The Curious Rabbi's Son
Solomon Ginsburg
Thirteen-year-old Solomon Ginsburg sat proudly listening to the discussions of the rabbis who had come to help his father celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
The talk lulled, and Solomon's eye fell upon a well-worn copy of the Prophets. He casually opened the ancient writings to the book of Isaiah, chapter 53. In the margin was scribbled a question: "To whom does the prophet refer in this chapter?"
Solomon innocently read the question to his father, who was also a rabbi.
His father remained silent. Solomon repeated the question, thinking he had not heard. Without speaking, his father slapped his face and angrily closed the book.
Two years later, young Solomon Ginsburg was in London where he found employment with an uncle. He had run away from his home in Poland because his father had insisted he become engaged to a twelve-year-old girl.
One afternoon while walking on Whitechapel Street he met a Jewish missionary.
"Are you Jewish?" the missionary inquired.
"Yes," Solomon replied proudly.
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"Then you will be interested in my sermon tonight at the Mildmay Mission. It will be from Isaiah, chapter 53. Would you come?"
Solomon's heart leaped as he remembered the episode with his father. "Yes, I will," he promised.
That evening the Jewish boy slipped into a rear seat at the mission. The missionary reverently read the prophecy, then painstakingly showed proof from the New Testament that Jesus was the suffering Messiah of which the passage spoke. Afterward he walked to where Solomon was sitting. "Do you believe?" he asked pointedly.
"I don't know," Solomon replied. "You see, my father is a rabbi."
"Read the New Testament," the missionary suggested. "Then ask yourself if Jesus is the Messiah predicted in Isaiah 53."
Solomon promised that he would. By the time he reached the crucifixion account, he was weeping. As he read Matthew 27:25, "His blood be on us, and on our children," he was trembling as he thought of his people who had rejected the Messiah. Then he recalled the curse that was placed upon Jews who deserted the orthodox faith. He knew that his entire family would disown him.
For three months Solomon Ginsburg struggled. Then he heard a sermon on Matthew 10:37, "He that loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me."
When the preacher asked for testimonies he stood to say, "I want to be worthy of Jesus."
His load was lifted. But the die of his future was already cast.
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"Why do you look so happy, boy?" his uncle asked the next morning at breakfast.
"Uncle," he announced forthrightly, "I have accepted Jesus as my Messiah."
His uncle paled and left the table. When Solomon made a public profession of faith, his relatives responded by discharging him from employment and putting him on the street with only the clothes he was wearing. The news came from his family that he was disinherited and disowned by them. Another relative came and read to him the solemn excommunication ceremony of curses.
His family had completely turned their backs on him, but Solomon Ginsburg did not turn his back upon his newfound Messiah. He enrolled in the Regions Beyond Mission College, graduated, and went to Brazil as a missionary in 1890. For the next thirty-one years, he served valiantly in pioneer mission work. Although he was persecuted, stoned, and even imprisoned for his missionary efforts, he saw his denomination grow from less than a thousand to more than twenty-one thousand in number during his ministry.
