Anti-Missionary Arguments

Tampering with the Text: Psalm 34:20

The Anti-missionary’s charge:

John tries to make Jesus as the perfect sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world and relates this to our Passover even making Jesus die on Passover, while the other Gospels say he died the day after. John 19:32-36 tells of soldiers breaking the legs of the crucifixion victims to hasten their deaths, yet sparing Jesus because he was already dead then quotes Hebrew Scripture saying, “For these things were done, that the Scripture should be fulfilled, a bone of him shall not be broken.” The New Testament refers Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; and to Psalms 34:20.

Notice how conveniently John changed the entire meaning by simply changing the word “it” to “him” Exodus 12:46 refers to the PASSOVER-offering, “…and you shall not break a bone in it (the animal)”. Numbers 9:12 again refers to the PASSOVER-offering, “…nor shall they break a bone of it”.

Psalms 34:20 refers to David saying no one becomes truly righteous and great without his share of mishaps, “He guards all his bones, and even one of them was not broken.” There is no indication that this psalm is intended as prophetic, nor applying to Jesus. And Jesus was physically disqualified as a Passover sacrifice because the female lamb had to be “without blemish.” Jesus was wounded, whipped, and mutilated.

HaDavar response

Please refer back to my comments regarding the four ways the Brit Chadashah (New Covenant) uses Tenach (Old Testament) John 19:32-36 is an example of Literal Prophecy plus Typical Fulfillment (Remez). As with Hosea 11:1 (see Matthew 2:15) this isn’t even a prophecy as such. Hosea 11:1, Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12 all refer to a literal historical event. However the 1st century Messianic Jew, Jochanon understands the literal, historical event to prefigure something greater. The literal Passover Lamb prefigures the greater lamb, the Messiah. Jochanon is communicating his understanding of the significance of the Passover Lamb. The physical Passover Lamb points to a greater Passover Lamb—the Messiah. The redemption from Egypt points to a greater redemption—from sin. He is asking the reader to look at the Passover Lamb from a philosophical, symbolic point of view. He’s not trying to deceive anyone. He is simply operating within the accepted interpretive norms of his society. This type of thing is not unusual for the Rabbi’s to do. Remez is accepted as a valid approach to Scripture. I think it is valid to consider Exodus 12:46 and Numbers 9:12 as the verses that John is directing his reader.

I agree with you regarding Psalm 34:20. I’m not aware of any direct reference by the New Testament to Psalm 34:20. John 19:36 is a direct reference to Exodus 12:46 and/or Numbers 9:12, but it is not a quote of Psalm 34:20. John might have Psalm 34:20 in mind, as well, but it is not necessary to his argument. The cross reference that an editor of a modern English version supplies is not inspired and always needs to be evaluated for validity. Some people get real wild and loose in the area of Messianic prophecy and make statements that are not justifiable (I know you agree with that statement). For example: some people state that Zechariah 13:6 is a Messianic Prophecy referring to Jesus. That position is absolutely untenable, but some take it anyway.

In this case Psalm 34:20 could possibly be applied to Jesus. Psalm 34:20 could be considered an example of Literal Prophecy + Application (D’rash). Because of one point of similarity the verse could be homiletically applied to Jesus. Jesus was the epitome of a righteous man and his bones were not broken. I would not object to a person making that link in that manner, but you are essentially right, it is not necessary and perhaps not even part of John’s argument.

I have to disagree with you when you say that Jesus was physically disqualified as a Passover lamb. First of all a male lamb was specified in Genesis 12:5 (unlike your statement that a female was specified). The lamb was selected on the 10th of Nisan and inspected and evaluated for blemishes until the 14th, when it was sacrificed. Note that the lamb was unblemished until it was killed. The act of sacrificing the lamb—slitting its throat would have definitely blemished it.

Parallel to that, Jesus entered Jerusalem as the perfect Passover Lamb on the 10th of Nisan (Mathew 21, Mark 11, and Luke 19) and was hailed as the Messiah. Then He underwent testing and evaluation for blemishes by the Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes and Herodians until the 14th of Nisan. By answering all their questions and objections he showed that he was without blemish in regard to doctrine and character. Then, He observed the Passover with His disciples and after that the process of execution began. Just as the Passover Lamb was without physical blemish until the process of death began so Jesus was without physical, character, or doctrinal blemish until the process of killing him began. Most definitely the process of killing him involved wounding, whipping, and mutilating. The slitting of the lambs throat is parallel to the mistreatment He suffered that culminated in His death.

There has been much controversy generated over the alleged difference between the Synoptic’s and John’s Gospel regarding the day of Yeshua’s death. I feel the best position is that taken by the great Messianic Jewish scholar Dr. Alfred Edersheim in his classic work The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. He establishes the point that all four accounts are in harmony. Jesus observed the Passover. Since he develops the points in question in detail I don’t want to reproduce all of that for you here. However, I will Xerox and mail to you the appropriate pages out of his book if you are interested in his analysis. Others, as well, have established the fact that the four Gospels are in harmony, for example, Dr. A. T. Robertson in his work A Harmony of the Gospels.

Jesus paralleled the Passover Lamb. The Passover Lamb was a male, selected on the 10th of Nisan, evaluated until the 14th of Nisan, found to be without blemish, and killed. Jesus too was a male, presented to Israel on the 10th of Nisan, evaluated by the political and religious leadership of our nation until the 14th of Nisan, found to be without blemish, and killed. No wonder the Messianic Jews of the 1st century, who wrote the New Testament, considered him the true Passover Lamb—Acts 8:32ff; 1 Peter 1:19; Revelation chapters 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21; 1 Cor. 5:7ff.

It’s my prayer that you would come to consider Him your Passover Lamb as well.