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whereas in reality they are but one , perhaps the modern Jews have expunged one which . might be ascertained by a collation of copies . "—( Schoettg . loc . cit . ) If this remark be correct , the whole force of the passage is destroyed , since the object is to prove that the Messiah is called Jehovah , not by the symbolical name " Jehovah our righteousness , " which would not convey
the least hint of identity with Jehovah . And whether the passage has been altered or not , it is evident from what has been already said , that the application of the name could not be intended to express participation in nature . This is the whole Rabbinical evidence adduced by Schoettgenius to prove that the Jews expected their Messiah to be Jehovah : it is perfectly worthless .
The word Shechinah was used by the Jews to express any manifestation of the Divine presence or energy . It is not a name of God , but of the symbols of his presence on earth , ai * d might without impropriety be applied to men enabled by him to act in an extraordinary manner , as well as to a bright cloud or a burning bush . It will be enough for us to notice one passage from the Zohar , upon which Schoettgenius chiefly relies . ** Zohar , Gen . fol . 88 , col . 343 : This son is the ' faithful shepherd . Concerning
thee ii is said , Ps . n . 12 , * kiss the son , and ver . 7 , thou art my son . But he is the Prince of Israel , the Lord of things below , the chief of ministering angels , the Son of the Most High , the Son of the holy and blessed God , and the gracious Shechinah . "—( Schoettg . Hor ® Heb . et Talm . Vol . II . p . 6 . ) The last expression means the gracious manifestation of God s favours to his people . It is not a personal appellation , and is therefore no proof of the Messiah ' s participation in divine names . With respect to the third title , " Zohar , Genes , fol . 63 , col . 249 , " is quoted thus : " And the
King Messiah , who is called by the name of the holy and blessed God . ' * ( Schoettg . Horse Heb . et Talm . Vol . II . p . 8 . ) It may be enough in illustration of the sense in which this is said , to quote from Bava-bathra , fol . 75 , 2 , words elsewhere alleged by Schoettgenius : " There are three things which receive the name of the holy and blessed God himself , namely , the Just , the Messiah * and Jerusalem . " — ( Apud Schoettg . Vol . II . p . 205 . ) After reading this , will any man in his senses suppose that Jewish writers understood Being called by the name of the Most High to imply any participation in his nature ?
We conclude that there has been no proof afforded either from the Zohar pr from other Rabbinical works , that the Jews at any period expected their Messiah to he a partaker in the Divine Nature . We think we have shewn that Dr , S . has totally failed in his endeavours to deduce , either from the Old Testament or from Jewish writings of a later date , any evidence favourable to his doctrine ; and that he cannot carry forward to the examination of the Christian Scriptures themselves , even the slightest reasonable presumption in behalf of the views which he so ingeniously and learnedly labours to establish .
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Dr . J . P . Smith ' s Scripture Testimony to the Messiuh . 471
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1831, page 471, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2599/page/39/
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