Christianity and The Hebrew Bible

by DevonMcBride 17 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  DevonMcBride

  There are over 300 scripture changes in the Christian bible. Here is one example. As I find more, I'll post them.

  The subject Psalm in the KJV :

  Psalm 40 6 Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.
  7 Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
  8 I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
  9 I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.

  Hebrews 10:4 (KJV) says ?for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.?

  Then it refers to a misquoted Psalm 40:6-9 when saying:

  ?Wherefore, when he comes into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering thou would not, but a body have you prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God? (Hebrews 10:5-7).

  The Living Bible interprets these same verses as:

  ?That is why Christ said, as he came into the world, ?O God, the blood of bulls and goats cannot satisfy you, so have made ready this body of mine for me to lay as a sacrifice upon your altar. You were not satisfied with the animal sacrifices, slain and burnt before you as offerings for sin? (Hebrews 10:5-7).

  The New International Version ( NIV) Study Bible says:

  ?Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased ? (Hebrews 10:5-6).

  It explains when Christ came into the world he said the words of this psalm of David (40:6-8).

  The Christian Jerusalem Bible says;

  ?You, who wanted no sacrifice or oblation, opened my ear, you asked no holocaust or sacrifice for sin; then I said, Here I am! I am coming! In the scroll of the book am I not commanded to obey your will? My God, I have always loved your Law from the depths of by being?.

  All four Christian bibles are supposedly quoting Psalm 40:6-8.

  Three of the four bibles tied Hebrews 10:5 and Psalm 40 very neatly into Christian theology, but, according to the original source, the Hebrew Bible, what did David actually say? The Tanakh reads:

  ?Neither feast-offerings nor meal-offering did You desire, but you opened my ears for me; burnt-offering and sin-offering You did not request. Then I said, Behold, I have come with the Scroll of the Book that is written for me. To fulfill Your will, my God, do I desire, and Your Torah is in my innards.?

  The Sages explain David was saying to God; ?I show my gratitude not with offerings, but I present myself holding the Torah, resolved to obey everything in it.?

  Do you think the writers of the New Testament had to change the Hebrew Bible once again in order to make Jesus fit?

  Why did Christianity change G-d?s original Judaism, in a brazen attempt to validate its new religion?
• 

  Leolaia

  Devon....You may be interested in the following posts of mine which describe how events of the Passion in the gospels were constructed out of OT statements, such as the story of Judas Iscariot and the hand-washing scene with Pilate:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/65099/1006275/post.ashx#1006275
  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/65099/1005929/post.ashx#1005929

  Some of the miracle stories of Jesus were drawn from the OT and others were constructed out of his parables:

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/65196/1007602/post.ashx#1007602
  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/65099/1005609/post.ashx#1005609

  Some very interesting books on the subject include Randall Helms' GOSPEL FICTIONS and J.D. Crossan's THE CROSS THAT SPOKE.

  Leolaia
• 

  DevonMcBride

  Here's another one:

  Genesis 1:30 the authentic text reads
  
  "and to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and
  to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is a
  *living soul* (Hebrew: Nefesh Chaya), [I have given] every green
  herb for food.'
  
  Genesis 2:7 reads
  "Then the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
  breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a
  *living soul*" (Hebrew: Nefesh Chaya),
  
  KJV says:
  
  Gen 1:30
  And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and
  to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is
  *life*, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so

  Leolaia: I'm a big fan of J D Crossans works. He's been on TV a lot lately due to the Passion movie
• 

  DevonMcBride

  And yet more....

  According to Acts 7:55, Stephen was supposedly "full of the Holy Ghost."

  Stephen tells us that seventy-five of Joseph?s relatives were called to Egypt.

  Acts 7:14 Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to [him], and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. (KJV)

  In the Five Books of Moses seventy-five of Joseph?s relatives were called to Egypt.

  Genesis 46:27 And the sons of Joseph, which were born him in Egypt, [were] two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, [were] threescore and ten. (KJV)

  Exodus 1:5 And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls: for Joseph was in Egypt [already]. (KJV)

  Deuteronomy 10:22 Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy G-d hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude. (KJV)

  From here we have three different times in the King James Bible showing that Stephen erred on this matter. What does this do for the credibility of those people in the New Testament who claim to be under heavenly grace and the Holy Spirit? What does it do for the credibility of the entire New Testament?

  Stephen says that Jacob was buried in Shechem, and that Abraham purchased the tomb from Emmor.

  Acts 7:16 And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham bought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor [the father] of Sychem. (KJV)

  Once again, let?s see if the KJV will corroborate with this claim.

  Genesis 50:13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a burying place of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. (KJV)

  The language of the KJV translation of Genesis 50:13 is slightly difficult to understand in this case.

  Genesis 50:13 His sons carried him to the land of Canaan and they buried him in the cave of the Machpelah field, the field that Abraham had bought as a burial estate from Ephron the Hittite, facing Mamre. (Artscroll)

  KJV agree that Abraham bought the burial ground from Ephron the Hittite, while Stephen claims that it was Emmor. So we see, twice, Stephen gave incorrect information that not even a Christian Bible corroborates, and all of these items can be seen in the Christian Bible.
• 

  Narkissos

  OK, it's too late (in France!) for a detailed answer, but a very broad one is this:

  As a general rule the Greek NT writers just COULD NOT use a Hebrew text. Their quotations were taken from a JEWISH GREEK translation (Septuagint = LXX), most often not directly from a LXX manuscript but through anthologies which could include further (yet still JEWISH) interpretations also reflected in JEWISH extra-canonical literature. Of course the CHRISTIAN writers used this material as it seemed to suit their goals, but they just were not responsible for all the differences.

