The Old Testament contains many prophecies concerning the Messiah, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Famous ones would be Psalm 22 and the Isaianic texts (7:14; 9:5; 52:13-53:12). A somewhat less-known prophecy is given to us by the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 23:5-6, which read as follows:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’" (Jeremiah 23:5-6)
This article will demonstrate that this prophecy is indeed talking about the Messiah, investigate the meaning of the word "branch" (צֶ֣מַח), as well as the phrase "the LORD our Righteousness", demonstrating that this title being applied to the Messiah proves that He is YHWH.
1.Proof that this prophecy is Messianic
There are some Jewish sources which clearly teach that this prophecy is about the Messiah:
"And Rabbi Shmuel bar Nahmani says that Rabbi Yohanan says: Three were called by the name of the Holy One, Blessed be He, and they are: The righteous, and the Messiah, and Jerusalem.With regard to the righteous, this is as we have just said. With regard to the Messiah, this is as it is written: “And this is his name whereby he shall be called, the Lord is our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6)." (Talmud, Bava Batra 75b)
"God will call the king Messiah after His own name , for it is said of the king Messiah This is his name whereby he shall be called: The Lord our righteousness (Jer. 23:6)." (The Midrash on Psalms, William G. Braude, Translator (New Haven: Yale, 959), Yale Judaica Series, Volume 13, Leon Nemoy, Editor, Book One, Psalm 2.2)
"… ‘Behold the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will raise up for David a righteous Messiah, and he shall reign as king, and prosper, and shall enact a righteous and Meritorious law in the land. In his days they of the house of Judah shall be delivered, and Israel shall live in security. And this is the name which they call him: "May vindication be accomplished for us by the Lord in his day."’ (Targum Jonathan on Jeremiah)
"The Rabbis say, 'This King Messiah, if he is from the living, his name is David. If he is from the dead, his name is David…; Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said, 'His name is Branch'. " (Berakoth 2.4)
2.The meaning of the word "branch"(צֶ֣מַח) and its usage
"Martin Abegg refers to (branch) in Jeremiah and Zechariah as a
“clearly messianic figure.” (The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy, pg. 1014)
Another interesting text in the OT which also uses the word tzemach (in its verb form tzamach) is in Psalm 132:17 -
"There I will make a horn to sprout [אַצְמִ֣יחַ] for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. " (Psalm 132:17)
In Midrash Tanchuma, it says that this is speaking of the Messiah:
"This refers to the Messiah, as it is said: There will I make a horn to shoot up unto David, there have I ordered a lamp for Mine anointed (Ps. 132:17)." (Midrash Tanchuma, Terumah 7:1)
In the Eighteen Benedictions, we read the following:
"Speedily cause the offspring of David, Your servant, to flourish, and lift up his glory by Your divine help because we wait for Your salvation all the day. Blessed art thou, O L-rd, who causes the strength of salvation (Yeshua) to flourish." (*)
"In early Judaism, the royal title tzemach recurs in the framework of
the messianic expectation, as in the Bab. version of the Eighteen
Benedictions that cites Jer 33:15 and Ezek 29:21: “Let the sprout of David
your servant sprout quickly and let his horn be lifted high by your help! May
you be praised, Lord, who causes a horn of salvation to sprout!” (cf. G.
Dalman, Words of Jesus [1902], 290).
At Qumran, 4QPBless 1:3f. and 4QFlor 1:11 use the title “sprout of
David” to designate the legitimate ruler who will reestablish the Davidic
dynasty in the place of the Herodian and who will restore them to their
appropriate place among the people" (Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament 3:1087)
We also have passages from the Targums which portray tzemach in a messianic sense. The verses in the citations below each use the Hebrew word/root smh. I will provide two examples here:
Isaiah 4:2 - “In that day the branch [tzemach] of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel.”
| Targum Jonathan - “At that time shall the Messiah of the Lord be for joy and for glory to those that are escaped, and those that keep the law shall be for greatness and for praise.” |
Zechariah 3:8 - “Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch.”
| Targum Jonathan - שְׁמַע כְּעַן יְהוֹשֻׁעַ כַּהֲנָא רַבָּא אַתְּ וְחַבְרָךְ דְיַתְבִין קֳדָמָךְ אֲרֵי גַבְרִין כָּשְׁרִין לְמֶעְבַּד לְהוֹן נִסִין אִינוּן אֲרֵי הָא אֲנָא מַיְתֵי יַת עַבְדִי מְשִׁיחָא וְיִתְגְלֵי: |
Some scholars such as G.H. Johnston have argued that the "branch" does not actually refer to a singular messianic figure, but rather to as succession of Davidic kings. He argues this especially from Jeremiah 33:14-26:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David, and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely. And this is the name by which it will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’ 17 “For thus says the LORD: David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man in my presence to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to make sacrifices forever.” 19 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 20 “Thus says the LORD: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night will not come at their appointed time, 21 then also my covenant with David my servant may be broken, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests my ministers. 22 As the host of heaven cannot be numbered and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant, and the Levitical priests who minister to me.” 23 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 24 “Have you not observed that these people are saying, ‘The LORD has rejected the two clans that he chose’? Thus they have despised my people so that they are no longer a nation in their sight. 25 Thus says the LORD: If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, 26 then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.” (Jeremiah 33:14-26)
Messianic Jewish-Christian apologist and scholar Michael Brown in an article he wrote on this issue in The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy says the following:
"As for Jer 33:17-26, there is no contradiction, since Jeremiah only
guaranteed that 'David will never fail to have a man sitting on the throne of
the house of Israel' (Jer 33:17). This could be fulfilled through a succession
of Davidic kings leading up to the final, greater David, or it could be
fulfilled through the ongoing reign of that greater David. Either way, given
that the Babylonian exile, the first years of which were witnessed by
Jeremiah (as he saw Jerusalem fall), did bring a temporary end to Davidic
rule over the nation, the prophet fully realized that there would be a hiatus
in Davidic rulers sitting on his throne in Jerusalem. What he promised, by
the superintending of the Spirit, was that this would not be permanent, not
that there would be an endless succession of future Davidic kings. Johnston
is thus partly correct in stating that, 'It was, in fact, the non-restoration of
the Davidic throne in the Second Temple period that caused a theological
crisis in Israel, which ultimately led to the hermeneutical soil in which an
eschatological Messianic hope was planted.' It would be more accurate to
state that it was this crisis that ultimately led to a clearer understanding of
the eschatological messianic hope of the prophets." (The Moody Handbook of Messianic Prophecy, pg. 1016)
"3. The Messiah as "the LORD our Righteousness"
There are other things in the OT referred to as "the LORD our Righteousness". However, this is usually with naming places. However, it is different when a person's name has the full divine name YHWH in it, thus distinguishing it from names like Zechariah or Elijah, which have the yah ending.
Notice the significance of the divine name in Exodus 23:
“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him." (Exodus 23:20-21)
Here is a quotation from the 13th century Chizkuni commentary:
"כי שמי בקרבו, seeing that My name is within him, he has the right to speak of himself by proclaiming: “'אניה,” “I am the Lord,” meaning I am His general manager of the universe, known in kabbalistic parlance as Mattatron. That name can be understood as “chief of the angels,” or “G-d in miniature.”" (
Chizkuni on Exodus 23:21)
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