hebraic perspective

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Romans 9: Two VERY different takes!

An advert for some Bible app popped up on my feed today in which they argued that Romans 9 was the hardest chapter to understand in the whole of the New Testament.

As I had never thought it challenging, I asked Google’s Gemini if this were actually true; if some Christians thought it was a challenging chapter.

The chapter challenges traditional assumptions about fairness, salvation, and God’s covenant promises to Israel. Here are the primary reasons theologians, pastors, and believers find it so difficult:

Here’s its response:

“Christians often call Romans 9 one of the hardest chapters in the New Testament because it dives headfirst into the deeply complex intersection of divine sovereignty (God’s absolute control and freedom) and human free will/responsibility.

1. The Shocking Language of Election and Predestination

In verses 11–13, the Apostle Paul uses the example of Jacob and Esau before they were even born—and before they had done anything good or bad—to state:

“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

  • The Challenge: This passage is frequently cited in the fierce debate between Calvinism (Reformed theology) and Arminianism. Calvinists see it as a clear-cut defense of unconditional election and predestination, while Arminians argue Paul is talking about corporate service or historical roles rather than individual eternal salvation.

2. The Apparent Threat to God’s Justice

Paul anticipates the reader’s instinctive objection in verse 14: “What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part?” His blunt response—“By no means!”—is followed by quoting God’s words to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion” (v. 15).

  • The Challenge: To human logic, choosing some people for mercy while passing over others feels inherently “unfair.” It forces readers to grapple with a view of God that transcends human standards of egalitarian justice.

3. The Problem of Pharaoh and Human Responsibility

To illustrate his point further, Paul brings up Pharaoh, stating that God raised him up specifically to show His power and hardened whomever He wanted to harden (verses 17–18). This immediately prompts another objection in verse 19: “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”

  • The Challenge: If God hardens a person’s heart and then holds them accountable for being hardened, how can humans truly be held morally responsible for their choices? Paul doesn’t offer a neat philosophical reconciliation; instead, he rebukes the questioner: “Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?” (v. 20).

4. The Metaphor of the Potter and the Clay

Paul uses the vivid imagery of a potter shaping lumps of clay out of the same batch—making some vessels for honorable use and some for dishonorable use (verses 20–23).

  • The Challenge: This metaphor pushes readers to confront the absolute asymmetry of the Creator-creature relationship. It challenges the modern, highly individualistic worldview that places human autonomy at the center of existence.

5. The Heartbreak Over Israel’s Rejection

The immediate pastoral context of Romans 9 isn’t just an abstract theological debate; it’s a deep emotional crisis. Paul is heartbroken that the majority of his fellow Jewish people have rejected Jesus as the Messiah.

  • The Challenge: Paul has to explain how God’s promises to ethnic Israel could seemingly fail if the Jewish nation as a whole missed out on salvation. His answer—that “not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel” (v. 6)—redefines covenant identity in a way that shocked first-century Jewish listeners and continues to spark debate about supersessionism, replacement theology, and the future of ethnic Israel today.

Ultimately, Romans 9 is considered so difficult because it forces readers to the absolute edge of human comprehension, demanding that they reconcile God’s supreme authority with human accountability—two concepts that the human mind naturally struggles to hold in total balance.”

While this response explained this perspective, in approaching the whole NT through a full Hebraic lens I had never seen these challenges in such a light.

My dear departed (Aug 2023) friend Uriel shared my perspective so I asked Gemini about his translation of this chapter. I was most impressed by it’s response as it summarised the Hebraic perspective and Uriel’s translation very well:

“In his translation and commentary Kosher Paul, Uriel Ben Mordechai approaches the letter to the Romans through the lens of First-Century Second Temple Jewish thought and Hebraic idioms, rather than through centuries of Western, Augustinian, and Reformation theology.

When readers encounter “contradictions” or heavy paradoxes in Romans 9—such as absolute predestination versus human responsibility, or God loving one brother and hating another before birth—those hurdles largely stem through traditional Western lenses (like Calvinism vs. Arminianism).

