On the one hand, as a rabbi who respects and values my Christian friends and readers, I am hesitant to write about the controversial areas where Jews and Christians differ. After all, we have so much that we agree on and should focus our resources on what unites us. While on the other hand, I would like to believe that a deeper understanding of each other, and our differences, will lead to even greater mutual appreciation. After previously writing what I was concerned was potentially an offensive article “Will the Real Messiah Please Stand Up” I was reassured when a Christian reader commented, “I have also come to understand – I believe by His Grace – to ‘agree to disagree’ when it comes to my Jewish friends/ acquaintances.” In this spirit of respectful dialogue, whether you agree with me or disagree, I invite you to submit your comments below.
The closing chapters of Genesis contain a veiled reference to the arrival of the Messiah, which sharply distinguishes between what Jews and Christians believe. Previously, we have explored the Jewish perspective on Messianism, struggling with his surprisingly scandalous origins and discussing our role in bringing the Messiah.
Today, we will delve into the deeper meaning behind one important Hebrew word in order to appreciate where and why Judaism and Christianity differ about the Messiah.
Before Jacob passes away, the great patriarch blesses his twelve sons in this week’s Torah portion, Vayehi (Genesis 47:28–50:26). The blessing Jacob gives to his son Judah is as significant as it is mysterious:
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the judicial interpreter’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh shall come and unto him shall be the ingathering of the nations. Genesis 49:10
Jacob’s reference to the scepter refers to Judah’s position as the ultimate progenitor of Israel’s kings, as the father of Peretz, Boaz, Yishai and David. The reference to Shiloh, however, is not as clear cut, since the precise meaning of the Hebrew word can be interpreted in a number of ways. According to Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, director of the Center for Jewish and Christian Cooperation and Understanding, whose article “The Millennium and Normative Messianism” is the basis for much of this article, the word Shiloh appears only this once in the Bible, except as a name of the city which housed the Tabernacle during the period of the Judges. While Jewish Bible scholars have debated the precise meaning of the origins of the word, most agree that Shiloh here refers to the arrival of the Messiah.
A most fascinating explanation was suggested by Rabbi Jacob ben Asher, a hugely important medieval rabbi who lived in Germany around the turn of the fourteenth century. Perhaps more than any other person in Jewish history, Rabbi Jacob ben Asher has shaped the daily life of Jews through his writings and codification of Jewish law. In his commentary on Genesis, Rabbi Jacob ben Asher reveals a hidden connection between the word Shiloh and the Hebrew word for Messiah. According to Jewish mysticism and the study of Gematriya, every Hebrew letter corresponds to a different number. With this understanding, in God’s infinite wisdom, certain diverse words and ideas are secretly connected when their numerical values are the same. Amazingly, the numerical value of the words ‘yavo shiloh’ (Shiloh comes) adds up to 358 which is exactly the same as the word Mashiach, which also adds up to 358. With prophetic foresight, Jacob blessed Judah with not only the monarchy, but the emergence of the messianic line through his lineage.
A Spanish contemporary of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher, Rabbenu Bahya (Rabbyanu Bachya) offered another interpretation of the word Shiloh unrelated to its numerical value, but based on a different ancient technique of Jewish Bible study. Unlike any language developed by man, Hebrew is the Lord’s language. Therefore, when two Hebrew words are very similar they are often related even if their plain meaning seems to offer no connection.
Rabbenu Bahya points out that the word Shiloh is almost identical to the Hebrew word Shilya which appears in Deuteronomy 28:57 and means womb. He insists that Shiloh means that the Messiah must be born naturally “from the womb like all other children” denying the possibility that the Messiah would be born in a supernatural manner.
This is not merely a small detail or a technicality. Just like the Messiah must be the natural child of a mother and father, so too, he will bring about the final era of peace in natural ways. “Do not think that the King Messiah must perform signs and miracles” says the great Jewish philosopher Maimonides. Just as his birth must be natural, so too his life and death. In the words of Rabbi Riskin, “although the founder of Christianity may well have been a God-fearing and even charismatic rabbinical figure, once we was crucified by the Romans he forfeited all claims to the title of Messiah.”
In his book “Torah Lights”, Rabbi Riskin tells a charming story of an Israeli bookseller who told him that the Messiah was in Jerusalem. Rabbi Riskin immediately left the shop with great excitement, prayed with extra devotion and did his best to search the faces of pious Jerusalemites in the hope of identifying the savior. After seeking high and low to no avail, Rabbi Riskin returned to the bookseller in despair and with great frustration claimed that no matter how hard he looked, he simply couldn’t find the Messiah. “Rabbi, you’re making a mistake,” said the bookseller. “You think that we are waiting for the Messiah. But really, the Messiah is waiting for us.”
