In Hebrew the Book of Deuteronomy is known as Words. Deuteronomy is a Greek name, one that came from a misconstruing about the Book (“Deutero“, basically second or copy and “nomy” from the Greek “nomos” ” customary way of doing things; law”). This has led to Western Tradition presenting the book as though it is “Second Law”, and mostly a repetition of what is revealed in the Torah earlier.
In short for here, “Words” in context is additional teaching, instruction, guidance and revelation by Moshe as the Israelites are about to enter the Land of Israel given to them by the LORD.
In Dt. 17:14-16 esp. v.15, we see what is required of the Israelites if they seek to put a king over themselves. Very critically also we see what this king cannot be “of”; what he cannot be sourced in.
In Dt. 17:15 we learn the following from the Hebrew. The verse opens with a repetition of two forms of the word “place”/”decision”. Hebrew frequently repeats something for emphasis. Hebrew In context Dt.17:15 is about the Israelites placing or deciding to have a king over themselves, like the Nations that surround them Dt. 17:14.
What immediately follows in Dt. 17:15 is what this king must be, then what he cannot be; then a reiteration of what he must be. The first use of “place” in Hebrew is probably emphatic and contemporaneous with what follows.
King in Hebrew incidentally comes from a verb “consult with others”. This is certainly what a good king does! A bad king is often a dictator who doesn’t even consult with his closest officials. A good king, as the rabbis correctly point out, is concerned for the well-being of his people; not his own power. Therefore, a good king consults with others.
This is exactly what we see Yeshua doing in a sense; he chooses 12 fellow Jews – 11 of whom are from his home region of the Galil “Galilee”, northern Israel.
Dt. 17:15 continues more deeply in Hebrew …” that positively going forward and summing everything up that will actively specially choose (the) LORD your (plural),God deeply in him”…. Let us open this up. Choose in Hebrew here means specially choose. It is a form of the word used in Ex. 4:22-23 where the idea of the Jewish People as the Chosen People comes from.
It is the same word from which we get “First Fruits”; those were not simply because they appeared first but because in short they were specially chosen. As a quick side note: in Greek Paul uses this exact idea in 1 Cor. 16:15 about Stephen and his family. Unfortunately, It is translated “converts”; Paul however uses “aparxe” Greek for “first fruits”. Paul is not thinking of those new followers of Yeshua in Asia Minor as “converts”.
Rather he sees them as “first fruits” which symbolize that as the LORD had provided the beginning of a harvest, He would provide the rest! Paul is not – at all – thinking of “converts” in the post-Biblical Western way, but rather in terms of what the Torah speaks of! Further this is Hebraic because Paul thinks of something concrete – fruit and harvest – not something conceptual.
Incidentally if I may please; the immediately above was an excursus. This is something very commonly seen in rabbinic writing. Paul does this also; the Rapture (a Latin term for a Jewish idea that needs a Jewish word to go with it) in 1 Thess. 4:13-18 and Rom. 13 are both an excursus. That is, going off your main point to point out something else, then returning to one’s main discussion.
Returning to Dt. 17:15: the Hebrew word translated ‘him’ is not the usual word. It’s very difficult to render. In short there seems to be an idea of something in a sense more deeply within him, rather than merely saying ‘him’.
The second half of Dt. 17:15 in the traditional Hebrew text continues that he must be …”source from close from your brothers, place your king; in fact, he completely cannot be (a) man at the highest spiritual level, of foreignness”.
The word used here for man, one of the great Torah teachers and philologists (word study expert) points out that this particular use of man in Hebrew, Hebrew having more than one word for man, means a man at the highest spiritual level.
Here though is the key; he cannot be “of” foreignness. He cannot be sourced in foreignness. He cannot merely be drawn close from the Israelites brothers, but be from, rooted in and draw from foreignness. That is, things outside of the Torah and outside of what the LORD gives the Jewish People to be and do.
No king of Israel can merely be “ethnically” an Israelite/Jewish. He – absolutely – cannot be spiritually rooted in the paganism that was in Israel from the people there before the Jewish People get there; or, be rooted in Athens/Greek or Rome/Latin – or the West/America/English!
In short for here, the LORD repeatedly and consistently both in the Torah and through the Prophets, tells the Jewish People to have absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the ways of the Nations! In fact, in context, within the Land of Israel any of those things must be completely uprooted, destroyed or burned Cf. Ex. 34:12-17 et al., et al.
Thus there is a fundamental and foundational question, and we mean this very very sensitively. Can Yeshua be “JC”? My very dear Christian brethren may refer to him however they like, and I say that out of great sensitivity. However; the key is that the King of Israel cannot “be” “JC”.
He cannot be merely ethnically Jewish; but, rooted in the things outside of the Torah and rooted in the post-Biblical Greco-Roman Western American English model of “JC”. Said again, very sensitively, what – Biblically – was he actually called?