By shifting the linguistic and cultural framework, Kosher Paul reduces these apparent contradictions for several key reasons:

1. Removal of Hellenistic and Augustinian Frameworks

Traditional translations and interpretations have heavily relied on a theological framework shaped by Augustine, Aquinas, and later Reformation thinkers who read Paul as a proto-systematic theologian addressing abstract, metaphysical questions about individual eternal salvation, an inherited “sin nature”, and airtight legalistic categories.

  • Ben Mordechai treats Paul (Rav Sha’ul) as a Pharisaic Jewish rabbi discussing communal covenant roles, historical callings, and behavioral choices (yetzer hara and yetzer hatov).
  • Stripping away centuries of Latin and Greek philosophical baggage dissolves the rigid “fatalism vs. free will” dichotomy that Western readers project onto Romans 9.

2. Contextualizing “Election” as Corporate and Historical Rather Than Individual and Eternal

In standard Western readings, Romans 9:11–13 (“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated”) is read as God arbitrarily choosing certain individuals for heaven and others for hell before they are born.

  • In a Hebraic context, such language frequently refers to corporate roles in redemptive history rather than eternal destinations. God chose the lineage of Jacob (Israel) to carry His covenants, oracles, and the lineage of the Messiah, while Esau (Edom) was designated for a different national and historical path.
  • By restoring this corporate, covenantal perspective, the chapter shifts from a harsh puzzle about divine favoritism regarding salvation to a pastoral explanation of how God manages His historical promises to nations and peoples.

3. Viewing “Hardening” through a Biblical-Covenantal Lens

When Paul discusses God hardening Pharaoh’s heart in Romans 9:17–18, Western systems often interpret this as God overriding human agency to forcefully damn an individual.

  • Within a Hebraic and Tanakh (Old Testament) framework, hardening a heart is often the consequence of a progressive trajectory of choices. God utilizes a leader’s existing posture and stubbornness to accomplish His larger historical deliverance (such as freeing Israel from Egypt).
  • The text ceases to be a philosophical trap regarding human freedom and instead aligns with the Hebrew Bible’s view of sovereign orchestration operating alongside human accountability.

4. Emphasizing Choice and Covenant Over “Fatalism”

Throughout Kosher Paul, concepts like sin and obedience are translated to emphasize human agency, moral responsibility, and the ongoing struggle between human inclinations (yetzer) rather than an inescapable ontological curse or a static “sin nature”. Because the Hebrew mindset inherently prioritizes action, consequence, and covenantal loyalty (shema and halakha) over abstract decrees of eternal fate, passages that sound deterministic in English translations take on a much more practical, pastoral tone.

By realigning the vocabulary with its original Jewish matrix, Kosher Paul reframes Romans 9 not as an abstract courtroom trial over who God has arbitrarily predestined for heaven or hell, but as a passionate Jewish letter addressing the historic faithfulness of God to Israel.”

Footnotes:
Uriel passed away very suddenly when he was only in his mid-60’s. I wrote an eulogy about him at the time:

“Today (9th August 2023) on the Mount of Olives with a view of the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock in the background, Uriel ben Mordechai (Uri Marcus) was laid to rest.

This was a total devastating shock. He was, in my eyes, still a young man (around my age). He seemed so strong and full of vigour though I know caring for his wife Adi who has not been well for a number of years was time consuming and clearly stressful as were the many lawsuits he was involved in or supporting. Uriel was a zealous and faithful man of God who was a seeker after justice, not just for himself but for all the downtrodden.

I have been privileged to know Uriel for many years and have worked with him on a number of his translations especially Galatians as well as providing the Foreword and some parts of the Introduction to his translation of the Gospel of John (a translation that he finished but which he had not quite readied for publication).

