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  PROPHECY AND ITS INTERPRETATION (1844)
  by Halsey Jf
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Halsey's theological work on biblical prophecy and proper methods of prophetic
interpretation, addressing how prophecy should be understood and applied within
Christian theology. Written during the period of heightened prophetic interest
in the 1840s.

  Chapters: 2

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    1. 1 Prophecy and its Interpretation
    2. 2 Prophecy and its Interpretation

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  CHAPTER 1: 1 PROPHECY AND ITS INTERPRETATION
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Prophecy and its Interpretation.

We have received the following very friendly letter from the Rev. J. F. Halsey,
of Perth Amboy, N. J.; and in order to bring the subject fairly up for
discussion we communicate Mr. Halsey’s ideas in his own words to our readers. In
the mean time we thank him heartily for the kind expressions which he bestows
upon our labours, and for his promptness to encourage the new translation of the
Scriptures which our fellow labourer of the Voice of Jacob has in contemplation,
who we doubt not will profit by the suggestions of our honoured correspondent.
Mr. Halsey is another evidence of the spread of more kindly feeling between Jews
and gentiles; and it shall not be our fault if it is not farther extended, since
we mean, even whilst discussing the points of difference between us, and whilst
calling to mind what we have suffered for religion’s sake, constantly to
admonish our readers to exercise charity and good-will towards all men, of
whatever country and persuasion. We profess a religion of peace; and may all the
world be happy, so there be but "peace upon Israel."-Ed. Oc.

Mr. Editor:

I have read with no ordinary interest the numbers of the Occident from the
first. Enclosed is my subscription. I wish to continue it for the ensuing year.
I have admired the frank and manly spirit you have pursued, and especially that
gentlemanly courtesy you have ever exhibited even towards those correspondents
from whom you differ in religious opinion. Allow me, dear Sir, to express my
high pleasure in the noble avowal, "that we shall receive with gratitude any
suggestions offered in a kindly spirit." At a time when the religious press is
all but absolutely muzzled, and free inquiry proscribed, your readers of other
denominations must have admired the comity and independence of the Occident. I
am free to avow my love and regard for your nation, my deep sympathy in all your
trials and persecutions. My purse, my pen, and my prayers will ever be ready to
aid, as far as I am able, the seed of Abraham, God’s friend, and "to whom were
committed the oracles of God." Accordingly I wish to subscribe for five copies
of the "Book of the Testimony of God." This work is a desideratum, and I have no
doubt will meet a ready sale in this country. Mr. Editor, permit me through you,
to make one suggestion relative to the forthcoming work, which will add
exceedingly to its value to an English reader, viz., marginal readings
containing the exact meaning or translation of Hebrew names of persons, places,
&c., and a uniform rendering of the titles and appellatives of God. There is a
treasury of divine wisdom and knowledge locked up in the Hebrew names of the
Bible, which none but a Hebrew student can begin to estimate. Such marginal
readings, &c., would exceedingly enhance its value in this country.

