"Another explanation: He said to him: ‘I have yet to raise up the Messiah,’ of whom it is written, For a child is born to us (Isa. IX, 5)." (Midrash Rabbah Deuteronomy, Rabbi Dr. H. Freedman and Maurice Simon, Rev. Dr. J. Rabbinowitz, p. 22, link)
"The prophet said to the house of David, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and he has taken the law upon himself to keep it. His name is called from eternity wonderful, the mighty God who liveth to eternity, the Messiah whose peace shall be great upon us in his days." (Targum Jonathan)
[This disproves the idea often put forward by rabbinic Jews that the "mighty God" is not referring to the "child" but rather to God calling the child the "Prince of Peace"]
"According to some, these expressions are names of God, and the following שר שלום, the name of the child. I think that all these words are names of the child;" (Abraham ibn Ezra)
"Let Hezekiah, who has eight [shemona] names, come, and exact retribution from Sennacherib, who has eight names. The Gemara elaborates: The eight names of Hezekiah are as it is written: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government is upon his shoulder; and his name is called Pele Joez El Gibbor Abi Ad Sar Shalom” (Isaiah 9:5)." (Talmud, Sanhedrin 94a, link)
What do we say concerning the argument that this verse speaks of King Hezekiah? The Puritan John Owen gives a brief argument against this interpretation:
"How can it be said of Hezekiah, that 'of the increase of his government there should be no end,' seeing he lived but four and fifty years, and reigned but twenty-nine, and his own son Manasseh, who succeeded him, was carried captive into Babylon? " (John Owen, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Vol 1: The Epistle to the Hebrews, The Messiah, The Jewish Church, pg. 205, link)
John Owen gives some further arguments against the common Jewish way of breaking up the names so that the "Prince of Peace" is the only name referring to the child, while the other names refer to God:
"1) If words may be so transposed and shuffled together as these are to produce this sense, there will nothing be left certain in the Scripture; nor can they give any one instance of such a disposal of words as they fancy in this place. (2.) The very reading of the words rejects this gloss, “He shall call his name Wonderful.” (3.) It is the name of the child, and not of God that gives him, which is expressed for the comfort of the church. (4.) What tolerable reason can be given for such an accumulation of names unto God in this place? " (John Owen, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Vol 1: The Epistle to the Hebrews, The Messiah, The Jewish Church, pgs. 203-204, link)
1 comment:
I think that this excerpt from the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary is insightful:
For - the ground of these great expectations.
Unto us - for the benefit of the Jews first (Israel is here the speaker), and then the Gentiles (cf. "unto you," Luke 2:11).
A child is born (the Immanuel, child of the Virgin, Isaiah 7:14-16), unto us a son is given (Psalms 2:7) - God's gratuitous gift, on which man had no claim (John 3:16; Romans 6:23).
And the government shall be upon his shoulder. The ensign of office used to be worn on the shoulder, in token of sustaining the government (Isaiah 22:22). Here the government on Messiah's shoulder is in marked antithesis to the 'yoke and staff' of the oppressor on Israel's "shoulder" (Isaiah 9:4). He shall receive the kingdom of the earth from the Father, to vindicate it from the misrule of those to whom it was entrusted to hold it for and under the Most High, but who sought to hold it in defiance of His right. The Father asserts his right by the Son, the "Heir of all things," who will hold it for Him (Daniel 7:13-14).
And his name shall be called - His essential characteristics shall be.
Wonderful - (note, Isaiah 8:18; Judges 13:18, margin; 1 Timothy 3:16.) His whole manifestation is a wonder or miracle: and great as have been the past wonders which He performed for His people in Egypt at the Red Sea and the Jordan, He shall work still greater wonders for their deliverance hereafter (Isaiah 43:18-19; Exodus 15:11; Psalms 77:11; Psalms 77:14; Psalms 78:12; Daniel 12:6). Counsellor - (Isaiah 11:2; Micah 4:9; Psalms 16:7; Romans 11:33-34; 1 Corinthians 1:24; Colossians 2:3.)
The mighty God - (Isaiah 10:21; Psalms 24:8; Titus 2:13.) Horsley translates, 'God the mighty Hero,' or 'Warrior,' 'Eel (H410) gibowr (H1368): the character in which He will manifest Himself against the anti-Christian enemy (Revelation 19:11-15). "Unto us ... God" is equivalent to "Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14).
The everlasting Father. This marks Him as "Wonderful," that He is "a child," yet the "everlasting Father" (John 10:30; John 14:9) - literally, 'The Father of eternity' [ `ad (H5704)]. The Septuagint (pateer (G3962) tou (G5120) mellontos (G3195) aioonos (G165)), 'Father of the age to come' (Hebrews 2:5) - the Messianic age-the kingdom which shall have "no end" (Isaiah 9:7): the Author of eternal life to all that believe. Earthly kings leave their people after a short reign; He will reign over and bless them forever.
The Prince of Peace - (note, Isaiah 9:5; Genesis 49:10: Shiloh, 'The Tranquillizer.') Finally, Hosea 2:18. Even already He is "our peace" (Luke 2:14; Ephesians 2:14). The antitype to King Solomon (the Peaceful, as the name means). The earlier Rabbins, the Chaldaic Targum, Beresheth Rabba, and Ben Sira, etc., all took the Messianic view of this prophecy.
Post a Comment