Posts by David Rudolph

Tens of thousands of Gentile followers of Yeshua have participated in the Messianic movement since the 1970s and have embraced aspects of Jewish life. Often it begins with a visit to a Shabbat service and then a Jewish festival. Next, wearing a tallit, keeping kosher, and hanging a mezuzah by the front door. How are…

The first Gospel begins with the words, “An account of the genealogy of Yeshua the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matt 1:1).1 It is not difficult to see how the theme “son of David” pervades Matthew’s magnum opus. The term appears ten times, and Yeshua is portrayed as the shepherd-king of…

From the time I was eight-years old until my Bar Mitzvah, I attended a Messianic Jewish congregation on Friday nights and a Conservative synagogue on Saturday mornings in the Washington, D.C. Metro area. On Sunday mornings, my father and I regularly had breakfast at the local bagel shop. Then we went to Abe’s Jewish Book…

One of the most promising developments in New Testament studies over the past thirty years has been the emergence of a new school of thought referred to as “Paul within Judaism (PwJ).” This view starts “with the assumption that the writing and community building of the apostle Paul took place within late Second Temple Judaism.”1…

(This article is based on a message given at the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregation’s annual conference in 2006.) On the Jewish calendar, today is Shabbat Chazon, the Sabbath before the 9th of Av. On Shabbat Chazon, it is traditional to reflect on the reasons for the destruction of the two Temples. Why were they…