Jewish people don’t believe in mediators in order to reach God. Or so it’s said. Interestingly, most people have little difficulty accepting a need for a mediator in daily life. In civic government, local officials represent their constituency to the higher governing authorities. In law, attorneys take the role of advocate. Tax accountants, marriage counselors, and others act as “go-betweens”—and in a functioning society, their role is accepted and needed.

Yet the Jewish view is that there is no need for a mediator in our relationship with God. Author Milton Steinberg puts it this way:

Between God and man stands no one—not God-man, not angel, not advocate. Nor is intercession or intervention required. As nothing comes between soul and body, father and child, potter and vessel, so nothing separates man from God, soul of his soul, his Father and Fashioner.²

Jewish Views on Good, Evil, and Pulling Ourselves Up by Our Own Bootstraps

Modern Judaism teaches that the need for a mediator is “unbearable” and “an intrusion,” for we are taught to relate to God in terms of how we see ourselves. According to tradition, we are given a soul at birth which is pure and holy. Though we possess an inclination towards both good and evil,³ the inclination to do good is stronger than the tendency towards evil.

The modern Jewish view says we are essentially good.

The modern Jewish view emphasizes that since we are made in God’s image, we are therefore essentially good. Judaism is an optimistic and positive faith. We are inclined to believe that the drama of everyday life is played out against this backdrop of hope. If that is so, we then have the potential to make noble and lofty ideals a reality.

At the same time, we are painfully aware of the problem of evil and the wrongs which people commit against one another. To deny the existence of this “dark side” of the human experience would be to deny the pain which, impressed upon the collective Jewish soul, has helped to bind us together.

According to the Scriptures, God has given us the ability to choose: “I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Dr. J. H. Hertz, Chief Rabbi of Britain in the first part of the twentieth century, commented on the above text: “Jewish ethics is rooted in the doctrine of human responsibility, that is, freedom of the will.”⁴ Hertz went on to say that, “in the moral universe, man ever remains his own master.” The giving of the commandments presupposes that we have the ability to choose to follow them.

The ability to choose places the yoke of moral and ethical responsibility upon us. We are accountable to God and to each other for our decisions. We are not programmed robots designed by an impersonal Creator to helplessly act out a destiny that is not of our choosing.

Why would we need a mediator if we are self-sufficient, moral beings?

Sometimes our choices are wrong, but according to contemporary Jewish thought, evil is not inevitable, but merely an obstacle which we have the power to overcome. Jocz connects this to the rejection by Judaism of the need for mediation:

Mediation implies the inadequacy of the human effort to reach out Godwards. Judaism is founded on the premise that man is capable by virtue of his moral effort of approaching God. Hence, God’s coming to man’s aid not only becomes superfluous, but actually interferes with the progress of human development.⁵

The rabbis teach that we can overcome our evil inclination: we can struggle up the steep hill of morality, ascending ever nearer to God. Why would we need a mediator if indeed we are self-sufficient, moral beings?

The need for a mediator implies that human efforts are not adequate, that somehow there is a gap between God and humanity that we cannot bridge ourselves. This is precisely one issue to which many take offense. But there is another reason why we reject the idea of a mediator.

Jewish Views on a Christian “Mediator”

The second reason why modern Judaism finds the idea of a mediator unacceptable is that it is regarded as a Christian concept. In light of the tragic injustices which the Jewish people have endured at the hands of those who called themselves “Christians,” the desire to distinguish ourselves from them is almost hard-wired into us. Much has been written to explain the differences between Judaism and Christianity so that there would be no misunderstanding as to which camp one belonged. And so Christians might feel a need for a mediator, but Jews do not.

That means that belief in any kind of intermediary figure is decidedly un-Jewish and aligns one with the side of those who have persecuted us. Most Jews have historically believed that our survival depends upon separation—therefore anything that sounds remotely “Christian” means assimilation and loss of Jewish identity.

This desire to remain distinct from Christianity and to take exception to faith in Jesus has become a determining factor in what will or will not be accepted as truth. To be Christian is to be un-Jewish: this is axiomatic.

Moses As Mediator

In contrast to both of the above reasons why Jews don’t accept the need for a mediator, the Scriptures show us that mediators were central to the Jewish religion from the very beginning. Moses is, so to speak, Exhibit A here.

When God revealed his Torah on Mount Sinai, we did not respond with a jubilant celebration. On the contrary,

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:18, 19)

When we stood in the presence of God, we did not tell Moses, “We don’t need a go-between! We will just sit here and listen to what God says.” Rather, we implored Moses to go in our place; we were terrified at the prospect of going directly to God.

Imagine hearing the boom of thunderclaps. Imagine seeing the spectacular display of lightning and smoke upon Mount Sinai! Imagine realizing that you might be confronted by the Being you knew existed but hoped to never encounter—the Holy One who demands moral perfection.