Having spoken and communicated with Uriel many times over the years and also attending his weekly classes for a while, I gained a great deal of insight into this amazing man whose passion for HaShem and Torah was so strong that it was almost tangible. Part of this passion was to re-translate from the earliest extant Greek manuscripts the New Testament (which he knew was a Jewish text), employing a Jewish/Hebraic pre-suppositional position. This Torah-centric approach, while not unique (see the work of the late Prof. David Flusser and his students at the Jerusalem School of Synoptic Research), was certainly extremely rare. But it proved to be incredibly enlightening. While very few to date may have read his translations of Galatians, Romans, Hebrews and the Gospel of John, I am convinced that the Day will arrive when they will be held in the highest of esteem by the great multitude and the Jewish People will recognize Uriel as one of their cherished and very valued sons.

Sadly, many Christians in particular, and it seems with agendas to protect, have sought to question his skill and even his integrity. But having conversed with him in depth and breadth over much time I am convinced in my heart that his simple, unpretentious but sincere, honest and zealous efforts at translating the words of the Jewish authors of the New Testament resulted in revelatory Truth.

His translations really are the best and most consistently aligned with their foundational text of the Hebrew Bible.

Uriel still had so much to offer this world from his tireless support of his wife to his passion for seeking justice for all, to his incredible work of translating and teaching the New Testament.

I learned so much from Uriel. His insights on many subtle and/or challenging portions of the New Testament were invaluable and often opened new vistas of understanding.

He is very sadly missed! To all who knew Uriel and mourn his passing: ‘May God console you among the other mourners of Zion and Jerusalem.”

Footnote 2: The response from Gemini regarding Uriel’s translation mentions the inclinations (yetzer). Here’s my article explaining this very Hebraic concept in a little depth:
https://globaltruthinternational.com/2017/06/10/the-yetzer-hara-and-yetzer-hatov/

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Deeds matter more than creeds

Prof Paul Johnson:
“… another characteristic of Judaism: the relative absence of dogmatic theology. … Their view of God is very simple and clear (he’s comparing it with the huge problems of dogmas and innumerable heresies within Hellenistic Christianity). Some Jewish scholars argue that there is (also) in fact, a lot of dogma in Judaism.

That is true in the sense that there are many negative prohibitions – chiefly against idolatry. But the Jews usually avoided the positive dogmas which the vanity of theologians tends to create and which are the source of so much trouble.  They never adopted, for instance , the idea of Original Sin. Of all the ancient peoples, the Jews were perhaps the least interested in death, and this saved them from a host of problems. It is true that belief in the resurrection ansd the afterlife was the main distinguishing mark of Pharisaism, and thus a fundament of rabbinic Judaism. Indeed the first definite statement of dogma in the whole of Judaism, in the Mishnah, deals with this: ‘All Israel share in the world to come except the one who says resurrection has no origin in the Law’. But the Jews had a way of concentrating on life and pushing death – and its dogmas – intro the background.”

The first creed of Judaism (Gaon around 900 CE) did not come into acceptance until Judaism was some 2500 years old! Even Maimonides 13 articles of faith, which have given ‘little rise to controversy’ have not been ‘endorsed by any authoritative body’.

“Judaism is not so much about doctrine – that is taken for granted – as behaviour; the code matters more than the creed.”

Quote from Johnson, ‘A History of the Jews’, p 161 

Or as put in the Mishnah: “Deeds matter more than Creeds”.

While Prof. Paul Johnson is a Roman Catholic, I doubt that few, even Jewish historians (and I love the work of Rabbi Ken Spiro), have given as good a history of the Jewish people as Prof. Johnson – he clearly loves the Jewish people; he explains the rise of both anti-Semitism and Jewish self-hatred so well, and he shows how dependent the entire world really has been on the wisdom and endeavours of the Jewish people.

His book should be read by all Jews (to encourage and uplift them) and by all Gentiles to enlighten them!

It is a big book – it took me awhile to digest but it was so worth it. 

The only time he goes a little wrong in my opinion, is when he tries to explain certain Christian perspectives rather than any Jewish ones!

