Author: Ariella Golani גולני

Challenging Isaiah 53

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Challenging Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53 has been a much misunderstood chapter in the Bible. Jews are accused of forbidding the study of it. Christians, for the most part, apply it to Jesus, who by the way does not fit Isaiah’s previous context nor the actual context of chapter 53. Instead of assuming things fit we need to delve deeper. As we dig into this study. I will state up front that my personal belief is that the personage or group represented by Isaiah’s Suffering Servant has not yet been fully revealed.

Arm of YHVH:

The first phrase we come upon in Isaiah 53:1 includes the words “Arm of YHVH”. What is the context of “arm of YHVH (YHVH)” and whom does it protect or do battle?

Let’s have a closer look:

Isa 53:1: To whom has the arm of YHVH been revealed…”

For whom has it been revealed? For Israel, but also this fact is revealed to the nations. (Why else are the kings of the earth shocked in Isaiah 52:13 which begins this prophecy?) And later we must ask, Who is the “servant” in the book of Isaiah? Is it consistently the same figure?

Is 52:9-10: Break forth in joy, sing together, O ruins of Jerusalem, for YHVH has comforted His people; He has redeemed Jerusalem. YHVH has bared His holy arm in the sight of all the nations; all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

Notice: “all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.” (Salvation of the Jewish people, of the restoration of Jerusalem to the seed of Abraham.)

Isa 51:9-11: “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of YHVH; Awake, as in the days of old, The generations of ancient times. Art thou not it that hewed Rahab in pieces, That pierced the dragon? Art thou not it that dried up the sea, The waters of the great deep; That made the depths of the sea a way

For the redeemed to pass over? And the ransomed of YHVH shall return, And come with singing unto Zion…” (Here again, mention is made of the arm of YHVH working to rescue Israel and to bring them to Zion.)

Isaiah 30: 26-33:

Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven-fold, as the light of seven days, in the day when YHVH binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow. Behold, the name of YHVH comes from afar,
burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke; his lips are full of fury, and his tongue is like a devouring fire; his breath is like an overflowing stream that reaches up to the neck; to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction, and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray. You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of YHVH, to the Rock of Israel. And YHVH will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones. The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of YHVH, when he strikes with his rod. And every stroke of the appointed staff that YHVH lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of YHVH, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.”

We have seen several passages that show the Arm of YHVH as working in defense of His people Israel. In the light of these passages, which most of them are end times prophecies in the book of Isaiah, we see that Israel is redeemed, defended, returned to Zion after being separated from the nations. We see the nations being punished and those who are repentant going up to seek the favor of YHVH in Jerusalem. The Arm of YHVH is clearly not defending the nations, rather in defense of Israel, His People.

With that for a foundation, let’s continue our study focusing on the very misunderstood chapter 53 of Isaiah: Notice that Isaiah 52, last part is the foreground for Isaiah 53:1

Isa 52:13 “See, my servant will act wisely; he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him, his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness, so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

From a casual reading the above verses appear to speak of one person disfigured and giving his blood for many nations, but let’s read it again; start with verse 9: YHVH has comforted his people, redeemed Jerusalem…And notice this as well: “and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.”

Kings of the Earth

THIS IS CLEARLY NOT SPEAKING OF JESUS because most of the “kings of the earth” are from Christian nations and already know the stories about him. Who then is it that surprises them? The majority of the nations have at least known of Jesus through the mass efforts of evangelization and the work of the Inquisition which uprooted and persecuted those who would not acknowledge him. How is it then that they will understand something new about him for which they will have to shut their mouths? Is it possible that the kings and nations will see someone, some people they have persecuted—the very ones to whom the Arm of Yehovah is now being revealed as their protector?

Sprinkle:

What can it mean that the servant “sprinkles” many nations? The word sprinkle, Hebrew: נָזָה is used in many places in the Torah concerning the sacrificial offerings when blood was sprinkled on the altar or where the priests themselves were sprinkled. Can it mean that the nations will be cleansed of their idolatry and sin by something that the servant does? Or does it mean something else such as where it is used in Isaiah 63?

Isaiah 63:3-4 speaks of YHVH trampling Edom (the nations) because of their hatred of God’s people and their blood being sprinkled upon his garments.

“I have trodden the wine-press alone, and no man from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My fury; their blood was sprinkled upon My garments, and all My clothes were stained. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.”

An excellent commentary on the usage of the word Sprinkle נָזָה as used here, is shown by Gerald Sigal in his excellent commentary on Isaiah 53:

“52:15: ‘So shall he startle many nations’ … What is the meaning of the word “nazah”? (Hebrew: נָזָה)

Some Christians maintain that nazah which has the meaning of “sprinkle” carries with it the thought of expiation in verse 15.

  • It is thought the verse portrays the servant as a priest who “sprinkles” (that is, spiritually cleanses) the nations. They then claim that this verse refers to the supposed power of Jesus to make “many nations” the beneficiaries of his blood. That is, Jesus was expected “to make propitiation for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:17) and have their “hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience” (Hebrew 10:22). However, this interpretation is problematic.
  • Both grammatically and in terms of the sacrificial system the correct meaning of verse 15 has no relationship to the priestly sprinkling of atonement blood at all.
  • In every other instance where the object or person sprinkled is indicated, the verb is used in conjunction with a preposition (such as “onto,” “upon,” or “before”). This combination does not occur in verse 15.
  • The proper rendering of the verb, nazah, in this verse is not “sprinkle,” but “scatter” in the sense of being startled and confused.
  • It indicates the astonishment of the nations as they scurry about in shock over the turn of events.
  • In sprinkling, one scatters a liquid into innumerable droplets. Similarly, the inhabitants of the nations will be scattered as well.
  • There is no reference here to Jesus spiritually cleansing the nations.”i

We find another passage about Israel’s redemption at the time of the coming messiah in Zechariah:

Zech 8:22-24:“Yea, many peoples and mighty nations shall come to seek YHVH of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favour of YHVH. Thus saith YHVH of hosts: In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying: We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” (Is there something here also that shows the favor of YHVH returning to Jerusalem and the nations seeking this favor?)

