Next, we spring over to the Book of Matthew to see how this former tax collector employed the messianic prophecy of Zechariah. We immediately detect the same issues we discovered in our previous investigation of Zechariah 9:9.
Famous statue in the centre of Bremen, Germany, depicting the donkey, dog, cat and cockerel from Grimm’s famous fairy tale The Bremen Town Musicians Darren Baker | Dreamstime.com
Did Jesus ride on one animal or two? Did He mount them separately or both simultaneously?
I like the common-sense approach to these questions that Louis A. Barbieri Jr. offers in the Bible Knowledge Commentary:
“Only Matthew mentioned a donkey along with the colt. A simple explanation of what some call a contradiction is that when Jesus rode the colt, the mother donkey naturally went along.” (Matthew 21:7 ESV) (Louis A. Barbieri Jr., Matthew, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, 1983, paragraph 21163).
Hence, Jesus entered the holy city with two donkeys, but He rode only one.
This explanation, offered by Louis A. Barbieri Jr., is full of practical wisdom. I’m ready to consider this dilemma solved. But life is never that simple.
It is unsurprising that, despite this straightforward explanation, Bible students want to argue other positions. In the rest of this section, we will indulge some of our contrarian friends.
Growing up in New Jersey as a seven-year-old was an East Coast dream. Swimming at the sunlit Jersey shore. Fishing in northern Jersey lakes. Strolling through New York’s Times Square. I was a dyed-in-the-wool Jersey boy.
No New Jersey summer was complete without the family visit to Atlantic City’s Steel Pier. Of course, I spent the day dogging my parents about when we would attend Steel Pier’s diving horses extravaganza.
Who wouldn’t be thrilled to watch a woman on horseback plummet 40 feet into a water tank?
The Roy Rogers Rodeo was another contender for my attention. At this Western round-up in New York’s Madison Square Garden, I fantasized I would become the first Jewish buckaroo.
Unfortunately, my parents were adamant that horseback lessons should take a rear saddle to my Bar Mitzvah preparations.
Every winter, my Mom and Dad would ferry my brother and me through the Lincoln Tunnel to attend the Barnum and Bailey Circus at MSG. I always looked forward to the clown acts, but loved the daredevil horseback stunts most.
My favorite horseback riding trick is known as Roman riding. A performer stands or balances on the backs of two horses driven abreast, taking hurdles or performing other stunts.
I was always convinced these dazzling skills only belonged in the three rings or a riding arena. Yet I was recently briefed that Jesus may have performed a daredevil balancing act when He paraded into Jerusalem on what some believe was two donkeys.
Messiah’s Unusual Entrance into Jerusalem
I recently encountered this dilemma surrounding Yeshua’s Triumphal Entry while teaching a seminar on the messianic prophecies in the Gospel of Matthew. I was expounding on Yeshua’s entrance into Jerusalem in fulfillment of the messianic passage in Zechariah 9:9, which reads:
“Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey “ (Zechariah 9:9 ESV).
In Matthew 21:5-7, the gospel writer quotes from the Minor Prophet Zechariah to show how Yeshua’s jaunt into the holy city fulfills this prophecy:
“Say to Daughter Zion, ‘See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’ ” The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them for Jesus to sit on” (Matthew 21:5-7 NIV11).
In the NIV and the KJV’s translation of Zechariah 9:9, the Messianic King rides into the holy city on two donkeys. In stark contrast, in most English translations of Zechariah 9:9, the Messiah journeys into a rejoicing Jerusalem on one donkey.
Unsurprisingly, a class member raised her hand to inquire about this quizzical discrepancy in the Matthew text. The student wondered, “Why does Matthew record two donkeys, a mother and a young colt? Didn’t Zechariah prophecy that the Messiah would ride on ONE donkey?
The student questioned further, “Matthew also recorded that Jesus sat on THEM. Did Yeshua sit on BOTH the mother donkey and her colt simultaneously?”
The picture this Bible student was portraying turns Yeshua’s entry into Jerusalem into quite a spectacle. Did He ride on the donkeys both at the exact moment or one at a time? I did not have an immediate response.
I knew my understanding of this passage required more research
I also encountered another quandry about the Triumphant Entry. Was Yeshua’s entry into Jerusalem actually “triumphant”?