His personal website is: http://pauljohnsonarchives.org/

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From Joseph, through Judah: Foretelling Messiah

“The ability to recognize our sin, to take responsibility for it and to repent is at the core of what is meant by the idea of a Messiah.” 

 “… the courage to admit guilt, to take responsibility, to change. This is the lesson that the Messiah will one day teach the world. Man controls his destiny. No matter what mistakes he has made, man can fix them.” –  Rabbi Ari Kahn [1]

The Messiah is a prophet, a prophet who has/will declare perfectly the will of the Almighty and teach us of His Ways, as per Psalm 119.

Therefore, the Messiah will show us

  • what true repentance is;
  • what it means to be truly and fully obedient to the Almighty;
  • to truly ‘forgive those who trespass against us’’;
  • to speak into the world in an attempt to heal it (Tikkun HaOlam); and
  • to demonstrate to the point of accepting death that ‘no greater love hath a man than to lay down his life for his friends’.

For more on the Messiah from a Hebraic Perspective listen to our Podcasts – Part 1 and Part 2

This weeks Torah Portion (Genesis 37-40) contains so much wisdom and is so heavy with prophetic vision and typology.

There is a well known Jewish saying: ““the actions of the forefathers serve as a portent (a sign or warning) for their descendants.” That is, we can learn so much about both how to live today and about what is coming tomorrow, from studying the narratives of the Hebrew/Jewish patriarchs.

This Torah portion begins with: “And Jacob settled in the land in which his father dwelled.” – Gen 37:1

Today, Jacob’s children have again settled in the land in which his father dwelled.

The next verse reads: “These are the generations of Jacob; Joseph was seventeen years old ...” – Gen 37:2

Note how immediately Joseph is brought into the picture. Joseph’s whole life is such a strong ‘type’ of Messiah. That is, there is so much of his life that acts as a sign to the future coming of Messiah [2].

Notice also in the very next verse that Jacob is now referred to by his name Israel.

“Israel loved Joseph more than any of his sons …” – Gen 37:3

Perhaps this indicates that the love that Jacob/Israel has for his son Joseph is a national love, a love that all Israel should share, a yearning not just for the leadership and wisdom of Joseph to return to lead the people, through Messiah, but a love for their brother, for their neighbour and for their God, so powerfully declared through the example of Joseph [3].

But much goes wrong first!

Much time and heartache and loss occurs between the birth and exile of Joseph, and the redemption of Israel’s family through this same Joseph.

The favourite son is scorned by his brothers. He is handed over to the pagans and endures much suffering. But ultimately he rises up to stand at the right hand of the highest authority in the land.

Ultimately, his position of great authority, acting as the principal agent of the King (the Pharaoh of Egypt) will bring redemption and salvation to his brothers who rejected him, and to his entire family (as well as to many Gentiles – Egyptians).

Note that there is an intriguing break in the narrative though.

The last verse of Genesis 37 informs us that Joseph has been sold into slavery in Egypt.

 “Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.” – Gen 37:36

Then in the first verse of Genesis 39 (NOT 38), the story of Joseph in Egypt and his rise to great authority and ultimate redemption is begun.

“Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.” – Gen 39:1[4]

So what is ‘in the gap’? The story of Judah and his illicit union with Tamar, which produces the line of King David and the King Messiah.

Why is this story placed here as an insert, as a pause in the narrative of Joseph, the great ‘type of Messiah’?

Perhaps as a ‘portent’, as a sign for the future, so that we may consider what it may be telling us.

The son of Israel, chosen by HaShem as a Messiah (an ‘anointed one’) to bring the redemption and shalom is rejected by his brothers and ‘disappears’ from view for a time. While he is ‘away’ in a ‘far land’, Jacob grieves for his loss and much tension and conflict arises between the brothers, especially against Judah. Ultimately they all leave the Land of Israel to ‘find’ their Messiah, their savior Joseph dressed and disguised as an Egyptian (Gentile), and through his efforts they find salvation from the famine and are ultimately returned to the Land.