Is the servant the faithful remnant of Israel?

Then…When the nation of Israel is restored to the rightful descendants of Abraham, will it then intercede for the nations? Is this what is meant by the following verses? Isa 66: 15-24 “See, YHVH is coming with fire, and his chariots are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For with fire and with his sword YHVH will execute judgment upon all men, and many will be those slain by YHVH… And I, because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations…They will proclaim my glory among the nations. And they will bring all your brothers, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to YHVH–on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels, says YHVH. They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of YHVH in ceremonially clean vessels. And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites, says YHVH. As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me, declares YHVH, so will your name and descendants endure. From one New Moon to another and from one Sabbath to another, all mankind will come and bow down before me, says YHVH. And they will go out and look upon the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; their worm will not die, nor will their fire be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

“Like a root out of dry ground”? Who? What?

Psalms 80:8-10: “O God of hosts, restore us; show Your favor that we may be delivered. You plucked up a vine from Egypt; You expelled nations and planted it. You cleared a place for it; it took deep root and filled the land.”

As we know the land of Israel has become pretty much a dry desert despite the efforts to return it to a productive land and the resulting success. However it currently is not a place to find the abundance of a fully satiated land nor satisfy those who represent “the planting of Yehovah.”

Isa 35: “The arid desert shall be glad, The wilderness shall rejoice. And shall blossom like a rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of the Levanon shall be given to it, the excellency of the Karmel and the Sharon, they shall see the glory of YHVH, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even with a divine recompense; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: the habitation of jackals shall become a pasture for cattle, an enclosure of reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness: the unclean shall not pass over it; and he shall be to them a guide, and fools shall not err in it. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up on it, they shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: and the ransomed of YHVH shall return, and come to Żion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”ii (We don’t see this yet).

The “root out of dry ground refers to those plucked up from exile, lost in Egypt and other lands, and replanted in Zion. Zion at the moment is dry and infertile spiritually and politically. The land itself is dry and cracked. It is not cultivated to the extent that it will be in the times shown by Isaiah 35, rather the inhabitants do not respect it. They throw their trash everywhere. There is no respect for the holiness of the Land of Promise.

So if the root out of dry ground are the ones taken out of exile, then they are in Yehovah’s hands until the moment when He cleans up the land to receive them. They are protected in the safe-keeping of the Arm of Yehovah.

An Individual?

Now the rest of Isaiah 53 seems to be portrayed as written about an individual and from the majority of commentaries, mostly Chrisitan, the application is portrayed as befitting the suffering of Jesus, yet the question above seems to stand out as lacking a good fit for him. Who is speaking and who are they speaking to? If all the speech given there is done by the kings of the earth and the nations, then the picture cannot be about Jesus. It must be about someone else.

Another thing we must think about…Is Israel as a people ever represented as an individual?

Let’s see some verses.

Exodus 4:22: “And thou shalt say to Pharoah, Thus says YHVH, Yisrael is my son, my firstborn.”

Jer. 31:11: “For YHVH has redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he.”

Isaiah 52 and 54: In these two chapters just before and just after Isaiah 53, we see Zion, Israel represented as a woman, a wife estranged, or barren without children. This leads us to ask, who is the lone figure of Isaiah 53 that is the Redeemer? Still I maintain it is not Jesus as we will see.

Disfigured?

Isaiah 52-53 says that this figure was disfigured beyond recognition (Jesus was apparently mangled in his death, not a permanent condition, according to the Christian story where he is seen coming to save all the Christians (not Israel), in the glory of his kingdom, not in a deformed, unrecognized state). Isaiah says he was afflicted with disease (Isa 53:3) and many commentaries say that the word actually applies to leprosy…But Christians claim that as the spotless lamb, he was not ever touched by illness. A thorough reading referencing to the Hebrew in Isaiah 53: shows that he had to confess his own guilt אָשָׁם to be able to save Israel, but Christianity makes him spotless, without sin.

Also, what do we do with the idea of the barren woman in Isaiah 54 which also is parallel to the barren state of the one who suffers in Isaiah 53:10:

“But YHVH chose to crush him by disease, That, if he made himself an offering for guilt,
He might see offspring and have long life, And that through him YHVH’s purpose might prosper.” 53:10.

So, clearly the promise to him (whoever this is) is that if he does this work, he will see offspring and have long life. Jesus did not live that long and he never saw offspring. (Christians argue that he is coming back to show his long life and that the descendants are those who are baptized and accept him as their king.)

However, this does not jive with the simple reading of the text. We continue with the parallel of the barren and rejected wife in Isaiah 54:1-3:

The barren woman of Isaiah 54:

“Sing, O barren one, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, says YHVH. Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations: spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes; for thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall possess nations, and make desolate cities to be inhabited.”

Can this be the same individual as in Isaiah 53? I believe the person of Isaiah 53 is a messiah figure or the remnant who suffer as the result of Israel’s sins (not as a sacrificial offering). This is a Torah principle, that no one suffers to expiate the sins of anyone else, rather suffers as a result of the sins of the nation. Jesus could not offer his blood to pay for mankind or even the nation of Israel. If this were true then Torah is invalid.

No man can die to pay for the sins of anyone else.

Deut. 24:16: “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin.”iii

Ezek 18:20: “The person who sins, he alone shall die. A child shall not share the burden of a parent’s guilt, nor shall a parent share the burden of a child’s guilt; the righteousness of the righteous shall be accounted to him alone, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be accounted to him alone.”iv

I believe that the person or group of Isaiah 53 is yet to be revealed. It is a mystery having to do with the final redemption of Israel and restoration to Torah and it’s rightful place as a Kingdom of Priests and a Holy Nation.

In Christianity, Jesus is not portrayed as a savior of the Jews nor a restorer of the nation of the descendants of Abraham, rather, please note that the history of Jesus shows that he actually is thought of as a savior of the nations and in fact, these nations became persecutors of the Jews—people he claimed were his object of salvation, not the other way around. No wonder the Kings of the earth and the Christianized nations will be aghast and unable to speak when they see the Servant of Isaiah 53—that it is not Jesus!

