I have a question about Genesis 18:1. It says that three men appeared to Abraham and that he fed them. Is this the Trinity? Does God eat?
Also, in Zechariah 12:10 when it says they will look upon Him who they pierced and they will mourn, why don’t the Jews make the connection between that prophecy and Jesus? How do they explain it? Thank you for all your help.
The three men were God and two Angels, all in human form. As will be the case with us in our Resurrection bodies, these three were able to eat, but probably didn’t need to in order to stay alive.
According to a leading Jewish anti-missionary web site, “The predominant perspective on Zechariah 12:10 among the Jewish commentators is that it describes the mourning over those Jews who were slain while defending the Kingdom of Judah and Jerusalem. Those who fell in the battle were the ones described as having been thrust through with the swords and spears of soldiers from the attacking nations. In other words, they believe that this verse describes a historical event from the Biblical times around which this was written.”
Below is a comparison between a popular Jewish translation of Zechariah 12:10 and the King James Version to help explain this difference.
(Jerusalem Bible) But I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Yerushalayim the spirit of grace and of supplication: and they shall look towards me, regarding those whom the nations have thrust through. And they shall mourn for him (that is slain) as one mourns for an only son, and shall be in bitterness over him, as one that is in bitterness for a firstborn.
(KJV) And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
As you can see, in the Jewish translation the one(s) who were pierced (thrust through) are Jews who died in defense of their country. I don’t know of any Christian commentators who would agree with that interpretation. Additionally, this view fails to address two untranslated letters that follow the word translated “me” in the Hebrew text. They are an aleph and a tau, the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
These letters are thought by many to be equivalent to alpha and omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and a title Jesus used of Himself. Their unexplained presence in the passage would seem to indicate that the King James translation is the more accurate. Never-the-less, the interpretation I quoted above represents the widely held Jewish position on Zechariah 12:10.