At the end of the Genesis 38 and the story of Judah we read of his repentance.

It is then that the story returns to focus of Joseph and we read of the redemption of the people of Israel; the restoration of Jacob/Israel with his son Joseph, the restoration of Joseph’s brothers with Joseph and finally the  return of all Israel to the Land of Israel.

We also see during this time that Joseph is involved in the Gentile world, that the Gentile world is greatly blessed by his involvement, his leadership and example.

Could this narrative be a further ‘sign’ that after the last great exile and dispersion from the Land of Israel (a direct result of the prophetic fiat of God through Moses on the plains of Moab – see Deut 29-30), the Jewish people will return and their Messiah will be revealed to them. Jacob/Israel will learn that he was not dead, that he has been given great authority and that when the time is right he will bring full restoration and real shalom to Israel and all the nations of the earth!

May Messiah come speedily!

For more on the return to israel in these present/last days see my article: ‘Israel: Return in Belief or Unbelief’.

Paul Herring
December 2012

[3] And of course through the example of Yeshua (Jesus), who a number of famous Rabbi’s and Professors have called the greatest ethical teacher ever. This was certainly the view of Prof. Joseph Klausner, of Hebrew University (retired in 1949) who was an historian of the Second Temple period.

[4] For a great article of this fascinating story I strongly recommend the article ‘The Light of Messiah’ by Rabbi Ari Kahn at Aish.com – see http://www.aish.com/tp/i/moha/48914512.html

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The Hebraic Mindset: Part 1

In our latest Podcast, we look at a few of the more significant issues related to reading the Bible through Hebraic eyes.

The Hebraic perspective is all about doing; the Greek or Hellenistic perspective is all about knowing.

In this podcast we address such questions as:

“What does this mean?

What is the significance of this difference, especially with respect to how we approach the Scriptures?”

 “The aim of Hebrew religion is the Knowledge of God); the aim of Greek thought is Know thyself.  
Between these two there is a great gulf fixed.  We do not see that either admits of any compromise.  They are fundamentally different in a priori assumption, in method of approach, and in final conclusion…
The Hebrew system starts with God.  The only true wisdom is Knowledge of God.  ‘The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.’  The corollary is that man can never know himself, what he is and what is his relation the world, unless first he learn of God and be submissive to God’s sovereign will. 


The Greek system, on the contrary, starts from the knowledge of man, and seeks to rise to an understanding of the ways and Nature of God through the knowledge of what is called ‘man’s higher nature’.  According to the Bible, man had no higher nature except he be born of the Spirit.
We find this approach of the Greeks no where in the Bible. The whole Bible, the New Testament as well as the Old Testament, is based on the Hebrew attitude and approach… “  Prof. Norman H. Snaith  “Distinctive Ideas of the Old Testament”

Listen to Part 1 here – http://aubreyandpaul.podomatic.com/player/web/2012-10-21T14_30_55-07_00

Here is a link to a Powerpoint from a Sukkot Presentation on this topic as well: Hebraic Mindset

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Super-Heroes: Heartbreak for Moses!

In this weeks Torah Portion (Vayelech – Deut 31:1-30), we read about Moses last day and how the Almighty tells Moses that he is about to die, after the last 40 years leading the Nation of Israel in the desert.

God calls both Moses and Joshua into the Tent of Meeting (where His presence was most revealed; most real and ‘physical’ or felt). Along with ‘passing the baton’ to Joshua and encouraging Joshua as the new leader of His People, God informs Moses that the people will fail God (for a time) and God will hide His face from them!

Here is what He shared:

Deut 31:

“15 ADONAI appeared in the tent in a column of cloud; the column of cloud stood above the entrance to the tent.

16 ADONAI said to Moshe,

“You are about to sleep with your ancestors. But this people will get up and offer themselves as prostitutes to the foreign gods of the land where they are going. When they are with those gods, they will abandon me and break my covenant which I have made with them.