There are several very big problems with the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and trying to fit Jesus into the suffering servant picture. Gerald Sigal, in his article published by Jews for Judaism, addresses this problem at length:

“Jesus is the god that never was. Many Christians differentiate between what is called “the two natures of Christ.” It is claimed that Jesus was fully God and fully man at the same time, mysteriously interwoven yet separate. Thus, it is said, Jesus could be knowledgeable about some things and ignorant about others. Jesus’ statement that “A slave is not greater than his master, neither one who is sent greater than the one who sent him” refutes consideration of this two nature doctrine. This statement says that a slave is of lower status than his master. Anyone sent on a mission by another person is of inferior status. In the case of Jesus, this would make his supposed supernatural nature inferior to that of God the Father even before becoming incarnate and even if done voluntarily. It would mean that there was a period of time when the co-equality of the triune deity was reduced to a dyad. This state of inequality continues presently in that Jesus supposedly mediates between God the Father and mankind (1 Timothy 2:5, Hebrew 9:24), but it is God the Father who makes the final judgment not the “mediator.” v

So, with all the twisting of doctrine to make the picture fit, we see even bigger problems: Again from Gerald Sigal:

“Did the author of Hebrews have Isaiah 53 in mind when he said Jesus “learned obedience from the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8)? Why did Jesus have to learn to be obedient if he is God? Whom did he have to obey? Can equals in any triune deity exercise dominance, one over the other? How can God’s servant be none other than one-third of Himself. Those who claim a pre-existent supernatural being was incarnate in the form of Jesus cannot escape the question: Why did this incarnate being have to learn to be obedient through suffering if in both his humanity and divinity he was sinless to begin with and therefore was already obedient to God?” vi

If Jesus was pre-programmed to come and do what he did and to become a sacrifice for sin, then it was no sacrifice because it was not voluntary. God does not demand sacrifice: it must be voluntary on our part:

“Sacrifice and meal-offering Thou hast no delight in; mine ears hast Thou opened; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast Thou not required. Psa 40:7 vii

It is pretty clear from many texts in the New Testament that the prophecies of the Tanakh were inserted to make the picture work for Jesus. However the very idea that in Christianity, Jesus is described as the second person of the Trinity, mocks every attempt to make him into a suffering servant.

Has anyone ever thought about the fact that God cannot die, and yet Jesus being “fully God”, died? Someone once asked in a sermon, “If Jesus was God then who was it that died on the cross?” How was this possible? Did the god part of him, somehow step aside to let the human part die? Now we are getting pretty slippery! So if the god part insisted that the human part die, then we have a human sacrifice! And how is that different than all the pagan human sacrifices that took place through the ages?

Either Jesus wasn’t God or any part of God or he was a human being, no more. So in order to make Jesus into a suffering servant the Trinity doctrine would have to be scrapped as well it should be for the Bible says…

“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? Num 23:19 viii

“HEAR, O ISRAEL: YEHOVAH OUR GOD, YEHOVAH IS ONE.” Keynote of the Jewish Faith, Deut. 6:4 ix

We visited an ancient village in Colombia with the clear view of a mountain where it is told that human sacrifices were done to please the gods of the time. There is a mural in the town of Venicia of a warrior standing and offering his beating heart to the gods. This made me shudder to think of the practice. I know that the same practices were done in Mexico by the Aztecs. The blood of this warrior was then drunk by the priests as an atonement. So Christians use wine at their Eucharist and claim to be drinking the blood of Christ! What is the difference here? In the Aztec and Inca peoples, this sacrifice was demanded in order to have crops and rain, etc. How close do we have to come to pagan human sacrifice in the story of Jesus and the worship of a god/man who dies? Isn’t it one and the same thing?

We obviously need to look somewhere else for the person or group represented by the mysterious “servant” of Isaiah 53. Perhaps nobody really knows who it is until the coming messiah appears? Or could it be, as I have suggested before, the righteous remnant of Israel? At any rate, Jesus does not fit the picture, even with the supposed suffering of a crucifixion. (After all he isn’t the only one who was martyred unjustly! Read Foxes Book of Martyrs.)

There are clues to the personage of the servant illustrated in chapter 53 of Isaiah. If we realize that an author gives clues to his own writings then we must go to the book of Isaiah and examine all the passages that speak of “My servant”. There are 4 Servant Songs written in Isaiah. Notice that the last one starts in chapter 52 and is continued in 53. To find out about the Servant of YHVH and what Isaiah the prophet is saying, study all four songs. (Isaiah 42:1–4; Isaiah 49:1–6; Isaiah 50:4–7; Isaiah 52:13–53:12).

The surface of biblical prophecy has barely been scratched. Once Jesus is laid aside as the conglomeration of paganism that he has come to be, we will be able to look beyond to the real meaning of the prophecies for our time.

ihttps://jewsforjudaism.ca/isaiah-53-who-is-the-servant-by-gerald-sigal/

iihttps://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.35.1-10?ven=The_Koren_Jerusalem_Bible&lang=en&with=Translations&lang2=en

iiihttps://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.24.16?ven=The_Holy_Scriptures:_A_New_Translation_(JPS_1917)&lang=en&vside=The_Koren_Jerusalem_Bible|en&with=Translation%20Open&lang2=en

ivhttps://www.sefaria.org/Ezekiel.18.20?lang=en

vGerald Sigal, https://jewsforjudaism.org/knowledge/articles/isaiah-53-jesus-not-suffering-servant-part-2/

viGerald Sigal, ibid

viihttps://www.sefaria.org/Psalms.40.7
ven=The_Holy_Scriptures:_A_New_Translation_(JPS_1917)&lang=en&with=Translations&lang2=en

viiihttps://biblehub.com/numbers/23-19.htm

ixhttps://www.sefaria.org/Deuteronomy.6.4?ven=The_Holy_Scriptures:_A_New_Translation_(JPS_1917)&lang=en&with=Translations&lang2=en

Porque Yo Arranque el Nuevo Testamento de mi Biblia

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Durante mis últimos años como cristiano, asumí el desafío de descubrir las bases del lenguaje del Nuevo Testamento, compré libros de recursos, concordancias, léxicos en griego y hebreo y consulté diferentes versiones de la Biblia. Sentí que el griego nunca podría haber sido el idioma de los discípulos, ya que no era el idioma de Judea en la época de Cristo. Y pregunté por qué no se habían descubierto recientemente documentos de respaldo que mostraran el hebreo original de los evangelios, al menos.