Mr. Editor, permit me to allude to the editorial note
<http://www.jewish-history.com/Occident/volume1/Mark1844/dias6.html>appended to
Dias’s sixth letter. I agree with you that, "that letter is the most important
of the series thus far," so much so, that I view it as perfectly unanswerable by
any man in any of the Christian sects, save the few individuals who hold to a
literal interpretation of the divine word. You very justly add "the prophets
speak of a Messiah who is to accomplish all that has been predicted of him. Now
precisely such a one and no other can be received as the fulfiller of scriptural
prediction, but if he omit any of these, he is not the one whom we expect. His
mission is the redemption of Israel and the world; and unless this have been, or
be accomplished, the personage under question cannot be the King of the Jews."
In all this I fully agree with you. Such is the Messiah of the prophets; such is
the Messiah of the gentile and the Jew; such is only the Messiah in whom I
believe. In your preface you forcibly observe, "this much we know, Israel needs
defenders, and among these we wish to be numbered." Mr. Editor, I would humbly
crave to be enrolled as one, too. I would defend Israel from the falsehood and
unmercifulness of those who no less ignorantly than fearlessly teach, that God
has for ever cast off the natural seed of Abraham, "his friend;" that he will no
more appear to build and beautify Jerusalem, and restore the twelve tribes as of
old, and settle them after their former estates, &c. I do in my soul believe,
and therefore pray with Daniel, "Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of
thy servant and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy
sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake. O my God incline thine ear and
hear, open thine eyes and behold our desolations, and the city whereupon thy
name is called; for we do not cause to fall our supplications before Thee for
our righteousness, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear, O Lord forgive, O
Lord hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God, for thy city and
thy people are called by thy name." So far from believing that Israel shall be
no more an established nation and church, I believe with the prophet Ezekiel,
that "God will multiply men upon the mountains of Israel, all the house
ofIsrael, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be
builded. And I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they shall increase and
bring fruit; and I will settle youafter your old estates, and will do better
than at your beginnings. Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, my people
Israel. And they shall possess, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and thou
shalt no more henceforth bereave them of men," &c. (Ezekiel 36:8-12.) Yes, I
solemnly believe that your nation shall be re-established in their own land-have
a larger and more glorious temple than Solomon’s rebuilt, and the Levitical
priesthood and sacrifices re-instituted with some specified and significant
modifications, to show that many of the magnificent prophecies of Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, &c., have not yet been fulfilled-are yet future.
That in that day when these predictions shall be literally fulfilled, (as have
been all past prophecies,) I believe the exact requisitions you name in your
remarks (Vol. I. page 610,)
<http://www.jewish-history.com/Occident/volume1/Mark1844/dias6.html> will
precisely meet in Messiah, who shall then come, and "whose feet shall then stand
in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which shall cleave in the midst thereof,
toward the east and toward the west, a very great valley, as Zechariah informs
us. A most convincing proof that his prophecy is future. But He shall not come
alone, "and the Lord my God shall come, all the saints with Thee. And the Lord
shall be King over all the earth, in that day there shall be one Lord, and his
name shall be One. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon,
south of Jerusalem, and it shall be lifted up and inhabited in her place, from
Benjamin’s gate until the place of the first gate, and the tower of Hananeel
unto the king’s wine-presses; and they shall dwell in it; and there shall be no
more utter destruction, but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited." (Zechariah
14:1-21.) But I would affectionately, yet earnestly, beseech you to notice one
circumstance connected with Messiah’s coming, when "He will make the governors
of Judah like a hearth of fire among wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf,
and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right and left, and
Jerusalem shall be inhabited, in her own place, in Jerusalem; when the Lord
shall defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, he that is abject among them at that
day shall be as David, and the house of David as God, as the angel of the Lord
before them. In that day when it shall come to pass, when I will seek to destroy
all the nations that come against Jerusalem, that I will pour upon the house of
David and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and
supplication, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced." This is the
circumstance. Does not this look like the "man of sorrows" described by Isaiah
53:1-12.? Like the Messiah of Daniel "who was to be cut off, but not for
himself?" Like the crucified Messiah whom the gentiles worship? He whom some
believe is soon to come the second time, and then "sit on the throne of his
father David ?" Does it not necessarily imply a prior coming, when HE was
pierced? Does not this look as though the prophets taught two advents of
Messiah? one as a Lamb, that He might "make his soul an offering for sin," and
"bear the sin of many:" the other, as son of David, and King of the Jews? The
first, to be "pierced," "smitten," "stricken," "wounded:" the second, "to smite
through his enemies" as predicted in the 110th Psalm? In the first He comes as
the "offspring of David;" in the second, as "the root of David." In the first,
"the son of a virgin;" in the second, "the wonderful, counsellor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace." The last sentence in
Dias’ Letter needs a remark. "Now, if Christians will prove that Jesus fulfilled
the prophecies, they will then convert the Jews, for they require nothing else."
I reply, that no Christian can prove the same; for this simple reason, the
prophecies Dias has quoted arestill future, and, of course, Jesus has not yet
fulfilled them; but I believe that he will fulfil them, word for word, at his
second advent. Now just on this point, I do not wonder that Christian writers
have utterly failed in their controversies with the Jews; as they undertook to
prove whatcould not be proved, and therefore should not have been attempted.
They undertook to convert unfulfilled into fulfilled prophecy, and thus
confounded, instead of discriminating between those predictions which relate to
the first coming of the Messiah to be "pierced," "wounded," "cut off," and those
which predict his second coming in triumph to reign on earth King of the Jews,
Prince of Peace. Thus they converted numerous substantial and glorious
predictions into figures, i.e., they did violence to the divine word. And no
marvel that they utterly failed to convince and convert the Jew. And then
because confused, weak, and fallacious arguments failed upon the Jew, his
opponents lost their temper, and aimed to effect by persecution of tongue, and
pen, and statute, what ignorance and unkindness ought not, could not, and cannot
effect; forgetting the proverbs "The sweetness of the lips increaseth learning,
pleasant words are as an honeycomb to the soul, and health to the bones. He that
handleth a matter wisely shall find good, and whoso trusteth in the Lord, happy
is he."

I am, dear Sir, Yours truly, J. F. Halsey.

Perth Amboy, N. J., March 11, 1844.