  Another element to keep in mind is that the Tanakh you quote is based on 10th or 11th century Hebrew manuscripts, and that it does not always reflect the oldest Hebrew texts (as the Qumran manuscripts have often shown).
• 

  Leolaia

  Acts 7:16 is alluding to Joshua 24:32 (cf. Genesis 33:18-20), not Genesis 50:13. Luke's mistake is that the text in Joshua concerned the burial of Joseph, not Jacob. I wonder though if this is not merely an error in recall but rather a separate "Shechem" tradition. It is interesting that the Shechamite women in John 4:12 asks Jesus: "Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?" In point of fact, no such story is told in the OT about Jacob using a well at Shechem and handing it down as an inheritance so this statement represents local Samaritan tradition (which, as extrabiblical sources attest, a Well of Jacob was located near the Tomb of Joseph outside Neapolis/Nablus). Even more significant is Jacob's request in Genesis 50:5, in which Jacob asks Joseph to bury him "in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan". No earlier mention was made of Jacob digging his own tomb, and since Jacob had earlier bought land in Shechem and had lived there for a number of years, this text could have inspired a later tradition about Jacob being buried in Shechem. That a multiplicity of traditions existed on where Jacob was buried can be seen in the following analysis:

  According to P (Gen. 23:19; 25:9; 50:13) Abraham, Sarah, and Jacob were buried 'in the cave of the field of Machpelah,' and it is implied in 35:29 that Isaac also was buried there. Turning to JE, we notice that the account of the death and burial of Abraham and Isaac has been lost. But we may assume that J placed Abraham's tomb at Hebron, where he considered the patriarch to have resided; Isaac's grave, however, may possibly have been put farther south, viz., at BEER-LAHAI-ROI [u.v.]. On the death of Jacob J appears at first sight to be inconsistent. In 47:30 Jacob directs Joseph to bury him where his fathers were buried, but 50:5 (J) points to a tomb specially his own, for Jacob says that he had digged, or less probably bought, one for himself in Canaan. It must be admitted, however, that 47:30 (J) has been manipulated by R to make it accord with P (see We. C H 62 ; OxJ Hex. 274). In Gen. 50:11 J places the burial of Jacob at Abel-Mizraim or rather Abel-mizrim, a place in the far SW. of Canaan (see ABEL-MIZRAIM). Whether E's account agreed with that of J must be left uncertain. Possibly more than one place boasted of being the guardian of the tomb of Jacob,? and from the title of the altar (or rather masseba) at Shechem in Gen. 33:20 we may perhaps assume that the tomb at Shechem (which must surely have existed, perhaps near the sacred tree, Gen. 35:4 Josh. 24:26, both E) was known originally as ? Israel?s grave,? and that at Abel-mizrim as ?Jacob?s grave.' A confusion of names would, of course, arise very early.? 'Jacob?s well? (near Shechem) is no doubt late in its attestation ; hut the name in the Karnak list of Thutmose III, usually interpreted ? Jacob-el,? may conceivably (though not at all probably) he explained ? Jacob-beer?--i.e. ? Jacob-well ? ? (so apparently C. Niebuhr). We have now done OUR best to make the traditional geography intelligible, but must confess that all is not as satisfactory as we could wish. (Cheyne & Black 1898:2890-2891)

  Skinner also wrote: "In Genesis 50:5, the rendering 'have purchased' for 'have digged' is possible, but much less probable (cf. 2 Chronicles 16:14). The confused notice in Acts 7:16 might suggest a tradition that Jacob's grave was in the plot of ground he bought near Shechem (33:19, E), which is the view maintained by Bruston (ZATW, vii. 202 ff.). On any view the contradiction to 47:30 remains. Since it is to be assumed that in J and E the place of mourning was also the place of burial, and since the theory of a detour round the Dead Sea and the E of Jordan to arrive at any spot in W. Palestine is too extravagent to have arisen from a fanciful etymology, it would seem to follow that, according to at least one tradition, Jacob's grave was shown at some now unknown place E of the Jordan (Meyer, INS, 280f). The account of the actual burial in 50:12-13 is from P and represents a distinct tradition. Here the Egyptians take no part in the obsequies (unlike J and E in 50:1-14), and the final redactor may have assumed that they were left behind at the mourning place E of the Jordan."
• 

  Narkissos

  An interesting site on the Septuagint, featuring links to online editions and translations:

  http://students.cua.edu/16kalvesmaki/lxx/
• 

  Deputy Dog

  The question that has to be asked now is this:

  Is the Jesus of the New Testament made to seem as a fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures though clever manipulation of the Hebrew Scriptures, i.e. the purposeful mistranslation, misquotation, misapplication of verses and even the taking them out of context for Gentile theological purpose?

  DevonMcBride

  The question that has to be ANSWERED now is this, Jesus asked: "Whom say ye that I am?" or

  δὲ αὐτοῖς· ὑμεῖς δὲ τίνα με λέγετε εἶναι; ἀποκριθεὶς δὲ ὁ Πέτρος εἶπε· τὸν Χριστὸν τοῦ Θεοῦ.

  Luke 9:20

  D Dog