From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhtsa!alice!rabbit!xchar Newsgroups: net.religion Title: Christological Prophecies Article-I.D.: rabbit.1111 Posted: Tue Feb 8 02:35:20 1983 Received: Thu Feb 10 06:32:41 1983 Re: net.followup tektronix.946, from tektronix!bobb (Bob Bales) >From "The Pentateuch and Haftorahs," (Hebrew text, English translation, and commentary) edited by Dr. J. H. Hertz, C.H. (late Chief Rabbi of the British Empire), second edition, London: Soncino Press, 5727-1966. p. 201-202: "Alleged Christological References in Scripture "...The most famous passage of this class is the Fifty-third chapter of Isaiah. For eighteen hundred years Christian theologians have passionately maintained that it is a Prophetic anticipation of the life of the Founder of their Faith. An impartial examination of the chapter, however, shows that the Prophet is speaking of *a past historical fact* and is describing one who had already been smitten to death...." [In the King James translation, Isaiah 53:2 is in the future tense ("For he shall grow up..."); 53:3 starts in the present ("He is despised and rejected of men...") and ends in the past ("he was despised...); 53:4-9 are all in the past tense. In the Revised Standard Version, all of 53:2-9 is in the past tense ("For he grew up...", "He was despised and rejected by men..."). ] p. 305: "Isaiah, Chapter IX. 6. For a child is born unto us, a son is given unto us; and the government is upon his shoulder; and his name is called Pele-joez-el-gibbor-abi-ad-sar-shalom..." Commentary: "...two verses from a later prophecy, concerning Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, then but a lad. His righteous reign will lift Judah from the degenerate condition into which it had sunk. "6. a child is born to us. The correct rendering of the Hebrew is: unto us a child *has been* born--unto us a son *has been* given. The reference is not to any future Messiah, nor to any one yet unborn (see p. 202). Hezekiah had already given promise of the qualities of heart and mind that pointed to him as the future regenerator of his people.... "pele-joez-el-gibbor-abi-ad-shalom. i.e. Wonderful in counsel is God the mighty, the Everlasting Father, the Ruler of Peace.... This is the significant name by which the child will be known; it is, therefore, left untranslated; in the same way as...Immanuel (VII, 14).... "The RV [Revised Version of the Bible, 1884] gives `Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace'. This is quite impossible. No true Prophet--indeed, no true Israelite--would apply a term like `Mighty God' or `Everlasting Father' to any mortal prince. What is equally decisive against the RV rendering...is the fact that the significant names of the children of the Prophets never describe the child, but in each case embody some some religious message to the Prophet's contemporaries." p. 202: "...in connection with Isaiah VII, 14, `A virgin shall conceive,' Christian scholars today admit that `virgin' is a mistranslation for the Heb. word almah, in that verse. A `maid' or unmarried woman is expressed in Hebrew by bethulah. The word almah in Isaiah VII, 14 means no more than a young woman of age to be a mother, whether she be married or not.... "These...instances may be taken as typical. Modern scholarship has shattered the arguments from the Scriptures which missionaries have tried, and are still trying, to impose upon ignorant Jews."