Pastors often claim Jesus journeyed into Jerusalem to claim Himself as the long-awaited King of Israel. Initially, the Jewish crowds accepted Jesus’ victorious entry four days before Passover. But later in the week, the “same” crowds cried for Yeshua’s crucifixion.
Was Yeshua’s journey into the city of David a victorious military event? Did the crowd misunderstand Yeshua’s message in His memorable entry before His crucifixion?
I decided to do a deep dive into the messianic prophecy of Zechariah 9:9. Then, I would spring over to Matthew 21 to further investigate this possible biblical juggernaut. The results of my private investigation are found in this article.
By now the controversy surrounding the Jews for Jesusvideo “That Jew Died for You” has simmered down. Still the strong negative reaction by the Jewish community to the JFJ evangelistic effort remains a stain on Jewish-Christian relations.
At the release of the video prior to Holocaust Remembrance Day, a Jews for Jesus press release, explained the video seeks “to help redefine the conversation and reshape views of Jesus and His relationship to the Holocaust.”
The intentions of JFJ in the production of this video were honorable and aimed to initiate conversation among Jewish people regarding Christianity’s relationship to the murder of six million Jews under the evil Nazi regime.
David Brickner, Executive Director of JFJ offered his public commentary on the video, “The horrors of the Holocaust and the 6 million who died has gnawed at the consciousness of Jews for over 60 years. We want Jewish people to understand that the sufferings inflicted at the hands of the Nazi’s were in no way based on the teachings of Jesus (underlining mine). In fact, he suffered and died on our behalf to show us the love of God.”
Oddly, the majority of Jewish people do not think the teachings of Jesus are responsible for the horrors of the Holocaust. Rather, the Jewish community is more concerned with the antisemitic attitudes of Eastern European Christians prior to and during World War II that helped fuel the racist ideology behind the Holocaust. (more…)
Apr 20, 2012
Posted by Scripture Solutions on Apr 20, 2012 | Comments Off on The Book James Cameron Does Not Want You to Read
James Cameron is best known for his films Titanic and the Terminator series. Cameron is somewhat of an entrepreneur. He seems to always find himself in the middle of some edgy project beyond his movie making. Camerons’ latest endeavor is launching a meteor mining company with Ross Perot and Google Founder Larry Page. Sometimes I wonder if Cameron really believes what he said when he received the Oscar for Titanic, “I’m the King of the World.”
Perhaps his greatest accomplishment was putting together a documentary in March 2007 intended to disprove the resurrection of Jesus. According to the Discovery Channel description of the show we learn,
Since the 1970s, hundreds of tombs and thousands of ossuaries (limestone bone boxes) have been discovered in the Jerusalem area. These ossuaries served as coffins in first-century Jerusalem. One of these tombs was found to contain ten ossuaries. Six of the ossuaries in this tomb have inscriptions on them. As it turns out, every inscription in this particular tomb relates to the Gospels. In the feature documentary The Lost Tomb of Jesus a case is made that the 2,000-year-old “Tomb of the Ten Ossuaries” belonged to the family of Jesus of Nazareth.
In other words, the “King of the World” has found the tomb of the King of Kings – Jesus of Nazareth, thus proving the resurrection never took place. Now that the invincible James Cameron has successfully destroyed Christianity he can get back to making inane anti-U.S. military films like Avatar.
When I first watched The Lost Tomb of Jesus I was surprised at how naive viewers were in even considering the validity of the documentary. In response, I started to do my own research about the Talpiot Tomb, where the alleged bones of Jesus have been hidden for 2000 years just waiting for Cameron and his camera crew to come along and expose Christianity to be founded on a lie.
In 2007 I wrote a short booklet in which I examined the “proofs” offered by James Cameron and writer Simcha Jacobovici, an Israeli-born filmmaker. To give you an example of the content of my book entitled, “Burying the Jesus Family Tomb Controversy,” here is the opening chapter:
The Lost Tomb of Jesus, a documentary recently aired on the Discovery Channel, claims an ancient tomb discovered in Jerusalem may have held the bones of Jesus. The project’s producer, James Cameron, commented that the implications of such a find could drastically change the sacred faith of Christianity.
If Jesus’ bones really are among those found in the tomb’s ossuaries ¾ limestone bone boxes ¾ believers around the world have a major problem with their faith. His resurrection would be proven false, and Christians could no longer attest to the fact that they have been born again through the power of the Holy Spirit. As the apostle Paul said in I Corinthians 15:7: “And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.” (Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from the New International Version).
