The Missteps of Justin: How He Altered Verses to Win a Fictional Debate

Around nineteen hundred years ago, a man named Justin lived in the Land of Israel. Born in Shechem, then known as Neapolis, he was Roman and a pagan idolater. At a certain age, he converted to Christianity and became a renowned Christian preacher. He migrated to Rome, starting a Christian school there. The Roman emperor, Marcus Antonius (likely Antoninus, a friend of Rabbi Judah the Prince), ordered his execution during the persecution of Christians. Even today, Christians commemorate Justin's day, known as "Saint," every March.

Justin authored a work titled "Dialogue with Trypho the Jew," describing a mostly fictional debate with a Jewish sage. Some believe this sage was Rabbi Tarfon, a notable opponent of Christians. In the Talmud, Tractate Shabbat discusses saving books with Hashem's name from a fire on Shabbat. The question was whether saving Christian texts was allowed, as they mention Hashem. Rabbi Tarfon harshly replied: "I shall cause my children to perish if I do not burn them along with the names in them, for even if one is pursued by a killer or has a venomous snake chasing him, he enters a house of idolatry rather than those houses [of Christians], for they recognize and reject, while the former do not recognize and reject." Some Jews didn’t entirely reject Christianity; after all, it was about Jews believing in someone as the Messiah, which doesn’t cause death. However, sages foresaw that Christianity would uproot Judaism and persecute Jews, as eventually happened.

As mentioned, it’s unclear if Justin really met Rabbi Tarfon, a contemporary. What is certain is the work is largely an imagined dialogue, allowing Justin to "defeat" his Jewish interlocutor and make long "sermons" to "prove" Christianity's truth from scriptures, supposedly. Justin is considered one of the Church Fathers and Christian theology was taught in churches for years.

Analyzing his arguments reveals his ignorance and lack of Torah knowledge, highlighting the absurdity Christianity is built upon. In chapter 130 of his book, Justin says: "Through Moses, the faithful servant, it was said... Rejoice, nations, with His people, and all angels of God will be strengthened in Him, for He avenges the blood of His sons, takes vengeance, repays His enemies and His haters receive their due, and Hashem will purify His people’s land."

Sound familiar? Yes, it’s a distortion of the verse: "Rejoice, nations, with His people, for He will avenge His servants’ blood, take vengeance on His adversaries, and atone for His land, His people."

The Greek translator couldn’t read without vowels. Instead of "Rejoice, nations, with His people," about the people of Israel, it was read as "with Him," leading Justin to conclude that the verse says nations shall rejoice with Hashem.

The translator also misunderstood "atone for His land, His people" as vengeance against the nations, interpreting it as purifying His people — supposedly avenging against Jews while nations rejoice with Him, with Hashem...

Justin says: "By saying these things, he refers to us, the nations, who will rejoice with His people... by saying the nations join with His people, he implies it as criticism of your nation, for just as you angered Him... He deemed it worthy that those, even idolaters, would know His will and inherit His land."

It’s certain that if Rabbi Tarfon heard this argument, he would immediately retort, pointing out Justin’s inability to read a single Hebrew word, making it pointless to cite scriptures. But the fictional Trypho cannot respond... he is persuaded by Justin’s "arguments."

These are the claims Christianity is based upon, centrally accusing Jews of not heeding the prophets. Fact: they quote them verses, and Jews deny them...