NOTE by the Editor.-We need not tell the intelligent reader, that Mr. Halsey
appears to be one of those who believe in the literal fulfilment of Scripture,
to be accomplished at the second advent of the Messiah, whoever he may be. It
may be observed, that with the increase of knowledge of the Word of God, free
from the authoritative comments which receivedinterpretation formerly gave to
it, men of all persuasions have come to the conclusion, that the history of the
gospels is no fulfilment of the predictions of Israel’s seers; but that if the
founder of Christianity be indeed the Christ,* it is absolutely necessary for
him to appear again on earth, in order to bring to pass that which has as yet
not seen its fulfilment. The Messiah therefore according to this view has a
duplex character, his first, a divine incarnation, if such a state can be, the
second, a divinity without the adjunct of a human frame. In either sense,
whether Christians believe in a spiritual, that is to say, one coming of Christ,
or in a literal, that is to say, a second coming, superadded to the first, they
demand an acknowledgment of him as a part of the Deity, who came to reconcile by
his death an offended God with the seed of man; since all Christians profess to
believe that without this mediatorial intervention, every Adamite, through the
sin of Adam, would be doomed to condemnation, because there could be no
atonement which any Adamite could offer, of sufficient potency and holiness, to
remove the weight of original iniquity. With Adam all had sinned, as we
understand their doctrines, and it required a second Adam, who, uniting the most
perfect human form with the divinity, which he was himself, should become a
sacrifice for his brothers in the flesh, unto the offended God, whose essence
dwelt in him, and of whom he was a part. We think that we have stated the idea
fairly and clearly, and if not, we are willing to be corrected by any of the
learned Christian divines who honour us with their support.

* The "anointed," Greek χζιστός Christos, from χζίω chrio, to anoint, just as
Messiah is the Hebrew îùéç pronounced, Mahshiach, from îùç Mahshach, to anoint.
This will also explain our meaning, otherwise somewhat obscure in our note to
vol. 1. p. 609.
<http://www.jewish-history.com/Occident/volume1/Mark1844/dias6.html> But as Jews
we deny the premises, that is, the necessity for a mediator; we do not believe
that it ever was in the contemplation of the Most High to cast off man from
favour, although he should sin, and that an atonement was provided from the
beginning in his mercy through obediencebefore transgression and through
repentanceafter the soul be defiled with sin. At another time, we may enter into
the discussion more fully; at present however we must take it for granted that
the evident words of Scripture, constantly calling upon us to "reform the
heart," must imply that man has salvation placed within his own reach. We know
moreover of no traces in history, not even the Bible, whence it could be proved
that the Israelites or Jews (we use the terms indiscriminately, although
Christians love to understand them as of different significations) ever believed
or were taught to believe that they were to look upon the law as insufficient
for salvation, or that they ever had the least idea of a mediatorial atonement.
We know well enough that Christians have understood several passages in various
parts of the Bible, as conveying the idea of a mediator; but surely there is not
a single passage which can bear this construction solely, nor one which lays it
down in so many words. We contend therefore that mediation is no biblical
doctrine, not one without which salvation is impossible, as our gentile
neighbours teach. It is therefore merely under the presumption that there is a
mediator, that the idea of a suffering saviour can be at all entertained, or
that we are to look for a second advent of him, whom God will send as the
redeemer (not saviour in the sense it is used by Christians) of mankind.
According to our ideas, the redeemer, the endowed, the prophet, the anointed,
the Messiah or Christ, the Son of David, otherwise called the prince, the king,
or even "my servant David," is to establish his mission, not by sufferings, but
by triumphing over all the elements of opposition, which now are opposed to the
reign of God, "as the Lord one," on earth. The present is a state of warfare
against the truth; for let us believe as we may, whether we be Jews, Christians,
Mahomedans, heathens or unbelievers, we cannot say otherwise, than that which
each of us calls truth, is not acquiesced in by the majority of mankind; but the
future is to be a state of peace, of acquiescence, when the truth will be
reigning triumphant, conquering all prejudice, subduing all hearts; and this
triumph, even if natural wars, assaults, and sufferings will bring it about, we
believe to be the work proper for Messiah to accomplish; not because he is very
god, not because he and the father are one, not because all things are given
unto him in heaven and earth, not because he is the judge of the world, the lord
of David, the salvation of Abraham-he is to be nothing of all this;-but because
his and our father in heaven, the sole God, the Holy One, the pure Essence has
decreed salvation, and will send his messenger to effect in his name the glad
tidings which He has announced from the beginning, that "He will be magnified
and sanctified before the eyes of many nations, that they shall know that He is
the Lord."

