Some Jewish Witnesses For Christ
taking his doctor's degree in 1835. He studied under the Oriental
scholar, William Vatke, and his knowledge of the Hebrew grammar was
greatly increased by personal friendly intercourse with Dr. Gesenius,
the distinguished Hebrew scholar, at Halle. Raphael was baptized in 1836
by the Rev. Dr. Kuntze, taking the Christian names of Joiachim Heinrich
and the surname of Biesenthal.
That there was a considerable truth in Baron de Rothschild's observation
given above, is seen from the statistics of Jewish baptisms in those
days.
Dr. Kuntze, who was a resident clergyman at Berlin, was instrumental in
leading many young Jews to Christ. He baptized eighty in eight years
(1829-36), whilst the Society's missionary, the Rev. W. Ayerst, baptized
forty-two adult Jews in three years (1834-7). Altogether, 326 Jewish
baptisms were registered in the Consistory at Berlin during the years
1830-37. A few years later (1844) the Rev. C. W. H. Pauli, the Society's
missionary, reported that there were above 1,000 converts resident in
Berlin; and in 1850, as many as 2,500. They filled all ranks and
stations, and were to be found in all the ministerial departments, and
in the university.
In 1844, Biesenthal placed his services at the disposal of the Society,
and in doing so, wrote: "My Biblical studies led me, after much
searching and wandering for a long time, to find Him of whom Moses and
the Prophets did write. This result, this light which God caused to
shine in my darkness, I deem it my unrelenting duty to communicate to
others yet living in darkness, because the Lord Himself says that we
should not put our light under a bushel. The Apostles, as well as all
the Fathers, were furthered by the same disposition of mind. 'For where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also,' says the Lord. If
Christ be our treasure, our heart must be entirely and undividedly His
own, and all our talents devoted to the glory of His kingdom. Becoming a
missionary seems to me the surest way to fulfil Christ's commands. I
have long considered it both a duty and a privilege to communicate to my
brethren after the flesh the message of salvation, and to employ those
talents which God has given me for their welfare. My predilection for
the above has often seemed to be a token of God's will that I should
shew my brethren from their very literature, as well as from the Bible,
that the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in Christ, and that
we can only know the Father through Him. During the last three years I
have acted upon this conviction, and embraced every opportunity to prove
to my brethren that the Gospel of Christ is the power of God unto
salvation, and my anxious desire now is to be enabled to devote all my
time to this pursuit."
These earnest words are an echo of St. Paul's, "My heart's desire and
prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved" (Rom. x. 1). With
this spirit and aim, Biesenthal entered upon his long missionary career
of 37 years in connexion with this Society--active laborious years spent
in Berlin (1844-1868) and Leipzig (1868-1881). Eloquent in the
Scriptures, with a perfect command of Hebrew and wide knowledge of
Talmud and rabbinical literature, he was thoroughly furnished for his
life's work. Those who knew him well believed that he had intellectual,
literary and biblical qualifications in a most eminent degree, and that
he was the best Hebrew scholar of their acquaintance. His knowledge of
languages embraced--in addition to his native Polish--Hebrew, Latin,
Greek, Syriac, Chaldee, Arabic, Ethiopic, Samaritan, French, German,
Spanish, Italian and English. Never was missionary more highly gifted
with "tongues"--his equal in this respect is not to be found in the
ranks of the London Jews' Society; whilst with his pen he did even
better service than with his lips in proclaiming "Jesus Christ and Him
crucified" to his brethren after the flesh.
Biesenthal's missionary life commenced on April 1st, 1844, as an
assistant missionary in this Society's mission at Berlin, under the Rev.
C. W. H. Pauli, where he also undertook the editorship of "Records of
Israel's State and Prospects," a monthly periodical designed to promote
the Society's work, to give treatises on Messianic passages of the Old
Testament, to discuss Christian and Jewish doctrines, and to give
attention to Jewish history and literature; he also wrote many articles
for the "Dibre Emeth." He continued to work in this humble capacity
under the Rev. R. Bellson until 1868, when his great abilities found a
recognition, even though tardy, by his appointment to the charge of a
new mission station of the Society at Leipzig. This important city, the
second in Saxony, and the seat of a university, had for many years been
visited by the Society's missionaries from Berlin at the time of the
great fairs, when Jews assembled from all parts, and to whom large
numbers of Old and New Testaments were sold. Biesenthal found some
seventy or eighty Hebrew Christians living there, and subsequently gave
it as his opinion that they might be "numbered by hundreds." There was a
small Jewish community of about 500, who, since 1849, had enjoyed the
rights of citizenship. This may seem to have been but a small field of
work for a man of such attainments, but he was the only missionary to
the Jews throughout the whole kingdom of Saxony; and, moreover, Leipzig
was the resort of many foreign Jews from Poland, Russia, Turkey, Greece,
Persia, and even from America, and thus altogether an important
missionary centre. Apart from the visible results in the form of
baptisms from Biesenthal's labours, the indirect results were great and
far-reaching. As a scholar his name was, for many years, a household
word in Germany, and especially in those circles where the Jewish
mission exerted its influence. His Commentaries on the Gospels and the
Epistles to the Romans and the Hebrews, so eminently useful in mission
work, obtained well-deserved eminence.