17 Then my anger will flare up, and I will abandon them and hide my face from them. They will be devoured, and many calamities and troubles will come upon them. Then they will ask, ‘Haven’t these calamities come upon us because our God isn’t here with us?’

18 But I will be hiding my face from them because of all the evil they will have done in turning to other gods.

19 “Therefore, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the people of Isra’el. Have them learn it by heart, so that this song can be a witness for me against the people of Isra’el.

20 For when I have brought them into the land I swore to their ancestors, flowing with milk and honey; and they have eaten their fill, grown fat and turned to other gods, serving them and despising me, and broken my covenant;

21 then, after many calamities and troubles have come upon them, this song will testify before them as a witness, because their descendants will still be reciting it and will not have forgotten it. For I know how they think even now, even before I have brought them into the land about which I swore.”

The song that Moses writes for the people ends in hope (see Deuteronomy 32), with

“43 Sing out, you nations, about his people! For he will avenge the blood of his servants. He will render vengeance to his adversaries and make atonement for the land of his people.”

The Tanakh of course, shares in many places that despite all their wrongs and their turning away, HaShem will bring His People back into the Land of Israel, for His Name’s sake! See my article ‘Israel: Return in Belief or Unbelief’ (at www.circumcisedheart.info) for some of the evidence for this.

What I wanted to touch on though was Moses heartache!

Imagine, he has led the Jewish people out of Egypt; they have seen many miracles on a daily basis; they, this 2 million people, have ‘seen’ the Almighty in a way that no-one else has, and yet, after his forty years of leading them, Moses is told that they will turn their back on the Almighty!

And Moses can’t do anything about it; he is about to die; to ‘sleep’ with his ancestors!

How heart-broken must he have been; how despairing! He had been like a father to his brethren; he had devoted everything to them; he had rejected a royal life for them; he had sacrificed much and here he is being told in a sense that he has failed! Yes, he knew that at the great Day of Judgment; the People of Israel would be restored and all the prophecies to Abraham fulfilled, but what comfort now; in this his final moments.

Moses was a super-hero! And yet, in a sense HaShem tells him he has failed! Was it worth it?

Do you feel for Moses; do you empathize with him; when you have given your all and it appears you have failed? Evil still abounds! Man still hates his brother! What can we do?!

Let us turn to the Almighty, the King of the Universe and acknowledge we need Him; we need His strength; His comfort; His mercy and justice! His Messiah! His great Day; the Day of Judgment; the Day of Atonement; the Day of cleansing!

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Who is the Messiah from a Hebraic Perspective?

In this Podcast (part 1 of 2) we ask the question of who/what the first believers expected the Messiah to be; why many Jewish people reject the belief that Yeshua is this end-times Messiah; how Christians have misunderstood his ministry and how we should view the Messiah.

In this our second podcast, Pastor Aubrey and I look back through time to Yeshua’s day and ask the question of who the Messiah was to be; who was expected; what sort of man was he to be; what was he to do? What was the understanding that the first disciples would have had and how did they see Yeshua as fitting their criteria.

How does the answer to this question help us some 2000 years later, both in a better appreciation of who Yeshua is; but also a better appreciation of typical Jewish perspectives on Yeshua as the Messiah. Also how does such an understanding help us now as we look forward to the Coming Age?

Podcast – click here – part 2 out in a few days.

Articles & links:

Background article: http://www.charismacomputers.com.au/The%20Messiah%20from%20an%20Hebraic%20perspective.pdf

JewFAQ.org – 11 attributes of the Messiah – http://www.jewfaq.org/mashiach.htm

Site on Isaiah 7:14 issues – see Doctrine of the Virgin Birth at http://www.wallsofjericho.info/

For more on issues with Ps 22; Zex 12:10; Dan 9:24-27 see ‘The Teacher and the Preacher’ by Moshe Avraham Kempinksi

Podcast #2: Who is the Messiah from a Hebraic Perspective? Part 1 of 2
http://aubreyandpaul.podomatic.com/entry/2012-09-10T05_46_56-07_00