All this being admitted clearly proves, that the passages cited by Christians,
to foreshadow a suffering saviour, cannot be so construed, if the Bible is to be
consistent with itself. We therefore say, that neither the fifty-third chapter
of Isaiah nor the twelfth of Zechariah, mean what Christians say they do. As for
the fifty-third of Isaiah, it is almost universally admitted, we think even by
late Christian writers, to speak of the restoration of Israel, who will then be
spoken of by the gentiles as "the servant of God," who suffered so many fearful
persecutions because of the uniform adherence to the covenant which had been
given from Horeb.*-The twelfth of Zechariah, on the other hand, speaks of things
to happen, none of which can as yet have occurred; the Lord is himself
introduced (v. 7, 8,) as raising the house of David, the city of Jerusalem and
the land of Judah, from their fallen state; and the house of David, mind the
house, not one alone, consequently the Messiah and his family, of whom also
Ezekiel speaks, shall be as the angel of the Lord before the people. The context
therefore forbids the idea that the tenth verse should introduce a pierced deity
as one for whom the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem are to
mourn; especially as the Messiah is represented as distinct, which, according to
our belief, he actually is, from the Lord, through whose assistance all these
things are to be accomplished. But to the Jewish exposition of the text, the
difficulty vanishes. From the chapter in question, it appears, as also from
chapter 38 and 39 of Ezekiel, and other passages, that the time of the advent
will also be a time of tribulation and warfare, and that especially the few
remnants of Israel in Palestine will be the objects of a fierce attack from many
nations. It is well known that the Lord works through natural means;
consequently in the wars, which will thus be displayed as a means of effecting
of great things, some men of Israel will also fall slain, or pierced by the
sword; and in this manner, it is the opinion of certain Rabbis, that the Jewish
war-leader, whom they designate as Messiah, son of Joseph, the precursor for the
son of David, will be slain. Any how, there will be warfare and victims of the
sword; and therefore says the prophet (v. 9, 10): "And it will come to pass on
that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against
Jerusalem. And I will pour out over the house of David and over the inhabitants
of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication, and they shall look up to me,
when they (the enemies) have pierced but one, and they shall mourn over him as
one mourneth for an only son, and be in bitterness for him as one is in
bitterness for a first-born." That is to say, that before the final redemption
which is predicted in the fourteenth chapter can be accomplished, all the
tribulations contained in the twelfth and thirteenth, must have been
experienced; which trials however are only to purify and not to destroy the
sacred seed of the righteousness to whom the land will be given. We have only to
add, that were the piercing to refer to the speaker, the construction ought to
be thus: "They shall look upon me, whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn
for me," (not him) &c., inasmuch as the word him must refer to a person
different from the speaker, who, in consequence, cannot be the one who was
pierced. We acknowledge that there is some difficulty in the passage under
question; but all Jewish commentators have understood as we have given it, and
the latest German translation translation which we have seen, that of Mr.
Arnheim, is: "Und sie schauen zu mir auf (bei Jeglichem) den sie durchbohrt
haben," which is precisely as we have rendered it above. At all events, this
construction is in perfect accordance with the context, and is therefore more
consonant with a sound criticism than the ordinary Christian acceptation of this
passage. But we must stop; our note is already larger than its text, and we must
leave the farther consideration of the subject to a future number. We constantly
feel that it is much easier to start objections than reply to them; we therefore
trust that both Mr. Halsey and our other readers will pardon us if this reply is
not all they could have wished it to be.

* We shall speak more at length on this subject, probably before long.


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  CHAPTER 2: 2 PROPHECY AND ITS INTERPRETATION
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Prophecy And Its Interpretation.

Mr. Editor,-

There is a charm in kindness and liberality that can not fail to make its way to
the heart. Permit me to tender you my most cordial thanks for the frankness and
fairness my letter has received at your hands. I cannot but love and admire the
man who treats my pen not less than my person with courtesy or patience, which
is an integral element of true politeness. Such is the intenseness of my love
for every word of the Sacred Scriptures, that while I bless the "God of Abraham"
for revealing them, I shall never, while life lasts, cease to love his seed for
their faithful guardianship of the Holy Oracles. The Jew shall ever find a
welcome under my roof, and your nation a prominent place in my best wishes and
prayers, until "those days come that ten men shall take hold, out of all
languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a
Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you." And
it gives me pleasure to assure you that the same kind feelings you have
attributed to your correspondent, are warmly entertained towards your nation by
an increasing number of my most valued friends. Indeed, dear sir, there is
coming over the mind and heart of the nations an impression that we are nearing
some mighty crisis in this world’s history, in which the Jew is destined to act
a most conspicuous part: and the more assiduously Moses and the prophets are
studied the more deep and practical a sympathy will be generated in favour of
the Jew, and his true relation to God be more distinctly known, and his present
and future fortunes perceived. Men are ever as their creeds. If their creeds are
based in ignorance or prejudice, selfishness and partiality will mark their
conduct. Hence a criminal ignorance has been the prolific cause of the
unkindness and hatred your nation has too long experienced from those who bear,
but disgrace the Christian name. While men entertain the notions, unmerciful as
unchristian and unscriptural, that the Jew has been for ever abandoned of his
God-his nationality lost-his sacred seal and rites of no further import and use,
there has been fostered much of that prejudice of which the Jew so justly
complains.

