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Recommended Books

With regard to the next two books: David Baron (1857-1926) was a Jewish believer in Yeshua as Messiah and the founder of the Hebrew Christian Testimony to Israel missionary organization in London. He was an accomplished Hebrew and Tanakh scholar.

Baron, David. Rays of Messiah's Glory: Christ in the Old Testament. 2nd ed. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1888.

This book traces Messianic themes, titles, and offices through the Tanakh. A set of appendices gives detailed exegesis of a number of Messianic passages.

Baron, David. The Servant of Jehovah: The Sufferings of the Messiah and the Glory that Should Follow. 2nd ed. London: Marshall, Morgan and Scott, 1922.

This book is a detailed exposition of the Suffering Servant passage, Isaiah 52:13-53:12. Baron begins with a thorough review of both the ancient and modern Jewish interpretations; additional details are provided in a helpful appendix. The bulk of the book is a detailed, verse-by-verse exegesis of the text.

Brown, Michael L. Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus. 4 volumes. Grand Rapids: Baker Books.

• Volume 1 (2000): General and Historical Objections
• Volume 2 (2000): Theological Objections
• Volume 3 (2003): Messianic Prophecy Objections
• Volume 4 (2007): New Testament Objections

Dr. Brown is a Jewish believer in Yeshua as Messiah and the founder and president of ICN Ministries, which is devoted to taking the message of repentance and revival to Israel, the Church, and the Nations. He is also a published Old Testament and Semitic scholar, holding a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages and Literature from New York University.

Kac, Arthur W. The Messianic Hope: A Divine Solution for the Human Problem. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1931.

This is a major work (355 pages) that gives a detailed review of Messianic passages in the Tanakh and their fulfillment in Yeshua.

Kaiser, Walter C., Jr. The Messiah in the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1995.

A concise, semi-technical discussion of all the Messianic texts in the Tanakh by the former president of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. It offers some of the best solutions to questions raised about these texts.

McCaul, Alexander. The Messiahship of Jesus: The Concluding Series of the Twelve Lectures on the Prophecies. London: John W. Parker and Son, 1852.

This is without doubt one of the finest books I have ever read on the Messiahship of Yeshua and is often quoted by David Baron. McCaul was an outstanding Hebrew scholar and wrote clear and cogent analyses of the Messianic prophecies. In these lectures, he includes extensive interaction with Jewish writers such as Rashi, Kimchi, and Ben Ezra, as well as the Targumim, Midrashim, Talmud, and other historic Jewish writings. It is a "must read" on the subject. The book is difficult to find, but it is part of the Google collection of online books and can be found at this link. To give you an idea of McCaul's scholarship and how familiar he was with Jewish sources, one of his other books is an English translation of Kimchi's commentary on Zechariah.

Meldau, Fred John. The Prophets Still Speak: The Messiah in Both Testaments. Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, 1988.

Meldau identifies some of the major messianic prophecies of the Old Testament and shows their New Testament fulfillment in Christ. This book is exciting, informative, life-transforming.

Rosen, Moishe. Y'shua: The Jewish Way to Say Jesus. Chicago: Moody Press, 1982.

From the preface: "If Jesus is not the Messiah, Christianity is merely the concoction of liars and fools...But...suppose the Christians are right? What if Jesus is the Messiah?...If what Christians have been saying for two thousand years turns out to be right, we owe it to ourselves, to the world, and especially to the God of Israel to believe in the Messiah whom he has sent. At the very least, we should be willing to examine the evidence to see if it's so." This book is a short, non-technical review of that evidence. Moishe Rosen is the founder and former president of Jews for Jesus.

Wood, Leon. A Survey of Israel's History. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1970.

Leon Wood was a Gentile Christian, but this need not alarm Jewish readers: the book is mostly non-theological. This fully indexed book is one of the finest in print on the history of Israel throughout the period of the Tanakh. Though easy to read, it gives detailed attention to technical problems, especially dates, and is complete with pictures and time lines. Wood believes the Tanakh is the inerrant Word of God, and he is a scholar of the highest order. If you would like to learn more about the history of your own people, this book is highly recommended.