Not to be ungracious certainly, but to be honest; can there be a Jewish “JC”? Is it Biblically authentic to refer to him by a very decidedly non-Hebrew non-Jewish-based name? In Hebrew, name has tremendous meaning and significance. It is not merely a way to designate something. Rather, a name in Hebrew says something about someone. We should note that God gave Adam the responsibility of calling what the animals would be (in Hebrew “call” is used”; to get into that would be another excursus we won’t do here). One of the great Torah teachers correctly points out about name, in Hebrew; that it speaks of “one’s spiritual and intellectual activity”. At a deeper level, name says something about one’s mission function purpose.
I. Howard Marshall, in his highly regarded commentary on the Greek text of Luke, astutely points out the following on Lk. 1:30-34. When the angel comes to speak to Miryam (“Miriam”; “Bitter”; in Greek “Mariam” for the Hebrew “Miryam”. “Mary” is used to dissociate her from being the Jewess she was) the name of her child is given by the LORD, through the angel.
Thus, an extremely key question: would the name of the child that a very pious Jewess (cf. Luke 1-2) in first century Israel – not the Middle Ages in Europe (!)- was told she is having, who would be given the throne of his father David (cf. Lk. 1:30-34), be named with a Latin-based name?
As we say in our About You and Us page, we are not here to tell you what to think, but rather to help you to better think for yourself. No doubt; books with titles like “J the Jewish Theologian” “Rabbi J” “The Jewish Roots of J” etc., teaching about the “Jewish J”, are very well intended! We simply ask the question: can there be, a Jewish “J”??
Dt. 17:15 more deeply in Hebrew ends by repeating for emphasis that Israel’s king …” that positively going forward and summing everything up, in fact he (is) not of your (plural) brothers”. Cf. the beginning of the verse. In other words: the Israelite king cannot be a man of foreignness and that in fact he cannot not be from the Israelite’s brothers.
Are the Jewish People then one day to expect their Mashiach (“Messiah”; from the Hebrew verb drawn from “separate out from”. Cf in Hebrew, it is very much connected with the name Moshe “drawn from the waters”. For the connection between Moshe and the Mashiach cf. Dt. 18:15 and Lk. 9:28-36), to be, ethnically Jewish but spiritually “of foreignness”?
If so: where do we find this?
Further, if we look at Dt. 17:16 and the verses following, we see in short that a king of Israel cannot be like the kings of the earth nor – nor – can he take Israel back to Egypt (in Hebrew “Constraint”).
Thus, we close by simply asking: What does the Torah teach us about who a king of Israel can – and cannot be? What is it that he cannot be rooted in? Very quickly regarding Yeshua’s on personal religious practice. In Greek in Lk. 4:16, the good doctor Luke indicates that Yeshua’s own personal customary religious practice, was to attend the synagogue in Natzeret (“Nazareth”).
So again, based on the Torah, who is the King of Israel; what is his name? Does the name in Hebrew tell us much much more about who he be (Hebrew has no word “is”)? If so, how should that impact our understanding, following, and teaching about him?
In short for here, we should keep in mind that we are not doing what we point out one of the very very serious flaws of Western Tradition teaching methodology is. That is to make a major point of something out of a single verse.
Let us please quickly point out that Yeshua is first found early in the Torah in his divinity as the angel of the LORD. That those appearances are virtually always when the Jewish People need help. In Isaiah 40-49 called the Servant Songs Western Tradition unfortunately misses that the Servant and Israel are so closely spoken of, that it can be hard to tell exactly who is being referred to.
In short, Yeshua is part and parcel of the Jewish People – uniquely – in both his divinity and in his humanity as a Jew of Israel. Cf. Mt. 1, Lk. 1-2; cf. Yochanon 1:14, 4:22, Rom. 1:3 etc. etc. We should most especially note that Yeshua is part of the whole of the Jewish People, from the very beginning of the Bible, Genesis to its end in Revelation. Cf. most esp. Rev. 5:5, and 22:16.
Lastly, and we say this again sensitively, it is only – only – in the Hebrew name Yeshua that we see who he truly “be”. As with the name LORD and Ruach Hakodesh (“Holy Spirit”) as we point out in our teaching, these names are not from nouns but rather from verbs – action! God is active!
Yeshua in Hebrew not only means save or savior but also: there is, substance, deliverance, victory, grant essence of existence, grant vigorous existence; as much of the essence of God that Man can comprehend has been revealed. Cf. Ex. 14:13-14; Titus 2:11.
So again dear one, you may refer to Yeshua by whatever name you use, but, who, who, must he be……
Imagine the positive potential possibilities of fully embracing not just Hebrew & Jewish “Roots” about “JC”, but the actual and authentically Torah based and Scripture-based Yeshua!