acts. C) Where do you get off saying paul wasn't a Jew or a Pharesee and persecutor of Christians? He said so in his Galatian Letter and in Acts. Why would he make something like that up? Through deduction of his letters, we knew He also knew little of Christ's life. This means that he wasn't a follower of Christ, and his apocalyptic message indicates he was indeed a Pharisee. D) The explanation of Christ as the ultimate sin-sacrifice is one of several explanations. He can also be considered an abolisher of a wrong-headed and weighty Law system that distracted people from love of God's creations and love of God. Many people also consider john reborn elijah, meaning Jesus was the Christ. Also unreconcilable is the fact that he died and came back to life. Obviously, this cannot be proven. but, obviously -- it cannot be disproven. Until you disprove this, then you will still have alot of justification to deal with. E) Jewish people are smarter than everyone else ever, especially Jews for Jesus: Fine.
Dear Mr. Fogleman (Shephardic-male), Please see the prophet Isaiah chapter 53 as he spoke prophetically of coming Messiah as a suffering lamb not just as a conquering hero.
There is sciptural basis for the Egyptian god theory. Exodus 8:26 25 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within the land.” 26 But Moses said, “It is not right to do so, for we will sacrifice to the LORD our God what is an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what is an abomination to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not then stone us? The Egyptian god was a ram which is an adult male lamb, so the Israelites at passover did slaughter the young gods of the Egyptains. And remember, the passover had no atoning value what so ever. And for a sin sacrifice: Lev4: 32 ‘But if he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring it, a female without defect. Jesus was not a female.
My two cents worth(something I wrote on my blog): G.C. to J.C. In suzerain-vassal covenants from the Ancient Near East, love meant loyalty to the ruler. Therefore, to "love Hashem with all ones heart, soul and might" means to be loyal to Him. Hashem is a 'jealous God', which means He demands exclusivity. Jewish tradition holds that if you forsake idolatry you fulfill the whole of the Tora(Talmud Hor.8a), and vice versa(Sifra Deut.54). But what is idolatry? It is known that most ancient cultures had a concept of a 'Most High God'. The only problem was that He was seen as too distant and remote to be of any use. Hence, the creation of intermediaries(see Maimonides, M.T. Laws of Idolatry ch.1). When man looks to 'heaven' and 'sees' anything between him and Hashem, that is idolatrous. The archetype of the intermediary in Tanakh is the Golden Calf(see also Jeroboam's Calves- 1Kings12:25-33). But why construct a calf(a baby bull)? Why not a grown bull? Rabbi David Fohrman taught that because of the awesomeness of the Sinai revelation("Let not God speak with us lest we die"), and the fact that Moses hadn't returned yet, the people feared he was destroyed by the encounter. So they created something that could stand between them and God. Making a molten(lit. "masking") calf is really quite logical. A calf sucks from its mother(read:'God'), and through identifying with this 'Sucker' a quite touching relationship with 'God' ensues. We witness this in Christianity. It is- in essence- Calf worship. Jesus is the "Son of the Father, and "no one can come to the Father except through the Son". The calling of Jesus the "Lamb of God"(Jn.1:29) should remind us of the Passover lamb in Egypt. Its slaying signaled Israel's willingness to forsake such touching- yet forbidden- relationships. This act [of slaughter] began- on a national level- the 'cleaning out'(think matsa and leaven) of the space between man and the 'Most High God'.