TV host Ted Koppel interviewed several religious scholars immediately after the feature ended. He asked a priest on the panel, “What if Jesus’ bones are in the box?” The priest responded that it would not affect his faith. “My faith would go on,” he said.
While watching the panel discussions, I asked myself, “What is my faith in? If there is no resurrection, am I going to continue in the faith? Faith in what, assuming the resurrection — the foundation of our faith — has been ripped away?”
As I considered my own questions in the days that followed, a member of my church admitted to me, “Well, if Jesus’ bones are in the box, we have to close down this congregation.” This believer grasped the implications of the claims made by Cameron and his team.
If Jesus had an ossuary, it would contradict the major tenet of the New Testament faith: that Jesus was resurrected and ascended to heaven. “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” (I Corinthians 15:3-4). “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (I Peter 1:3).
The New Testament is built on the veracity of the resurrection of Yeshua. It is neither an option nor a hypothesis; it is the bedrock of our beliefs. In answer to my own questions, if Jesus has not been raised from the dead, my life and faith are in ruins!
Unfortunately, many spirit-filled and active believers have chosen to ignore the documentary, feeling they do not want to increase the ratings of the show or to lend credibility to the program. However, this attitude robs us of an opportunity to share the reliability of our faith with others. Since the show aired, I have encountered many secular individuals who watched the program and had serious questions about what it all means.
After prayerfully pondering the Discovery Channel documentary, I wrote this brief booklet “Burying the Jesus Family Tomb Controversy” to equip my fellow Christians and interested seekers with a response to Cameron’s fictitious documentary . This booklet addresses the fallacy of Cameron’s documentary — and others like it — that dispute the life, death, and resurrection of Yeshua, our Lord Jesus the Messiah. I trust that my words will strengthen your faith, and give you the confidence to talk to any who may have questions about this controversial documentary.
I want to give you a copy of this booklet – for free. All I ask is that you become a subscriber to the ScriptureSolutions blog and I will send you the booklet. For the first fifty people who sign up as subscribers to ScriptureSolutions, the booklet is yours. No strings attached. ScriptureSolutions is not a non-profit organization so I can’t even accept a donation even if you wanted to offer one. I’d rather you give the gift to your congregation.
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Mar 21, 2012
Posted by Scripture Solutions on Mar 21, 2012 | Comments Off on Burying the Jesus Family Tomb Controversy
Today’s blog is a reposting of an article I wrote in 2008 regarding the alleged ossuary of Jesus as purported by famous director/producer James Cameron (Terminator, Avatar and Titanic). Since the bone box of James, the brother of Jesus as not been proven to be a fake by the Israeli Antiquities Authority, it is of no surprise that the creators of the Lost Tomb of Jesus Discovery Channel documentary would attempt to bring back the Jesus Family Tomb controversy. Here is a reposting of my blog composed four years ago.
In Spring ’07 the Discovery Channel aired a TV documentary, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, made by Hollywood director James Cameron and Canadian investigative journalist Simcha Jacobovici.
According to an article in Time magazine, the documentary “re-examines an archaeological find from 1980 in which a crypt [the Talpiot tomb] was found containing what were said to be the ossuaries of Joseph, Mary, Jesus, the son of Joseph, Mariamne (possibly Mary Magdalene, say the film-makers) and Judah, son of Jesus.”
The controversy of whether or not the Talpiot tomb once contained the remains of Jesus and His family stayed on the media circuit for a few months in Spring ’07 prior to the airing of the documentary and for a few weeks afterwards. Soon after several TV appearances by the filmmakers and a flurry of Christian articles refuting the claims of The Lost Tomb of Jesus, the controversy fizzled.
In 2008 according to Time magazine the controversy was opened once again. “Still, even after the furor over the film faded, the questions it raised about the tomb unearthed in 1980 continued to make waves among archaeologists and Biblical scholars,” says the Time magazine piece.
Little did I know that when I wrote a 30 page booklet entitled Burying the Jesus Family Tomb Controversy that The Lost Tomb of Jesus would make a re-appearance. At the time I composed the booklet, I felt the issues raised by Cameron and Jacobovici were so important that the errors and false conclusions made in the documentary had to be addressed. In fact, the Time magazine article admits the “debate over Jesus’ supposed tomb will probably rage for years to come.” (more…)
