If someone were to tell you that a human being will one day raise his hands and a whole sea part in two so that dry land appear, would you think…that can’t happen. No human could do such a thing. Well, Moses did that. Yet, it wasn’t really Moses’ own power that did it, it was God’s power that did it. Moses wasn’t God. The Hebrews did not see him as a god because he performed miracles. The Hebrews did not believe that God took on Moses' form when he performed all those miraculous events before their eyes.
You’re free to not believe it happened at all, I'm not going to try to convince anyone who thinks it was simply a myth that it happened. But for the purposes of this discussion on the Jewish faith and our prophetic vision of a Davidic messiah and a "messianic age" we will take it on “faith” ( that’s the focus of this discourse now) that the account in the Torah that depicts the whole nation of Israel as witnessing this really took place.
After the entire multitude that had been delivered from Egypt witnessed this miraculous event, Israel did not bow before Moses as a god. They had just been through a whole series of events that clearly told them that God doesn’t become a man, men are not deities and such false notions of deity are powerless over the real God. Jews don’t believe that men become deities. Gold told all Israel directly at Sinai that God does not become a man and the Torah records this directly. Believing Jews in every generation have believed God didn't lie to us about this important core aspect of our faith. It is what all Israel affirmed in God's presence at Sinai.
Jews aren't awaiting "Jesus return" or awaiting their notion of messiah at all! Christians rely on Jesus for "salvation", Jews know that God has been our salvation for four thousand years! Torah never taught us that we were born with a burden of sin that we had to have salvation from in the first place. The focus of faith is also very different between Christianity and Judaism.In Egypt the Hebrews were surrounded for over 400 years by a culture that was OBSESSED with the "afterlife" more than this gift of life we have in the here and now. I think that was part of the hard lesson of coming out of slavery from Egypt. The bonds of idolatry and superstition that enslaved the mind were broken when Israel came to the recognition that all those man/gods and animal gods were powerless over this life. It wasn't only deliverance from physical bondage that is told about at Passover, but the deliverance for each generation when we remember the kind of enslavement that focusing on concern for another world than this one is made priority.
The Christian concept that before Jesus, God was exclusively for the Jews, has ALWAYS been foreign to Jewish belief. The book of Kings records Gentiles worshipping at the Temple , Torah teaches that every human can directly connect to God and the righteous of all nations are blessed.
Jews trust that if God promises that an anointed ruler, a human, will lead the world to universal brotherood, peace, understanding and worship of God, then that’s what God will do. Many of us believe that it is the very role of all of Klal Yisrael (the community of Israel) to bring this about through Tikkun Olam, or "repairing the world" through human actions.
Humanity's responsibility to change, improve, and fix our earthly surroundings implies that each person has a hand in working towards the betterment of his or her own existence as well as the lives of future generations. Tikkun olam forces people to take ownership of their world. Many of us believe that it is our responsibility, not God, who will bring the world back to its original state of holiness. We trust that if we do our part, God will do what is promised. That is our faith and that is our trust in God. We are still here as a covenant people despite thousands of years of every form of attempt to do away with us and our faith.
While it is an aspect of our faith that we believe God will do as promised, Judaism is a fulfilling faith and path without the messiah and messianic age being here yet. We hope our actions help bring about the age of the messiah, but we focus on fulfilling our purpose as humans to all living. Because our concepts of the role and function of the messiah and so many other things are different,the focus of our religion is also different. Judaism focuses on the gift of this life and our responsibilities to the lives that come after us. Jews are obligated to participate in repairing the world by participating in tzedakah (justice and righteousness) and g'milut hasadim (acts of loving kindness). As the prophet Micah so succinctly stated : What does God require of you, Do justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God. Practice living *as if* you are in partnership with God in perfecting the world and then one day you'll understand that is the precisely what you are.
Jews test and scrutinize everything..we are taught to do so in Torah. If something is real and valid, it will stand up to any test put before it. Blind faith isn't a path of Judaism.
Now back to that original question, as to how Jews expect just a human do what is prophecied?
How did Moses do what he did? That’s my best answer for that.
For those who observed the events at the Exodus, it was evidence for them that they happened. Until the events of the messianic age transpire, we don’t really know what precise methods will be employed, we just know what the results will be…..On faith. Once they happen, the objective evidence will let us know that is the case and we won't need to rely on faith to accept the reality before us.
We expect that the prophetic vision will be congruent with the eternal covenant of Torah.
Anything that is not, is not a fulfillment of the Torah.
Shalom
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Add to the list of upcoming topics: The Biblical explanation why believing Jews have always refused to bow to man/gods and shall forever eschew that notion. Torah teaches Israel that God is not and does not become a man...period.
Ideas rather appropriate for this time of year leading up to Passover on Wednesday.
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