Posts by Hanoch Ben Keshet
Testing the Waters: A Reevaluation of Yeshua’s Five Sayings on βάπτισμα
The three synoptists Mark, Matthew, and Luke portray Yeshua making use of the Greek verb baptizo– (βαπτίζω) and noun baptisma (βάπτισμα) in five sayings: Luke 12:50, Mark 10:38–39, Mark 11:30 [with Luke 20:4, Matt 21:25], Matthew 28:19, and Acts 1:5.1 These sayings not only help define the contours and boundaries of baptizo– and baptisma in…
Read MoreDoes Messianic Judaism Have a Part in Rebuilding the Temple?
Introduction Hashem’s wilderness Tabernacle (Mishkan) and later Temple (Mikdash) feature prominently in the Tanakh, and by all accounts the Temple remained a focal point of Yeshua’s concern throughout his ministry. Yet Yeshua prophesied the Temple’s ruin (Luke 21:6), and its destruction a generation later in CE 70 has been taken by supersessionists to signify the…
Read MoreEzekiel 36:25-27 as the Besorah for Israel
Less than a century after the second Temple’s destruction two respected sages, R. Jose and R. Meir,1 apparently viewed Ezekiel 36:25 as a national eschatological marker for Israel. Our Rabbis taught: Mamzerim and Nethinim will become pure in the future:2 this is R. Jose’s view. R. Meir said: They will not become pure. Said R.…
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