Is the Messiah a divine human according to Hebrew scripture?

Shalom,

I have another question.

One of my friend told me that there are group of people (Christians)

They do not even believe the Deity of Christ.

Do you have any teaching on it?

Also your wife told me that recently, even Jewish people started believing that Messiah would be a human. But they create many different Messiah. Is that correct?

Do some people believe Messiah is God and human like says in the Bible?

Was Rabbi Akiba thought to be Messiah? When Jewish people believe in Messiah, what do they think? Just like a prophet or messenger or truly God himself?

Sorry about the delay in getting back to you – this past week has been very busy, and the task of assembling references on the deity of Yeshua from the Hebrew scriptures is also time intensive.  My first response was as follows:

As far as your question goes, several groups that claim to be Christian deny the deity of Yeshua -- Unitarians, Seventh Day Adventists, and others. Some groups claim to believe in the deity of Yeshuah, but they do not always mean quite what you may think from their words -- notably the Christian Scientists, Mormons, and Jehovah Witnesses.  One needs to examine what they claim very carefully to determine what they are really saying.

Now, this problem also is present among Jews who claim to believe in Yeshua.  Jews who have been raised in a traditional environment have major difficulty with the deity of Yeshua because of their cultural upbringing, whether they are observant or not.  Now, from our perspective there are ample passages in the Hebrew scriptures to support the deity of Messiah, but every Jew has been taught to avoid the Messianic interpretation of such passages as Is 52-53.  I must admit that the passages in the Hebrew scriptures are less direct than those in the NT, but the message is there for those with eyes to see.  But John 1, John 3:1-18, and John 17 as well as many others are very direct and specific.  If you wish, I can dig up a significant number of passages to support that proposition, but those who reject that understanding will be able to come up with alternate explanations.

I did not respond to your question about Akiba.  That was an oversight.  Over the past 2000 years, the rabbis have had many ideas about who and what messiah was to be.  Numerous individuals have been identified as a messiah – like Bar Kochba – but none have yet lived up to Jewish expectations of what Messiah was to be.  Today there is a good deal of writing and news releases from various rabbis stating that we are in the start of the messianic era or that Messiah is about to reveal himself.  Maybe, but it has not happened yet.

You requested references from scripture to support the teaching that Messiah must be divine and not just human.  The standard Christian teaching on the subject is that Messiah is fully human and fully God simultaneously; and following his resurrection Yeshua's human body was glorified, but he remains both divine and human simultaneously.  I accept this view, but numerous Christian sects, rabbinic Judaism, and various other groups and individuals have had major difficulty with it.  Now, it seems to me unquestionable that the NT teaches this view, so the only remaining question is whether it is consistent with the Hebrew scriptures.  Since all of the writers of the NT were Jews (except possibly Luke), I assume that both Yeshua and his followers based all of their teaching on a particular understanding of the Hebrew text.  Consequently, I will attempt to connect NT passages with their Hebrew text source to produces something of a summary for you.  Since large volumes have been written on the deity of Messiah over the past 2000 years, I cannot hope to be comprehensive in just a few pages.

2 Sam 7:5-29, 1 Ch 28:2-7; John 2:16-21

The Hebrew text contains the original promise that God made to David that his seed would build a house for God's name.  The passage in 1 Chronicles 28 presents this promise as being accomplished by Solomon, but both passages promise an eternal kingdom and an eternal seed.  This can be accomplished only by an eternal person, and neither an eternal seed of David nor an eternal throne of Israel are recognizable today.  The passage in John connects this event with Ps 69:9, but it also asserts that the temple of God Yeshua was referring to was his body, making this passage a prediction of his death and resurrection.  This theme is picked up and expanded by Rav Shaul (Paul) throughout his writings – the assemblage of believers are the body of Messiah on earth, and they constitute a physical temple of God here on earth.

Gen 1:1 – 31, Prov 8:12-31; John 1:1-4, Col 1:16, 17, 2:3, 9, Heb 1:2, 3

The Word of God is the first thing that appears during his creative activity in Genesis, and Proverbs 8 presents wisdom as the personification of God's creative activity, connecting the two.  The Word (Mamreh) was one of the most common translations for YHWH in the Aramaic targums, and this usage dates from Yeshua's time or before.  In John the Word is the manifestation of God's creative activity that became flesh in the person of Yeshua.  In Paul's writing Yeshua was the creative agent as well as the embodiment of God's wisdom, and in Hebrews Yeshua is the exact expression of God's glory and eternal godhead.

Deut 6:4; John 10:30, 17:1-26, Col 1:14, 19, Heb 1:2, 3

The Shema is perhaps the most important scripture to Jews declaring that YHWH is one -- אחד.  (The Hebrew term אחד may refer to a complex unity as in one cluster of grapes, but the term יחיד refers to absolute singularity as in the Muslim concept of Allah.) These NT passages declare that Yeshua is one with the Father, implying that he shares divinity with him.

Ex 3:13, 14, Is 41:4, 43:10, 13, 48:12, Hosea 1:9; John 18:5, Rev 1:4, 8, 4:8, 11:17, 16:5

In Exodus 3:13 God gives an explanation of his name YHWH as אהיה אשר אהיה then instructs Moses to tell the elders of Israel that אהיה has sent him.  Following this, the phrase I will be your God, and you will be my people becomes a commonly repeated description of the relation between YHWH and Israel.  In Hosea God rebukes his people for their unfaithfulness and then states I am not אהיה for you, indicating that the relation between YHWH and his people Israel has been severed because of their unfaithfulness.  Throughout the servant songs in Isaiah the refrain I am he underscores the uniqueness of YHWH compared with anything else and connects back to the I am of Exodus.  The NT passages identify Yeshua as the I am of the Hebrew scriptures and so assert that he was the YHWH who was active throughout the history of the world up to that time.

Is 6:1-4; Mat 17:1-5, Mk 9:2-7, Lk 9:28-35, John 12:41, 2 Pet 1:17, 18, Rev 4:2, 9, 10, 5:1, 7, 13, 6:16, 7:10, 15, 19:4, 21:5  

This passage in Isaiah is the famous vision of YHWH in the temple.  The passage in John asserts that Isaiah saw Yeshua at that time.  The remaining passages are descriptions of Yeshua's own glory being manifest.  In John 17:3 Yeshua prayed for the Father to restore to him the original glory that he had with the Father from the beginning.  In other words, the NT asserts that Yeshua is the manifestation of YHWH in all of the interactions related in the Hebrew scriptures.