You rightly observe, that your correspondent "appears to be one of those who
believe in the literal fulfillment of Scripture." Permit me briefly to inform
you why I so believe. For years I have diligently confined my studies to the
Holy Scriptures alone, only solicitous to know what God has there revealed. In
my successive readings of the Holy Oracles, I have penned down every instance
where I met the expressions, "And it shall come to pass," and "It came to pass."
The prophecy I put in one column, the fulfillment in another, and then with both
before me, I have carefully compared each recorded prophecy with its
corresponding and recorded fulfillment, and out of some hundreds I have not been
able to fine one that has not been literally fulfilled, word for word: nay more,
in many instances (if I may be allowed the expression) more than literally
fulfilled. I mean, there is such an amplitude in the fulfillment, as covers not
only every word in the prophecy, but, to leave no doubt, or room for guess-work
about the truth of God’s word, when the fulfillment takes place, it embraces
other things not mentioned in the prediction; which often reminds me of the
words of one of your noblest generals and lawgivers: "And behold, I am going the
way of all the earth: and ye know in all your hearts and in all your souls that
not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake
concerning you, all are come to pass unto you, not one thing hath failed
thereof." I may add one specimen-

Prophecy, Numbers 17:5. " And it shall come to pass, the man’s rod whom I shall
choose shall blossom," &c.

Fulfillment,Numbers 17:8. " And it came to pass that on the morrow, Moses went
into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of
Levi, was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded
almonds."

Here, while the prophecy was literally fulfilled, "the budding buds and yielding
almonds," not predicted, are found amplifying the fulfillment and rendering it
more striking and satisfactory. From an attentive and frequent comparison of the
Lord’s words with his works, I find throughout the Scriptures, the latter such
literal exponents of the former, that I as firmly believe that He will literally
fulfill and thus make good every word He has spoken, as I believe in the divine
existence of "the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob." Such was the firm
conviction of the author of the hundred and thirty-eighth Psalm, that he even
anticipates the holy Isaiah, who says, "He will magnify the law and make it
honourable," by saying, "Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." The
Psalmist speaks of the fulfillment, the prophet spoke of the prophecy. But when
the last good word of the Lord shall have been fulfilled (and this He will do,
or deny himself) the Jewish and gentile world shall be forced to say, He is a
God of Truth-He has magnified his word-He has done all things well. Yes, in the
sublime language of a book I would that my Jewish friends would but candidly and
carefully examine and compare with their own Scriptures, "Think not that I am
come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfill. For verily, I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." Matthew
5:17-18. I feel that the recorded fulfillment of God’s word is a Divine
commentary upon the Sacred Oracles, not only designed to teach us how God would
have us understand fulfilled prophecy, but how to interpret unfulfilled
predictions-presenting us Divine illustrations of what He will do, from what He
has done. Has He in all past time fulfilled his word literally? So He will in
all time to come, word for word. Here, my dear brother, (pardon the word, but it
comes from my very heart,) is the error of tens of thousands of Christendom in
regard to what God has spoken in the Scriptures of the houses of Judah and
Israel. They believe and teach that He will fulfill these prophecies of future
blessings differently from those He has fulfilled, those, e. g., which contained
threatenings. Hence some say they have been-others, that they are to be
fulfilled figuratively, which to my mind is no fulfillment at all: and hence the
little sympathy for your nation. I hold that they are all to be fulfilled to the
letter, the blessings not less than have been the threatenings, the temporal
equally with the spiritual. Here, just here, is, as I conceive, the sole heart
and life-blood of your nation’s hopes and consolations. Will God fulfill his
remaining words, as He has in all time past? Let go a literal fulfillment of the
Divine word, and I have nothing to cheer me when I think of the Jew, nothing to
pray for when I bow before God. But blessed be his name, when I open his word,
every recorded fulfillment fills my soul with light, life and hope. There I see
how He has done: and here I may know how He will do-act like himself: literally
fulfill his every word of truth. Thus as by the light of the sun we see the sun,
so "in thy light we see light." With me, the Bible is its own, and only
expositor, "comparing spiritual things with spiritual." "To the law and to the
testimony: if they speak not according to this word, because no morning is in
them." Isaiah 8:20. On page 44, vol. 2, you very significantly and truly remark,
"That if the founder of Christianity be indeed the Christ, it is absolutely
necessary for him to appear again on earth, in order to bring to pass that which
has as yet not seen its fulfillment." This I firmly believe, though I regret to
add, it is rejected by very many who profess his name. But this, my dear sir, I
trust ought to be no reason why we should believe any truth, because the
majority receive or reject it. It was not on such grounds your noble-­minded
heroes Joshua, (Joshua 24:15,) Hananiah, Mishael, Azariah and Daniel, believed
and acted. It is enough for me, that I have a "Thus saith the Lord," for any
position I hold, though all the world and church beside reject it. "To my master
I stand or fall." I am far more anxious to be on the side of truth, than to have
truth on my side." Who is on the Lord’s side?" said your own blessed Lawgiver,
when the whole nation were bowing down before Aaron’s calf.

