Читать книгу The Wisdom of Alfred Edersheim - David Mishkin - Страница 8

In the days when Edersheim wrote, it was an increasingly new and profound idea among Jews to re-inhabit the land of their forefathers. He died just eight years before Theodore Herzl called the first Zionist Congress in 1897. It was fifty nine years after his death that the nation of Israel was reborn. Yet, Edersheim had an unyielding commitment to the reality of a future for Israel. It was not wishful thinking, but simply his understanding and trust of the scriptures. Based on God’s promise to Abraham and the later words of the great Hebrew prophets, a Jewish return to the Land was seen as a guarantee. And in conjunction with this, Edersheim believed whole- heartedly in the turning of his people to God’s true Messiah.

The land and the people God has joined together; and though now the one lies desolate, like a dead body, and the other wanders unresting, as it were a disembodied spirit, God will again bring them to each other in the days when His promise shall be finally established.1

The 19th century witnessed more than just the roots of Zionism. The Jewish community as a whole in Europe was undergoing a renaissance (Haskala) of its own. The writings of Moses Mendelssohn and others at the end of the 18th century paved the way for what would become Reform Judaism. Likewise, there was a new freedom in Europe for Jews to study in Universities. Previously this had been forbidden. There was also an undeniable wave of Jews coming to faith in Jesus as Messiah. They were known as Hebrew Christians, an extremely important link in the historic chain of Jews who have believed in Jesus throughout the ages. Edersheim’s own definition of a Hebrew Christian is as follows:

Our position is this: Confessing with full heart and conviction Jesus Christ as Messiah promised to the fathers, and as our Saviour, we take our stand as members of that Church, which is equally composed of Jews and Gentiles. In this respect there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile; no difference in faith, hope, or love; no higher or lower standpoint. But nationally we are Hebrews, nor can our Christianity be supposed in any sense to break these ties. Israel’s past history is ours; Israel’s promises are ours, we share the hope of Israel. And even so far as regards the present we are intensely Jewish – Jewish in all our views, affections, and sympathies.2

There are numerous scholarly works, going back to the 1600s, which focus on Jewish followers of Jesus in the first few centuries of Christianity.3 One of the first attempts at writing the complete history of Jewish believers was made by Hugh Schonfield in 1936. An eclectic Jewish scholar, Schonfield originally considered himself a follower of Jesus and called himself a “Nazarene.” However, he later rejected the basic doctrines of New Testament faith, and in the 1960s wrote the famous and controversial book, The Passover Plot. Despite his later eccentricities, his History of Jewish Christianity remains a valuable resource. Regarding the rise of 19th century Hebrew Christians he said,

The emancipation of the Jews also brought with it the emancipation of the Jewish Christian. No longer need he deny his race, but could openly proclaim himself for what he was.4

In London, organizations like the London Jews Society and the Mildmay Mission to the Jews helped make nineteenth century England the world leader in this endeavor. They even had a Hebrew Christian Prime Minister (Benjamin Disraeli) in 1868, and again from 1874 – 1880. Other noted Hebrew Christians included David Baron and Moses Mendelssohn’s grandson, Felix, the great composer. Such were the times in which Alfred Edersheim lived and wrote. The response of the traditional Jewish community has always been the same: the assumption that Jews who embrace Christianity are only doing so for ulterior motives, or because they are rejecting Judaism. And indeed, this was quite a common phenomenon in 19th century England.5

But there were also many Jews in England and other parts of Europe who turned to Christianity for a different reason. They truly believed that Jesus is the one promised by Moses and the Jewish Prophets. And for these Jews – just like today – there was usually a great price to be paid. While we do not have personal examples from Edersheim’s life, he did write of this in some of his stories (see quotes below, “Jewish Views of Jewish Christians”), which are almost certainly based on personal accounts. This reality is often overlooked by the skeptics. It is also not true that “those converts who chose Christianity out of complete identification with its principles became the greatest enemies and persecutors of Judaism, just like their medieval counterparts.”6 The Hebrew Christian movement actually helped Gentile Christians begin to understand the Jewishness of Jesus, as well as God’s plan for Israel. This was one way to distinguish genuine believers from others who “converted” for personal gain. One rabbi who did acknowledge the real faith of at least some of these believers was Max Heller. “No one,” he wrote in a 1925 article about apostates, “has ever called in question the sincere Christian faith of Neander, Edersheim or Veit.”7

