SEPTEMBER 8, 2022 Numbers 19:1-2 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “This is the ordinance of the law which the Lord has commanded, saying: ‘Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring you a red heifer without blemish, in which there is no defect and on which a yoke has never come.’” As this chapter begins, it addresses what is perhaps the strangest rite in […]
SEPTEMBER 7, 2022 Numbers 18:20 Then the Lord said to Aaron: “You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have any portion among them; I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel.” In this verse, God establishes a very important concept as it relates to those who serve Him in His Sanctuary — don’t […]
SEPTEMBER 6, 2022 Numbers 18:19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer to the Lord, I have given to you and your sons and daughters with you as an ordinance forever; it is a covenant of salt forever before the Lord with you and your descendants with you. In the previous verses, once again, […]
SEPTEMBER 5, 2022 Numbers 17:12-13 So, the children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Surely we die, we perish, we all perish! Whoever even comes near the tabernacle of the Lord must die.” For all the attention that Aaron’s rod garnered through this incident — and it was indeed merited attention — what we should not overlook is […]
SEPTEMBER 4, 2022 Numbers 17:9-10 Then Moses brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel; and they looked, and each man took his rod. And the Lord said to Moses, “Bring Aaron’s rod back before the Testimony, to be kept as a sign against the rebels.” To clearly show that Aaron had been appointed, […]
Within Judaism, Yeshua of Nazareth has been often known by the name Talui, or haTalui, which literally translated means “the Hanged One,” or contextually, “the Crucified One.” As the Jewish people struggled under the polemics and persecutions of the church, the Talui moniker provided an inside joke. Who is Yeshua? He is Talui, the Crucified One. And what does the Torah say? “Talui is accursed of God.”
Deuteronomy 21:23 says, “He who is hanged is accursed of God.” This passage explains why the name Talui, the Hung One, became a common title for Yeshua among the Jewish people. In old anti-Christian writings, the pejorative is sometimes combined with other unflattering descriptions, but in general, Talui, refers to Yeshua, the crucified one. The title comes from the Torah: “He who is hanged (talui) is accursed of God” (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).
Anti-missionaries still invoke the passage today. This joke goes all the way back to the earliest years of the Yeshua movement. As the apostles proclaimed “Christ crucified” within the Jewish community, the early detractors who resisted their message probably responded with this passage: “Talui is accursed of God. The Crucified One is accursed of God.”
Opponents of the early believers used the passage to argue that Yeshua could not be the Messiah, just as anti-missionaries do today. They probably said, “You see, He could not be Messiah because He was hung on a tree, and everyone hung on a tree is accursed of God. Surely the real Messiah is not accursed of God.”
The most learned and most vicious anti-missionary the believers ever faced was Paul of Tarsus. Paul knew this passage. He used it in his debates against the early believers, in contempt of Yeshua haTalui, the Crucified One.
Reflecting on this matter, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus is accursed’; and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3). He also brought it up in the book of Galatians.
In Galatians 3, Paul returned to his old anti-Yeshua, Talui-polemic and cited Deuteronomy 21:22-23 in reference to Yeshua again. That passage was always popular with the anti-Yeshua crowd, but in Galatians 3, Paul put a new spin on it:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, [in Deuteronomy 21:23] “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13-14)
SEPTEMBER 3, 2022 Numbers 17:5 And it shall be that the rod of the man whom I choose will blossom; thus I will rid Myself of the complaints of the children of Israel, which they make against you. In the aftermath of Korah’s rebellion and the subsequent complaints coming from the people, the tribes were instructed to present the […]
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 Exodus 16:46 So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from the Lord.” It is amazing to me that, after all that had occurred to Korah and those […]
SEPTEMBER 1, 2022 Numbers 16:38 The censers of these men who sinned against their own souls, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar. Because they presented them before the Lord, therefore they are holy; and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel. It is interesting that those things that may […]