Escuché de algunos de los predicadores mesiánicos que había un Mateo hebreo, pero cuando lo investigué, los comentarios que encontré al respecto mostraron que había sido traducido del griego al hebreo hace algunos años en la Era Común. ¿Por qué debería haber sucedido esto? ¿Cuál sería el propósito de traducir un libro al hebreo de su griego original si no hubiera un texto hebreo de apoyo original? Reflexioné sobre quiénes eran los que usaban el hebreo y por qué deberían querer hacer referencia a él como prueba de la validez del Nuevo Testamento. Y me pregunté si estaba escrito para engañar a los judíos. Reflexioné sobre estas preguntas y pronto descarté la idea de que el Nuevo Testamento estuviera escrito originalmente en hebreo. Empecé a aprender hebreo en serio. No vi ninguna utilidad para el griego ya que, en mi opinión, no era un idioma bíblico. Me di cuenta de que SI iba a entender la verdad, tenía que saber el idioma en el que estaba escrito. Ya no podía depender de intermediarios para decirme qué significan las cosas.

Descubrí que los cuatro evangelios elegidos fueron canonizados muchos años después de la muerte de los primeros seguidores de Cristo. De hecho, la investigación muestra evidencia de que fueron aceptados y adoptados años después:

“… la lista exacta de documentos del Nuevo Testamento fue confirmada en el tercer
Sínodo de Cartago (397 d.C.), este era un consejo regional relativamente pequeño y en este momento
la mayoría de la iglesia ya había acordado los 27 documentos del Nuevo Testamento “. REAL ACADEMIA DE BELLAS ARTES. Baker, Cómo se formó el canon del Nuevo Testamento, http://www.churchhistory101.com

El Dr. Baker continúa afirmando en este artículo que el Nuevo Testamento se basa principalmente en la tradición oral.

Sin embargo, la Enciclopedia Católica establece la fecha algo antes para el reconocimiento canónico de los cuatro libros de los evangelios,

Catholic Encyclopedia, Canon of the New Testament, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm dice: “… incluso los eruditos racionalistas como Harnack admiten la canonicidad del Evangelio cuadriforme entre los años 140-175”.

Sin embargo, la canonización universal de los 27 libros del Nuevo Testamento no fue establecida por la Iglesia hasta el Concilio de Trento en el siglo XVI.

“El canon de Trento por lo general se refiere a la lista de libros bíblicos que a partir de ese momento fueron considerados canónicos. Este fue un decreto, el De Canonicis Scripturis, de la cuarta sesión del Concilio, del 4 de abril de 1546, que fue aprobado por votación (24 sí, 15 no, 16 abstenciones). [1] Con su decisión, el Concilio de Trento confirmó la lista idéntica ya aprobada localmente en 1442 por el Concilio de Florencia (Sesión 11, 4 de febrero de 1442), [2] y que había existido en las primeras listas canónicas de los sínodos de Cartago y Roma. en el siglo IV.

La lista confirmó que los libros deuterocanónicos estaban a la par con los otros libros del canon (mientras que Lutero colocó estos libros en los apócrifos de su canon) y terminó el debate sobre los Antilegomena y coordinó la tradición de la iglesia con las Escrituras como regla de fe. También afirmó que la traducción latina de Jerónimo, la Vulgata, tiene autoridad para el texto de las Escrituras … “

“… El Concilio de Trento el 8 de abril de 1546, por votación (24 sí, 15 no, 16 abstenciones) [105] aprobó el actual Canon de la Biblia Católica Romana, incluidos los Libros Deuterocanónicos”.
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/

Mis preguntas se hicieron más grandes cuando eché un vistazo a otros evangelios escritos que no estaban incluidos en el Canon del Nuevo Testamento. Evangelios como el Evangelio de San Pedro, el Evangelio de María Magdalena y el Evangelio de Tomás. ¿Pregunté por qué? Siempre que se excluye algo tiene que haber una razón para ello. Y esa razón puede significar un elefante en la habitación. ¿Y quién decide qué libros son verdad bíblica y cuáles no? Dado que ninguno de los evangelios se escribió durante la vida de ninguno de los discípulos de Jesús, está bastante claro que fueron escritos más tarde a partir de historias transmitidas algún tiempo después, decidí que mi mejor decisión sería tomar el Tanakh, lo que los cristianos llaman el Antiguo Testamento como el fundamento de lo que creo acerca de la Biblia.