In the twentieth century the term ‘Hebrew Christian’ was eventually changed to ‘Jewish Christian,’ as the designation ‘Hebrew’ began to be seen as antiquated. Still later, the term ‘Messianic Jew’ would make its appearance. The ‘Jesus Revolution’ of the late 1960s and early 1970s in the U.S. led to a bonafide revival among the Jewish people, fueling the Messianic movement we know today.8

The great Hebrew Christian development of the nineteenth century was a special gift to the entire body of believers in Jesus. For the Church at large, it powerfully reminds us of the Jewish roots of our faith. This truth was sadly lost for most of the Church’s existence. To the modern community of Messianic Jews, on the other hand, the Hebrew Christians are our spiritual forefathers. They helped set the course. And there has recently been a rise in interest in studying the history of Jews who have believed in Jesus.9

Edersheim and his contemporaries were dealing with many of the same issues as today’s Messianic movement. There are also some big differences. Even their language sounds foreign to the 21st century Jew who believes in Jesus. The word Yeshua (Jesus), for example, was not part of their everyday vocabulary. And their use of such words as “Jehovah,” “Jewess,” “convert” and “Christ” would be all but unrecognizable to most modern day Jewish believers. Before World War II, Jewish believers were simply not wrestling with questions of Jewish identity. Today, common questions in the movement include not only, “how Jewish can we be?” but, “how Jewish should we be?”10 These are important issues which will take time to debate and clarify. But, whichever way the Messianic movement develops or splinters, we would be greatly amiss to neglect the teachings and witness of those who came before us. One contemporary Messianic leader said the following regarding Jewish believers of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

To affix the label Hebrew Christian – and in doing so imply that the Jewish believers had renounced their Jewish identities – is based upon false assumptions. They were called Hebrew Christians, as that was the terminology of the day. However, the strength of their Jewish identity cannot be questioned. To imply otherwise ignores the modern history of our movement and diminishes the testimony of those who died in the Holocaust as Jews and as believers in Jesus.11

Even amongst this special group, Alfred Edersheim was unique. His writings have impacted the Church at large. His very life is also a major challenge to those in the Jewish community who say that only uneducated Jews come to profess faith in Jesus! And his legacy is a reminder that examining the “Jewish roots” of the Bible is not exactly a new phenomenon. Jacob Gartenhaus said this:

Edersheim therefore became one of the world’s greatest teachers through the rich and powerful influence of his books. It was his delight to set down and to show how all Jewish hopes were fulfilled in Christ. To the end he remained as intense and brilliant a Jew as he was a profound and faithful Christian.12

1. OT, 59

2. Watchman, March 1877, p. 2

3. Paget, James Carleton, “The Terms Jewish Christian and Jewish Christianity in the History of Research,” in Skarsaune, Oskar and Hvalvik, Reidar, Jewish Believers in Jesus: The Early Centuries (Peabody, Hendrickson, 2007), p. 22–52

4. Schonfield, Hugh, The History of Jewish Christianity (Duckworth, London, 1936), p. 36

5. Endelman, Todd M., Jewish Apostacy in the Modern World (NY, Holmes and Meier, 1987)

6. Ben-Sasson, H.H. (editor), A History of the Jewish People (Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1976), p. 827

7. Heller, Max, “The Quandry of the Apostate Jew,” B’nei B’rith magazine, January 1925

8. Schiffman, Michael, Return of the Remnant (Messianic Jewish Resources International, 1996); Rausch, David, Messianic Judaism: Its History, Theology and Polity (NY, Edwin Mellon Press, 1982)

9. See for example, Kjaer-Hansen, Kai, Joseph Rabinowitz and the Messianic Movement: The Herzl of Jewish Christianity (Eerdman’s 1994)

10. Goldberg, Louis, How Jewish is Christianity?: Two Views on the Messianic Movement (Zondervan, 2001), Cohn-Sherbock, Dan, Voices of Messianic Judaism: Confronting Critical Issues Facing a Maturing Movement (Messianic Jewish Resources International, 2001);

11. Glaser, Mitch, “The Traditional Jewish Mission as a Model,” in Voices of Messianic Judaism, p. 169

12. Gartenhaus, 78