The Deity of the Lord Jesus and the Hebrew Bible [Part 1]

 

I have decided to write a series of articles in which I use the Hebrew Bible in particular to demonstrate that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is YHWH incarnate. I am hoping to do around four parts to this series, and I will put lots of information in these articles. Please feel free to share them all over the place in order to give resources for Christians who wish defend this most vital doctrine against heretical groups and opponents such as Arians, JWs, Muslims, or Unitarian heretics.

First, we will be examining what is viewed by many as a Messianic prophecy from the Psalms:

"Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son!  2  May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice!  3  Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness!  4  May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!  5  May they fear you while the sun endures, and as long as the moon, throughout all generations!  6  May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth!  7  In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more!  8  May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth!  9  May desert tribes bow down before him, and his enemies lick the dust!  10  May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!  11  May all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him!  12  For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper.  13  He has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy.  14  From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight.  15  Long may he live; may gold of Sheba be given to him! May prayer be made for him continually, and blessings invoked for him all the day!  16  May there be abundance of grain in the land; on the tops of the mountains may it wave; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field!  17  May his name endure forever, his fame continue as long as the sun! May people be blessed in him, all nations call him blessed!" (Psalm 72:1-17 ESV)

Verse 1 mentions a "king". Now who is this?  Many sources, even Jewish ones, say that this is referring to the Messiah:

"Seven phenomena were created before the world was created, and they are: Torah, and repentance, and the Garden of Eden, and Gehenna, and the Throne of Glory, and the Temple, and the name of Messiah.....The name of Messiah was created before the world was created, as it is written in the chapter discussing the Messiah: “May his name endure forever; his name existed before the sun” (Psalms 72:17)." (Babylonian Talmud, Pesachim 54a)

"O God, give your just rulings to the King Messiah, and your righteousness to the son of King David" (Aramaic Targum to Psalms) 

Justin Martyr, in the Dialogue with Trypho, at one point also says this verse is a prophecy of Jesus, whom we as Christians believe was the Messiah. 

Lets focus in particular on verses 9-11:

"May desert tribes bow down [כָּרַע] before him, and his enemies lick the dust!  May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands render him tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts!  May all kings fall down [שָׁחָה] before him, all nations serve  [עָבַד] him! " (Psalm 72:9-11)

We will examine how the three verbs, kara', shachah, and abad are used and how they intimate a sense of worship thus suggesting that the Messiah here is being worshipped, thus proving Him to be YHWH God. 

- כָּרַע  "to bow down"

Here is the entry for this verb from the Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew lexicon:

BDB pg. 502

Notice the way this Hebrew word is used elsewhere in Scripture:

"Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had knelt [מִכְּרֹ֣עַ] with hands outstretched toward heaven." (1 Kings 8:54)

"And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees [ וָֽאֶכְרְעָה֙ עַל־בִּרְכַּ֔י ] and spread out my hands to the LORD my God," (Ezra 9:5)

"By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow [תִּכְרַ֣ע] , every tongue shall swear allegiance.’" (Isaiah 45:23; cf. Philippians 2:10-11)

Pay attention to how in these contexts worship (or prayer, etc.) is being given to God. 

In other passages, kara' is used along with shachah in describing worship and adoration given to Yahweh. Here is one example:

"When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down [וַיִּכְרְעוּ֩] with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped [וַיִּֽשְׁתַּֽחֲו֔וּ] and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, 'For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.' ” (2 Chronicles 7:3)

- שָׁחָה  "to bow down; worship"

Brown Driver Briggs

"You shall not bow down [תִשְׁתַּחְוֶ֥ה‪‬] to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me" (Exodus 20:5)

"All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship [וְיִֽשְׁתַּחֲו֥וּ] before you." (Psalms 22:27)

"All the nations you have made shall come and worship [וְיִשְׁתַּחֲו֣וּ] before you, O Lord, and shall glorify your name." (Psalms 86:9)

In 1 Chronicles 29:20, where the assembly of people gives shachah to both YHWH and David (who is obviously a type of the Messiah):

"Then David said to all the assembly, 'Bless the LORD your God.' And all the assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers, and bowed their heads and paid homage [וַיִּֽשְׁתַּחֲו֛וּ] to the LORD and to the king." (1 Chronicles 29:20)

What we have seen is that the verbs kara' and shachah often denote worship, and that sense this is paid to the Messianic king in Psalm 72:9-11, this implies that the Messiah is divine and hence God. Here is a final comment from William Plumer in his Studies on the Psalms:

Studies in the Psalms, pgs. 703-704