He imaginado escenario tras escenario. Por ejemplo, ¿qué pasaría si en ese entonces, Roma hubiera designado a un grupo de escritores seleccionados a mano para crear evangelios como una herramienta para aprovechar a la gente dispersa de los primeros cristianos? ¿Qué pasaría si estos evangelios necesitaran reflejar algunas de las cosas que se creían por tradición oral para que fueran creíbles? ¿Y si cuando reunieron todos los escritos y los consideraron para el nuevo texto de las Escrituras que estaban compilando, se dieron cuenta de que varios de los nuevos evangelios eran terriblemente inverosímiles y no creíbles, por lo que fueron descartados? Cosas como Jesús saliendo de la tumba con una cruz que camina y habla: (tomado del Evangelio de Pedro)“De madrugada, cuando amanecía el sábado, vino una multitud de Jerusalén y de los alrededores para ver el sepulcro sellado. 35. Ahora bien, en la noche en que amaneció el día del Señor, cuando los soldados estaban haciendo guardia, de dos en dos en cada guardia, hubo una gran voz en el cielo, (36) y vieron los cielos abrirse y dos hombres bajar de allí con gran resplandor y acércate al sepulcro. 37. La piedra que había sido colocada contra la entrada del sepulcro comenzó a rodar y moverse hacia los lados, y el sepulcro se abrió y entraron los dos jóvenes. 10. 38. Cuando esos soldados vieron esto, despertaron al centurión ya los ancianos, porque ellos también estaban allí para montar guardia. 39. Y mientras narraban lo que habían visto, vieron salir del sepulcro a tres hombres, dos de ellos sosteniendo al otro y una cruz siguiéndolos (40) y las cabezas de los dos que llegaban al cielo, pero la de él. quien estaba siendo conducido alcanzó más allá de los cielos. 41. Y oyeron una voz de los cielos que gritaba: “¿Habéis predicado a los que duermen?”, 42. Y desde la cruz se oyó la respuesta: “Sí” “.También he reflexionado, ¿qué pasaría si Pablo no fuera en realidad el retratado como San Pablo, sino un erudito judío que intenta salvar su propio pellejo con Roma ayudándolos a entretejer las profecías de una manera que aquellos desconectados del verdadero judaísmo creerían y creerían? ¿Aceptar la nueva religión que Roma quería usar como una forma de controlar todo el mundo entonces conocido? Este judío no se habría preocupado de que los judíos fueran engañados porque eran sólidos en el Tanaj. Su trabajo habría sido simplemente para ayudar al emperador a consolidar a los radicales que flotaban por ahí. Incluso después de ver la diferencia en los idiomas, todavía me lavaron el cerebro por lo que el cristianismo me había enseñado sobre las profecías que presagiaban al Mesías cristiano, Jesús. Fue muy difícil para mí leer pasajes de los profetas y mantener los pies en la tierra hasta que comencé a escuchar a los judíos por judaísmo volver a explicarlos. ¡Algunos dirán que me hicieron un nuevo lavado de cerebro! Sea como fuere, lo que he aprendido más que nada es no incluir partes de las profecías en la teología del Nuevo Testamento. ¡No reunir una oración aquí y una frase allá sacándolos completamente de contexto para crear una prueba del mesianismo de Jesús o cualquier otra doctrina bíblica para el caso! Lo que aprendí fue a leer todo un capítulo, sección o libro de los profetas para establecer el trasfondo de esa profecía, si era una profecía. Algunas cosas que los cristianos afirman que son profecías no son profecías, son simplemente sucesos actuales en el momento de la escritura del profeta. A medida que, con la ayuda de Judíos para el judaísmo, he desentrañado algunos de los significados sólidos de estos textos, he obtenido una mejor base bajo mis pies espirituales. Ya no busco presagios de cosas que se refieren a Cristo o que deberían suceder en nuestros días. Y he comenzado a reescribir mi propia opinión sobre lo que decían los profetas y nunca dejar de lado el fundamento de la Torá que debe ser la base de toda interpretación.

“De madrugada, cuando amanecía el sábado, vino una multitud de Jerusalén y de los alrededores para ver el sepulcro sellado. 35. Ahora bien, en la noche en que amaneció el día del Señor, cuando los soldados estaban haciendo guardia, de dos en dos en cada guardia, hubo una gran voz en el cielo, (36) y vieron los cielos abrirse y dos hombres bajar de allí con gran resplandor y acércate al sepulcro. 37. La piedra que había sido colocada contra la entrada del sepulcro comenzó a rodar y moverse hacia los lados, y el sepulcro se abrió y entraron los dos jóvenes. 10. 38. Cuando esos soldados vieron esto, despertaron al centurión ya los ancianos, porque ellos también estaban allí para montar guardia. 39. Y mientras narraban lo que habían visto, vieron salir del sepulcro a tres hombres, dos de ellos sosteniendo al otro y una cruz siguiéndolos (40) y las cabezas de los dos que llegaban al cielo, pero la de él. quien estaba siendo conducido alcanzó más allá de los cielos. 41. Y oyeron una voz de los cielos que gritaba: “¿Habéis predicado a los que duermen?”, 42. Y desde la cruz se oyó la respuesta: “Sí” “.También he reflexionado, ¿qué pasaría si Pablo no fuera en realidad el retratado como San Pablo, sino un erudito judío que intenta salvar su propio pellejo con Roma ayudándolos a entretejer las profecías de una manera que aquellos desconectados del verdadero judaísmo creerían y creerían? ¿Aceptar la nueva religión que Roma quería usar como una forma de controlar todo el mundo entonces conocido? Este judío no se habría preocupado de que los judíos fueran engañados porque eran sólidos en el Tanaj. Su trabajo habría sido simplemente para ayudar al emperador a consolidar a los radicales que flotaban por ahí. Incluso después de ver la diferencia en los idiomas, todavía me lavaron el cerebro por lo que el cristianismo me había enseñado sobre las profecías que presagiaban al Mesías cristiano, Jesús. Fue muy difícil para mí leer pasajes de los profetas y mantener los pies en la tierra hasta que comencé a escuchar a los judíos por judaísmo volver a explicarlos. ¡Algunos dirán que me hicieron un nuevo lavado de cerebro! Sea como fuere, lo que he aprendido más que nada es no incluir partes de las profecías en la teología del Nuevo Testamento. ¡No reunir una oración aquí y una frase allá sacándolos completamente de contexto para crear una prueba del mesianismo de Jesús o cualquier otra doctrina bíblica para el caso! Lo que aprendí fue a leer todo un capítulo, sección o libro de los profetas para establecer el trasfondo de esa profecía, si era una profecía. Algunas cosas que los cristianos afirman que son profecías no son profecías, son simplemente sucesos actuales en el momento de la escritura del profeta. A medida que, con la ayuda de Judíos para el judaísmo, he desentrañado algunos de los significados sólidos de estos textos, he obtenido una mejor base bajo mis pies espirituales. Ya no busco presagios de cosas que se refieren a Cristo o que deberían suceder en nuestros días. Y he comenzado a reescribir mi propia opinión sobre lo que decían los profetas y nunca dejar de lado el fundamento de la Torá que debe ser la base de toda interpretación.

