Jerusalem And Rome: Are They Together Or Instead?

We will go in the book of Acts, which is the book that too often, is seen as a dividing line, a declaration of “separation from all things Jewish.”
Yes, the entire New Testament has largely been misread and misunderstood – but the Book of Acts however, is especially important for understanding these two ways, that we are about to discuss today: Jerusalem and Rome.

Therefore, let us uncover together, the Jewishness of the book of Acts by demonstrating its first-century Jewish historical and cultural context — and see the details that pertained to the Jewish context that are not so obvious to the Christian reader.

The Book of Acts

First, let us, obtain the proper perspective of this book.

We all know that the story of Acts begins in Jerusalem and ends in Rome — and we can’t ignore this fact!
The Bible is very clear in this regard: Jesus’ message had to go to the Gentiles; it had to spread from Jerusalem to Rome; And the itinerary is already set.

We all know, however, that any navigator (especially in Israel, it’s always Waze) might lead us to the same location through completely different paths.
Furthermore, if we miss a turn or take the wrong way, our navigator recalculates how to get us on the right path (some call this “recalculating”).

Perhaps, for better understanding, some recalculating is required here, in our context as well?
Is it necessary to adopt traditional Christian interpretations? Or it is time to restore the original interpretation? Yeah, it is time for a paradigm shift again.

Crooked and Straight

First of all, let us recall how much God’s ways and Israel’s ways looked almost synonymous to the early Christians.
Reading Acts 13, we see that after Paul and Barnabas are sent away from Antioch, they travel to the city of Paphos in Cyprus, where the Roman Proconsul is eager to hear them. However, someone named Elymas, who is described as a false prophet and sorcerer, stands in their way, “trying his best to turn the governor away from the faith.” Then Sha’ul, also known as Paul, who was filled with the Ruach HaKodesh, looked him in the eyes and said,

“You son of Satan, full of fraud and evil! You enemy of everything good! Won’t you ever stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?”
– Acts 13:10 (CJB)

We purposefully picked this translation (Complete Jewish Bible) because it translates the Greek language with just the phrases that we need to grasp furthermore, Luke’s message.

So, Paul could have said a thousand things to Elymas, like, “Won’t you ever stop committing your evil deeds? Won’t you ever stop opposing God? Won’t you ever stop resisting true faith?” – so, why did he use this peculiar phrase about crooked and straight?

In order to answer this question and see the message hidden by Luke in this story, let us recall what is the biblical name for the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? It’s “Israel.”
So, Jacob was named Israel after he had wrestled with the mysterious man at Penuel.

And “the man” who fought with Jacob, blessed him, and in blessing him he changed his name to Israel. He said: “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with beings divine and human, and have prevailed.”

Therefore, it is widely believed that the word “Israel” comes from the Hebrew word,שרית , which in biblical Hebrew means “to struggle,” “to exercise influence,”and “to prevail”.

Furthermore, there is one more way to interpret this name that helps us understand the profundity of the shift from Jacob to Israel (from Yaakov to Yisrael), and it is at this point that Paul’s in Acts 13 are a clear allusion to this way.

In Hebrew, the name Israel might be read as Yashar-El (ישר-אל).

The Hebrew word, Yashar (יָשָׁר) means straight, in biblical usage, it could also mean an ”honest, righteous, God-fearing person”.

On the other hand the root עָקֹב֙, which is the root of the name Ya’akov, means “crooked,” as in the verse we read earlier: “the crooked (הֶֽעָקֹב֙) shall be made straight”

Which is exactly what this transition from Jacob to Israel means: God made the crooked straight!

Do we see that? We can now understand Paul’s choice of words.

In fact, Paul says to Elymas, “Your behavior contradicts/opposes the fundamental definition of Israel !“
Don’t you believe this is an important message from the Apostle to the Gentiles: doing anything against God, opposing faith, means… going against the very meaning of the name “Israel“?

Again, We Make A Paradigm Shift

In order to read Paul’s allegory in the way it has been read for centuries by the Church, some beliefs had to be presupposed: First, Ishmael was just a byproduct on the way to Isaac, and only Isaac was essential in God’s plan; secondly, the Sinai Covenant (and Old Testament) was just a byproduct on the way to the New Covenant, and only the New Covenant was essential in God’s plan.

It’s the same here: if one supposes that all this “Jerusalem“ and “Jewish” part was a byproduct or just a transit stop on the way to the final destination – Rome and the Gentiles – then we can see a linear trajectory, where, once again, the latter and better parts replace the former “imperfect” ones—in other words “Rome” replaces “Jerusalem”.

We don’t know when the Acts were written; different scholars offer different dates, although it was probably in the late first or early second century.

And, starting from the beginning of the second century, in Justin Martyr’s treatise “Dialogues with Trypho,” we find “biblical” foundation, where he comments on the story of Noah and his sons at the end of Genesis 9, highlighting in this verse:

May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem
– Genesis 9:27

Which becomes a prophetic word about how in the future Japheth, the Gentile nations that have received Christianity, in his understanding, would seize the tents of Shem, i.e. Israel. And in our case “Rome replaces Jerusalem” – like in the book of Acts!

According to this theory, Japheth will dwell in Shem’s tents instead of Shem.
Do you remember the children’s story about the fox and the hare, where the fox had an ice hut and the hare had a small straw house?

The fox’s ice cabin melts, and the hare lets him in – only to find that the fox kicks him out and takes him home. And this is exactly what happened to Israel and Christianity, and it happened as quickly as the second century.

The traditional interpretation of Acts certainly supported this process.

We also, would like to propose that the original meaning of the passage about Japheth, who shall stay in Shem’s tents, did not imply that Shem would be expelled from these tents, any more than the hare would assume that by allowing in the homeless fox, he would soon find himself out on the street.

The interpretation of Christian commentators, on the other hand, simply contributed to justify the process of Israel’s exclusion from God’s plans and blessings, which were already in full speed at the time.

We cannot, however, overlook the fact that the book of Acts begins in Jerusalem and finishes in Rome.
But shouldn’t we perceive Rome and Jerusalem together, rather than Rome instead of Jerusalem?

We believe the correct viewpoint is this: according to the book of Acts, the gospel had to go beyond the Jews and Jerusalem to reach the Gentiles everywhere—in Greece, Rome, and beyond.
Instead of a linear trajectory in which “Rome” replaces “Jerusalem,” we should see circles that extend from Jerusalem all the way to Rome, because the Jews will always be God’s people, and God’s given gift cannot be taken back.