I believe it is absolutely necessary that the founder of Christianity, the
Messiah, should appear again on earth, from the following words of God, as well
as to make good scores of other wonderful predictions. "Afterwards he brought me
to the gate, the gate that looketh towards the east, and behold the glory of the
God of Israel came from the way of the east, and his voice like a noise of many
.waters, and the earth shined with his glory. And He said unto me, Son of man,
the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will
dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever. Then He brought me back
the way of the gate which looketh toward the east (the same gate) and it was
shut." Now mark the reason. "Then the Lord said unto me, This gate shall be
shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it; because theLord,
the God of Israelhath entered in by it, therefore it shall be shut. (Ezekiel
43:7; Ezekiel 44:21.) This glorious pro­phecy every Jew and gentile knows has
never yet been fulfilled, and to be fulfilled necessarily implies a personage
who can occupy a place-a throne-possess form-has feet-and can enter a gate, who
else but the incarnate Messiah, coming the second time, as the Lord God of
Israel. The same of whom Zechariah prophesies, when "the Lord my God shall come
and all the saints with Thee. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight against
those nations (who shall then be besieging Jerusalem) as when He fought in the
day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives,
which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleavein
the midst thereof toward the east, and toward the west, a very great valley, and
half the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the
south." (Zechariah 14:1-21.) Now every traveller, Jew or gentile, who visits
Jerusalem, has ocular and tangible demonstration that this too is an unfulfilled
prophecy, as Mount Olivet still lifts its undivided summit to the skies, as it
did in the day when your own immortal poet and monarch David, with covered head
and barefoot, went up its hallowed ascent, weeping as he went at the rebellion
of his beloved yet undutiful son Absalom. Now I must believe the God of Abraham
to be a God of truth, and I cannot but believe He will fulfill these brilliant
and glorious prophecies of your own Ezekiel and Zechariah literally, word for
word,-prophecies, brilliant in the sublime wonders they reveal, and glorious in
their final results to my poor, despised, down-trodden Hebrew brethren, wherever
sojourning in their homeless wanderings. I cannot but pray the God of Israel
speedily to fulfill them: yes, and fulfilled speedily and literally, I verily
believe they will be, when Messiah the Jew personally visits our earth the
second time, to sit on "the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob for ever: and of his kingdom there shall be no end."
Identified with their literal fulfillment, is my own hope of salvation, for says
another Jewish writer: "To them that look for him shall he appear the second
time without sin unto salvation."

Permit me to make a passing remark on your rendering of Zechariah 12:10. It
seems to me ingenious rather than satisfactory. From the context it would appear
that the piercing, as well as the mourning is not by "enemies," but by Jews of
"the house of David," "the house of his friends:" for it is added, "And the land
shall mourn, families, families apart, the family of David apart, and their
wives apart," &c. (12). "And shall say unto him (doubtless the pierced one),
what are these wounds in thine hands? Then shall he answer, With which I was
wounded in the house of my friends," (13. 6.) when and where he was also
pierced. Apply this to the Messiah’s first coming as "a lamb," a "servant," the
"offspring of David," the "son of the virgin," whom your fathers, ignorant of
his twofold character he was to sustain, corresponding with his two comings,
rejected, and all difficulties vanish. Had they but known him to be their king
they would not have rejected him. "I wot that through ignorance ye did it." But
when he comes the second time, true to his office as redeemer of his people, and
unmindful of all past unkindness, he shall save your nation and be acknowledged
your Messiah and king. Here then we have ample reason and motive for this most
remarkable mourning: a national and yet a family mourning of wives and husbands
apart, to know at last that he whom their fathers had ignorantly wounded unto
death, was, and is indeed none other than their own Messiah.

Permit me to say in conclusion, that there is much, very much of choicest
consolation thickly scattered through all the prophets, to console your people
under all their temporal trials and persecutions: your King is coming. Would not
publishing in the Occident from month to month a growing catalogue of the
various blessings God, "the God who cannot lie," has promised your people,
greatly tend to cheer and comfort their hearts when smarting under the
prejudices, uncharitableness, and persecutions of those who ought to know, feel
and act more in accordance with I will not say religion, but with the principles
of our common humanity, and the dictates of true politeness?

Yours truly, J. F. Halsey.

Perth Amboy, April 8, 1844.