Why I Tore up my New Testament

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1-Torn Bible

During my last years as a Christian, I took up the challenge of discovering the foundation for language of the New Testament, I bought Greek and Hebrew resource books, concordances, lexicons, and consulted different versions of the Bible. I sensed that Greek could never have been the language of the disciples as it was not the language of Judea at the time of Christ. And I asked why there were no supporting documents recently uncovered to show the original Hebrew for the gospels if nothing more.

I heard from some of the Messianic preachers that there was a Hebrew Matthew, but when I researched it, the commentaries I found about it showed that it had been translated from the Greek back into the Hebrew some years ago in the Common Era. Why should this have happened? What would be the purpose of translating a book into Hebrew from its original Greek if there was no original supporting Hebrew text? I pondered about who the ones were who used Hebrew, and why they should want to reference it for proof of New Testament validity? And I wondered if was it written to deceive Jews? I pondered these questions and soon discarded the idea that any of the New Testament was written originally in Hebrew. I started learning Hebrew in earnest. I saw no use for the Greek since it was not, in my estimation, a Biblical language. I realized that IF I was going to understand truth, I had to know the language it was written in. I could no longer depend on intermediaries to tell me what things mean.

I found that the four gospels chosen were canonized many years after the early followers of Christ were dead. In fact, research shows evidence that they were accepted and embraced years later:

“…the exact list of New Testament documents was confirmed at the third
Synod of Carthage (397 AD), this was a relatively small regional council and by this time
the 27 New Testament documents had already been agreed upon by most of the church.” R.A. Baker, How the New Testament Canon was Formed, http://www.churchhistory101.com

Dr. Baker goes on to assert in this paper that the New Testament is mostly based on oral tradition.

However the Catholic Encyclopedia sets the date somewhat earlier for canonical recognition of the four books of the gospels,

Catholic Encyclopedia, Canon of the New Testament, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03274a.htm says: “…even rationalistic scholars like Harnack admit the canonicity of the quadriform Gospel between the years 140-175.”

However, universal canonization of the 27 books of the New Testament was not established by the Church until the Council of Trent in the 16th century.

“Canon of Trent usually refers to the list of biblical books that were from then on to be considered canonical. This was a decree, the De Canonicis Scripturis, from the Council’s fourth session, of 4 April 1546, which passed by vote (24 yea, 15 nay, 16 abstain).[1] With its decision, the Council of Trent confirmed the identical list already locally approved in 1442 by the Council of Florence (Session 11, 4 February 1442),[2] and that had existed in the earliest canonical lists from the synods of Carthage and Rome in the fourth century.

The list confirmed that the deuterocanonical books were on a par with the other books of the canon (while Luther placed these books in the Apocrypha of his canon) and ended debate on the Antilegomena and coordinated church tradition with the Scriptures as a rule of faith. It also affirmed Jerome’s Latin translation, the Vulgate, to be authoritative for the text of Scripture…”

“…The Council of Trent on April 8, 1546, by vote (24 yea, 15 nay, 16 abstain)[105] approved the present Roman Catholic Bible Canon including the Deuterocanonical Books.”
Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/

My questions loomed bigger when I took a look at other gospels written that were not included in the New Testament Canon. Gospels such as the Gospel of St. Peter, the Gospel of Mary Magdalene and the Gospel of Thomas. I asked, why? Whenever something is excluded there has to be a reason for it. And that reason may signify an elephant in the room. And who decides which books are Biblical truth and which are not? Since none of the gospels were written during the lives of any of the disciples of Jesus, it is pretty clear that they were written later from stories handed down sometime later, I decided that my best decision would be to take the Tanakh, what Christians call the Old Testament as the foundation for what I believe about the Bible.

I have imagined scenario after scenario. For example, what if back then, Rome would have appointed a group of hand-selected writers to create gospels as a tool to harness the scattered people of the early Christians? What if these gospels needed to reflect some of the things that were believed by oral tradition so that they would be believable? And what if when they gathered all the writings together and considered them for the new text of Scripture they were compiling, they realized that several of the new gospels were terribly far fetched and not believable, so they were discarded? Things like Jesus coming out of the tomb with walking and talking cross: (taken from the Gospel of Peter)

9. 34. “Early in the morning, when the Sabbath dawned, there came a crowd from Jerusalem and the country round about to see the sealed sepulchre. 35. Now in the night in which the Lord’s day dawned, when the soldiers were keeping guard, two by two in each watch, there was a loud voice in heaven, (36) and they saw the heavens open and two men come down from there in a great brightness and draw near to the sepulchre. 37. That stone which had been laid against the entrance to the sepulchre started of itself to roll and move sidewards, and the sepulchre was opened and both young men entered. 10. 38. When those soldiers saw this, they awakened the centurion and the elders, for they also were there to mount guard. 39. And while they were narrating what they had seen, they saw three men come out from the sepulchre, two of them supporting the other and a cross following them (40) and the heads of the two reaching to heaven, but that of him who was being led reached beyond the heavens. 41. And they heard a voice out of the heavens crying, ‘Have you preached to those who sleep?’, 42. and from the cross there was heard the answer, ‘Yes.’”

I have also pondered, what if Paul was actually not the one portrayed as St. Paul, but a Jewish scholar trying to save his own skin with Rome by helping them weave the prophecies together in a way that those disconnected with true Judaism would believe and accept the new religion that Rome wanted to use as a way to control the entire then known world? This Jew would not have worried about the Jews being deceived because they were solid in the Tanakh. His work would merely have been for the sake of helping the emperor to consolidate the radicals floating around out there.