Moreover, when we built the Golden Calf and worshipped it, Moses acted as a mediator between the people and God when he prayed that God might not destroy them:

But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. (Exodus 32:11–14)

The Priests

When people are called to the bimah (platform) in the Torah service of a modern synagogue, the first honor of being called up goes to a kohen, someone who is traditionally from a family of priests. But in the days of the Temple, the priests primarily oversaw the sacrificial services in which they acted as mediators.

Prior to the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., animal sacrifices provided atonement for sin. The priests had a mediatorial role, as they received the sacrifices that a worshiper brought and presented them to God.  Indeed, God designated the entire nation a “kingdom of priests” (Exodus 19:6). This was an honor as well as a solemn responsibility. The Jewish people, by being faithful in keeping the commandments, were to act as mediators between God and the Gentile nations, in the same way that Moses and the priests represented Israel before God.

Isaiah in the Presence of God

So why do we really need a mediator after all? The great prophet Isaiah helps us to understand. One day he had a vision of God seated on a throne surrounded by angelic beings singing, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3). But the music of the heavens was more than a song; it was a supernatural symphony which filled the Temple. “The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke” (Isaiah 6:4).

Isaiah trembled before the same God who had spoken to Moses.

Just like the nation of Israel trembled at the foot of Mount Sinai, Isaiah trembled before the same God who had spoken to Moses. One might think that Isaiah would be pleased and excited—the King of the Universe wanted to have an audience with him. But his reaction was the very opposite:

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5)

Isaiah knew that in the presence of a holy God, he was “unholy.” The contrast between God’s righteousness and Isaiah’s “uncleanness” was stark. He must have felt like someone who had dressed in a dimly lit room and entered the morning sunlight, only to find spots and stains that before were invisible. The closer he came to the source of light, the more apparent the blotches and blemishes were. Of course, the stains had been there all the time; he just couldn’t see them when he was in the dark.

The reactions of Moses, the nation of Israel and Isaiah seem almost un-Jewish in light of modern theology. Instead of self-sufficiency, our ancestors felt fear and inadequacy. Instead of pride, they experienced humility and awe. They saw who God is, holy and righteous, and they cried out for mercy. Moses, Israel, and Isaiah were overwhelmed by their own frailties. And just as God sent Moses to protect the people from their fear, he sent an angel with a live coal to touch Isaiah’s lips and cleanse him from sin.

The angel said, “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for” (Isaiah 6:7). It was God who took the initiative in bringing about Isaiah’s reconciliation. In an act of grace and compassion, God provided the means for forgiveness and restoration. Like Isaiah, we are responsible for our actions and choices, but we are also responsible to relate to God on his terms.

God Gave a Mediator

The concept of our inadequacy before God undercuts all sense of human dignity only if, as Jocz said, mediatorship is viewed by Jewish people as an intrusion which violates our human rights. Yet our dignity as human beings comes from being created in God’s image. If believing that our need for a mediator undercuts our dignity, then one of two things must be true.

The first is that God is not who he says he is, namely holy: “for I the LORD am holy” (Leviticus 20:26). Either God is holy in a way we are not, or Moses, Isaiah, and all the people of Israel were foolish to tremble in his presence. They could have gone directly to God without needing Moses, priests, without cleansing. Recall that even Moses could not see God directly; in Exodus 33:18–23 God himself offers his back, not his face, to be seen by Moses in a kind of mediation.

The second possibility is that God is holy, but a mediator is not necessary because people simply do not desire a relationship with him.

Yet not only is God holy, he is also compassionate and patient. He wants to have a relationship with us. In his compassion, he gave Israel Moses, the priests, and the sacrifices to act as mediators and reconcile the people to himself. In his compassion, he chose the Jewish people to represent him to the other nations of the world that they too might find reconciliation with God. And he promised an ultimate mediator:

He [the servant of the Lord] poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12)

We believe that Yeshua (Jesus) embodies the mediating reach of God across the abyss of human weakness.

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Messiah Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. (1 Timothy 2:5, 6)

The idea of a mediator did not start among Christians. Nor did the idea that we need one. Modern Jewish theology protects human, and Jewish, dignity by telling us that we can be who we were meant to be by simple life choices. The Scripture differs: dignity is protected when we realize that we cannot face God directly but need help. That is the original Jewish idea.

Endnotes

1 Jakob Jocz, The Jewish People and Jesus Christ: The Relationship Between Church and Synagogue (Michigan: Baker Book House, 1979), 280.

2 Milton Steinberg, Basic Judaism (NY: Harvest Book, 1947), 57–58.

3 The commonly used rabbinic terms are yetzer ha-tov and yetzer ha-ra. The rabbis believe that we control the balance between these two opposing forces.

4 Dr. Joseph H. Hertz, The Authorized Daily Prayer Book (Ohio: Bloch Publishing Company, 1975), 882. Emphasis added.

5 The Jewish People and Jesus Christ, 278.