Nothing evokes as much passion in a debate than that of the Trinity. In fact, this debate has raged since the inception of Christianity. In the infancy of this newly evolving religion there were a range of views. This site [Early Christian Writings] lists all the known writings in chronological order. It not only shows diverse beliefs, but also the struggle of a coherent message about the divinity of Jesus and what we call today the Trinity. It wouldn’t be until the 4th and 5th century that this new religion would be formalized into creeds affirming the core doctrines we have today. It should also be pointed out that by this time there were no, or very few, Jews in this movement. This is interesting considering this movement started out as an apocalyptic Jewish Messianic movement with hopes of restoring Israel.
We are now in the 21st century and yet the debate continues. Hebrew Roots groups are also joining in on the debates, and one popular teacher, Jim Staley, has started a much-anticipated series on the Trinity called: Trinity on Trial. His ministry no longer associates with the term “Hebrew Roots” and instead has opted for a more friendly term “Christian Roots”. Apparently, the term Hebrew is too offensive to mainstream Christians in that it’s too Jewish, a bad thing I guess to some.
In reviewing this series I want to make it clear that I am not attacking Jim Staley in any way. In fact, Staley has been one of my favorite teachers for years. However, with any teacher we should search our Bibles for the truth. People have sat back far too long without studying for themselves as to whether their teacher is teaching truths or errors.
This is the first video in the series.
This is a long video, hence the long review. He is presenting this series as a court case in which he will be offering the evidence in defense of the Trinity. In other words, without coming to a conclusion in each series he will simply introduce evidence on behalf of the defense. I imagine this evidence will form the basis of the conclusion. In this first video he introduces two pieces of evidence:
I. The Angel of the Lord II. The Word as understood by first century JewsFirst, let me say I totally agree with his statement that “the true Elohiym of Israel is beyond anything measurable, imaginable, or comparable”. We, with our finite minds, are incapable of understanding the nature and essence of the finite Yehovah. I also agree with him in that there is a real Father, a real Son, and a real Holy Spirit. However, the definition of these three as given in the Tenach are markedly different from that of the Christian NT, but that’s a completely separate and very lengthy topic altogether I hope to get to soon.
I was kind of taken aback by his statement that we need to go back to the first century Jewish mindset of the apostles to find what they believed was the nature of God, how they defined God, and how they defined the Torah to understand the nature of God. Since he’s famous for saying “we must start at the front of the book”, I would have thought he would have started in the front of the book. Because Yehovah does define Himself, or at least how we are to define Him, in the front of the book. So it really makes no difference how a first century apostle defined Him, what’s important is – did they define Him through His words or through the words of others?
In my article One Nation One God I went over key scriptures in which Yehovah defined himself to Israel. It’s very simple and straightforward.
The very first thing Yehovah roared from the cloud was:
Exo 20:2-6
(2) “I am Yehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
(3) “You shall have no other gods before me.
(4) “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
(5) You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I Yehovah your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,
(6) but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.Moses reminds them of this day in Deuteronomy 4 & 5 expounding on the message of who Yehovah is and how He was to be taught to future generations. He tells them they saw no form but only a voice out of the fire when He declared His Covenant – the Ten Words [Commandments].
Deu 4:12-14
(12) Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.
(13) And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone.
(14) And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.That’s interesting, the Ten Words spoken in Horeb [Mt. Sinai] is the Covenant. He continues to warn them to diligently watch themselves so as not to make an image of Yehovah in ANY figure: male, female, bird, anything that creeps on the ground, fish, or the sun, moon, and stars of heaven. [Deu 4:15-19]. This pretty much covers every possible thing in creation capable of being turned into a god by man, including a man himself. In verse 23 he repeats the warning yet again to not forget this, and tells them the consequence of doing this: being driven out of the land and into the nations [goyim] to serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell. Finally, Moses tells them when they find themselves in this condition in the latter days – in the midst of the goyim serving other gods – if they seek Yehovah they will find Him, return to Him, and obey His voice.
This is a command and the penalty for breaking this command is exile. Judah is no longer in exile, any Jew in the world can move to Israel. But, the house of Israel is still lost in exile and it should make one wonder why. This command is so ridiculously simple – Yehovah revealed Himself to the Israelites as a formless voice in a cloud so they could be a witness to the world, a world who had all sorts of gods, idols, and divine man-gods, that Yehovah had no form either of a male, female, bird, bug, animal, anything in the heavens, nor any sea creature.
Isa_43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me.
Isa_43:12 I declared and saved and proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you; and you are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and I am God.
Isa_44:8 Fear not, nor be afraid; have I not told you from of old and declared it? And you are my witnesses! Is there a God besides me? There is no Rock; I know not any.”
