ONE Saturday afternoon my father-in-law called on me, and after the usual Sabbath salutation, said in a most solemn tone of voice, “Marks, listen to what I have to say. Sarah (meaning my wife) has told me of your unhappy state of mind, and all through reading that bad book called the New Testament; and from what she has told me, I fear you believe in that Nazarene. I can only express my great surprise and regret that you, with your abilities and standing among our people should have degraded yourself, to the disgrace of your family, as will assuredly be the case when it becomes known that you believe in that crucified One. Think of your dear father and the princely education you have received from him, in return for which you will disgrace him in Paradise by the black curtains being drawn before his face through your believing in that Nazarene.”
I told my father-in-law that as yet I could not say that I was a believer in Jesus Christ, nor did I now read the New Testament. I had left off doing it months ago, and that I had read nothing but the Old Testament ever since. But I found in reading it that which I never discovered before, and I should like him to tell me who was represented to Adam as the seed of the woman who should bruise the serpent’s head (Gen. 3:1515And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)); to Abraham as the source of blessing in his posterity to all the nations of the earth (Gen. 22:1818And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (Genesis 22:18)); to Jacob as the Shiloh to whom the gathering of the peoples should be (Gen. 49:1010The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. (Genesis 49:10)); to Moses as the great prophet like unto him, who should speak in the name of the Lord (Deut. 18:1515The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; (Deuteronomy 18:15)); who was it that was to be born of the virgin (Isa. 7:1414Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)); who was it that was to be distinguished for His wisdom (Isa. 11:22And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; (Isaiah 11:2)), and righteousness (Jer. 23:66In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:6)), and meekness (Isa. 53:77He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)); who was it that was to open the eyes of the blind, and cause the deaf to hear, and lame to walk, and the tongue of the dumb to sing (Isa. 35:5, 65Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 6Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. (Isaiah 35:5‑6)); who was it that was to be despised and rejected of men (Isa. 53:33He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3)), yet was to be the chiefest among ten thousand and altogether lovely (Cant. 5:10, 16); who was it that was to be a man of sorrows (Isa. 53:33He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3)), yet was to be anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows (Ps. 45:7); who was to be a worm and no man (Ps. 22:6), yet the mighty God (Isa. 9:66For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)); who is that Son we are to kiss, and all are to be blessed who put their trust in Him (Ps. 2:12); and who is that Messiah who is to be cut off, but not for Himself (Dan. 9:2626And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (Daniel 9:26))? All these things I told him greatly perplexed and troubled me, and I should like to be instructed in these points, and my mind relieved and convinced. “As to the Talmud,” I said, “you know I have been studying that ever since I was eight years of age, and the more I know of it the more I feel that it cannot give peace to a troubled conscience.”
My father-in-law listened to all I said, but not without interrupting me at times, and at last he said, “I am not sufficiently versed in these deep matters, but I will bring some of my friends to speak to you and they will soon put you right in a very little time.”
I told him that I should be pleased to see them, and so we parted friends. Next Saturday he called again. At this time he was not alone, he was accompanied by my uncle and another venerable looking gentleman, whom I had never seen before, and who at once commenced by saying, “Your good father-in-law has told me that you are rather inclined to believe in what the Goiim call their Messiah. But they have no Messiah; no Messiah was promised them. He whom they called Messiah (you must know) was a great impostor. To us Jews God promised a Messiah, and we are looking for Him; or, as our creed most beautifully expresses it, ‘I believe with a perfect faith, that the Messiah will come, and, although His coming be delayed, I still await His speedy appearance.’ This,” he said, “is our hope.”
“I should like you to tell me,” I replied, “if God did not promise a Messiah to the Gentiles, as you affirm He did not, what does Isaiah mean when he says, ‘In that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign for the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek’ (11:10)? Who is this root of Jesse? And again, the same prophet says, ‘I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation to the end of the earth’ (Isa. 49:66And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. (Isaiah 49:6)), Who is he who was to be a ‘light to the Gentiles’? All I want to know is the truth, and to have my mind set at rest.”
He said, “I can answer all your questions, but I do not see that it is necessary for me to tell you, and for you to know. Besides, the Goiim believe their Messiah to be God, while we Jews believe in one God, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.”
I said, “That is perfectly true, but when I read such passages as Gen. 1:26; 3:1526And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. (Genesis 1:26)
15And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15); Prov. 8:22-3122The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. 23I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. 24When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. 25Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: 26While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. 27When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: 28When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: 29When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: 30Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; 31Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. (Proverbs 8:22‑31); Isa. 7:14; 9:6; 48:16, 1714Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
16Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God, and his Spirit, hath sent me. 17Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. (Isaiah 48:16‑17); Jer. 23:5, 65Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 6In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:5‑6)—these and many other scriptures incline me to think that the Messiah must be something more than a mere man—that He must be the Son of God.”
On hearing these words they all three rose from their chairs together, and my uncle said, “I cannot stand this talk any longer. I can now plainly see what you are. You are as much a Meshumad as that young man is who was baptized last Sunday,” and so left me without saying another word.
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