The mission field, as time went on, became less promising and fruitful,
the Jews becoming infected with the socialism and rationalism in
Germany, as taught in the universities, churches, schools, and other
institutions. Zeal for missions almost died out; the Jews became the
subject of much Anti-Semitism. The long pent-up enmity against them
burst forth with great virulence. In Leipzig, as in other places,
petitions were sent to the Government urging the withdrawal of their
political rights and privileges. In return, the Jews paid back hatred by
hatred.
This state of things led Dr. Biesenthal to take a gloomy view of the
general position. In his last report but one he said: "Hurricanes of
trouble are blowing from the four quarters of the earth against the
Church and against the Gospel," and added that in such circumstances
his report could not be a joyous one.
Dr. Biesenthal doubtless obtained more satisfaction from his literary
than from his missionary labours; although, in his case, one was the
complement of the other. A scholar he was emphatically, and a brilliant
one withal, as his works abundantly and substantially testify; and as
such he will be principally remembered.
His published works contained the following: "Auszüge aus dem Buche
Sohar, mit Deutscher Uebersetzung" (1837), a proof from Jewish sources
of the doctrine of the Trinity and other Christian verities;
"Hebräisches und Chaldäisches Schulwörterbuch über das A.T." (1836-7);
"David Kimchi's [Hebrew: sefer hashorashim] or Liber Radicum" (1838-48),
in collaboration with F. S. Lebrecht; "The Thirty-nine Articles of the
Church of England" (1840); "The Book of Psalms," Hebrew text and
Commentary (1841); "The Book of Isaiah," Hebrew Text and Commentary
(1841); "Chrestomathia Rabbinica Sive Libri Quatuor, etc." (1844);
"Menachem ben Serug's Hebrew Lexicon" (1847); "Theologisch-Historische
Studien" (1847); "Zur Geschichte der Christlichen Kirche," etc. (1850);
"Das Trostschreiben des Apostels Paulus an die Hebraer" (1878); and a
Hebrew Translation of the Epistles to the "Hebrews and the Romans," with
Commentary (1857-8). He also wrote Commentaries on "St. Matthew's
Gospel, the Acts of the Apostles," an Essay on "The Atonement"; and the
"Life of Gerson."
In 1877, the University of Giessen conferred upon him the degree of
Doctor of Divinity.
In his greatest work, the "History of the Christian Church," intended
for the special use of the Jews, he proved that they stood in close
connexion with the early Church, by bringing prominently forward the
history of Jewish believers who loved their Saviour devotedly and
laboured successfully for the spread of the Gospel at the time of its
first promulgation.
Dr. Isaac Jost (1793-1860), the learned Jewish historian of Frankfort,
in reviewing Dr. Biesenthal's "Commentary on the Epistle to the
Hebrews," referred to it as a masterly composition, and also to the
author's extraordinary command of the Hebrew language, and said it
excelled everything which had ever been written before in the endeavour
to prove, not only that Christianity is to be found in the writings of
almost all the ancient prophets, and that Christ's coming fulfilled the
law, but that the rabbis of almost every age agree with the writers of
the New Testament as to the general character of the Messiah promised,
although they do not admit that Jesus was that Messiah.
Dr. Julius Fürst (1805-1873), another eminent Jewish author, referring
to Biesenthal's Commentaries generally, and the extensive erudition and
thorough knowledge displayed of Jewish literature before and after the
Christian era, bore still higher testimony, and stated that all previous
attempts to translate the New Testament, or parts of it, were exceeded
by the distinguished labours of Dr. Biesenthal, not only on account of
the richness and fulness of matter, extracted with much taste from the
Talmud, Midrash, and Sohar, but also on account of the clearness of
thought with which he penetrated and exhibited the doctrinal teaching of
the Apostles.
It is a matter for deep regret that these valuable Commentaries are out
of print, and consequently out of circulation.
It is an interesting circumstance that Biesenthal also wrote, 1840,
under the pseudonym "Karl Ignaz Corvé," a work entitled "Ueber den
Ursprung die Juden Erhobenen Beschuldigung bei der Feier Ihrer Ostern
sich des Blutes zu bedienen, etc.," in which he defended the Jews from
the Blood Accusation at Damascus.
Dr. Biesenthal retired from active service in 1881, and died at Berlin
on June 25th, 1886, at the advanced age of 82 years.
BINION, Dr. Samuel A., son of Joshua, born in Suwalki, Poland, where he
received a good Hebrew and Talmudic education, and then studied at
Wilna, Breslau and Padua, under great Jewish savants. He then went to
England, about 1864-5, where, like Philip, he found Jesus to be the
Messiah, and he was baptized by the Rev. Dr. Ewald in Palestine Place.
He then attended lectures at King's College, and, probably through the
influence of Dr. Schwarz, he was sent to labour in the Protestant cause
in Spain, where he became superintendent of schools in Seville and in
the Balearic Islands. Thence he went to the United States, where his
linguistic attainments and great learning found free scope and due
acknowledgment. There he largely contributed to current encyclopædias.
He was one of the revisers of the "Century Dictionary of Names," and
wrote the article on the Kabbalah in "Charles Warner's Cyclopædia of the
World's Best Literature." Dr. Binion's master work is "Ancient Egypt,"
two elaborate folio volumes on the art and archæology of Egypt. He is
also the translator of "'Quo Vadis,' with Fire and Sword," Dan Michael,
published in Holiday de Luxe editions, Philadelphia.