Isa_44:24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
This should settle it. Nothing mysterious, nothing alluded to, and nothing encrypted. But man still wants to define Him in other terms by finding what they perceive as mysterious, allusions, or encrypted messages. The Angel of the Lord is but just one.
I. The Angel of The Lord
First, let’s define what an Angel is: 
Strong’s H4397 mal’ak
From an unused root meaning to despatch as a deputy; a messenger; specifically of God, that is, an angel (also a prophet, priest or teacher): – ambassador, angel, king, messenger.
BDN
1) messenger, representative
1a) messenger
1b) angel
1c) the theophanic angel
The ancient Hebrew Lexicon has the following definition:
When we think Angel we immediately conjure up an image of a being flying around with fluffy feathery wings. But the definition is simply a messenger, or one who walks for another: it can be a mortal man as in a prophet, priest, or teacher, or a member of the host of heaven. I admit, some instances of messengers are mysterious, but all of them are messengers speaking the message and doing the will of Yehovah.
Psa 103:20 Bless the LORD, O you his angels [messengers], you mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word!
Ok, there are a series of verses he gives about the Angel of the Lord. We’ll go over them one by one.
[1] Genesis 22
Gen 22:1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” (2) He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
The next day Abraham set out and three days later found the place and was preparing the sacrifice of his son Isaac when:
Gen 22:10-12 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. (11) But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” (12) He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
The premise here is God told the Abraham to go and sacrifice his son, but the Angel appears and stops him and takes a perspective he is not allowed to take because he says “you have withheld your son from Me“. The Angel can’t say that……….or can he? First of all, the word “me” is not technically in the Hebrew. The word translated as “from me” is ‘minnay’ [H4480] with a Mem prefix. Taken together forms the literal: from out of or from from – there is no pronoun in this combination. A Yud suffix does turn a word into a possessive pronoun, but the Yud here is part of the word and not a suffix. Therefore, the word means “out of” and with the Mem prefix it means “from out of”. See other uses of this word with the same spelling in Isa 30:11, Isa 46:3, Mic 7:12, Ps 44:10,18, & Psa 78:2 to name a few. So the literal translation is: “I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from out of”. The Hebrew Interlinear also shows this is the translation:
ויאמרH559 And he said, אלH408 not תשׁלחH7971 Lay ידךH3027 thine hand אלH413 upon הנערH5288 the lad, ואלH408 neither תעשׂH6213 do לו מאומהH3972 thou any thing כיH3588 unto him: for עתהH6258 now ידעתיH3045 I know כיH3588 that יראH3373 fearest אלהיםH430 God, אתהH859 thou ולאH3808 seeing thou hast not חשׂכתH2820 withheld אתH853 בנךH1121 thy son, אתH853 יחידךH3173 thine only ממני׃H4480 from
I know it doesn’t make much sense, but it is what it says. Even if the Angel did say “me” the context is given in the following few verses:
Gen 22:15-18 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven (16) and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, (17) I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, (18) and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
It is clear the Angel is talking on behalf of Yehovah and is speaking His words not his own.
[2] Genesis 31
Gen 31:10 In the breeding season of the flock I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the goats that mated with the flock were striped, spotted, and mottled.
Gen 31:11 Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob,’ and I said, ‘Here I am!’
Gen 31:12 And he said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see, all the goats that mate with the flock are striped, spotted, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.
Gen 31:13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now arise, go out from this land and return to the land of your kindred.'”
Obviously, the God of Bethel is referring to Gen 28 where Jacob had the dream of angels ascending and descending on a ladder. But, does the Angel have the authority to say “I am the God of Bethel”? We’ll see later on.
[3] Genesis 48
Gen 48:15 And he blessed Joseph and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,
Gen 48:16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; and in them let my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
The premise here is that an Angel can’t redeem anyone. But the word H1350 – ga’al – can also mean deliver or revenge. Did an Angel deliver Jacob from evil? Back in Genesis 32, Jacob was getting ready to meet his brother Esau. He prays to God to deliver him from the hand of Esau and that night he wrestles with a ‘man’. The ‘man’ blessed Jacob and changed his name to Israel. The following day he made a safe passage through the land by Esau. Was this who Jacob was referring to? Possibly.
[4] Exodus 3
Exo 3:2 And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
Exo 3:3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
Exo 3:4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
Exo 3:5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
The Angel of the Lord appears to Moses in a flame and as Moses was about to look Yehovah tells him not to. He also tells him to take his shoes off because the ground is holy. The premise here is either the Angel was with Yehovah, or the Angel is Yehovah.
[5] Joshua 5
Jos 5:13 When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?”
Jos 5:14 And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”
Jos 5:15 And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
I have always heard this commander was Jesus. It doesn’t say this is an Angel but a man. But, because he says he is commander of the host of Yehovah we know he is not a mortal man. Who was he, and did Joshua fall at his feet and worship him as a deity as the video says?