Note by the Editor.-To say that Mr. Halsey’s remarks delight us, would be merely
to assert a sentiment which all the attentive readers of the Occident must share
with us. But it is not expected from us to compliment our correspondents however
their articles may be a source of gratification to us personally, or those for
whom we labour. We however thank Mr. Halsey for his communication, and only
regret that though we agree in so many points, we have yet to differ in several
others. We will merely remark, that it is almost impossible for persons, who
have been so differently educated as Mr. H. and the humble writer of these
remarks, should be able to look upon Scripture and its interpretation in the
same light, and that it is unavoidable that they should attach very different
meanings at times to the same words, however simple they may appear at first
sight. The Christian has been early taught to mistrust himself, because he
cannot do any meritorious act without divine aid. The Jew however is directed to
the law where action is demanded of him, and he is told that he must earn the
divine aid to bring his deeds to the perfection of godliness by first making the
beginning. The Christian is taught to look for mercy through the intervention of
a mediator’s favour; the Jew however has it impressed upon his mind from the
moment he begins to think that there is no one standing between him and
punishment, save the undeserved mercy of the Lord alone. No wonder then that
when Jew and Christian first meet they may honestly differ about the very words
they make use of to express their ideas. For instance, when we speak of "the
Lord God of Israel," we, the Jews, think of no other than the incorporeal One;
Christians associate with Him a visible incarnation. So if we even do not differ
about the use of words, we differ about their meaning. How are we then to settle
differences? By what standard are we to judge each other? By the context of the
Bible which, Mr. Halsey himself very justly contends, must be its own
interpreter. Before therefore there is any occasion for us to debate the
character of the divine incarnation which Trinitarian Christians assume as the
basis of their faith, it is requisite to inquire whether the Bible speaks in any
one instance with sufficient distinctness of such a characteristic, before we
can at all admit its existence. But Jews deny that a single word concerning
incarnation is discoverable in the Bible, or as Christians call it, the Old
Testament; the Lord is represented to us as "one;" as not imaginable "under any
likeness;" as "not being human in feeling or character," as inconceivable by
human intellect, as the sole Creator, the only Saviour, the only Ruler of the
universe. We know full well, that honest Christian interpreters have discovered
allusions as they conceive them to be, which they think quite sufficient for
their purpose. But we repeat what we have said elsewhere, that in a matter of
such vital importance, hints would not have been employed in Scripture where a
few brief phrases would have removed all dispute. We believe that Jews would be
open to conviction, could the subject be made manifest to them; but the thing
has not as yet been attempted, and we honestly think that it is impossible to be
done upon any rational grounds.

Now we agree with Mr. Halsey, that the Bible must be literally fulfilled; still
we cannot let this militate against the well-known figurative application of
epithets to the Deity which must not be interpreted as though they were
applicable to Him in the usual sense of the words. So when God says in Leviticus
26:11-12 : "And I will place my dwelling in the midst of you, and my soul shall
not loath you; and I will walk in the midst of you, and I will be your God, and
you shall be my people," no one is thereby authorized to refer this to an
incarnation who would dwell visibly in a house in Palestine, and who would walk
visibly in the midst of the people. We know, perhaps better than words can
express, what is meant by the above prophecy; God promises, for the sake of
showing his approbation of the obedience of Israel, that He would send peace and
prosperity in their land, and that spiritual grace should abound likewise,
inasmuch as He would, so to say, be more immediately than in other countries
present in the land, and be more directly the God of Israelites who adore Him
than the God of other nations who are foreign to his worship. The holiest place
in all the country, which no human foot dared to approach, the place which was
closed to all save once a year to the anointed priest, was considered the more
immediate residence of the glory of God, where He announced himself as dwelling
between the wings of the cherubim. Does this say, that there alone God dwelled?
That his omnipresence was limited to this small spot? Surely not; and we
understand it to say, that it was the will of our Instructor to hallow this
precinct above all others, and that He willed that from it should go forth light
and blessings, whilst the people by their conduct deserved a greater share of
his mercy, than they could do under a state of sin and transgression. And the
facts precisely tally with this view; as soon as transgression became general,
the glory, to use a human phrase, quitted the temple, the blessing was
withdrawn, the protection was no longer bestowed, and temple and nation became
ruins under the assaults of ungodly heathens. If now Ezekiel in his forty-third
and forty-fourth chapters speaks of future things, which we also admit as not
having yet come to pass, and introduces the terms "the glory of the God of
Israel," he means not a Messiah or a deputy of the Deity, but the One Eternal
himself. No exception must be taken to the expression, "that the east gate shall
be shut, and no man shall enter in by it, for the Lord God of Israel hath
entered in by it, it shall remain shut;: because it is almost parallel with the
passage quoted from Leviticus 26:1-46.; and we think that we are within bounds
when we say, that the Messiah is nowhere alluded to except as a man, a son of
Jesse or David, as God’s servant David, but never by the appellation which
designates solely and alone the invisible Creator who spoke at Horeb from amidst
the fire. We are somewhat surprised at the daring (we beg our reverend friend to
excuse us for employing this word,) with which Christians dignify the Messiah by
the terms applied only to the Creator, especially as they must know that, when
directly spoken of, the words "redeemer," "servant," "shepherd," and the like
are used, to denote a derived authority, a legation, but not an independent
authority, nor an existence co-extensive in duration and power with the Father
of all. There is just as much reason to say that the words "In the beginning God
created the heavens and the earth," mean that the Messiah was this Creator; or
that "I am the Lord thy God," refers to the same. What sort of criticism would
this be which could so pervert and change the meaning of any text? To be sure,
to a Christian who believes in a Trinity, such an exposition might be palatable
enough; but we, who say and uphold, "the Lord is One," not two, three, or any
other plurality, cannot admit such a construction, and must reject it as
anti-scriptural and unreasonable.

