THAT MAN!

By Daniel Gruber

Daniel Gruber is probably one of the best Messianic Jewish authors out there.

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In the name of “That Man!” people who claimed to be his followers carried out endless persecutions, proclaiming the absolute rejection and eternal damnation of the Jewish people, his people. They lied, but their vile actions and teachings had an impact which continues to this day.

For centuries, it was forbidden to even utter the name of “That Man!” in the Jewish community. His name remained unspoken or distorted. He was only referred to in oblique ways. But the story of “That Man!” is a first-century Jewish story of God's faithfulness to Israel. It is presented as completely dependent upon and flowing from Tanakh — the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Nevi’im), and the Writings (Ketuvim) — the authorized, accepted revelation from the God of Israel. All subsequent revelations are to be judged by it. In Tanakh, God laid out His purposes for humanity, for Israel, and for “Messiah”.

This story presents Yeshua, “That Man!” as the prophesied Messiah of Israel. It combines the four different accounts into one. It provides an opportunity for those who want to know his true story, free from the historical distortions. The decision to reject or accept his claims can then be an informed one. The extant manuscripts were written in a Jewish Greek that had its own peculiarities, designed to reflect concepts and definitions which could only be found, in their wholeness, in the Hebrew Biblical world.

The writings of Josephus, Philo, and the earlier Septuagint (LXX) translation of Tanakh also employed this Jewish Greek. They therefore are useful as a bridge to the original Hebrew content and context from which the story is drawn. The text used in “That Man!” — His Story — both verses and notes — is taken from The Messianic Writings, an annotated translation. A more complete introduction and explanation, as well as more extensive notes, can be found in The Messianic Writings. The notes from the Talmud (“Tal. ..."), Midrash (“Mid. ..."), and traditional liturgy, et al. are by no means either comprehensive or systematic. Nor do they indicate approval or disapproval, but rather are an attempt to help illustrate the context. It should not, however, be assumed that the Rabbinic material is contemporary with the time of the Story.Usually it is later.

Where quotations from Tanakh appear in the Messianic Writings, or where particular passages from Tanakh are relevant, they are cited in [brackets] following the phrase or sentence. In the common Jewish usage of the times, such quotations were given either to indicate the fulfillment of a specific prophecy, or to apply it in a particular way. Occasionally, references from the Apocrypha (“Apoc. ...") or other contemporary Jewish writings are also cited. Though these writings are not part of the Biblical text, they were well known in the first century, and were sometimes used by the Biblical writers for illustration or example.

In the citations, since verse numbering sometimes varies from language to language, “1:1H” refers to the Hebrew text, “1:1LXX” to the Septuagint. Hebrew, Greek, and many other languages distinguish between the singular and plural second person pronoun. Sometimes the correct understanding of a verse depends upon this distinction. In this story, a plus sign (+) is used to signify the plural — “you+” and “your+”. Following the text of this Story, there are a few longer, explanatory notes on selected, problematic issues. Elijah Publishing

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