Solomon Ginsburg

He intended to become a Jewish rabbi, but a note in the margin of the book of Isaiah changed things for Solomon.

DECADES OF SERVICE
1890s, 1900s, 1910s, 1920s

MINISTRY EMPHASIS
Evangelism & Church Planting

He intended to become a Jewish rabbi, but a note in the margin of the book of Isaiah changed things for Solomon.

Solomon Ginsburg was born to Jewish parents in Poland. His father, a rabbi in the community, intended for Solomon to follow in his footsteps. When Solomon was a young boy, he found a copy of the book of Isaiah that some of the men in town had been discussing. Next to chapter 53, he saw a handwritten notation: “To whom does the prophet refer?” When he asked his father what that meant, his father reacted in anger and slapped young Solomon in the face.

At age 14, Solomon fled home and went to London to escape an arranged marriage planned by his father. In London he met a Jewish missionary who invited him to a discussion of Isaiah 53. Solomon later wrote that he went out of curiosity “to see if he had a better explanation to give than the one my father had given.” Soon after this meeting, Solomon began to read the New Testament and recognized the truth that Jesus was the Messiah prophesied about in the Old Testament.

He experienced rejection and persecution by the Jewish community, but his struggles served to prepare Solomon for a life of preaching the gospel in Brazil. He faced opposition to his faith in Brazil, as well. He even spent time in prison for preaching, but he remained steadfast in his belief in the authority of Scripture and the need of nations to hear it.