The premise is the word translated as worshiped – H7812 / shachah – is the word used primarily for the worship of God, or to prostrate oneself to deity. Since the Angel accepts the worship of Joshua he must be a deity. Except Joshua did not worship the Angel, he simply turned his face towards the earth to bow and asked what the Angel had to say.
This was very common to bow to a superior and did not necessarily mean the person bowing considered the other a deity. For instance, Abraham worshiped – shachah – the Hittites [Gen 23:7]. Jacob and his entire caravan worshiped – shachah – Esau [Gen 33:3, 6]. Many people throughout the Tenach worshiped – shachah – kings, priests, and prophets.
So why does Joshua bow and readily submit to this angelic commander, is it possible he knew who he was and his purpose for being there? Actually, yes he did – Joshua knew an Angel of the Lord was coming to go before them in battle to guard them. Furthermore, he knew that anyone who rebelled against him would not be pardoned because Yehovah’s name was on him.
Exo 23:20 “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.
Exo 23:21 Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.
Exo 23:22 “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
Exo 23:23 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,
Exo 23:24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.
Exo 32:34 But now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon
Exo 33:2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
Notice carefully that an Angel of the Lord speaks the words of Yehovah – he is a messenger only and not Yehovah himself. Does he have authority to speak in the first person? Yes, he is speaking for Yehovah and is not behaving like a rogue Angel. Moses and the prophets frequently switch from third person to first person when speaking.
In Deuteronomy 29 Moses starts out in the third person, but in verse 6 he speaks in the first person and says “You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.”. Then in verse 14 he speaks again in the first person and says “It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant”. Was Moses Yehovah their Elohiym that made a sworn covenant? No, he was speaking the words Yehovah put into his mouth.
Isaiah 61 is another good example of switching tenses when a prophet speaks the words of Yehovah. In verse 8 Isaiah says “For I the LORD love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them”. Many other prophets do this as well.
[6]. Judges 2
Jdg 2:1 Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you,
We just learned above that the voice of a messenger is the words of Yehovah, therefore have authority to speak in the first person. But, an actual Angel was with the Israelites when they crossed the sea too:
Exo 14:19 Then the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, (20) coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night without one coming near the other all night.
It was the Angel of the Lord who came between the Egyptians and Israelites giving them time for a safe crossing over the sea.
II. The Word
The second piece of evidence provided in the video is the definition of what The Word meant to first century Jews. It is based on the Targums widely used by Aramaic speaking Jews in the first century. These Targums are the Aramaic translations of the Torah and prophets by two Rabbis: Onkelos and Jonathan.
Targum Onkelos: Ascribed by tradition to the proselyte Onkelos, this translation, which covers the Torah or Pentateuch, is considered to be the oldest and it is the most widely used of all the Jewish targums. It most likely originated in Palestine in the first few centuries CE, but was transmitted and edited in the East, among the Jews of Babylonia. In the Babylonian Talmud it is referred to as “our Targum.”
Targum Jonathan: As with Onkelos, some traditions ascribe this targum to Jonathan ben Uzziel, a pupil of Hillel, and, like Onkelos, it probably originated in Palestine in the early centuries CE. Targum Jonathan contains renderings of the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, 1-2 Samuel, 1-2 Kings) and the Latter Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve Minor Prophets).
In these two Targums, they often add The Word [Memre] either in place of or in addition to the name of Yehovah. For example:
Exo 25:22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel.
Targum Onkelos: And I will appoint My Word (Memra) with thee there; and I will speak with thee from above the Propitiatory
This is both interesting and unfortunate, but it does explain how the writer of John understood The Word. He understood it as a walking, talking, covenant making, and separate essence apart from Yehovah that became Yehovah in the flesh.
Joh 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. (4) In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
Is is correct though? Are we to base a whole theology based on one persons, or groups, understanding of rabbinic translations? While I think great insights and wisdom can be obtained from all ancient rabbinic literature, it must be understood that these were just men interpreting the scriptures based on their limited understanding of their time. I highly doubt they saw The Word as a separate entity, but only as the truth and power behind the words spoken.
More importantly, changing or adding The Word [Memre] where it didn’t occur in the Hebrew is “adding to” to the words of the book which was forbidden [Deut 4:2, 12:32]. We can now see the ramifications of this type of error by the formation of many false doctrines it produced the last 2,000 years.
Yehovah told us exactly who He was throughout the Torah. It is not mysterious, it’s not encrypted, it’s not too hard to understand, and it’s not too far from us that someone has to go get it and interpret it for us.
Isa_44:24 Thus says the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb: “I am Yehovah, who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,
Voice of a Watchman 