Even after I saw the difference in the languages, I was still brainwashed by what Christianity had taught me about the prophecies that foreshadowed the Christian Messiah, Jesus. It was very hard for me to read passages in the prophets and keep my feet on the ground until I began to hear Jews for Judaism re-explain them. Some will say that I got a new brainwashing! However it was, the thing I have learned more than anything is not to patch parts of prophecies into New Testament theology. Not to gather a sentence here and a phrase there taking them completely out of context to create a proof for the messiahship of Jesus or any other biblical doctrine for that matter! What I learned was to read an entire chapter or section or book of the prophets to establish the background for that prophecy, if it was a prophecy. Some things that Christians claim are prophecies are not prophecies, they are merely current happenings at the time of the writing of the prophet.

As I have, with the help of Jews for Judaism, unraveled some of the solid meanings of these texts I have gotten a better foundation under my spiritual feet. I no longer look for a foreshadowing of things referring to Christ or that should happen in our day. And I have begun to rewrite my own take on what the prophets were saying and never leave out the foundation of the Torah which must underlie all interpretation.

Does God Talk to Us Anymore?

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Is Anyone Awake? What’s going on?

I sit quietly looking out at the calm of the sea and the stillness of the Shabbat morning in a small town below the mountains that divide Israel from Lebanon. All is quiet but my mind is agitated. Where is the G-d of Elijah? I can see the long ridge of Carmel in the distance and I wonder if the people are any different today than in the days of the prophets. There is a calm but what does it mean? Does it mean that a storm is just around the corner? I mean a Spiritual Storm…Is the world just taking a deep breath because almost no one knows what he or she believes anymore? The modern world…how is it different from the world of Elijah? Is there a God in Israel other than the Baals or the golden calf? Why is YHVH not speaking to Israel, or is He? Is it because most of us are not really listening? And what is it that has robbed us of our connection to the Almighty?

The reliance on leaders to be our spiritual connection has led the people to a condition where the Creator is a God twice removed. Removed because the leadership follows tradition and because the people trust the leadership as a connection to Heaven. Hashem’s Word is still seen as Holy but many of His people see it as a broken fountain that none can understand, perhaps even that it does not apply in the modern world. And the spiritual leaders are standing where they should not stand, as mediators between the people and YHVH or at least between them and the god they have created for themselves. The people for the most part do not know what is happening. Blinded eyes and deaf ears are not able to discern the truth of what is really happening in the world and what Elohim is saying for this generation.

The highest prayer is considered of value when it is offered during a pilgrimage to the grave of a famous sage or one of the esteemed “Fathers—Abraham, Yitzak, or Ya’acov.

Yet the Author of Eternity says: “am I a God at hand and not also a God in every place?” If indeed Hashem sees and hears our prayers, then why pray at the graves of those long dead? Does it give it a better WiFi connection to pray through the channel of the dead? Is YHVH dependent on decaying corpses?

Why can’t people pray directly? Why do they need books of prayers to express the deep desires of their hearts? Is it partly because through the ages the traditions of the Fathers have been passed down to the children and many of these traditions are not based on truth but on the myth and midrash that has been accepted as a replacement for the Tanakh? If the Tanakh says that the dead do not hear us nor know what takes place on the earth (see Ecclesiastes 9), then why believe that these same dead can do anything to impress Hashem to do something for us?

It seems that YHVH shakes his head in disbelief as he sees the multitudes of deluded souls reaching out to the same idolatry that led the ancient Israelites astray originally and led to our fathers and mothers going into exile. And the Creator does not change His mind. We hear that God does not speak to us directly anymore…hmm, well maybe we are tuned out to the message He is sending!

He calls in the stillness: “Who will speak for me to this people? Who will go for me to warn them that they may return from their sins and learn to hear and tremble at my Word?”

But it is Just a Thing…

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What is idolatry anyway?

I always thought that bowing to an image or cultic idol in a pagan temple was idolatry. Well, yes! But what is the essence of Idolatry and can it be something that is even more pervasive, less obvious and more accepted by society than a pilgrimage to the shrine of a pagan god? I know that for Catholics, the explanation given them is that it is not the stone they are worshiping but that they are actually being reminded of whom they are praying to by a visible image. For some reason the Catholic Bible has deleted a commandment from the 10 words of YHVH on Sinai: “you shall not make to yourselves a carved image…you shall not bow yourself to them nor serve them.” Exodus 20:4 But before we get really tough with the Catholics, maybe we should look at what is the real essence of the problem of idolatry.

Here is another Torah text:

Deut. 12:30-31 Beware that you do not go astray after them, after YHVH your Elohim destroys them from before you, and do not ask about their gods and say, ‘How were the nations serving these their gods, that I may also do like them?’ But you shall not do so to YHVH your Elohim, because everything that YHVH despises and hates they have done for their gods…”

So, what other things did the nations do for their gods? And what is the intrinsic thought behind idolatry? Basically this—that a material object can transfer good or bad to a person and can become an item of our focus rather than the ONE and only Elohim who is uncontainable, uncontrollable, unfathomable, indescribable and on and on ad infinitum. There is more truth to be told in what YHVH is not than what He is. If we could define Him we would be equal to him. God forbid!

So lets look at a few things…that have been seen as having powers from a blessing that they may have been associated with.

A Biblical Example:

Gideon, a judge of Israel– righteous as well as chosen of YHVH to be a great warrior, deliverer.and judge of Israel for many years, 40 of which Israel had peace in the land, made an ephod before he died and hung it in his city. It later became a snare to his people. (Judges 8:27) Why? Because the people saw it as the object that brought blessing and because Gideon made it, it became revered as if having his blessing.

Memorabilia:

Many people save memorabilia to remember their loved ones who have passed on. There is no problem in that. However, if that object is seen as something that contains the essence of the dead relative and brings that essence, or any quality of good or bad into the home or house of worship, then it is counted an object of worship—an idol. How so? If we look to anything other than the Creator as having power to bless or curse, then we are directing to it, undue “worship” even if in the slightest degree.