If the text of Ezekiel, quoted by our reverend friend, only alludes to the Deity
and not the Messiah, the one from the fourteenth of Zechariah alludes to the
Creator likewise, and in truth it emphatically concludes with the declaration,
that at that time the Lord’s name shall be one not three.* Thus, "and the Lord
my God will come-all the saints with Thee," again embraces the Eternal only, not
the Messiah nor any subordinate to the Deity; understand well our meaning, the
Messiah is to be a deputy, not an independent power, for a messenger only from
God do we expect, and of him only the prophets speak.

* See the sermon in this number on "The Divine Kingdom
<http://www.jewish-history.com/Occident/volume2/june1844/kingdom.html>,"
commencing on page 115.

We again insist that the exposition we gave above in page 47 of the tenth verse
of Zechariah 12:1-14 is not alone ingenious, as Mr. Halsey says, but perfectly
rational and agreeable to the text. We would leave it to any one who had never
been informed of the doctrine of a suffering redeemer to read the words in
Hebrewåäáéèå àìé àú àùø ã÷øå åñôãå òìéå åëå× "and they shall look up to me for
the one (or if you will-whom) they have pierced and mourn over him," &c., to
reconcile in the received version the first and the second parts of the verse.
Here is not the transition common enough from the third to the second person, or
the like, so peculiar to the Hebrew, which change is however perfectly
reconcilable by fixed rules of criticism, but a complete substitution of a
different person; in other words, the person looked to is not the person
pierced; or else the construction must have proceeded åñôãå òìé "and they shall
mourn for me;" but this is not being said, we must insist upon it that the
mourners are to look unto the speaker, who announces himself through the mouth
of the prophet, for aid and comfort on account of some one, whoever he may be,
who has been pierced, or wounded by those who have thereby done an injury to
those who consider this suffering sufficient cause for a universal mourning. A
mourning in families for any great national calamity was something not unknown
to Jews;-see the mourning of the people described in Numbers 11:10. Having now
but imperfect knowledge of Eastern manners, we are unable to state the reason of
this custom, but that it existed, admits of no doubt; and Zechariah therefore
refers to the same state of society, when he introduces a mourning by all the
remaining families of Israel. As regards the support for his position which Mr.
Halsey draws from the thirteenth chapter of Zechariah to illustrate the twelfth,
we leave it to himself to say whether they can be at all connected. He speaks in
13. 4 of the false prophets who had misled the people by their visions, and the
wounds which they had struck themselves in order to deceive; but that at the
time of the advent they will claim their wounds as received in the houses of
their friends, and not inflicted for the sake of appearing as endowed persons.
It may appear strange that such should have been the practices of false
prophets, to would themselves in order to obtain their fancied gifts. But a
turning to the sacrifice of Elijah on Carmel (1 Kings 18:28) will convince any
one that such fooleries were committed by the followers of vain idols. The
prophet, after stating this giving up of their wickedness by the false prophets,
announces that but a small remnant shall escape, who, being true and faithful,
shall call on the name of God; "And," says the text, "I will answer him; I say,
He is my people, and he will say, The Lord is my God."-Can this refer to the
Messiah? We think not. The whole context refutes the idea that the anointed
shall be termed by the name given only to the Most High; and if this
construction be right, which we confidently claim, the deductions of our friend
must be erroneous. The passages quoted no doubt refer to the time of the
Messiah, but we cannot admit that the joining of different passages, for the
sake of making this high personage more than man, is a fair mode of
interpretation. But we must conclude for the present.-We thank Mr. Halsey for
his friendly suggestions, and hope to be able to profit by them during the
progress of our work. We cannot help adding that Mr. H. shall always be a
welcome correspondent, and he shall find in us a candid though a sincere
opponent to his ideas of the divinity of Messiah, whom we believe to be merely a
delegate sent to work great things through the power of his God and the Creator
of all things.


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