Amulets:

So how about amulets? That should be easy enough. If an item is seen as having power to protect us then it is replacing the great Protector YHVH who is always with us. We have no need of amulets, not even to remind us of the protection of YHVH nor any blessing. Why? Because that is what the pagans did for their gods, which by the way can be as small as an amulet. But do you worship or serve it? Well, just ask yourself what happens if you lose it…

The Mezzuzah:

Now this may be something very touchy, but consider the case of the mezzuzah on the doorposts. Yes, we must have them. It is a commandment. But how are we viewing them? Is that little scroll inside with a material ink an paper copy of the NAME on it, what keeps us safe? Think about it! So, I have been told over and over to have a sofer check the mezzuzahs on our doors. When I fell and twisted my ankle, many were worried that something was wrong with the mezzuzah. If, God forbid someone in the house gets Covid, the same question comes around. But why do we need this object to be in rabbinic perfection to receive the protection of the Most High YHVH? Where does it say that in the Torah? It doesn’t! So, what was the purpose of the mezzuzah anyway? And by the way, the word mezzuzah means doorpost. So what is the object called? Here is Deut 6:9 “and you shall inscribe them on your doorposts and upon your gates.” And in Hebrew:

וּכְתַבְתָּ֛ם עַל־מְזֻז֥וֹת בֵּיתֶ֖ךָ וּבִשְׁעָרֶֽיךָ׃

The verse does not refer to an object at all. It says to write the words of YHVH on the doorposts. So how has the mezzuzah in it’s present form come about as a tradition?

Years ago in California, I paid over $100 for a Kosher parchment scroll that had been written by a sofer and imported to the United States. I then put it inside the little box (mezzuzah) made for it and had the congregation come and install it, hold a kiddish service and bless my office. I believed I had to do this. I suppose there was nothing wrong with that, but it was not necessary. Later someone pointed out: “Why don’t you just write your own Shema on a piece of paper and stuff it with that. It would be more meaningful, and actually fulfill the commandment more closely.”

But, however you put the words of the Almighty on the doorpost, the custom is fine, but what matters is what power you give to the object or writing that you do. The object has no power at all. The command was to remember that YHVH is ONE and that there is no other. (If you think about it, when you give the mezzuzah power to protect you, you are actually denying who it is that does so.) There IS NO OTHER thing or person or material item that has any power to bless or curse. That, my friend, is idolatry!

Hamsa:

And we should mention the Hamsa. After something so simple as the wrong focus in belief in the case of the mezzuzah, it is surely obvious that the Hamsa has no power to protect and the Evil Eye has no power to curse. Let’s get things straight.

There is important history of the Hamsa. Where did it come from? What did is symbolize? Was it ever used in other religions? Here is what Wikipedia says:

“The hamsa (Arabic: خمسة‎, romanized: khamsah, Hebrew: חַמְסָה‎, romanized: ḥamsā) is a palm-shaped amulet popular throughout the Maghreb and in the Middle East and commonly used in jewelry and wall hangings. Depicting the open right hand, an image recognized and used as a sign of protection in many times throughout history, the hamsa is believed by Middle Easterners, to provide defense against the evil eye. The hamsa holds recognition as a bearer of good fortune among Christians in the Middle East as well. “Khamsah is an Arabic word that means “five”, but also “the five fingers of the hand”. The Hamsa is also variously known as the Hand of Fatima after the daughter of Muhammad, the Hand of Mary, the Hand of Miriam, and the Hand of the Goddess.”1 Wikipedia

So yes, it is used by other religions and is an item of luck which can also be called worship when it is believed in.

What do Rabbinic Jews say about it?

From My Jewish Learning: “What Is A Hamsa? Although it may derive from Islamic or pagan culture, the hamsa today has become a Jewish and Israeli symbol…It is difficult to pinpoint the exact time when hamsas emerged in Jewish culture, though it is clearly a symbol of Sephardic nature. Jews might have used the hamsa to invoke the hand of God, or to counteract the Evil Eye with the eye embedded in the palm of the hand. Some hamsas contain images of fish, in accordance with Rabbi Yose son of Hanina’s statement in the Talmud that the descendants of Joseph, who received Jacob’s blessing of multiplying like fish in Genesis 48:16, are protected from the Evil Eye like fish. He explains: “the water covers the fish of the sea so the eye has no power over them (Berakhot 55b)…other icons besides eyes and fish have also found their way into the hamsa, including the Star of David, prayers for the traveler, the Shema, the blessing over the house, and the colors of red and blue, both of which are said to thwart the Evil Eye…“The symbol of the hand, and often of priestly hands, appears in kabbalistic manuscripts and amulets, doubling as the letter shin, the first letter of the divine name Shaddai. This mapping of the human hand over the divine name and hand might have had the effect of creating a bridge between the worshipper and God.”2

From a historical site:

“Hamsa is a universal protective sign and we encounter it in faiths. It is believed the symbol brings its owner happiness, luck, health, and good fortune. Hamsa offers protection from harm caused by the evil eye. As previously mentioned in Ancient Pages, there is an ancient, superstitious, and almost universal belief that certain people possess the supernatural power to cause disaster, illness, calamity and even death. They have the ability to do it with a gaze or stare that gives an unpleasant emotion. The evil eye is widely feared in many parts of the world. This is why the Hamsa symbol can be found today throughout the Middle East.3” Ancient Pages/hamsa

Soon we must look at the practice of going to graves to worship, but for now, remember: it is the same thing; no person nor stone nor grave nor dead person, has any power to bless or curse. Speaking to ask the dead to mediate with YHVH is invoking the dead. Necromancy! And why would we need a dead mediator when the King of Kings hears our prayers? This too comes under the judgment of the verse we started with:

Deut. 12:30-31 Beware that you do not go astray after them, after YHVH your Elohim destroys them from before you, and do not ask about their gods and say, ‘How were the nations serving these their gods, that I may also do like them?’ But you shall not do so to YHVH your Elohim, because everything that YHVH despises and hates they have done for their gods…”

Psa 135:15-19 “The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but cannot speak; they have eyes, but cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear,
nor is there breath in their mouths. Those who fashion them, all who trust in them, shall become like them. O house of Israel, bless YHVH.”

1https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamsa

2https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hamsa/

3https://www.ancientpages.com/2020/05/20/ancient-symbol-hamsa-meaning-history-explained/